Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! the word of the LORD [is] against you; O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant.
Ver. 5. Woe to the inhabitants of the sea coast] These were the Philistines; they lay between the Jews and the sea; God having so disposed of it, that his people might not have much commerce with foreign nations, nor learn their manners. Into havens and maritime towns there is usually a conflux of vices, like as there is of waters into the sea: witness Tyre and Sidon, Corinth, Carthage, Capernaum, &c. Hence that proverb, maritimi mores; naval customs, and that censure of such people, littorales duri, horridi, immanes, latrociniis dediti, omnium denique pessimi, Those that dwell by the seaside are usually ill-conditioned, ferce, cruel, thievish, and the worst of men. These Philistines were no better, and are therefore here put under a woe, and threatened with utter destruction.
The nation of the Cherethites] i.e. Destroyer; so the Philistines had styled themselves, as glorying to have conquered and cut off many people. The old Latin translation rendereth it Gens perditorum, The nation of destroyers; so doth Aquila, Theodotion, and Symmachus. Now it comes to their turn to be destroyed, according to Isaiah 33:1. That these Cherethites were a sort of Philistines, see 1 Samuel 30:14; 1Sa 30:16 Eze 25:16 That they were valiant men appears by that legion of them that guarded David, 2 Samuel 8:4, and were highly esteemed by him, because they stuck to him in his affliction at Gath, and also when Absalom was up in arms, 2 Samuel 15:18 .
The word of the Lord is against you] And not only against Israel. This was spoken, as for the terror of those Philistines, who thought themselves out of the reach of God's rod, and slighted his word, so for the comfort of the people of God, who thought much that themselves should be so severely dealt with, and the uncircumcised Philistines escape scot free.
O Canaan, the land of the Philistines] Indeed, of the Israelites, Joshua 13:3, but held by force by the Philistines, who were of the stock of the Canaanites, but not subdued; and had detained part of the land from the right owners for eight hundred years and upwards; and now they come to be reckoned with. Subito tollitur qui diu toleratur. Suddenly be destroyed who where tolerated for a long time.
I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant] No settled inhabitant, that shall fix there, as the word signifieth. Thus Poena venit gravior, quo mage sera venit, the longer God stays the heavier he strikes.