Vers. 9. Because the waters of Di∣mon shall be full of blood: and I will bring more vpon Dimon, euen lions vpon him that escapeth Moab, and to the remnant of the land.
HEe not onely describes here the dolour, houling, flight, and trembling, or the co∣uetousnesse of the enemies in raking toge∣ther of riches; but the slaughter of men, which must needes be fearefull, when the great and renowned riuers (as Dimon was) were filled with blood. By increasings hee meanes that the Lord, in whose person hee speakes, will aug∣ment the murthers; so as the dead bodies shall be piled one vpon another, and there shall be no end thereof, till they be all put to the sword. Now howsoeuer the aduersaries were cruell in this destruction, yet the Lord passed not measure for all that: because hee iustly punished the inhumanitie which the Moabites vniustly exercised ouer the Iewes; vpon whom they ought to haue had compas∣sion. It was iust then for them to beare the same punishment which they had laid vpon others.
Which are escaped.] These are also the in∣creasings whereof he spake; or at least part of them. For behold the highest pitch of all these calamities; that if any indeuoured to saue himselfe in battel, from out of the hands of his enemies, hee should meete with lions and cruell beasts which should deuoure him. And this is the true meaning of the Prophet, if we narrowly weigh the whole context. He meant to expresse this discomfiture, and the miserie thereof in liuely colours, by shewing that the small remnant which shall escape the slaughter, shall fall into the pawes of the li∣on: because the hand of the Lord doth so pur∣sue the wicked, that they can no way escape: if they passe one danger, they by and by fall into another. But withall let vs remember, that the Prophet speakes these things for the consolation of the faithfull, that they might fortifie themselues by some promises against the cruelty of the enemies, who in the end should be cut off, and should finde no refuge at all in their gods, fortresses, or lurking holes; neither should their flight any thing at all auaile them.