And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood,
&c.] Not only the sword of the Jews and the sword of Christian princes shall be drawn against him, and the sword of Gog's soldiers against one another; but the Lord himself would plead with him by his judgments, or take vengeance on him, as the Targum; and send a pestilence in his army, which should destroy vast numbers of it; as the army of Sennacherib was destroyed by one when before Jerusalem; and make a great slaughter among them by that and other judgments: and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people
that are with him, an overflowing rain;
a horrible tempest of divine wrath, ( Psalms 11:6 ) as he came into the land of Israel like a storm, so he shall be destroyed by one much more terrible: and great hailstones;
such as were cast upon the Canaanites, ( Joshua 10:11 ) and as there will be on men, the enemies of the church of God, at the pouring out of the seventh vial, ( Revelation 16:21 ) : fire and brimstone;
as God rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah, ( Genesis 19:24 ) , signifying that in like manner will God deal with those enemies of his people; so at the battle of Armageddon, which seems to be the same with this here, the beast and the false prophet will be taken alive, and cast into a lake of fire burning with brimstone, ( Revelation 19:20 ) , and to this rain or tempest of fire and brimstone upon Gog there is an allusion in ( Revelation 20:9 ) .