And they went up on the breadth of the earth
Either the whole earth, in the several parts of which they will
be raised; or the land of Israel, where Christ and his people
will be; and so the wicked being raised, will come up from the
several parts of the world, and spread themselves over the holy
land; just as Gog and Magog are said to cover the land of Israel,
as a cloud, ( Ezekiel
38:16 ) and it may be observed, that the very phrase of
(Kura bxr) , "the breadth
of thy land", is used of Immanuel's land, or the land of Israel,
in ( Isaiah
8:8 )
and compassed the camp of the saints about;
these are the blessed and Holy Ones, who have part in the first
resurrection, even all the saints; not only the martyrs under the
Heathen persecutions, and the confessors of Christ under the
Papacy, but all the saints from the beginning of the world; these
will be all encamped together, with the tabernacle of God in the
midst of them, ( Revelation
21:3 ) and Christ their King at the head of them, ( Micah 2:13 ) the
allusion is to the encampment of the children of Israel in the
wilderness, about the tabernacle, which was in the midst of them,
( Numbers
2:2 ) &c. afterwards the city of Jerusalem itself was
called a camp, and answered in all respects to the camp in the
wilderness F6, to which the reference is in (
Hebrews
13:11-13 ) and which serves to illustrate the passage here,
since it follows:
and the beloved city:
not Constantinople, as some have thought, but the holy city, the
new Jerusalem, ( Revelation
21:2 ) the general assembly and church of the firstborn,
beloved by God and Christ, and by the holy angels, and by one
another; and these very probably will be with Christ upon the
same spot of ground where the Old Jerusalem stood, a city so
highly favoured, and so much distinguished by God; so that where
Christ suffered so much reproach and shame, and such an accursed
death, he will now be glorified, and live in triumph with his
saints:
and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured
them;
not material fire; with this the earth, and the bodies of the
wicked then upon it, will be burnt at the beginning of the
thousand years; but now their bodies will be raised immortal, and
not capable of being consumed with such fire; but the fiery
indignation of God, or his wrath, which will be poured out like
fire, is here meant, which will destroy both body and soul; this
is no other than the lake of fire, or second death, into which
they will be cast; and which will not be until the judgment is
over, though it is here related to show what will be the event
and issue of their attack upon the saints: the allusion is to the
fire sent upon Gog and Magog, and to the burning of their
weapons, in ( Ezekiel
38:22 ) ( Ezekiel 39:6
Ezekiel
39:9 Ezekiel
39:10 ) and so the Jews
F7 say of their Gog and Magog, that
``they shall be killed with the burning of the soul, with a flame of fire, which shall come from under the throne of glory.''
F6 T. Bab Zebachim, fol. 116. 2. Maimon. Hilch. Beth Habbechirah, c. 7. sect. 11.
F7 Targum Jon. in Numb. xi. 26.