But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall
trouble
him
This and the following verse respect times and things yet to
come, and the interpretation of them is not so certain: perhaps
this clause may have a regard to the news brought to the Turk, of
the Jews, upon their conversion, being about to return to their
own land, from the eastern and northern parts of the world, where
they chiefly are at this day; which will greatly alarm him, since
their land is part of his dominions: or it may be, out of the
east may come tidings of some commotions and disturbances in the
eastern part of the world, as Tartary which he may fear would be
of bad consequence to the Ottoman empire; and news out of the
north, of the northern Christian princes preparing to assist the
Jews in the repossession of their country; all which may give him
great uneasiness. Therefore he shall go forth with great
fury to destroy, and utterly to
make away many;
hearing the Jews are preparing to return to their own country, or
that they have got possession of it, he will be provoked to the
last degree, and raise a prodigious army, and march out of his
own land with them to Judea; and will come like a
storm,
with the utmost rage and fury, and like a cloud for number, and
threaten utter ruin and destruction to the nation of the Jews;
this will be his end in view in coming out, but he will not be
able to accomplish it; of all which see ( Ezekiel
38:2-12 ) , where the Turk, and this expedition of his, are
prophesied of, and where he goes by the name of Gog.