For a fire is kindled in mine anger
Here begins the account of temporal and corporeal judgments
inflicted on the Jews for their disbelief and rejection of the
Messiah, their contempt of his Gospel, and ill treatment of his
followers; and this here respects the destruction of the land of
Judea in general, and the burning of the city and temple of
Jerusalem in particular, as the effect of the wrath and anger of
God like fire kindled against them:
and shall burn unto the lowest hell;
which denotes an entire destruction, like that of the burning of
Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone from heaven; which
issued in a sulphurous lake, and which sulphureous matter sunk to
the bottom of the Dead Sea; and to that destruction is this of
the land of Judea compared, ( Deuteronomy
29:23 ) ;
and shall consume the earth with her increase:
the land of Judea, with the cities and towns in it, and buildings
on it, and the fruits of the earth; which were either gathered
into their barns and storehouses, or were growing in their
fields, and vineyards, and oliveyards; all were destroyed and
consumed at or before the destruction of Jerusalem, or quickly
after it:
and set on fire the foundations of the
mountains;
the city of Jerusalem, as Jarchi himself interprets it, whose
foundations were by the mountains, according to ( Psalms 125:2
) ; and the temple of Jerusalem particularly was built on Mount
Moriah, and that as well as the city was utterly consumed by
fire: and it is remarkable that when Julian the apostate
attempted to rebuild it, as is related even by an Heathen
historian F1, that flames of fire burst out from
the foundations, and burnt the workmen; so that he was obliged to
desist from his rash undertaking.