He who smote the people in wrath with a continual
stroke,
&c.] The king of Babylon, who made war with the people and
nations of the earth, and conquered them, smote them with the
edge of the sword to gratify his passions, and satiate his
bloodthirsty mind; and those that were spared, he ruled with
rigour, and oppressed them with tribute and hard bondage; and,
when he had conquered one nation, attacked another, and so went
on pursuing his victories without intermission, giving no respite
neither to his army, nor to the people: he that ruled the
nations in anger;
not with justice and clemency, but in a tyrannical and oppressive
way, even his own nation, as well as the nations whom he subdued:
is persecuted;
is, pursued by the justice of God, overtaken and seized, and
brought to condign punishment; [and] none
hindereth;
the execution of the righteous judgment upon him; none of the
neighbouring kings and nations, either tributary to him, or in
alliance with him, give him the least help or assistance, or
attempt to ward off the blow upon him, given him, under the
direction and appointment of God, by Cyrus the Persian. So the
Romish antichrist, who has made war with the saints, and has
smitten them with the sword, and gone on to do so without any
intermission for ages together, and has tyrannised over them in a
most cruel manner, he shall be persecuted, and taken, and brought
to his end, and there shall be none to help him; see ( Revelation
13:7 Revelation
13:10 ) ( Daniel 11:45
) .