All that found them have devoured them
As lost and wandering sheep are liable to be found, and to be
devoured, by every beast of prey, lions, wolves, and bears; so
the Jews were found by their neighbours, their enemies, and
especially by the Chaldeans, having forsaken God, and being
forsaken by him; and which is their case now, and are often found
and seized upon by their enemies, and made a prey of under one
pretence or another: and their adversaries said, we offend
not;
we are not guilty of any evil, in taking away their lives, or
stripping them of their substance: because they have sinned
against the Lord;
and therefore are justly punished in this way; and it is no other
than what the Lord threatened them with, and foretold by his
prophets should come upon them: this they said, not that they
feared the Lord, or had any regard to his honour and glory, but
to excuse themselves, which would not do; for though they sinned
against the Lord, they had not sinned against them, and they had
no right to destroy them, and plunder them of their substance;
and so it is now, many think it no crime to injure the Jews in
their persons and property, because they have sinned against
Christ, and rejected him as the Messiah, who is the
habitation of justice;
the dwelling place of the saints, the city of refuge and strong
tower, whither the righteous run and are safe: even the
Lord, the hope of their fathers;
whom their fathers hoped for and expected, he being spoken and
prophesied of by all the prophets that were from the beginning of
the world, and therefore called the Hope of Israel, ( Jeremiah
14:8 ) ( 17:13 ) .