And the Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard,
&c.] Or, "the glory of his voice" F14; his majestic voice, the voice of his word, as the Targum, giving orders for the destruction of the Assyrian army; this was heard by the angel who obeyed it: and such a voice will be heard, ordering the destruction of antichrist, and the antichristian powers, in the pouring out of the vials by the angels, fitly signified by the following emblems; see ( Revelation 16:1 ) ( 18:4-7 ) . This voice is commonly interpreted of thunder, which is the voice of the Lord, and a very majestic one, ( Psalms 29:3 Psalms 29:4 ) ( Job 37:4 ) ( 40:9 ) and the destruction of the Assyrian army might be by thunder and lightning, and hailstones, and attended with such a tempest as here described, though not mentioned in the history: and shall show the lighting down of his arm;
or the strength of the arm of his power, as the Targum; his mighty arm, and the descent of it; meaning what should descend from heaven at the time of this tempest, as thunderbolts, balls of fire, hailstones; and by all which may be meant the heavy judgments of God, which fell upon his enemies, and were intolerable unto them: the metaphor is taken from the motion of a man in smiting another, who lifts up his hand, when it falls with the greater might, and rests upon him: with the indignation of [his] anger;
as when a man strikes in great wrath and fury: the heaping up of words here, and as follows, shows the vehemence and excess of anger: and [with] the flame of a devouring fire;
or, "of a fire devouring"; the Assyrian army; which, the Jews say, burnt their souls, destroyed their lives, but not their bodies. The Targum is,
``with the flame of fire, which consumes the graven images.''The destruction of mystical Babylon will be by fire, ( Revelation 18:8 Revelation 18:9 ) ( Revelation 19:3 ) : [with] scattering, and tempest, and hailstones;