Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath
Or, "and he shall speak to them"; so Noldius: that is, the Lord
that sits in the heavens, and laughs, and has the Heathen, the
people, the kings and rulers in derision, shall not only silently
despise their furious and concerted opposition to him and his
Messiah, but shall at last speak out unto them, not in his word,
but in his providences; and not in love, as to his own people,
when he chastises them, but in great wrath, inflicting severe and
just punishment. It seems to refer to the destruction of
Jerusalem, after the crucifixion, sufferings, death,
resurrection, and ascension of Christ; and after the pouring out
of the Spirit, and when the Gospel, to their great mortification,
had got ground, and made large advances in the Gentile world;
and vex them in his sore displeasure;
or "in the heat of his anger" {e}: see ( Deuteronomy
29:24 ) , where the Holy Ghost speaks of the same people, and
of the same ruin and destruction of them at the same time, as
here: and as the carrying of the Jews captive into Babylon is
called their vexation, ( Isaiah 9:1 ) ; much more
may their destruction by the Romans; then it was they howled for
vexation of spirit, ( Isaiah 65:14
) ; the wrath of God came upon them to the uttermost; they were
filled with trouble and confusion, with terror and consternation,
as the word F6 used signifies; they were vexed to
see themselves straitened and pent in on every side by the Roman
armies, oppressed with famine and internal divisions, rapine and
murder; to see their temple profaned and burnt, their city
plundered and destroyed, and themselves taken and carried
captive: and what most of all vexed them was, that their attempts
against Jesus of Nazareth, the true Messiah, were fruitless; and
that, notwithstanding all their opposition to him, his name was
famous, his interest increased, his kingdom was enlarged, through
the spread of his Gospel among the Gentiles; and what Jehovah in
( Psalms
2:6 ) says, though it is to the comfort of his people, was to
their terror and vexation.