Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron
Not his inheritance and possession among the Gentiles, the chosen
ones given him by the Father; these he delights in, takes care
of, protects, and preserves: but the stubborn and rebellious ones
among the Heathen, and in each of the parts of the world, who
will not have him to reign over them; who treat his person with
contempt, reject his government, disobey his Gospel, and despise
his commands; towards these Christ will use severity, and will
exert his power and break them in pieces. The Vulgate Latin,
Septuagint, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, render it,
"shall feed" or "rule them"; and so it is cited in ( Revelation
2:27 ) ( 12:5 ) (
19:15 ) ; and applied
to Christ, the Word of God, and King of kings; and must be
understood, as it is in those places, of the severity of his
government over them, of the strictness of his justice, without
the least display of mercy; and then the sense is the same with
those versions which render it, "shall break them:" as the word
used is interpreted by the Targum, and the Jewish commentators on
the place; and which is confirmed by what follows:
thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's
vessel;
which is very easily done with a bar of iron; and, when it is
done, the pieces can never be put together again: so that by the
metaphor is signified the easy and irreparable ruin of the
wicked; see ( Isaiah 30:14
) ( Jeremiah
19:11 ) . The word signifies that they should be so crumbled
into dust, that they should be scattered about as with the wind;
which, so far as it relates to the Jews, was fulfilled in their
destruction by the Romans, and will have its accomplishment in
the antichristian nations at the latter day; see ( Revelation
2:26 Revelation
2:27 ) .