When he maketh inquisition for blood
The Arabic version renders it, "he remembers him that seeks their
blood"; that is, the wicked man, that lies in wait for innocent
blood, and whose feet are swift to shed it; the man of sin, who
is bloodthirsty; who drinks up the blood of the saints like
water, and has been made drunk with the blood of the martyrs of
Jesus, him will God remember, and take vengeance on, in his own
time: but rather this is to be understood of God himself, seeking
for the blood of his saints: he knows where it is, though ever so
privily shed, as he did Abel's; yet, to show his strict care and
accurate notice of it, he is represented as searching for it, and
finding it out by secret search, ( Jeremiah
2:34 ) . And it is the same phrase with "requiring" blood,
and expresses a demand of satisfaction for it; and declares the
vengeance that God will take on account of it: he requires the
blood of every man at the hand of him by whom it is shed, (
Genesis 9:5
Genesis 9:6 )
; especially the blood of the righteous, ( Matthew
23:35 ) ; particularly the blood of the martyrs of Jesus,
shed by the Romish antichrist; he will make inquisition for that,
and will find in Babylon the blood of the prophets and saints,
and of all that are slain on earth; and will avenge the blood of
his servants at her hand, and give her blood to drink, ( Revelation
18:24 ) ( 19:2 ) (
16:6 ) ;
he remembereth them;
either the "righteous", as the Targum paraphrases it, whose blood
has been shed; or else the wicked, who shed their blood: God will
remember them and their sins; which, for some time, may seem not
to have been taken notice of by him, and will pour out his wrath,
and inflict just punishment on them; see ( Revelation
16:19 ) ( Revelation
18:5 Revelation
18:6 ) ;
he forgetteth not the cry of the humble:
the "Cetib", or writing of the text, is (Myyne) , "afflicted"; the "Keri", or marginal
reading, is (Mywne) ,
"humble"; so the Masorah and Targum read: both may be taken into
the sense: afflicted persons are generally humble, afflictions
make them humble; God's people are an afflicted people; afflicted
with sin, with Satan, with the world, with antichrist and his
followers: and they are an humble people; grace makes them
humble, and a sense of their sin and unworthiness keeps them so:
and this is a proper character of the followers of Jesus. These
in their distress cry to the Lord, as the Israelites did in Egypt
under their bondage and, pressures: yea, their blood cries after
death, as Abel's did, and as the blood of the martyrs of Christ
does, whose souls under the altar cry for vengeance, ( Revelation
6:9 ) ; and God is not unmindful of their cry; however he may
seem to be, he takes notice of it, and wilt in his own time
avenge his elect, which cry unto him day and night.