32:27 And they shall not lie with the mighty [that are] fallen {r} of the uncircumcised, who are gone down to the grave with their weapons of war: and they have laid their swords under their heads, but their iniquities shall be upon their bones, though [they were] the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.
(r) Who died not by cruel death but by the course of nature, and are honourably buried with their coat of armour and signs of honour.
32:27 They - The leaders of these Scythians were not buried with a pomp like that of Ashur, or Elan, but surprised by Halyattes and Cyaxares, were cut off with all their multitude, and tumbled into pits with the rabble. With their weapons - A ceremony observed in pompous funerals of great captains, to have their weapons, and their armour carried before the hearse. Laid their swords - In their graves, as if they could sleep the sweeter there, when they laid their heads on such a pillow: These barbarous Scythians were not so buried. Their iniquity - The exemplary punishment of their iniquity shall be seen upon their bones unburied.
32:17-32 Divers nations are mentioned as gone down to the grave before Egypt, who are ready to give her a scornful reception; these nations had been lately ruined and wasted. But though Judah and Jerusalem were about this time ruined and laid waste, yet they are not mentioned here. Though they suffered the same affliction, and by the same hand, yet the kind design for which they were afflicted, and the mercy God reserved for them, altered its nature. It was not to them a going down to the pit, as it was to the heathen. Pharaoh shall see, and be comforted; but the comfort wicked ones have after death, is poor comfort, not real, but only in fancy. The view this prophecy gives of ruined states shows something of this present world, and the empire of death in it. Come and see the calamitous state of human life. As if men did not die fast enough, they are ingenious at finding out ways to destroy one another. Also of the other world; though the destruction of nations as such, seems chiefly intended, here is plain allusion to the everlasting ruin of impenitent sinners. How are men deceived by Satan! What are the objects they pursue through scenes of bloodshed, and their many sins? Surely man disquiets himself in vain, whether he pursues wealth, fame, power, or pleasure. The hour cometh, when all that are in their graves shall hear the voice of Christ, and shall come forth; those that have done good to the resurrection of life, and those that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation.
