They shall go out ... - Rather, they have gone forth from the fire, and the fire shall devour them. The condition of the people is here depicted. The people of Israel - as a whole and as separate kingdoms - had become worthless. The branch torn from the living stem had truly been cast into the fire, which had devoured both ends of it; what remained was a brand plucked from the burning. Those who had escaped the general calamity were reserved for a like fate. Compare John 15:6.

They shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them - If they escape the sword, they shall perish by the famine; if they escape the famine, they shall be led away captives. To escape will be impossible. It will be to them according to the proverb: -

Incidit in Scyllam, cupiens vitare Charybdim.

"Out of the scald, into the flame."

And I will set my face against them,.... In wrath to destroy them; see Ezekiel 14:8; and

they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them: from one calamity to another; those that escaped the famine and pestilence in the city fell by the sword; and those that escaped famine, sword, and pestilence, were carried into captivity, and there passed from one hardship and affliction to another. The Targum is,

"I will execute my vengeance on them, because of the words of the law, which were given out of the midst of fire; they have transgressed, and people who are strong as fire shall consume them.''

Some, as Abendana observes, interpret the fire, out of which they went, of Sennacherib, out of whose hand the Lord delivered them; and the fire which devoured them, of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and it may be rendered, "they have gone out" (e), &c.

and ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I set my face against them; he is known by his judgments to be the Lord God omnipotent, holy, just, and true.

(e) "exiverunt", Cocceius, Starckius.

And I will set my face against them; they shall go out from one {b} fire, and another fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I set my face against them.

(b) Though they escape one danger, yet another will take them.

7. And I will set my face against them-(See on [1039]Le 17:10).

from one fire . another-(Compare Isa 24:18). "Fire" means here every kind of calamity (Ps 66:12). The Jewish fugitives shall escape from the ruin of Jerusalem, only to fall into some other calamity.

15:1-8 Jerusalem like an unfruitful vine. - If a vine be fruitful, it is valuable. But if not fruitful, it is worthless and useless, it is cast into the fire. Thus man is capable of yielding a precious fruit, in living to God; this is the sole end of his existence; and if he fails in this, he is of no use but to be destroyed. What blindness then attaches to those who live in the total neglect of God and of true religion! This similitude is applied to Jerusalem. Let us beware of an unfruitful profession. Let us come to Christ, and seek to abide in him, and to have his words abide in us.