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Mic_5:11 And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strong holds:
Ver. 11. And I will cut off the cities of thy land] Thy fenced cities and places of strength, for like reason as before, that thou mayest look upon my name alone as a strong tower, and thereto run and be safe, Pro_18:10, that thou mayest hover and cover under my wings, Psa_91:1-2, and there hold thee as secure as in a tower of brass or town of war. "Blessed be the Lord" (saith David, who could not be safe in Keilah, that had gates and bars), "for he hath showed me his marvellous lovingkindness as in a strong city," Psa_31:21. The tower of Shechem saved not those that ran into it, Jdg_9:49. The stronghold of Zion could not secure the Jebusites, that in the height of their pride scorned David and his host, that laid siege to it, 2Sa_5:6-7. Belshazzar and his Babylonians bare themselves so bold upon the strength of their city, and provision laid in for twenty years, if need were (as Xenophon testifieth), that they reproached the Persians that besieged them, and derided their attempts as to no purpose; yet were shortly after made a prey to the enemy. Arimazes, having garrisoned a very strong and steep rock in the Sogdian country with 80,000 men, sent to Alexander the Great, who demanded it, to know whether he could fly or not? But the next day he was taken together with his stronghold, and nailed to a cross (Plut. in Alex. Curt. lib. 7). God delights to confute men in their confidences; that those that are his may run to the Rock of ages, Isa_26:4, to that Arx roboris strong citadel of his holy name, which alone is impregnable, inexpugnable. The Spaniards called their navy in ‘88 the Invincible Armada, but it proved otherwise, and that upon St James’s day, whom they count their patron, their tutelary saint. It is not unlawful to have cities and strongholds, but to confide in them, by rising up to a corky, frothy hope when we have them; or to sit down in a faithless, sullen discontent and despondence when we want them; this is to make flesh our arm, and so to incur that heavy curse, Jer_17:5. God will cut off all occasions of so doing from those whom he loveth, as here he promiseth: and as accordingly he performed to this people, after their return from Babylon, and especially a little before the coming of Christ in the flesh, when they were reduced by Pompey into a province of the Roman empire.