John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 3. And ye shall tread down the wicked , etc.] As grapes in the winepress, as Christ did before them, ( Isaiah 63:2,3) and they by virtue of him; who makes them more than conquerors through himself, over all their enemies, spiritual and temporal: for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet ; this refers to the burning of them, ( Malachi 4:1) and may be literally understood of their being burnt with the city and temple; when afterwards, as Grotius observes, the city of Jerusalem being in some measure rebuilt, and called Aelia, there was a Christian church in it, governed by bishops, who were converted Jews; and so might be literally said to trample upon the ashes of the wicked, who had persecuted them in times past, they being upon the very spot where these men were destroyed by fire: in the day that I shall do [this], saith the Lord of hosts : or “in the day which I make” f108 ; that is, by the rising of the sun of righteousness, the Gospel day. The Talmud interprets this verse of the bodies of the wicked in hell, which after twelve months will be consumed, and the wind will scatter them under the soles of the feet of the righteous.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-3 - Here is a reference to the first and to the second coming of Christ God has fixed the day of both. Those who do wickedly, who do not fea God's anger, shall feel it. It is certainly to be applied to the day of judgment, when Christ shall be revealed in flaming fire; to execut judgment on the proud, and all that do wickedly. In both, Christ is rejoicing Light to those who serve him faithfully. By the Sun of Righteousness we understand Jesus Christ. Through him believers ar justified and sanctified, and so are brought to see light. Hi influences render the sinner holy, joyful, and fruitful. It is applicable to the graces and comforts of the Holy Spirit, brought int the souls of men. Christ gave the Spirit to those who are his, to shin in their hearts, and to be a Comforter to them, a Sun and a Shield That day which to the wicked will burn as an oven, will to the righteous be bright as the morning; it is what they wait for, more tha those that wait for the morning. Christ came as the Sun, to bring, no only light to a dark world, but health to a distempered world. Soul shall increase in knowledge and spiritual strength. Their growth is a that of calves of the stall, not as the flower of the field, which i slender and weak, and soon withers. The saints' triumphs are all owin to God's victories; it is not they that do this, but God who does it for them. Behold another day is coming, far more dreadful to all tha work wickedness than any which is gone before. How great then the happiness of the believer, when he goes from the darkness and misery of this world, to rejoice in the Lord for evermore!
Original Hebrew ועסותם6072 רשׁעים7563 כי3588 יהיו1961 אפר665 תחת8478 כפות3709 רגליכם7272 ביום3117 אשׁר834 אני589 עשׂה6213 אמר559 יהוה3068 צבאות׃6635
