All the land shall return, etc.... This, in some measure, was verified by the means of the Machabees: but is rather to be taken in a spiritual sense, as relating to the propagation of the church, and kingdom of Christ, the true Jerusalem, which alone shall never fall under the anathema of destruction, or God’s curse.
14:11. And people shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more an anathema: but Jerusalem shall sit secure.
14:12. And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord shall strike all nations that have fought against Jerusalem: the flesh of every one shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
The flesh of every one shall consume, etc.... Such judgments as these have often fallen upon the persecutors of God’s church, as appears by many instances in history.
14:13. In that day there shall be a great tumult from the Lord among them: and a man shall take the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall be clasped upon his neighbour’s hand.
14:14. And even Juda shall fight against Jerusalem: and the riches of all nations round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and garments in great abundance.
Even Juda, etc.... The carnal Jews, and other false brothers, shall join in persecuting the church.
14:15. And the destruction of the horse, and of the mule, and of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts, that shall be in those tents, shall be like this destruction.
Shall be like this destruction.... That is, the beasts shall be destroyed as well as the men: the common soldiers as well as their leaders.
14:16. And all they that shall be left of all nations that came against Jerusalem, shall go up from year to year, to adore the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.