| Geneva Study Bible For thou hast made of a {b} city an heap; of a fortified city a ruin: a palace {c} of foreigners to be no city; it shall never be built. (b) Not only of Jerusalem, but also of these other cities which have been your enemies. (c) That is, a place where all vagabonds may live without danger and as it were at ease as in a palace. Wesley's Notes 25:2 A city - Which is put for cities: or of enemies of God and his people. And under the name cities he comprehends their countries and kingdoms. Strangers - The royal cities, in which were the palaces of strangers, of Gentiles. No city - Their cities and palaces have been or shall be utterly and irrecoverably destroyed. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary 2. a city . heap-Babylon, type of the seat of Antichrist, to be destroyed in the last days (compare Jer 51:37, with Re 18:1-24, followed, as here, by the song of the saints' thanksgiving in Re 19:1-21). "Heaps" is a graphic picture of Babylon and Nineveh as they now are. palace-Babylon regarded, on account of its splendor, as a vast palace. But Maurer translates, "a citadel." of strangers-foreigners, whose capital pre-eminently Babylon was, the metropolis of the pagan world. "Aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise" (Isa 29:5; Eph 2:12; see in contrast, Joe 3:17). never be built-(Isa 13:19, 20, &c.). Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary 25:1-5 However this might show the deliverance of the Jews out of captivity, it looked further, to the praises that should be offered up to God for Christ's victories over our spiritual enemies, and the comforts he has provided for all believers. True faith simply credits the Lord's testimony, and relies on his truth to perform his promises. As God weakens the strong who are proud and secure, so he strengthens the weak that are humble, and stay themselves upon him. God protects his people in all weathers. The Lord shelters those who trust in him from the insolence of oppressors. Their insolence is but the noise of strangers; it is like the heat of the sun scorching in the middle of the day; but where is it when the sun is set? The Lord ever was, and ever will be, the Refuge of distressed believers. Having provided them a shelter, he teaches them to flee unto it. | 
