THEOSISJerome of Stridon
The Lord God declares that the Palestinians have acted vengefully and with full intent to destroy, fully satisfying their previous animosity. Therefore, the Lord God asserts, I will raise My hand against the Palestinians and will eliminate the remnant along the coast, executing profound vengeance upon them with fierce punishment; they shall know that I am the Lord when I enact My retribution. The Lord also addresses the foreigners, who have sought vengeance and take pleasure in their actions to obliterate completely. The Lord proclaims, I will extend My hand against these foreigners, annihilating the Cretans and wiping out the remnant along the shore, inflicting upon them great vengeance with severity; they shall know that I am the Lord when I execute My vengeance upon them.
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Regarding the descendants of Ammon, Moab, and Seir—who are also related to Israel and Judah through Lot and Moab—the focus then shifts to the Philistines, referred to in the LXX as ἀλλοφύλους, meaning 'strangers' rather than the general term for all nations outside of the Jewish lineage. This specific designation highlights their association with what we now call Palestine, reflecting Greek linguistic alterations where the phi transitions to pi, similar to how the words for Easter diverge from the Hebrew rhase. The Philistines signify those who have stumbled from the cup, intoxicated by the golden chalice of Babylon, reveling fiercely as they remember their historical disdain for Israel, which distanced them from the people of God. Although the Lord proclaims, I will take vengeance and recompense them (Deuteronomy 32:35; Romans 12:19), they themselves perpetrate vengeance, actively demonstrating their hostility. For this, they shall face the outstretched hand of God, which will eliminate those who seek to exterminate—despite the LXX's unusual rendering of Cretans, whereas Aquila, Simmachus, and Theodotion correctly translate it as chorethim, or exterminators, both in this context and in Zephaniah, where it is stated that Gaza will be plundered, Ashkelon will become desolate, and Ashdod and Ekron will be eradicated. Woe to those who dwell by the sea, O inhabitants of Crete; the word of the Lord is against you, O Canaan, land of foreigners, for your dwelling will be destroyed. Crete will become pasture for flocks and a shelter for sheep.
Here again, the LXX translates 'Crete,' while other translators convey the term ὄλεθρον, meaning destruction. We have previously discussed this matter as deemed appropriate by the grace of God. Thus, one of David's two militia, known as phelethi and the other as segethi, was named chorethim (or cherethim), which means slayers, because they destroy. The Lord will eradicate all the remnant in the coastal areas, buffeted by the salt waves, delivering not a small but significant vengeance with fury, allowing His wrath to overshadow mercy, and when He executes His punishment with fierce intensity, the Palestinians shall recognize that He is the Lord.