But I say unto you,.... Capernaum, and the inhabitants thereof, as before, to Chorazin and Bethsaida.It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom, in the day of judgment, than for thee: though the punishment of the men of Sodom will be very great, their iniquities being horribly dreadful and enormous, yet more easy to be borne than the vengeance, which, in the last and general judgment, will fall upon such, who have had the means of grace, and have despised them; especially such as had the personal presence, ministry, and miracles of Christ among them, as the Capernaites had.
Such a way of expressing and setting forth the severer punishment of others, by that of Sodom, is not unusual in the Old Testament; see La 4:6 nor in Jewish writers, who say , that"the Israelites were fit for, or deserved, Mwdo vnwem rwmxrtwy vnwel, "a far more heavy punishment than the punishment of Sodom": because they abounded with prophets, rising early, and sending them, but they did not hearken; whereas Sodom had no hands stayed on her, or prophets to warn them.'
' Tzeror Hammor, fol. 82.