And they that understand] They whom God shall lively illuminate by his word and Spirit, shall instruct, and strengthen their brethren by their doctrine, and example. Others understand this of a certaine religious societie, newly set up in those dayes, called the Assideans, that is to say, pious, holy, understanding, and very zealous in the law of God. See 1 Mac. 2. 42. and 7. 13. 2 Mac. 14. 6.
yet they shall fall] Whereby he exhorteth the godly to constancy, although they should perish a thousand times, and though their miseries endure never so long.