Salam Friends
59:2 [Asad] He it is who turned out of their homes, at the time of [their] first gathering [for war], such of the followers of earlier revelation as were bent on denying the truth. You did not think [O believers] that they would depart [without resistance] - just as they thought that their strongholds would protect them against God: but God came upon them in a manner which they had not expected, and cast terror into their hearts; [and thus] they destroyed their homes by their own hands as well as the hands of the believers. Learn a lesson, then, O you who are endowed with insight!
Question: The People of the Book believe in God. Why would they, then, think that they needed protected against God?
One would think that their strongholds would protect them against their enemies? Or does it mean that their stronghold would protect them against the Muslim God (who they, perhaps, thought was different than theirs)?