Isaiah 1:31 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

And the strong The wisest, strongest, or richest persons among you, who think to secure themselves against the threatened danger by their wisdom, wealth, or power, and much more they that are weak and helpless; shall be as tow Shall be as suddenly and easily consumed by God's judgments as tow is by the fire. And the maker of it The maker of the idol, who can neither save himself nor his workmanship; as a spark To set it on fire: by his sin he shall bring himself to ruin. Or, as פעלו לניצוצ, may be rendered, his work shall become a spark, shall be the cause of his destruction. “The words are elegant, and the meaning of them is, that the rich, the powerful, the great, (meant by the word החסן, which we render strong,) who seemed like a lofty and well-rooted oak, shall perish with their works: for their works, their great and wicked undertakings, by which they had sought safety, like sparks, shall set them on fire and consume them like tow. They shall perish, like fools, by their own devices. The very works themselves, which they had raised for the glory and preservation of themselves and their republic, shall be turned into the very cause of their destruction. Vitringa thinks the prophet alludes to the destruction of their state and temple by the Romans.” Dodd.