Isaiah 5:24 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Therefore as the fire, &c. “The latter part of the parabolic song, contained in Isaiah 5:6, begins here to be more fully explained; and, to the end of the chapter, we have an account of that total destruction of the republic, which was to be brought upon it by a people most skilful in war, and coming from a very distant country.” The greatness and impelling cause of this threatened destruction are explained in this and the following verse: the instruments of it, a fierce and warlike people, are described Isaiah 5:26-29. And the consequence of it, the trouble and desperation of those that remained from this slaughter, Isaiah 5:30. See Vitringa. Their root shall be as rottenness They shall be like a tree, which not only withers in its branches, but dies and rots at the roots, and therefore is past all hopes of recovery. That is, they shall be destroyed, both root and branch, and that as certainly and irresistibly as fire devours the stubble on which it kindles, and the flame consumes the chaff which it touches. Their blossom shall go up as dust Shall vanish as the dust, which is blown away with every wind, or shall be resolved into dust, and yield no fruit; because they have cast away the law of the Lord, &c. Have cast off all obedience to it, and treated it with contempt.