Isaiah 31:2 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Yet he also is wise— There are two things which those who placed their confidence in Egypt peculiarly extolled in the Egyptians; namely, their wisdom and strength; particularly the strength of their cavalry. The prophet, comparing the Egyptians in each respect with God, beats down the vanity of their carnal confidence; for, though the Egyptians were wise and powerful, yet he acquaints them that God was more wise and more powerful, who could never want understanding to conceive the most proper means, nor power to carry those means into execution. The prophet makes use of the figure called meiosis, expressing much less than is meant, when speaking of God he says, Yet he also is wise; and in the third verse, though he denies not the strength of the Egyptians, yet he sets forth the imbecility of that strength when compared with God.