Woe unto [them that are] wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
Ver. 21. Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes.] Wiser than David - as the proud prince of Tyre thought himself Eze 28:3 - or than any prophet of them all. This self-conceitedness is πασης της προκοπης εγκοπη, said that heathen, the hindrance of all true proficiency, and a mischievous marrer of good; here is a woe hung at the heels of it. And lest any should hold that to be a small matter, let them consider what befell Meroz after that bitter curse pronounced against it Jdg 5:23 - the very name and memorial of it is utterly extinct and blotted out; as also what befell the barren fig tree when once cursed by Christ - it withered away suddenly, Mat 21:19-20 both root and branch, though naturally the fig tree is the most juiceful of any tree, and beareth the brunt of winter blasts.