Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, [so] their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Ver. 24. Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble.] For all the crimes aforementioned, and for that, to all the former they add this, that they have cast away the law of the Lord, and despised his Word.
As the fire.] Heb., The tongue of fire; that is, the top of the flame, which resembleth a tongue, that is also thin, broad, long, and of a fiery colour: "Setting on fire the course of nature, and is itself set on fire of hell." Jam 3:6
Devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff.] Sin doth as naturally draw and suck judgments to it as the lodestone doth iron, as dry stubble and light chaff doth fire; suddenly and with no ado shall sinners be consumed, when God once taketh them to do; exorientur et exurentur.
So their root shall be rottenness.] In allusion to the vine Isa 5:1 which brought forth rotten grapes. Isa 5:4
And their blossom shall go up as dust.] Shall vanish and come to nothing, as it needs must where the root is putrified. Of wild vines Pliny a saith, Ostentant fructum potius quam porrigunt, they rather make a show of fruit than yield any. And there are some vines, saith Varro, b whose fruit ever rotteth before it hath time to ripen. He meaneth they shall vanish in their greatest flourish of seeming felicity.
a Lib. xvi. cap. 27.
b Var. ap. Cas. Dion.