For while [they be] folden together [as] thorns, and while they are drunken [as] drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.
Ver. 10. For while they be folden together as thorns] And so can hardly be handled without hurt, God will burn them together in the same place, 2 Samuel 23:7, as a man puts thorns folden, and that cannot easily be sundered, all together into the fire, where they make a sudden blaze and are extinct. So will God deal with the Ninevites, notwithstanding their carnal combinations and confederacies.
And while they are drunken as drunkards] Who are very quarrelsome, bragging and braving; but may be easily dealt with, and pushed down with one finger.
As stubble fully dry] That hath long lain a sunning, and so is very combustible. The wicked are oft compared to stubble, because good for nothing but the fire; and when fully dry, when ripe for ruin, they shall be fully devoured, as some read the words. Ecquem vero mihi dabis rhetorem, &c., as one saith of another text. But what gallant rhetoric is here! well might God say, Hosea 12:10, "I have spoken also by the prophets and used similitudes," &c. (see the note there); here we have three in a breath, and all little enough to work on the hearts of the wicked, who are loth to believe the truth and certainty of God's threats; but rather bless themselves when God curseth, Deuteronomy 29:19 .