Isaiah 5:24

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. THEREFORE, AS THE FIRE DEVOURETH THE STUBBLE - literally, as the tongue of fire devoureth (Acts 2:3). AND THE FLAME CONSUMETH THE CHAFF - rather, the withered grass, or straw [ chªshash (H2842), from chuwsh (H2363), to hasten; whatever hastily takes fire: or from qaashash (H7197), to collect; or formed from the sound] falleth ...

24._Therefore as the flame of fire devoureth the stubble. _Lest it should be thought that he has so frequently cried out without good reason, he again shows what grievous and dreadful punishment awaits the nation, and threatens utter destruction to the stubborn, because they did not permit themselves to be brought back to the right path, but obstinately resisted instruction. He employs metaphors exceedingly well adapted to express his meaning, and better fitted to affect their hearts than if he had spoken plainly and without a figure. He begins with a comparison, but immediately slides into a metaphor, attributing a _root _and _branch _to the nation as to a tree. Under those two words he includes all the strength, either hidden or visible, that belongs to the nation, and says that the whole will be destroyed; for when the root, which alone gives strength and nourishment to the tree, beco...

24-30 Let not any expect to live easily who live wickedly. Sin weakens the strength, the root of a people; it defaces the beauty, the blossoms of a people. When God's word is despised, and his law cast away, what can men expect but that God should utterly abandon them? When God comes forth in wrath, the hills tremble, fear seizes even great men. When God designs the ruin of a provoking people, he can find instruments to be employed in it, as he sent for the Chaldeans, and afterwards the Romans, to destroy the Jews. Those who would not hear the voice of God speaking by his prophets, shall hear the voice of their enemies roaring against them. Let the distressed look which way they will, all appears dismal. If God frowns upon us, how can any creature smile? Let us diligently seek the well-grounded assurance, that when all earthly helps and comforts shall fail, God himself will be the streng...

Verse Isaiah 5:24. _THE FLAME_ - "The tongue of fire"] "The flame, because it is in the shape of a tongue; and so it is called metaphorically." _Sal. ben Melec_. The metaphor is so exceedingly obvious, as well as beautiful, that one may wonder that it has not been more frequently used. Virgil very elegantly intimates, rather than expresses, the image; - Ecce levis summo de vertice visus Iuli Fundere lumen apex; tactuque innoxia molli _Lambere_ flamma comas, et circum tempora pasci. AEn. ii. 682. "Strange to relate! from young Iulus' head A lambent flame arose, which gently spread...

THEREFORE AS THE FIRE ... - The remainder of this chapter is occupied with predicting “judgments,” or punishments, upon the people for their sins which had been specified. The Hebrew here is, ‘The tongue of fire.’ The figure is beautiful and obvious. It is derived from the pyramidal, or tongue-like appearance of “flame.” The concinnity of the metaphor in the Hebrew is kept up. The word “devoureth” is in the Hebrew “eateth:” ‘As the tongue of fire eats up,’ etc. The use of the word “tongue” to denote “flame” is common in the Scriptures; see the note at Acts 2:3. AND THE FLAME CONSUMETH THE CHAFF - The word rendered “chaff here,” means rather “hay, or dried grass.” The word rendered ‘consumeth,’ denotes properly “to make to fall,” and refers to the appearance when a fire passes through a field of grain or grass, consuming the stal

EXPOSITION ISAIAH 5:1 ISRAEL REBUKED BY THE PARABLE OF A VINEYARD. This chapter stands in a certain sense alone, neither closely connected with what precedes nor with what follows, excepting that it breathes throughout a tone of denunciation. There is also a want of connection between its parts, the allegory of the first section being succeeded by a series of rebukes for sins, expressed in the plainest language, and the rebukes being followed by a threat of punishment, also expressed with plainness. The resemblance of the parable with which the chapter opens to one of those delivered by our Lord, and recorded in the three synoptic Gospels, has been frequently noticed....

THEREFORE AS THE FIRE DEVOURETH THE STUBBLE,.... Or "tongue of fire" h; meaning the flame, the same as in the next clause; because it is in the form of a tongue; see Acts 2:3: AND THE FLAME CONSUMETH THE CHAFF; which is done easily, speedily, and entirely; the metaphors denote that their destruction would be easy, swift, sudden, irresistible, and irrecoverable. Reference may be had to the burning of Jerusalem, literally understood: [SO] THEIR ROOT SHALL BE ROTTENNESS; and so utterly perish; meaning their fathers, as Aben Ezra and Abarbinel think; or their chief and principal men, before mentioned; or their riches and substance, and whatever they gloried of, or trusted in; see Matthew 3:10: AND THEIR BLOSSOM SHALL GO UP AS DUST; before the wind; either their c

CHAPTER 5 The Song of the Vineyard and the Six Woes 1. _The song of the vineyard and Jehovah's lament (Isaiah 5:1)_ 2. _The judgment upon the vineyard (Isaiah 5:5)_ 3. _The wild grapes (Isaiah 5:8)_ 4. _First woe against covetousness (Isaiah 5:8)_ 5. _Second woe against fleshly lusts (Isaiah 5:11)_ 6. _Third woe against mockers (Isaiah 5:18)_ 7. Fourth woe against moral insensibility ...

A SERIES OF DENUNCIATIONS ON VARIOUS OFFENDERS. This section contains a collection of Woes, originally independent and even now not woven into a single symmetrical address. Whether they come from different periods of Isaiah's ministry is not so clear; no confidence can be felt in the attempts to date them. The text has not been very well preserved. ISAIAH 5:8. Woe to the grasping land-holders who drive the old possessors from their ancestral homesteads that they may have large estates all to themselves. Soon there will be a loneliness they will not desire, the solitude of desolation, and their lands will yield a harvest far less than the seed. With their land the dispossessed would lose their civil rights, to which the Hebrews hung tenaciously, as we see from the story of Naboth (1 Kings 21). Isa

THE LAW. See note on Isaiah 1:10. THE WORD. saying, or spoken word. Hebrew. _'imrah._...