Isaiah 40:24

24 They have only now been planted, and their seed put into the earth, and they have only now taken root, when he sends out his breath over them and they become dry, and the storm-wind takes them away like dry grass.

Isaiah 40:24 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 40:24

Yea, they shall not be planted
As trees are, like the cedars in Lebanon, though they may seem to be such; but be like the grass of the field, and herbs of the earth: or, "even they shall be", as if they were "not planted ^F3", they shall not grow and flourish; or they shall be plucked up, and be no more; this is said of the princes and judges of the earth; nay, they shall not be sown;
as seed is, which springing up, brings forth fruit, but so it shall not be with them; or they shall be as if they had not been sown, no fruit being brought forth by them: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth;
so as to continue and abide, but they shall soon vanish and disappear, as the most powerful princes and wisest judges do. The Targum is,

``although they multiply, although they increase, although their children become great in the earth:''

"and" or "yea", he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither;
as grass withers, when a severe wind blows upon it: and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble;
which is not able to stand before the force of it; and as unable are the greatest potentates on earth to stand before the tempest of divine wrath and vengeance; if God blows but upon them in anger, all their glory and grandeur, pomp and power, wither away like the flower of the field; and especially if he comes forth in all the fury of his wrath in a tempestuous way against them, they are no more able to stand before him that stubble before a violent storm: see ( Revelation 6:15-17 ) . The Targum is,

``yet, even he will send his fury upon them; and his word shall take them away, as a whirlwind stubble.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 (wejn lb Pa) "perinde ut non plantati", Calvin; and so the following clauses.

Isaiah 40:24 In-Context

22 It is he who is seated over the arch of the earth, and the people in it are as small as locusts; by him the heavens are stretched out like an arch, and made ready like a tent for a living-place.

23 He makes rulers come to nothing; the judges of the earth are of no value.

24 They have only now been planted, and their seed put into the earth, and they have only now taken root, when he sends out his breath over them and they become dry, and the storm-wind takes them away like dry grass.

25 Who then seems to you to be my equal? says the Holy One.

26 Let your eyes be lifted up on high, and see: who has made these? He who sends out their numbered army: who has knowledge of all their names: by whose great strength, because he is strong in power, all of them are in their places.