John Gill Commentary Isaiah 40:24

"Yea, they have not been planted; yea, they have not been sown; yea, their stock hath not taken root in the earth: moreover he bloweth upon them, and they wither, and the whirlwind taketh them away as stubble." — Isaiah 40:24 (ASV)

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.