Isaiah now returns to agricultural imagery. Because Israel has turned away from Yahweh, its roots are rotten, its blossoms wither in the flame without forming fruit, and fire consumes what is left after what should have been the harvest.
Culture: Blenkinsopp suggests: “The final verdict is couched in familiar but telling agrarian terms, drawn from the practice of blanching or scorching the stubble after the harvest and the unpleasant experience of finding plants gone rotten.” The process of burning stubble not only destroys the stubble, but may return some nutrients to the soil. Charles C. Mann, a correspondent for Science magazine, notes: “[Amazonian farmers practice a type of agriculture called] ‘slash-and-burn,’ or ‘swidden,’ as it is sometimes known. Farmers clear small fields with axes and machetes, burn off the chaff and refuse, and plant their seeds. The ash gives the soil a quick shot of nutrients, giving the crop a chance.”
Thus, the process of the burning may not be seen as a completely destructive act, but rather as one designed to increase the productivity of the land, and metaphorically the people, at a later date.