The swift downfall and impending exile of the Kingdom of Israel, driven by their sins, is vividly captured through four striking images of evaporation and disappearance [ביאור שטיינזלץ, צאינה וראינה, אברבנאל]. The first two metaphors depict a rapid vanishing act, comparing the nation to morning clouds and early dew. At first light, these elements appear promising, yet they quickly melt away and disappear the moment the sun rises and the heat intensifies [אבן עזרא, רד"ק, מצודת דוד]. Offering a unique perspective on this, [מלבי״ם] explains that these natural phenomena symbolize the withholding of divine blessing. Just as a morning cloud holds the false promise of rain before dissipating, any goodness or prosperity the people experience will be incredibly short-lived, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
From the passive fading of clouds and dew, the imagery shifts to active destruction and violent expulsion from the land. The nation is compared to the fine chaff and waste left on a threshing floor after the grain is gathered [מצודת ציון, רד"ק]. Caught in a fierce storm, this weightless debris is violently swept away [רש"י, מצודת ציון]. In the same way, a storm sent by God will strike the tribes, blowing them entirely out of their homeland and into exile [רד"ק, אברבנאל]. Finally, the destruction is likened to a pillar of smoke rushing upward through a roof opening, only to dissolve and disappear rapidly into the open air [מצודת ציון, רד"ק, מלבי״ם].
The primary approach among commentators is to view all four of these images as a single, continuous expression of sudden and total ruin. In contrast, [מלבי״ם] interprets them as a progression of distinct stages in the unfolding disaster. In his view, the chaff being blown from the threshing floor represents the initial phase of the exile, a sorting process where only the wicked are cast out while the righteous remain. However, the final image of smoke scattering completely in the wind represents the ultimate and total exile of the entire nation, leaving nothing behind.