Precious stone or stubble?

Paul, in 1 Cor. 3, under the figure of a house, speaks of men and their building in God’s house abiding the fire, or being destroyed by it, after the literal example of gold, silver and precious stones, of wood, hay and stubble. The gold, silver and gems are God’s jewels, who abide the fire, when “the day cometh that shall burn as a oven,” and the wicked are reduced to “ashes.” The wicked are the “wood, hay, and stubble” of the situation, whose consumption shall, as Malachi says (ch. 4), “leave them neither root nor branch.” “Who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap” (Mal. 3:2).

Robert Roberts, & Walker, C. C. (1907). The Ministry of the Prophets: Isaiah p491