1 For behold, the Lord GOD of hosts is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah
support and supply, all support of bread, and all support of water;
2 the mighty man and the soldier, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder,
3 the captain of fifty and the man of rank, the counselor and the skillful magician
and the expert in charms.
4 And I will make boys their princes, and infants shall rule over them.
5 And the people will oppress one another, every one his fellow and every one his neighbor; the youth will be insolent to the elder, and the despised to the honorable.
6 For a man will take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying: “You have a cloak; you shall be our leader, and this heap of ruins shall be under your rule”;
7 in that day he will speak out, saying: “I will not be a healer; in my house there is neither bread nor cloak; you shall not make me leader of the people.”
8 For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because their speech and their deeds are against the LORD, defying his glorious presence.
Comment: This sounds like catastrophe! A city under under siege and a country ravished! Resulting famine and the water supply taken away, cut off. The army in total defeat; hierarchy either killed of taken captive; immature and untrained leaders; anarchy!
And at last the cause of this Judgement of God is given. People didn’t speak aright – not that their dialect was bad but the substance of what they said, They had become ‘worldly’ in their thinking, forgetting God, and thus they spoke immorally, spoke blasphemy, and failed to teach their following generation the laws of God. Nor did they act correctly! This is not at all surprising, for actions spring from the core of a person! It sounds much like the world in which we are living today! Can we expect/are we experiencing the Judgement of God?
Proverbs 28: 15&16a – Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a poor people. A ruler who lacks understanding is a cruel oppressor.
Prayer: We need revival of our nation’s life, O God. Please let it start in me but please let it be nationwide!
As I read it! 