1. God's punishment was correspond to the sin of the people
Sin:
3 Woe to the city guilty of bloodshed!
She is full of lies;
she is filled with plunder;
she has hoarded her spoil!
repeated word: bloodshed (plural), full of , filled with, hoarded
Punishment:
v.3 There will be many people slain;
there will be piles of the dead,
and countless casualties—
so many that people will stumble over the corpses.
repeated: Many people slain, piles of the dead, countless, so many...people will stumble over
Sin:
4 Because you have acted like a wanton prostitute—
a seductive mistress who practices sorcery,
who enslaves nations by her harlotry,
and entices peoples by her sorcery—
repeated: Prostitute, harlotry, sorcery
Punishment:
v.5b I will strip off your clothes!
I will show your nakedness to the nations
and your shame to the kingdoms.
6 I will pelt you with filth;
I will treat you with contempt;
I will make you a public spectacle.
7 Everyone who sees you will turn away from you in disgust;
they will say, ‘Nineveh has been devastated!
repeated: being exposed, being treated with contempt, seen in disgust, devastated
Question: What is the sin of being a harlot? Being a harlot and practicing sorcery were both being exposed and treated in contempt. In other words, they deceived people and let them being seduced by her riches, flourishing and seemingly important.
Reflection: Do we admire these things? Are we being affected, enticed or enslaved by people like these?
Sins would be punished accordingly and do not think light about them.
Not only the sinners will be punished but people around them will be affected.
2. The seemingly securities are useless when God judges
a. 8 You are no more secure than Thebes—
she was located on the banks of the Nile;
the waters surrounded her—
her rampart was the sea,
the water was her wall.
9 Cush and Egypt had limitless strength;
Put and the Libyans were among her allies.
12 All your fortifications will be like fig trees with first-ripe fruit:
If they are shaken, their figs will fall into the mouth of the eater.
13 Your warriors will be like women in your midst;
the gates of your land will be wide open to your enemies;
Sources of security: Geographical locations, national allies, secure wall, warriors, gates
b. 16 Increase your merchants more than the stars of heaven!
They are like the young locust which sheds its skin and flies away.
17 Your courtiers are like locusts,
your officials are like a swarm of locusts!
They encamp in the walls on a cold day,
yet when the sun rises, they fly away,
and no one knows where they are.
Conclusion and reflection: When the judgement comes all these security will be fly away. What seems to give us sense of security? Nothing can be rely on when the judgment day comes.
3. 16 Increase your merchants more than the stars of heaven!
They are like the young locust which sheds its skin and flies away.
17 Your courtiers are like locusts,
your officials are like a swarm of locusts!
They encamp in the walls on a cold day,
yet when the sun rises, they fly away,
and no one knows where they are.
Merchants and officials were the success of this country, but they also contributed to the final collapse of the country when they flied away. In v.1 the city was judged because of violence and lies. The merchants and officials were probably the ones who needed to be responsible for these. At the end, their keys of "success" became the reason of their destruction.
Do we admire "sin" as long as they built up the "success" of a city? They will be the reason for our destruction. Do not admire them.
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