4 What the cutting locust left,
the swarming locust has eaten.
What the swarming locust left,
the hopping locust has eaten,
and what the hopping locust left,
the destroying locust has eaten.
5 Awake, you drunkards, and weep,
and wail, all you drinkers of wine,
because of the sweet wine,
for it is cut off from your mouth.
6 For a nation has come up against my land,
powerful and beyond number;
its teeth are lions’ teeth,
and it has the fangs of a lioness.
7 It has laid waste my vine
and splintered my fig tree;
it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down;
their branches are made white.
I learnt today that there are 4 different Hebrew words for locust – the cutting, swarming, hopping or destroying locust. Verse 4 certainly paints a bleak picture of what God’s judgement can do to a nation. Jewish readers would associate locusts with one of the plagues that God brought upon Egypt in the Exodus. Judah is now being judged like Egypt, which is a huge reason to weep.
Verse 5 is a call to wake up. Judah is in a spiritual slumber caused by drinking too much wine. Getting drunk is a sin in the Bible, but I suspect it should be considered a metaphor here for filling our lives up, gorging ourselves on luxuries and trifles, rather than enjoying relationship with the living God.
Many in Fareham need to wake up from a spiritual slumber. And also many Christians need to wake up from lives drunk on entertainment, working too long or other trifling things at the expense of speaking and hearing from God.
Because of these things in Judah, God is cutting off wine, by sending a ferocious nation, like a lion to lay waste to trees in Judah. That which has become an idol to Judah, her wine, will be taken away. Therefore, the people must wake up and weep.
True repentance, turning away from sin and to Christ requires mourning at the sins we have committed. If sins in your life do not make you sad, it’s likely that you have not truly repented of sin and truly believed in Christ. So, wake up from your drunkenness!
Prayer: Heavenly Father, forgive me for ignoring you and gorging myself on other things. Wake me up from spiritual slumber! I mourn the sin in my life and I turn away from things that distract me from you and turn to Christ, receiving His mercy. Amen.
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