Is Israel a servant? is he a homeborn slave? why is he spoiled?
Is Israel a servant or a homeborn slave, that he should be spoiled and plundered and made a prey, for such servitude is unnatural to him as God's free people and firstborn son. The plunder was not unavoidable fate but was brought upon Israel by itself. This self-brought ruin came by forsaking God, the fountain of living water and the source of life in His Word, and turning to other helpers and sources for help and satisfaction. Those other sources were other nations, human teachings, and broken cisterns that cannot give life or sustain.
Israel's own wickedness and backsliding and lack of reverence for God brought correction upon it. The following verses explain this, exposing the bitter consequence of abandoning Him. When God's people fail to maintain pure principles and change His glory for that which does not profit, they bring upon themselves loss and shame and oppression. That oppression is seen when leaders restrict and oppress others and lord over conscience, treating individuals as servants to be restricted and repressed and bound and released at human pleasure.
Such oppressive dealing with individuals is not according to the mind of the Spirit of God. God will not countenance this injustice upon His heritage but will manifest its folly and unrighteousness. What He requires instead is the religion of love and not bigotry, shown in good works that glorify the Father in heaven. Despite the privileges of being God's chosen people, Israel failed to be a light to the world and to carry out His purpose. Unbelief leaves His people spiritually behind and unable to stand firmly for the truth.
The question warns and exposes people in the present who claim to belong to God yet abandon Him for false worship. It lays bare their bondage to theories and prejudices and their acceptance of error. That bondage follows from forsaking God and His Word for human teachings that cannot sustain and for broken sources that cannot give life.
Is Israel a servant or a homeborn slave, that he should be spoiled and plundered and made a prey, for such servitude is unnatural to him as God's free people and firstborn son. The plunder was not unavoidable fate but was brought upon Israel by itself. This self-brought ruin came by forsaking God, the fountain of living water and the source of life in His Word, and turning to other helpers and sources for help and satisfaction. Those other sources were other nations, human teachings, and broken cisterns that cannot give life or sustain.
Israel's own wickedness and backsliding and lack of reverence for God brought correction upon it. The following verses explain this, exposing the bitter consequence of abandoning Him. When God's people fail to maintain pure principles and change His glory for that which does not profit, they bring upon themselves loss and shame and oppression. That oppression is seen when leaders restrict and oppress others and lord over conscience, treating individuals as servants to be restricted and repressed and bound and released at human pleasure.
Such oppressive dealing with individuals is not according to the mind of the Spirit of God. God will not countenance this injustice upon His heritage but will manifest its folly and unrighteousness. What He requires instead is the religion of love and not bigotry, shown in good works that glorify the Father in heaven. Despite the privileges of being God's chosen people, Israel failed to be a light to the world and to carry out His purpose. Unbelief leaves His people spiritually behind and unable to stand firmly for the truth.
The question warns and exposes people in the present who claim to belong to God yet abandon Him for false worship. It lays bare their bondage to theories and prejudices and their acceptance of error. That bondage follows from forsaking God and His Word for human teachings that cannot sustain and for broken sources that cannot give life.