Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Because ye have not heard my words,
The verse states the reason for the announced judgment, that the people had not heard God's words. That refusal had continued for more than twenty years of warnings in which God desired to save the people, yet they despised the messages. The counsel they rejected came through repeated prophetic warnings, for God spoke rising early and sent all His servants the prophets rising early. They were called, every one, to turn from his evil way and amend conduct, to not follow other gods to serve them so they might remain in the land given to them and their fathers, and to not provoke Him with the work of their hands and hearts, yet they did not listen.
Because of that refusal the peoples of the north and Nebuchadnezzar would be brought against Judah and the surrounding nations, bringing destruction and desolation and silencing the ordinary sounds of joy and daily life, and the nations would serve Babylon for seventy years. The same judgment is pictured as a cup of divine wrath to be drunk first by Jerusalem, Judah and its kings, then by Egypt and many other nations until God's purpose was fulfilled. The Chaldeans were used as God's instrument to chastise the disobedient people, and the punishment was proportionate to their knowledge and intelligence and to the warnings they had rejected and despised. God had long delayed judgment from unwillingness to humble and humiliate His chosen people, but then brought captivity as a final effort to turn them from their evil course and to check evil.
The verse belongs to the prophecies Daniel studied to understand the promised seventy-year period of Jerusalem's desolation and the return of the exiles, which made the number of years plain to him. Daniel understood that seventy-year captivity to be nearing its close in the first year of Darius. The same charge applies in the present, with God entreating erring professors to repent and turn, predicting dangers, sounding warning, and reproving sin through His chosen servants as faithfully as in Jeremiah's day, while the Israel of this time is likewise tempted to scorn reproof and turn a deaf ear. The verse warns for the present that though mercy withholds retribution for a time, God will not withhold judgment forever nor always stay His hand from those who reject His counsel, but will visit iniquity with righteous judgment.
The verse states the reason for the announced judgment, that the people had not heard God's words. That refusal had continued for more than twenty years of warnings in which God desired to save the people, yet they despised the messages. The counsel they rejected came through repeated prophetic warnings, for God spoke rising early and sent all His servants the prophets rising early. They were called, every one, to turn from his evil way and amend conduct, to not follow other gods to serve them so they might remain in the land given to them and their fathers, and to not provoke Him with the work of their hands and hearts, yet they did not listen.
Because of that refusal the peoples of the north and Nebuchadnezzar would be brought against Judah and the surrounding nations, bringing destruction and desolation and silencing the ordinary sounds of joy and daily life, and the nations would serve Babylon for seventy years. The same judgment is pictured as a cup of divine wrath to be drunk first by Jerusalem, Judah and its kings, then by Egypt and many other nations until God's purpose was fulfilled. The Chaldeans were used as God's instrument to chastise the disobedient people, and the punishment was proportionate to their knowledge and intelligence and to the warnings they had rejected and despised. God had long delayed judgment from unwillingness to humble and humiliate His chosen people, but then brought captivity as a final effort to turn them from their evil course and to check evil.
The verse belongs to the prophecies Daniel studied to understand the promised seventy-year period of Jerusalem's desolation and the return of the exiles, which made the number of years plain to him. Daniel understood that seventy-year captivity to be nearing its close in the first year of Darius. The same charge applies in the present, with God entreating erring professors to repent and turn, predicting dangers, sounding warning, and reproving sin through His chosen servants as faithfully as in Jeremiah's day, while the Israel of this time is likewise tempted to scorn reproof and turn a deaf ear. The verse warns for the present that though mercy withholds retribution for a time, God will not withhold judgment forever nor always stay His hand from those who reject His counsel, but will visit iniquity with righteous judgment.