The warning in the wilderness (Ezek 20:18-20:18)

“I said to their children

In the wilderness.

‘Do not follow

The statutes

Of your parents!

Do not observer

Their ordinances!

Do not defile yourselves

With their idols!’”

Yahweh had warned the children of Israel during the wilderness travel. They were not to follow the statutes of their parents, since Yahweh was going to give them new ones. These young children were not to observe the various ordinances and customs of their parents that they had followed in Egypt. Finally, they were not to defile themselves with the Egyptian idols of their parents.

Wakeup call to Jerusalem (Isa 51:17-51:20)

“Rouse yourself!

Rouse yourself!

Stand up!

O Jerusalem!

You have drunk

At the hand of Yahweh

The cup of his wrath.

You have drunk to the dregs

The bowl of staggering.

There is no one to guide her

Among all the children

She has borne.

There is no one to take her

By the hand

Among all the children

She has brought up.

These two things have befallen you.

Who will grieve with you

In this devastation with destruction?

Who will grieve with you

In this famine?

Who will grieve with you

Because of the sword?

Who will comfort you?

Your children have fainted.

They lie at the head of every street

Like an antelope in a net.

They are full of the wrath of Yahweh.

They are full of the rebuke of your God.”

Second Isaiah has a wakeup call for Jerusalem. They had suffered enough, since they were drunk from the cup of Yahweh’s wrath. They drank so much wrath that they were staggering around. No one was guiding them. No one was taking them by the hand, among all the children of Israel. They had been struck by more than two things, devastation, destruction, famine, and the sword. Who would comfort them? Their children have fainted on the streets, like they were antelopes caught in nets. They were filled with Yahweh’s anger and rebuke. They were in bad shape.