1 Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! Add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices.
Ariel is probably Jerusalem, since that is the city David chose for his capital city.
2 Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto Me as Ariel.
Even though there were many sacrifices in Jerusalem, God is not impressed. He will cause destruction that will make Jerusalem “Ariel,” which means “an altar covered in blood.”
3 And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee.
Instead of protecting them, God will become their enemy.
4 And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.
“You will all sound like ghosts.”
5 Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passes away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.
Even so, the time will come when Jerusalem's enemies will blow away like dust.
6 Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.
He will again, in time, fight for them.
7 And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision.
“This will all seem like a bad dream.”
8 It shall even be as when an hungry man dreams, and, behold, he eats; but he awakes, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreams, and, behold, he drinks; but he awakes, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.
When I was little I had a dream that my brother was handing me an ice cream cone. Chocolate. I reached out to get it and was just going to take a lick when I woke up. The disappointment was so strong, well, I still remember it forty years later! Oh my mouth was so empty!
This is how Jerusalem’s enemies will feel. God will allow some punishment, but He will ultimately protect them and the enemies will feel so empty and disappointed.
9 Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.
“You act as stupid and clumsy as if you were drunk, but it’s just unbelief.”
10 For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath He covered.
God has cut off the visions from most prophets.
11 And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, “Read this, I pray thee:” and he saith, “I cannot; for it is sealed:”
12 And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, “Read this, I pray thee:” and he saith, “I am not learned.”
The prophecies of the future are like you tried to get someone who is illiterate to read you a bedtime story.
13 Wherefore the Lord said, “Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor Me, but have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the precept of men:
The Jews were making sacrifices, pretending to serve God, but it was all show.
God doesn’t really care about ceremonies. He cares about what is in our hearts.
14 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.
Human wisdom will prove so weak and stupid that it will be obvious when God works.
15 Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, “Who seesh us? and who knows us?”
Some people are actually stupid enough to think they can hide from God. This attempt is actually atheism. They don’t really think there is a God.
16 Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, “He made me not?” or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, “He had no understanding?”
The unbelieving are acting like a clay pot that says “There is no God. I made myself. It’s all my own doing.” Or a picture frame that says, “I got here by accident. It’s all chance and chaos. There is no intelligence behind the design of the Universe.”
17 Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?
God is promising that it won’t be very long before Lebanon becomes prosperous again.
18 And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.
God works miracles. He does the impossible.
19 The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
God is especially the champion of the poor. The rich rely on their own wealth and power to supply their needs and wants. But the poor can’t do that. So they turn to their only source of help; God.
This is a big part of why there is revival in the Third World today, but not in America or Europe. We are too rich to need God.
20 For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off:
21 That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproves in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought.
“20 Bullies will vanish and scoffers will cease, and all those plotting evil will be killed— 21 the violent man who fights at the drop of a hat, the man who waits in hiding to beat up the judge who sentenced him, and the men who use any excuse to be unfair.” -LB
22 Therefore thus saith the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, “Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale.
The same God that Abraham worshiped is going to make the Jews victorious.
23 “But when he sees his children, the work of Mine hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify My name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.”
God's blessings throughout the Old Testament often start with the promise of an increased birth rate. God loves babies and considers them a blessing. The more the better!
It is Satan who hates humans and especially babies; who tries to prevent their conception and then kill them as soon as possible once they do come into being, preferably before birth.
We are not being smart or responsible when we control the size and timing of our family. We are trying to play God and denying His blessings to us.
24 They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.