The nation was divided and in the northern kingdom was the capitol of Samaria, and the Southern kingdom was still the capitol of Jerusalem. But judgment was coming to them both. The LORD was building a case against them for his judgment and this was “witness” against them. They would be judged for their many sins.
God says of Samaria that he will them “a heap of rubble” (v. 6). And all her temples to false gods and all her images and all the wages with which she received and paid as spiritual prostitutes.
Her evil had even reached Jerusalem. And this is why a cry went up of the agony of what was to come.
At this point there is a strong play on words of the names of towns. It would be like if we said, in Philadelphia, which means brotherly love, there will be no love between brothers. In the city of Las Angelos, which means “the angels,” there will be no angels.
But here is what the towns look like here as best explained in the paraphrase of “The Message.”
10-15 Don’t gossip about this in Telltown.
Don’t waste your tears.
In Dustville,
roll in the dust.
In Alarmtown,
the alarm is sounded.
The citizens of Exitburgh
will never get out alive.
Lament, Last-Stand City:
There’s nothing in you left standing.
The villagers of Bittertown
wait in vain for sweet peace.
Harsh judgment has come from God
and entered Peace City.
All you who live in Chariotville,
get in your chariots for flight.
You led the daughter of Zion
into trusting not God but chariots.
Similar sins in Israel
also got their start in you.
Go ahead and give your good-bye gifts
to Good-byeville.
Miragetown beckoned
but disappointed Israel’s kings.
Inheritance City
has lost its inheritance.
Glorytown
has seen its last of glory.
He uses the towns and their meanings to make a play on words for the judgment of God. And then he ends with this:
“Shave your heads in mourning, for the children in whom you delight; make yourselves as bald as the vulture, for they will go from you into exile” (v. 16).
They didn’t believe him. Or else they would have repented. But they did not. And in 722 BC they were utterly destroyed by Assyria.
Even now God sends out warning. There will be a judgment upon the earth. Those who repent and trust in Christ will live. But those who do not will perish.
