Woe to Ariel!
The lesson of this section seems to be that even those nearest and dearest to God, who bear his name, who are in a certain sense his, are not exempt from suffering at his hands. Even Jerusalem, "the city where David dwelt" "God's lion," his champion, his "mighty one"—was shortly to experience all the horrors of a prolonged siege, to be brought down to the dust—to be distressed, weakened, humiliated. The memory of David would not save her; her name of "Ariel" would not exempt her. She would have to go through the fearful ordeal. The Christian may humbly ask—Wherefore?
I. BECAUSE, HAVING SINNED, SHE DESERVED PUNISHMENT. God cannot allow sin to go unpunished. His attribute of perfect justice requires that even for pardoned sin there should be a penalty. It is well for sinners when the penalty is exacted in this life. The sufferings of the inhabitants of Jerusalem during the siege were no doubt, in some measure, punishments.
1. For the national sin of unfaithfulness.
2. For the particular sins of the sufferers.
But this is not a full account of the matter. Jerusalem suffered also—
II. BECAUSE SHE NEEDED CHASTISEMENT AND WOULD BE THE BETTER FOR IT. Jerusalem was still undergoing her probation. There were hopes of her turning to God. Nay, she did from time to time partially turn, and her actual destruction was deferred for above a century after that of her sister, Samaria. The sufferings of the siege were in the main intended to bring the sufferers to repentance—to humble proud hearts, to bend stubborn wills, to show the vanity of earthly supports and stays, and induce entire dependence and trust in God. "Ariel" was punished far more in love than in wrath. She was still to God "as Ariel." Her "woe" was not the final woe pronounced on the hopelessly impenitent, but the woe which, while it is grievous at the time of its infliction, "nevertheless afterward yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby" (Hebrews 12:11).