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Wo to her that is filthy - This is a denunciation of Divine judgment against Jerusalem.

The “woe,” having gone round the pagan nations, again circles round where it began, the “Jerusalem that killed the prophets and stoned those that were sent unto her” Matthew 23:37. Woe upon her, and joy to the holy Jerusalem, the “new Jerusalem Revelation 3:12; Revelation 21:10, the Jerusalem which is from above, the mother of us all,” close this prophecy; both in figure; destruction of her and the whole earth, in time, the emblem of the eternal death; and the love of God, the foretaste of endless joy in Him.

Woe - “Rebellious and polluted;” “thou oppressive city!”. The address is the more abrupt, and bursts more upon her, since the prophet does not name her. He uses as her proper name, not her own name, city of peace,” but “rebellious,” “polluted;” then he sums up in one, thou “oppressive city.”

Jerusalem‘s sin is threefold, actively rebelling against God; then, inwardly defiled by sin; then cruel to man. So then, toward God, in herself, toward man, she is wholly turned to evil, not in passing acts, but in her abiding state:

(1) rebellious

(2) defiled

(3) oppressive

She is known only by what she has become, and what has been done for her in vain. She is rebellious, and so had had the law; defiled, and so had been cleansed; and therefore her state is the more hopeless.

The holy God hates sin most in those nearest to him. A sinful state is, and will be, a woful state. Yet they had the tokens of God's presence, and all the advantages of knowing his will, with the strongest reasons to do it; still they persisted in disobedience. Alas, that men often are more active in doing wickedness than believers are in doing good.