The wild grapes of Judah are here continued: blind atheism, vs. 18-20; proud self-conceit, v. 21; drunkenness, v. 22; injustice in the courts, vs. 23, 24. What a terrible description is that given in v. 18 of the inevitable progress of sin! The bacchanalian procession which is seen, in y. 14, descending with music and flowers into the open gates of Hades, is described in vy. 18 as being drawn down by a cable. Men begin with a thread, but the thread of habit becomes a rope, and the rope grows to a cable, which ultimately lands a man in the pit. From vy. 25 onward we have the description of impending judgment. Earthquakes, armed raids, civil strife, and famine fever, the devastating inroads of hostile invasion, a desolate land and a hungry sea such would be the forces of destruction which Judah’s sin would unloose. Recent events have revealed the terror of such a visitation. Remember that the wrath of love is as severe as a consuming fire.