v8 wail and howl- idolatry will lead to weeping and lamentation (Lk 13v28) 

✨whenever nakedness is mentioned in the Bible it conveys shame. Idolatry will ultimately bring shame to people. 

✨jackals are animals of the night, darkness

✨mourning speaks of intense sorrow and emotional pain.

✨ostriches bury their heads in the sand – they hide themselves. Maybe this can also be seen as an image of shame?

Note: G-d is going to bring shame, lamentation etc upon the people. These are not the kind of words people want to hear, but these are the words that people desperately need to hear. Only words like these can penetrate the hard hearts and produce a repentance that is acceptable to the L-rd. Prophecy is closely related to repentance. Without prophetic revelation people will continue in their sin. 

v9 her – referring to Israel ie that Northern kingdom

✨incurable or fatal – when a person has been fatally wounded they are still alive but nothing more can be done for them in order to save them from death. It’s only a matter of time before they die. 

✨the “disease” (sin)that affected the Northern kingdom spread like a plague and eventually also infected and corrupted the Southern Kingdom (this took approx 200 years before the south -Judah- also went into exile). 

✨to the gate -gates were related to the place of judgement. (Prov 31v23, Ruth 4v1-11). What this is saying is that G-d’s punishment is also going to come to the people of Judah, even to Jerusalem His Holy city. 

v10 Gath was one of the Philistine/enemy cities. 

✨to not tell of this in Gath means that they did not want their enemies to rejoice over the judgement of G-d coming upon His own people.

✨Beth Aphrah means “house of dust” so in Hebrew there is a play on words here. This town is going to literally be reduced to dust. 

✨to roll in the dust was a way of repenting, a way to humble yourself and to show mourning. 

v11 these places mentioned here would have been well known in that day, but not even where they were located survived. They were not rebuilt when the people came back from exile. 

✨does not go out – they would not be able to go where they wanted to go nor do what they wanted to do. 

✨they would mourn but their tears would go unanswered.

✨taken from you – their spiritual weakness has led to what they have had being removed from them. The conclusion we  can draw from this is that idolatry leaves us empty, shameful, full of sorrow, a poor testimony to others etc. This is the exact opposite of what true worship brings about.