Jehovah’s judgment on the hypocrisy of Jerusalem’s worshippers issues in the restoration (vv. 17-24).

With the hypocritical worship spoken of in this chapter, there was vanity but no reality (v. 13) and blindness but no wisdom (vv. 9-12, 15-16). Through His incarnation Christ brought to us the very reality of the universe — the Triune God, the Divine Trinity, embodied in a person, Jesus Christ (John 1:14, 17). When we realize the embodied reality, the Divine Trinity in Christ, our eyes, our ears, and our understanding are opened, and we have wisdom. Christ is the reality and wisdom to God’s redeemed people (John 14:6a; 1 Cor. 1:24, 30) that makes them true worshippers of God (John 4:23-24).

The northern kingdom of Israel was full of drunkards (ch. 28), and the southern kingdom of Judah was full of hypocritical worshippers. These two conditions characterize the condition of fallen mankind on the earth. First, people are drunk by loving things other than the Lord, and second, they are not true but false. The kind of hypocritical worship described in this verse continued until the time of Christ (Matt. 15:1-14; John 4:20-24). As revealed in vv. 1-12, 14-16, Jehovah judged the hypocrisy of the worshippers in Jerusalem.

Meaning a lion of El. A symbolic name for Jerusalem, and representing the southern kingdom of Judah.