What is the context?
The nations will see the Lord’s judgment and recognize His hand. Israel, too, will know Him as their God. His victory corrects a false conclusion someone might have drawn from the earlier exile.
Israel had not gone into captivity because the Lord lacked power to defend them. The passage identifies their unfaithfulness as the reason He hid His face and delivered them to their enemies.
The explanation holds together His power and His judgment. He was not absent from the history that brought the people low, and their defeat did not mean that another nation’s gods had overcome Him.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Henry and Wesley emphasize the Lord making Himself known through the defeat of the invaders. The passage itself explains the earlier exile as His response to Israel’s unfaithfulness.
This is an explanation of Israel’s particular covenant history. It does not give a reader grounds to diagnose every person’s suffering as punishment for a particular hidden sin.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.