What is the context?
The remembrance becomes an urgent prayer. The people ask the Lord to look down from His holy dwelling and show the zeal, power and compassion they cannot presently see.
They appeal to Him as their Father and ancient Redeemer. Even if Abraham and Israel do not know or acknowledge them, the Lord remains the One to whom they turn. Their deepest appeal is to His relationship with them.
The question about straying and hardened hearts expresses the severity of their condition. They ask Him to return for the sake of His servants and the tribes that belong to Him.
The sanctuary has been trampled, and they feel reduced to the condition of a people He had never ruled or named as His own. The prayer continues into the next chapter with a plea for Him to come down and act.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Henry and Wesley read the passage as a plea for renewed mercy grounded in God’s fatherhood and His past redemption. The people bring their condition before Him rather than treating their abandonment as beyond appeal.
Wesley explains the hardening language in terms of God allowing them to stray and their hearts to become hardened. Henry similarly warns of the judgment of being left to one’s own ways. Both understand the request to return as an appeal for God to rescue the people from that condition.
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.