A man with a measuring line
6 “Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north,” declares the LORD, “for I have scattered you to the four winds of heaven,” declares the LORD.
7 “Come, O Zion! Escape, you who live in the Daughter of Babylon!” 8 For this is what the LORD Almighty says: “After he has honored me and has sent me against the nations that have plundered you—for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye—9 I will surely raise my hand against them so that their slaves will plunder them. Then you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me.
Some translations of verse 6 read “Ho! Ho!” instead of “Come! Come!” The word in Hebrew is the word that is still used in the Yiddish expression Hoi! Weh! It can mean “Woe!” In fact, the two sound the same. It is a word spoken under great urgency to get someone’s attention.
We can see the Lord beckoning. We can hear him saying, “Ho! Ho!” or “Come! Come!” Get away from the destruction that is coming from the north, from Babylon (it is referred to in this way in other places; see Jeremiah 1:14; 6:22).
Once again, the land that punished God’s people was in turn going to receive punishment: “I will surely raise my hand against them so that their slaves will plunder them.”
Six centuries before Christ, Babylon was the whip God used to chastise his people. But Babylon’s time for punishment came. Their slaves plundered them.
God’s people remained the apple of his eye. Notice that in verse 8 this remark is a parenthetical remark made by the angel. The angel, who is by his commission a ministering spirit to God’s people, knew the special and unique position of God’s people. They were like the pupil, the gateway, to his eye. They were special to him. He saw them. No one could hurt them with impunity.