An uncle would come to dispose of the remains in the house. As he entered the door and called out, “Is anyone here?” a person hiding in a remote part of the house would reply, “No.” The uncle would then say, “Hold thy tongue: for we may not make mention of the name of the Lord.” Why not? The coming judgment would be so severe that the people, who now commonly approached the Lord, would then be fearful they were not in the right condition to be acceptable. They were very far from the Lord in their conduct. The severity of the judgment would make them think, “If we mention the Lord’s name, there may be further vengeance.”

Usually the emphasis is put o n the dispersion of the northern kingdom, the thought being that the people would be sifted like corn in a sieve among all nations (Germany, Austria, France, etc.) in the Diaspora. That thought is correct, but the wording intentionally gives a twofold application. The most important application is the one yet future in the end time. Instead of the emphasis being on sifting and shaking the corn so that it falls among all nations, the future application emphasizes what is left in the sieve: the Holy Remnant. Verse 9 progresses from a past application to a future application, from the Diaspora to individuals, in that not “the least grain [individual in the Holy Remnant]” will fall on the ground. Not one grain, not one individual in the Diaspora whom God will select as part of the Holy Remnant, will fall to the ground. Inferentially here, and stated plainly elsewhere, all such grains will be regathered to Israel, some before and some after Jacob’s Trouble (in the second regathering). The regathering we see now started in the past and is continuing, but the second regathering, yet future, will be from all nations.

The voice of mirth, gladness, the bridegroom, and the bride and lighted candles and the sound of millstones were removed not only from Judah but also from the surrounding nations. Right away we can see a spiritual connotation because of Revelation 18:23, “And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.” In other words, the natural picture, from which we can extrapolate valuable information, is a past historical fulfillment that embodies a prophecy of the future. As we continue, we will become more and more convinced that chapter 25 was not wholly fulfilled by the king of Babylon and his confederates, for some of the details did not happen back there but are prophesied elsewhere as events in the near future.