I will make it go forth," declares the LORD of hosts, "and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of the one who wears falsely by My name; and it will spend the night within that house and consume it with its timber and stones."I wonder why these particular sins were singled out for special punishment in this prophecy. Was it because God sees them as particularly bad? I can understand that for swearing falsely against Him, but what makes theft especially bad? I'm not saying it isn't bad, but why does it rank above, say, violence?
Maybe instead, these two were singled out because they were a particular problem at the time? If God had become so unimportant that people swore on Him falsely, that would both damage His importance and degrade trust overall. And if people were stealing constantly, maybe a shock to the system was needed to bring people to see the error of their ways.
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