Ps. 78.63-64 (man and woman...)

Fire devoured / their young men
and their maidens / were not praised.
Their priests / fell by the sword,
and their widows / did not bewail them.  

Recurrence. These flames have seemingly been felt before. In verse 21, the flame of wrath erupts. In verse 31, it ‘flares up’ and kills “their best men, and brings down to death the youths of Israel.” Here, again, the ‘youths’ are targeted. There is no coincidence to the fact that both Egypt and Israel suffer the deaths of their children/youths. The flame that erupts on Egypt is not one that Israel has no fear of; rather, it is the eruption of the curses of covenant. Man and woman. This flame though has a further component to it that we have not seen. Until this point women have not made an appearance. When death has struck it has always been an entirely male-death. That continues here except for the fact that their deaths now involve the response of the women. More properly—their lack of response. The import of this is varied. On the one hand what we are seeing here is the total nature of this ‘flame’. It implicates the entirety o Israel from man to woman. It consumes Israel as a body. The women do not escape this fate as they are de-glorified (shamed) as a consequence of God’s abandonment. It is a fate almost as profound (or, as profound) as the death of the men. Robbed of their protectors they now have lost the only remaining protection available: the authority of glory. They are, hence, complete victims (likely, enslaved and worse). Priests and Profanation. The flame now creeps up the social ladder until it consumes the priests themselves. The fact that the priests are murdered ‘by sword’ is telling as a very profane and un-sacred act. Those who should inhabit most the realm of divine protection are clearly as vulnerable as the rest. Their deaths in particular point to God’s abandoning of his tabernacle and his glory. Those who ministered to him are themselves now useless articles, having lost their divine backing and protection. They became, in a sense, de-sacrilized with God’s handing over of his sanctuary and emblems. Priests and widows. The widows, like the maidens, are now brought forward to point, again, to the totality of the judgment, but also to highlight the failure on their part toward their husbands. The husbands should have been lamented by their wives. What we see here is that the external judgment is one that mimics or reacts (or, enacts) the internal evils of the people. Just as the widows have failed to give service to their husbands so too does God ‘allow’ Israel to be consumed by the invading flames of foes. Perhaps what we catch here is re-living of the experience in the wilderness when, in the midst of judgment, Israel continued to sin (vs. 31-32). It seems as if nothing can dissuade them from rebellion.