It can be very unnerving to trust in someone or something only to find that it has gone. In this passage the prophet is telling the people that the things they had been trusting in were about to be removed.

Because of the moral decline in the nation the leaders who had become immoral were about to be taken away. This would lead to a total breakdown in society where nobody would want to become a leader. The prophet also speaks about the women. They had been trusting in their beauty as a means of support for their needs. Just as reliance on the leaders would be taken away so too would trusting in their appearance become futile.

The symbolism of ‘the Branch’ however is given to point the way forward for the people. This is a reference to the ‘Messiah’, Jesus Christ who would come to ‘take away the reproach’ of the nation. He would do this by way of the cross …. giving his life as a ransom for the wrong things that had been done so that people would now only trust in him.