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At first, the opening verses of this familiar Advent text seem not to make sense. They appear to be a kind of "double talk." It is as if the Lord is speaking to his people out of both sides of his mouth.
The message is to God's people in Jerusalem. It could as easily be to God's people in Dayton. "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God," says the Bible. That is true for Jerusalem inhabitants and Dayton residents as well. We would expect to hear sentences of correction and consequence from the Lord whom we know we have offended.
From one side we hear words of comfort. This reading has various comforting phrases, like "speak tenderly to Jerusalem (Dayton)" and cry to her that "she has served her term" that "her penalty is paid." We do understand that sin has consequences. We know that one of those consequences is guilt and regret that can follows us, often not allowing us to relax or sleep. How wonderful to hear from the Lord that we have served our term and our penalty is paid. Like a released prisoner, we're glad to be free from our regrets and can greet a new day of faith and service.
However, it seems as though the Lord speaks from the other side of his mouth in the next half verse; that she has received from the Lord's hands "double for all her sins."
I remember being asked by our coach to take ten laps around the ball field. When I objected, he said: "Would you like to make that twenty?" I knew that ten were being added for my error in talking back. We recognize a doubling as further punishment, as unwelcome news.
We employ the doubling ourselves in many aspects of our lives. Maybe you have employed this technique in your parenting. "You're grounded for a week," we say to our child. And if we hear anything like an insolent retort, we add "Would you like to make that two weeks?" An unwelcome doubling.
No one knows the Old Testament like Jewish rabbis. I once heard a Rabbi speak about this verse. "It's a doubling we hear from our Lord," he explained, "but not an unwelcome one." He went on to say that when a Jewish family owed a debt, the person to whom the money was owed placed a paper with the amount owed on the door of the debtor's house. When the debt was paid, that piece of paper was doubled over to signify that the debt was released and a new day of opportunity lay ahead. And in this case, the Rabbi taught, it is even better because the debtor could not pay his Lord, but out of his grace and mercy, he forgave the debt and doubled over the paper anyway. Just so is the love and mercy of our comforting God.
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