““The depiction of terrible overthrow may well be, at least in part, a figure for Assyrian and/or Babylonian depredations on Israel and/or Judah, understood as divine judgment, in a proximate historical context; but there is nothing in the imagery to indicate that it should be read primarily with reference to any one historical event. The whole vision of YHWH’s day and its consequences appears to be eschatological in the same way as the vision of exalted Mount Zion—an ultimate reality that should bear upon vision and action in the present, to realign priorities and allegiance.””
