A Watchman's Hut in a Cucumber Field

"The daughter of Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard,
Like a watchman's hut in a cucumber field, like a besieged city."

I've read many commentaries on this verse. There's not much explanation of Isaiah 1:8, but my first thought was... a watchman's hut in a cucumber field...isn't that silly? Cucumbers are melons...they lie on the ground...why would you need a watchman's hut?

Such a shelter protected a look-out for the crops. After the harvest, people would leave the shelter to fall into pieces.

Abraham ben Meīr Ibn Ezra wrote: And the daughter of Zion is left, etc. The fortified cities of Judah will be taken and only Zion will be left. fDlD The hut.TM The place for the watchman ; that is, the temple built in honour of the Almighty. fWD A lodge, where the watchman stays through the night. In the garden of cucumbers. Ruined36 (comp. lxv. 4).

And it made me sad. Because this is what is happening today. God is no longer on a throne. He's a 'good buddy' 'the man upstairs'...he's 'the homeboy'.

God is ALMIGHTY, EL, ELOHIM, EL SHADDAI, ADONAI, JEHOVAH, ABHIR, KADOSH, KANNA, EL ROI, YESHUA, PALET, GAOL, EYALUTH, TSADDIQ, THE FIRST AND LAST, EMMANUEL, THEOTES, FATHER, JESUS, ALMIGHTY GOD.

and we are allowing his temple...our hearts ... to be hardened into ruins.

I repeat Isaiah: "Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts."

2009 my prayer was that God would change my character.

My goal in 2010 is... that I would let Him.