What is so appalling about Judah’s listening to no voice?

The voice to which the people of Judah did not listen is the voice of the Lord. Aside from the fact that this is a failure to listen to the Lord of heaven and earth, what makes this especially appalling is that from the time of creation, the voice of God has come to no other nation than that of his people Israel. As Moses said, Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? (Deuteronomy 4:33). God’s people were unique She has heard the voice of God. Neither Nineveh, the Cushites, Moabites, Ammonites, nor the Philistines had such a privilege. Only the city of Jerusalem (representative of all Israel) has heard. But she did not listen to the voice. This happened ten times in the wilderness, which led the Lord to swear that none of the generation that left Egypt would ever see the Promised Land (Numbers 14:22–23). Furthermore, the Lord later declared the curses of the covenant for all who would not listen to his voice (Deuteronomy 28:45, Deuteronomy 28:62). The word of the Lord continued to be heard during the monarchy, through the prophets. Woe indeed to the city of Jerusalem for its appalling stubbornness in not listening to or obeying the spoken or written word of the Lord.¹ Zephaniah saw the people as stiff-necked and arrogant.