The destruction described will have a cleansing effect. Jerusalem will repent. Where the previous chapter indicated the humiliation of the women and the death of the men, those two consequences begin to be reversed here. Thus, in verse 4 the Lord speaks of the time when he will wash away the filth of the daughters of Zion, a direct reversal of the humiliation of the women in the last chapter. Similarly, purging the blood of Jerusalem may refer to those who had died by the sword.
The imagery of redemption comes with a “cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night.” This is an unmistakeable reference to the presence of Jehovah as he led the children of Israel out of Egypt. Thus, the previous salvation from a foreign power foreshadows the redemption of the current foreign power. It also declares that although the children of Israel may have forsaken Jehovah, Jehovah will still be with them.
The mention of the tabernacle is another clear reference to the Exodus, and as the traveling house of God becomes the symbolic representation that God is still with them. He will be their refuge.