Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, And I will build a wall against her, That she can't find her way.
All such hindrances to idolatry and wickedness, as visible here in the case of old Israel, have their counterpart in God's cursing of the ground for Adam's sake  (Genesis 3:17-19), and the continuation of such divine interference with nature as a means of human discipline throughout history, a divine action still visible today.  The wretchedness of the entire world, groaning in the anguish of sin, debauchery, idolatry, violence and poverty at the time when "The Dayspring from on High" entered our earth-life in Bethlehem, is but a larger picture of what is here primarily focused upon the old Israel.