Reflections on Ezekiel 16

Ezekiel 16 (Contemporary English Version)
1. The LORD said:
   
2. Ezekiel, son of man, remind the people of Jerusalem of their disgusting sins
   
3. and tell them that I, the LORD God, am saying: Jerusalem, you were born in the country where Canaanites lived. Your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Hittite.
   
4. When you were born, no one cut you loose from your mother or washed your body. No one rubbed your skin with salt and olive oil, and wrapped you in warm blankets.
   
5. Not one person loved you enough to do any of these things, and no one even felt sorry for you. You were despised, thrown into a field, and forgotten.
   
6. I saw you lying there, rolling around in your own blood, and I couldn't let you die.
   
7. I took care of you, like someone caring for a tender, young plant. You grew up to be a beautiful young woman with perfect breasts and long hair, but you were still naked.
   
8. When I saw you again, you were old enough to have sex. So I covered your naked body with my own robe. Then I solemnly promised that you would belong to me and that I, the LORD God, would take care of you.
   
9. I washed the blood off you and rubbed your skin with olive oil.
   
10. I gave you the finest clothes and the most expensive robes, as well as sandals made from the best leather.
    
11. I gave you bracelets, a necklace,
    
12. a ring for your nose, some earrings, and a beautiful crown.
    
13. Your jewelry was gold and silver, and your clothes were made of only the finest material and embroidered linen. Your bread was baked from fine flour, and you ate honey and olive oil. You were as beautiful as a queen,
    
14. and everyone on earth knew it. I, the LORD God, had helped you become a lovely young woman.
    
15. You learned that you were attractive enough to have any man you wanted, so you offered yourself to every passerby.
    
16. You made shrines for yourself and decorated them with some of your clothes. That's where you took your visitors to have sex with them. These things should never have happened!
    
17. You made idols out of the gold and silver jewelry I gave you, then you sinned by worshiping those idols.
    
18. You dressed them in the clothes you got from me, and you offered them the olive oil and incense I gave you.
    
19. I supplied you with fine flour, olive oil, and honey, but you sacrificed it all as offerings to please those idols. I, the LORD God, watched this happen.
    
20. But you did something even worse than that--you sacrificed your own children to those idols!
    
21. You slaughtered my children, so you could offer them as sacrifices.
    
22. You were so busy sinning and being a prostitute that you refused to think about the days when you were young and were rolling around naked in your own blood.
    
23. Now I, the LORD God, say you are doomed! Not only did you do these evil things,
    
24. but you also built places on every street corner
    
25. where you disgraced yourself by having sex with anyone who walked by. And you did that more and more every day!
    
26. To make me angry, you even offered yourself to Egyptians, who were always ready to sleep with you.
    
27. So I punished you by letting those greedy Philistine enemies take over some of your territory. But even they were offended by your disgusting behavior.
    
28. You couldn't get enough sex, so you chased after Assyrians and slept with them. You still weren't satisfied,
    
29. so you went after Babylonians. But those merchants could not satisfy you either.
    
30. I, the LORD God, say that you were so disgusting that you would have done anything to get what you wanted.
    
31. You had sex on every street corner, and when you finished, you refused to accept money. That's worse than being a prostitute!
    
32. You are nothing but an unfaithful wife who would rather have sex with strangers than with your own husband.
    
33. Prostitutes accept money for having sex, but you bribe men from everywhere to have sex with you.
    
34. You're not like other prostitutes. Men don't ask you for sex--you offer to pay them!
    
35. Jerusalem, you prostitute, listen to me.
    
36. You chased after lovers, then took off your clothes and had sex. You even worshiped disgusting idols and sacrificed your own children as offerings to them.
    
37. So I, the LORD God, will gather every one of your lovers, those you liked and those you hated. They will stand around you, and I will rip off your clothes and let all of those lovers stare at your nakedness.
    
38. I will find you guilty of being an unfaithful wife and a murderer, and in my fierce anger I will sentence you to death!
    
39. Then I will hand you over to your lovers, who will tear down the places where you had sex. They will take your clothes and jewelry, leaving you naked and empty-handed.
    
40. Your lovers and an angry mob will stone you to death; they will cut your dead body into pieces
    
41. and burn down your houses. Other women will watch these terrible things happen to you. I promise to stop you from being a prostitute and paying your lovers for sex.
    
42. Only then will I calm down and stop being angry and jealous.
    
43. You made me furious by doing all these disgusting things and by forgetting how I took care of you when you were young. Then you made things worse by acting like a prostitute. You must be punished! I, the LORD God, have spoken.
    
44. People will use this saying about you, Jerusalem: "If the mother is bad, so is her daughter."
    
45. You are just like your mother, who hated her husband and her own children. You are also like your sisters, who hated their husbands and children. Your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Hittite.
    
46. Your older sister was Samaria, that city to your north with her nearby villages. Your younger sister was Sodom, that city to your south with her nearby villages.
    
47. You followed their way of life and their wicked customs, and soon you were more disgusting than they were.
    
48. As surely as I am the living LORD God, the people of Sodom and its nearby villages were never as sinful as you.
    
49. They were arrogant and spoiled; they had everything they needed and still refused to help the poor and needy.
    
50. They thought they were better than everyone else, and they did things I hate. And so I destroyed them.
    
51. You people of Jerusalem have sinned twice as much as the people of Samaria. In fact, your evil ways have made both Sodom and Samaria look innocent.
    
52. So their punishment will seem light compared to yours. You will be disgraced and put to shame because of your disgusting sins.
    
53. Someday I will bless Sodom and Samaria and their nearby villages. I will also bless you, Jerusalem.
    
54. Then you will be ashamed of how you've acted, and Sodom and Samaria will be relieved that they weren't as sinful as you.
    
55. When that day comes, you and Sodom and Samaria will once again be well-off, and all nearby villages will be restored.
    
56. Jerusalem, you were so arrogant that you sneered at Sodom.
    
57. But now everyone has learned how wicked you really are. The countries of Syria and Philistia, as well as your other neighbors, hate you and make insulting remarks.
    
58. You must pay for all the vulgar and disgusting things you have done. I, the LORD, have spoken.
    
59. Jerusalem, you deserve to be punished, because you broke your promises and ignored our agreement.
    
60. But I remember the agreement I made with you when you were young, and so I will make you a promise that will last forever.
    
61. When you think about how you acted, you will be ashamed, especially when I return your sisters to you as daughters, even though this was not part of our agreement.
    
62. I will keep this solemn promise, and you will know that I am the LORD.
    
63. I will forgive you, but you will think about your sins and be too ashamed to say a word. I, the LORD God, have spoken.
    
    

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    A parable is used in chapter 16 to portray the extent of Judah's wickedness and the certainty of her coming judgment. It begins with a description of Israel's history likening her beginnings as a nation to a newborn baby that is not wanted and is left in an open field to die. God found Israel in this condition and gave her life. When she grew and matured He made a marriage covenant with her and took her as His own, making her a queen because of her beauty and lavishing His wealth on her. She became well-known for her beauty. But she also became "confident in your beauty and acted like a prostitute because of your fame." (16:15) Thus, she lavished her sexual favors on everyone who passed by. Then she began to lavish the wealth given her by her husband on her lovers. Though she acted as a prostitute, there was a significant difference. Prostitutes offer their sexual favors for pay, but Israel paid her lovers to have sex with her. From there her promiscuity continued to spiral downward, building male images with which to engage in prostitution and eventually offering the children who were the product of her marriage as sacrifice to these idols.
    
    The unfaithfulness to her marriage vows referred to the breaking of the covenant between God and Israel, and the prostitution was Israel's turning to idolatry. Israel eventually outstripped the other nations in her idolatry and wickedness. Though the cities of Sodom and Samaria were known to have been destroyed because of their wickedness, Israel, Jerusalem in particular, had become more wicked. It was impossible that God would overlook Israel's sin, and in bringing judgment on her He would use these other nations with whom Israel had engaged in her sin to bring the judgment as stated in 16:37: "I am therefore going to gather all the lovers you pleased--all those you loved as well as all those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around and expose your nakedness to them so they see you completely naked." Israel would be judged in keeping with the judgment for adultry and blood shed which was stoning and the sword. Thus Babylon destroyed Jerusalem with stoning and the sword. Also involved was idolatry, and the judgment for a city involved in idolatry was being killed by the sword and burning the city. This too was a part of the destruction by Babylon.
    
    It is a serious thing to accept the blessings and provisions of God and then credit their source to someone or something other than God and lavish them on purposes God abhors. Everything we have, including our very lives, are gifts from God our Creator. Whether we acknowledge there is a God or not, whether we acknowledge Him as Creator or not makes no difference. Our failure to acknowledge God and His role in creation is not ignorance but rather denial. Romans 1:18-21 puts it in perspective: "For God's wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. From the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse. For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened."