Deeper Commentary
Ezekiel 16:2 Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations-
Perhaps Ezekiel gave some of his prophecies in Jerusalem and others to the
community of captives in Babylon, being transported between them by the
cherubim. Or maybe the prophecies were taken to Jerusalem and read there. But Zech. 2:7 addresses the exiled community as "Zion who dwells
in Babylon" (Zech. 2:7). They were the daughter of Zion, and should have
returned there and had Zion in their hearts rather than Babylon. As Ez. 18
makes clear, the captives considered they had done nothing wrong, and God
was judging Judah too harshly. So they needed the conviction of sin which
powerfully follows in this prophecy.
Ezekiel 16:3 And say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh to Jerusalem: Your birthplace
is in the land of the Canaanite; the Amorite was your father, and your
mother was a Hittite- The idea seems to be that the Jews were [and
are] quite wrong to claim that they were ethnically different from the
surrounding nations, and thereby enjoyed Yahweh's special protection and
interest. The Jews were not ethnically pure; Ephraim and Manasseh were
half Egyptian, and they had a long history of intermarriage. They were
chosen as God's special people by grace, beloved for their fathers' sakes,
and not because God for some reason took a liking to their genetic
structure. And morally they had acted no better than the Canaanite tribes,
indeed they had done worse. They shared the same low moral culture;
they were as Amorites and Hittites. And they were cast out of the land for
their wickedness (Gen. 15:16). Judah now could expect the same. Jerusalem
or Jebus was originally a Canaanite city; for this prophecy is
specifically about Jerusalem. She was born as an Israelite city out of
Canaan, as it were, and her subsequent immorality showed that she
continued the similarities. She had not been reborn of the Spirit as God
had intended.
Ezekiel 16:4 As for your birth, in the day you were born your navel was not
tied neither were you washed in water to cleanse you; you weren’t salted
at all, nor swaddled at all- Ezekiel defines Jerusalem's "birth" as
of Canaan, whereas the Jews would naturally have considered it more
appropriate to trace their origins of birth to Abraham. But they lacked
Abraham's faith and spirituality and therefore they were likened to the
Canaanites rather than Abraham when it came to origin and characteristic.
This kind of intentionally shocking language and reasoning is to continue
throughout this chapter. The lack of care for the newborn Israel suggests
that those who ought to have cared for her, did not. And their lack of
care was shocking. This speaks of how the priestly classes had not cared
for Israel. It was God who had Himself cared for them.
Ezekiel 16:5 No eye pitied you to do any of these things to you, to have
compassion on you; but you were cast out in the open desert, because your
existence was despised in the day that you were born- Moses is
set up as example and representative of his people Israel. Israel is
likened in Ez. 16:5 to a child rejected at birth, but miraculously found
and cared for, and brought up with every pampered blessing. Just as Moses
was. Stephen described the ‘putting out’ of Moses with the same word used
in the LXX for what happened to Israel in Ezekiel 16 (Acts 7:21; Ex. 2:3
LXX). But the casting out of the unwanted child into the "open desert"
recalls Hagar and Ishmael. As noted on :3, there was no reason to think
that Israel were better than Ishmael. The seed was "called" in Isaac, but
that was by grace alone; for Ishmael was as much the seed of Abraham as
was Isaac, according to the flesh.
Ezekiel 16:6 When I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said
to you, Though you are in your blood, live; yes, I said to you, Though you
are in your blood, live- The newborn deformed child (:5 LXX) was
wallowing or 'squirming' in its birth blood, apparently choking to death
in it- cast out to die. And God had mercy when nobody else would, and
saved it. God had the power to give life to that dying, deformed child.
And He could breathe His Spirit into the dead bones of the exiles and
likewise make them "live", as described in Ez. 36. He can bring beauty and
usefulness to Him out of nothing, just as explained in the story of the
charred vine wood in Ez. 15. He shows a grace nobody else would show, not
even a mother to her newborn child. That perhaps is why at times we have
trouble understanding and believing it- because it is beyond our human
experience. Our greatest experience of love was that of our mother at
birth. But God's love is here portrayed as far exceeding that.
Ezekiel 16:7 I caused you to multiply as that which grows in the field, and
you increased and grew great, and you attained to excellent beauty; your
breasts were fashioned, and your hair was grown; yet you were naked and
bare- God never forgot their pathetic beginnings, and He wished them
never to forget them either. Jacob entered Egypt with 70 people, but
multiplied very rapidly there. If we ask what it was that was attractive
about Israel, it was her religion. For the items of beautification
mentioned are all allusive to the tabernacle. This deformed at birth
woman was made strangely beautiful by God, so much so that He married her.
Ezekiel 16:8 Now when I passed by you and looked at you, behold, your time was
the time of love; and I spread My skirt over you, and covered your
nakedness. Yes, I swore to you, and entered into a covenant with you, says
the Lord Yahweh, and you became Mine-
Ezekiel 16:9 Then washed I you with water; yes, I thoroughly washed away your
blood from you, and I anointed you with oil- This suggests the
anointing of the priests. Perhaps the group known as "Jerusalem" here
particularly refers to the priesthood, who along with the royal family
were to be taken into captivity and judged so severely for their failures
towards God's people. But there may also be an allusion to marital rites
involving washing and anointing with oil such as in Ruth 3:3; the day
before the wedding is described in the Ur Excavation Texts 5.636 as a "day
of bathing". The washing away of blood would then refer to menstrual
blood, or perhaps the bleeding after the first act of intercourse. But
what the bride usually did to herself, God did to her, in this metaphor.
All through, we see God taking the initiative, ever seeking to force
through His love for the bride whilst she was at least vaguely willing to
go through with it. And this God is our God, not passively waiting for us
to jump various bars or reach certain levels before He shows any interest
in us. Israel were commanded to wash their clothes before entering the
covenant at Sinai, but here we read that God in fact washed them. We
wonder if they were actually obedient to that commandment; but God as it
were did it for them.
Ezekiel 16:10 I clothed you also with embroidered work, gave you shoes of
sealskin, dressed you with fine linen, and covered you with silk-
This is all the language of the tabernacle (Ex. 26:36; 27:16; 28:39;
35:35; 36:37; 38:18); "sealskins" are only spoken of in that context.
Again the focus of the criticism is upon the priesthood and the abuse of
the sanctuary for idolatry. Following on from the marriage or engagement
allusion in :9, the idea was that the entire tabernacle system was in
order to enable Israel to be the wife of God Himself. It was far from mere
ritual for the sake of it.
Ezekiel 16:11 I beautified you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands and
a chain on your neck- The girl had been born deformed, so badly so
that her mother cast her out into the scrub to die from choking on her own
birth blood (:5 LXX). She therefore had to be beautified, rather than
being natural beautiful from birth. It was God who beautified her. And as
noted on Ez. 15, there was no place for Israel to think that they were
somehow born pleasing to God, that they had some genetic inheritance which
He found so attractive. Their beauty to Him is presented as being of His
own creation and device, rather than arising from Israel independently by
nature. All this speaks of how righteousness is imputed to us in Christ,
we are clothed upon with it as in the parable of the wedding garment,
having nothing of ourselves but dirty rags.
Ezekiel 16:12 I put a jewel on your forehead, earrings in your ears and a
beautiful crown on your head- This recalls the high priestly attire.
The Jerusalem temple was beautiful to God, the desire of His eyes (Ez.
7:20; 24:16). She was crowned... the queen of God Almighty. That she
should turn to adultery and prostitution is to this day an unthinkable
tragedy.
Ezekiel 16:13 Thus you were decked with gold and silver; and your clothing was
of fine linen, and silk, and embroidered work; you ate fine flour, honey
and oil; and you were exceedingly beautiful, and you prospered to become a
kingdom- The language so far has alluded to the tabernacle and the
priesthood. It was God's intention that all Israel should become a nation
or kingdom of priests (Ex. 19:5,6). A husband's duty was to provide his
wife with food; and God did this excellently for His priesthood. For it
was they who ate the fine flour, honey and oil of the sacrifices. Ezekiel
as a priest would have been keenly touched by this condemnation of the
priesthood.
Ezekiel 16:14 Your renown went forth among the nations for your beauty; for it
was perfect on account of My majesty which I had put on you, says the Lord
Yahweh- The high priestly clothes were for glory and beauty (Ex.
28:2). God as it were made them righteous and beautiful; He clothed them
with His imputed majesty. The reference is to how the fame of Israel
spread even to the queen of Sheba in Solomon's time.
Ezekiel 16:15 But you trusted in your beauty and played the prostitute because
of your renown, and poured out your prostitution on everyone who passed
by; his it was- The beauty which they had been given was only in
God's eyes. They trusted in it in that they assumed that with such love
and acceptance by God as their husband, they were free to do as they
wished. This was the mentality of the false prophets of Ez. 14- they were
confident that whatever they did, God would not suffer Jerusalem to fall
and the temple to be destroyed. The logic of the argument and metaphor
here seems to suggest that the nations were attracted to Jerusalem because
of her beauty, the beauty placed upon her by God, and she slept with them
in worshipping their idols. Perhaps indeed the religion of Israel was
attractive and fascinating to the pagan nations; it certainly was intended
to be, for Israel were to be the light of the Gentile world. But instead
of showing them the light, those people were welcomed into the temple and
taught Israel their ways, resulting in idol worship within Yahweh's
temple.
Ezekiel 16:16 You took of your garments and made for yourselves high places
decorated with various colours, and played the prostitute on them: such
things shall not come, neither shall it be so- The "high places" were
likened to prostitutes' tents built from the garments given by God to
Israel. They mixed pagan idolatry with the things connected with Yahweh
worship. For those garments given alluded to the priestly garments.
Ezekiel 16:17 You also took your beautiful jewels of My gold and of My silver
which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men and played the
prostitute with them- "Images of men" is literally, phallic symbols.
They took the jewels associated with the breastplate of Yahweh's glory and
turned them into models of a penis and worshipped them. Within God's
temple. This was perhaps an insight into things Ezekiel himself was
unaware of, but it was part of the program of convicting Jerusalem of her
sin (:2).
Ezekiel 16:18 And you took your embroidered garments and put them on the
images, and set My oil and My incense before them- The intimate gifts
which were to be part of the private commitment between husband and wife
were used by this wife in order to get other men to sleep with her. This
speaks of how Israel, at the hands of the priesthood, mixed Yahweh worship
with idolatry. They sacrificed what was to be sacrificed to Him, to the
phallic symbols and idols of :17. Again we note it was the priests who
offered the incense; it is they who are particularly addressed here. It is
appropriate that the appeal was made by a priest, Ezekiel.
Ezekiel 16:19 My bread also which I gave you- The sacrifices are
called God's bread or food, and were given to the priesthood.
Ezekiel 16:20 Moreover you have taken your sons and your daughters whom you
have borne to Me, and you have sacrificed these to them to be devoured.
Was your prostitution a small matter- It was the priesthood who
actually performed the sacrifices.
Ezekiel 16:21 That you have slain My children and delivered them up, in
causing them to pass through the fire to them?- "My children" may be
a reference to circumcision, the sign of the covenant. Excavations of the
Elephantine community reveal that the exiled Jews
mixed Yahweh and Baal worship to such an extent that they believed that
Yahweh , like Baal, had a consort called Anat. Inscriptions from Quntillet
Ajrud show the names Yahweh and Baal mixed together, including one which
appears to speak of “Yahweh and his asherah”. Ez. 16:21 and Ez. 23:39 are
quite specific about this anyway- Israel offered sacrifice to idols in
Yahweh’s own temple.
Ezekiel 16:22 In all your abominations and your prostitution you have not
remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, and were
wallowing in your blood- To remember the days of our spiritual youth
is critical; if we forget our cleansing from past sins then we lose all
spiritual focus (see on 2 Pet. 1:9).They had forgotten that they once were
newborn, disabled children, abandoned to death but saved by grace. And
that lack of awareness of their own frailty led them to lose all
conscience in how they treated others.
Ezekiel 16:23 It has happened after all your wickedness (woe, woe to you! says
the Lord Yahweh)- All the other sins were nothing compared to the
climax of their sin which :24 describes.
Ezekiel 16:24 That you have built for yourselves a vaulted place, and have
made yourselves a high place in every street- The vaulted place
refers to rooms for prostitution. These were in "every street", shrines
for idol worship; but the supreme "vaulted place" was the temple, which
had been turned into a centre of literal and spiritual prostitution. This
"vaulted place" was to be 'thrown down' (:39), so it clearly speaks of the
temple. Ezekiel had been shown the elders worshipping the sun and idols
within the temple, so it could really be that the temple had been turned
into a huge brothel, all the worse for it being done in the name of Yahweh
worship. Ezekiel uses this term "vaulted place" for the altar (Ez. 43:13
s.w.). Prostitution was often carried out before an altar; so it could be
that it was being practiced actually around the altar in the temple.
Ezekiel 16:25 You have built your lofty place at the head of every street, and
have made your beauty an abomination, and have opened your feet to
everyone who passed by and multiplied your prostitution- "Opening the
feet" is an allusion to a lewd gesture of a prostitute in spreading her
legs wide. The crudeness is shocking to us, and it must have been far more
so to the far more conservative society of Ezekiel's time. These shock
tactics were to achieve the aim expressed in :2, of getting Jerusalem [as
well as the exiles already in Babylon, the primary audience] to appreciate
the seriousness of what was going on.
Ezekiel 16:26 You have also committed sexual immorality with the Egyptians
your lustful neighbours, and have multiplied your prostitution, to provoke
Me to anger- Those mentioned as her partners were those with whom
Jerusalem sought political alliances, rather than depending upon Yahweh.
Those alliances may have been made with the agreement to worship the gods
of the protecting power, as Ahaz did with the Assyrians. And those worship
systems may have involved literal prostitution with women from those
nations. The attempted alliance with Egypt is spoken of in Jer. 2:18,36.
Ezekiel 16:27 See therefore, I have stretched out My hand over you and have
diminished your allotted portion of food, and delivered you to the will of
those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of
your lewd way- We would expect God to have immediately destroyed
Judah for such abominations; but He firstly just diminished their food,
through the famines and lack of food that arose after the first Babylonian
incursions. This "allotted portion of food" is the duty the husband had to
provide food for his wife, and he was not to "diminish" it if he took
another wife (s.w. Ex. 21:10). But God did diminish it; He can do what we
cannot, because He is not bound by His laws in a legalistic sense.
Ezekiel 16:28 You have played the prostitute also with the Assyrians because
you were insatiable; yes, you have played the prostitute with them, and
yet you weren’t satisfied- None of the political / military alliances
provided Judah with what she wanted; safety from the Babylonians and
confident freedom. That was only possible from Yahweh Himself. Being
unsatisfied was one of the psychological curses for disobedience to the
covenant (Lev. 26:26); whereas eating bread "to the full", being
'satisfied' [s.w.], was the blessing of obedience to it (Dt. 6:11 and
often). The life of satisfying the flesh ends in dissatisfaction, at the
end of a life spent ever more desperately seeking that satisfaction and
never finding it. That is the great paradox. Only going God's way leads to
satisfaction.
Ezekiel 16:29 You have moreover multiplied your prostitution to the land of
merchants, to Chaldea; and yet you weren’t satisfied with this- They
had been dishonest with the Babylonians, making agreements with them,
accepting their gods and pretending sole loyalty to them, whilst doing
just the same with the Egyptians and Philistines; and whilst claiming they
were solely devoted to Yahweh as the one and only God. As noted on :28,
this in essence is the sad way of life chosen by many today.
Ezekiel 16:30 How weak is your heart, says the Lord Yahweh, since you do all
these things, the work of an impudent prostitute- Typical of the
prophets, the essence is correctly perceived as the heart, the mind. The
worst idolatry and prostitution is only a reflection of the state of the
heart. "Weak" translates the word usually translated "languish"; the
people and land were to languish physically because that was the state of
their hearts (Is. 24:4; 33:9; Jer. 14:2). But this is where the power of
God's Spirit can transform human behaviour in practice; because the heart
or spirit is of the essence.
Ezekiel 16:31 In that you build your vaulted place at the head of every
street, and make your high place in every street, and have not been as a
prostitute, in that you scorn pay- Like drug addicts, what began for
personal pleasure ended up a mad obsession. Instead of being paid by her
paramours, she paid them. The same degeneration into sexual addiction is
portrayed in Hosea, where Gomer's behaviour is that of Israel.
Ezekiel 16:32 A wife who commits adultery! Who takes strangers instead of her
husband!- "Strangers" is literally 'Gentiles'. And the tragedy was
that she had the best of all husbands- God Himself. The simple shock and
disgust of it is shouted out in these simple words. And that is true of us
if we turn to the many idols of this world, remembering the earlier
observation that the idols are essentially in our hearts.
Ezekiel 16:33 They give gifts to all prostitutes; but you give your gifts to
all your lovers and bribe them that they may come to you on every side for
your prostitution- As suggested on :34, this payment was finally in
the form of allowing the nations to have their idols in the Jerusalem
temple. This was the "bribe" paid for them to offer military and political
protection. And so the harlotry was not simply from the lust of the flesh;
but like all sin, the essential reason was lack of faith in God.
Ezekiel 16:34 You are different from other women in your prostitution, in that
no one follows you to play the prostitute; and whereas you give hire, and
no hire is given to you, therefore you are different-
Ezekiel 16:35 Therefore, prostitute, hear the word of Yahweh- The
prostitute was to be judged. This is the language of court proceedings.
Ezekiel 16:36 Thus says the Lord Yahweh, Because your filthiness was poured
out and your nakedness uncovered through your prostitution with your
lovers; and because of all the idols of your abominations, and for the
blood of your children that you gave to them- This repeats the
complaint of Jer. 2:34: "In thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of
the poor innocents". God had saved the infant Israel when she was in her
blood; but she had poured out the blood of her children to the idols,
totally refusing to remember God's saving grace toward her in infanthood.
We note here again the parallel between idolatry and prostitution. There
was a literal connection, in that idolatry required sleeping with the cult
prostitutes; but clearly the prostitution was of the heart. The open
'uncovering' of her prostitution is in the context of this section being
the court proceedings against the prostitute (see on :35). "Uncovered" is
the word usually used for going into exile, as the captives were initially
marched off in a state of undress. But this was to be only a reflection of
what they themselves had done to themselves.
Ezekiel 16:37 Therefore see, I will gather all your lovers, with whom you have
taken pleasure, and all those who you have loved, with all those who you
have hated; I will even gather them against you on every side, and will
uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness-
Ezekiel 16:38 I will judge you, as women who break wedlock and shed blood are
judged; and I will bring on you the blood of wrath and jealousy- Such
women were destroyed by stoning, and the Babylonians catapulted stones at
Jerusalem, and the burnt her with fire as a whore was to be destroyed.
Ezekiel 16:39 I will also give you into their hand, and they shall throw
down your vaulted place, and break down your lofty places- As noted
on :24, the temple had become a fornication chamber, both literally and
spiritually, in that idols were worshipped there. This was to be done by
the very lovers whom she had given gifts to- the Babylonians.
Ezekiel 16:40 They shall also bring up a company against you-
Ezekiel 16:41 They shall burn your houses with fire, and execute judgments on
you in the sight of many women; and I will cause you to cease from playing
the prostitute, and you shall also give no hire any more- We expect
to read that the prostitute has been stoned to death. But although that
was to be the case, we have the implication in these words that somehow
the prostitute still lives, but she will not again be a prostitute or hire
lovers. This was God's hope for the remnant of His people; and they would
never again leave Him, the covenant they would enter with Him was to be
"eternal" in that they would never break it and neither therefore would
He. But this was not to be, and finally God has to take another wife, the
Gentiles, and start over. After so much effort to make it work with
Israel. See on :43.
Ezekiel 16:42 So will I cause My wrath toward you to rest, and My jealousy
shall depart from you, and I will be quiet and will be no more angry-
Ezekiel 16:43 Because you have not remembered the days of your youth-
This is a repeated criticism of them. They had not remembered the utter
grace shown to them, the abandoned, disabled newborn child (see on :5). It
is a clear reminder to ourselves never to forget God's grace to us and to
ever be awed by it.
Ezekiel 16:44 Behold, everyone who uses proverbs shall use this proverb
against you, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter- The Jews
proudly considered themselves the children of Sarah (Is. 51:2). But as
explained on :3, God had purposefully subverted that idea by saying that
their behaviour displayed the characteristics of their Hittite mother.
Clearly even at this stage, fleshly descent meant nothing to God; His
people were defined by spiritual characteristics and not those of the
flesh.
Ezekiel 16:45 You are the daughter of your mother, who loathes her husband and
her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their
husbands and their children: your mother was a Hittite, and your father an
Amorite- The implication could be that as Jerusalem hated Yahweh her
husband, so the Hittites and Amorites had. Perhaps they too had had the
opportunity of relationship with God and yet had turned away from it to
their gods. And Jerusalem had now turned to the same gods from the same
one true God. They would never said that they hated or loathed God nor
their children; but the prophets see to the essence of what is implied by
our attitudes and positions. Their sacrifice of their children to the
idols was likely done with pangs of sorrow rather than loathing of those
children; but God read it as loathing their own children. None of us are
merely caught up the flow of life and situations, victims of
circumstantial ethics. We can make some concrete election.
Ezekiel 16:46 Your elder sister is Samaria, who dwells at your left hand,
she and her daughters- "Daughters" may refer to the towns around (as
Num. 21:25 Heb.).
Ezekiel 16:47 Yet have you not walked in their ways, nor done after their
abominations- This could be quoting the words of the false prophets.
The claim is to be utterly deconstructed.
Ezekiel 16:48 As I live, says the Lord Yahweh, Sodom your sister has not done,
she nor her daughters, as you have done, you and your daughters- "As
I live" is a strong term; God is insistent that the sins of Judah were
worse than those of Sodom. The sexual perversions of Sodom were nothing
compared to those of Judah, both literally and in the sense that Judah
were so unfaithful to God. The children of Sodom could refer to Moab and
Ammon (:49) or to the cities around her. But God's grace in being patient
with Judah had been so far greater. The connection with Sodom may imply
that there was also the possibility of the salvation of Jerusalem for the
sake of the intercession of a tiny minority.
Ezekiel 16:49 Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride,
fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters;
neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy- I
suggested that "Sodom" is put for Moab and Ammon the sons of Lot who were
born near there, and who were therefore as it were the brothers of the
seed of Abraham. They too were proud (Is. 16:6; Jer. 49:4) and refused to
help the needy (Is. 16:3,4; Jer. 48:27). The "fullness of bread" in Sodom
was due to the fertile land there (Gen. 13:10). The obvious sin of Sodom
was sexual sin, but this singular "iniquity" was seen through by the
Divine analysis to its core- which was pride, prosperity, self-focus and
laziness. Rome and other societies have likewise been led by these things
into gross sexual sin, just as western society has been today.
Ezekiel 16:50 They were proud and committed sexual abomination before Me:
therefore I took them away as I saw good- "Before Me" recalls the
comment that the men of Sodom were "sinners before the Lord" (Gen. 13:13).
"As I saw good" refers to how God "saw" their sin and responded
appropriately to it (Gen. 18:21).
Ezekiel 16:51 Neither has Samaria committed half of your sins; but you have
multiplied your abominations more than they, and have justified your
sisters by all your abominations which you have done- This quotes
Jer. 3:11. The sinful ten tribes were even made to appear righteous,
justified, by the gross sins of Judah. Again this is an example of how the
Bible describes things as they might appear from a human perspective; for
Samaria was not righteous. God had a special love and grace for Judah; for
they were not destroyed until well after Samaria. And they abused that
grace.
Ezekiel 16:52 You also bear you your own shame, in that you have given
judgment for your sisters; through your sins that you have committed more
abominable than they-
Judah judged Samaria and Sodom in judging them as sinners, thinking
they had therefore been punished. So often we see this- sinners are wont
to harshly condemn other sinners. This is because they unconsciously
transfer their conscience of their sins to others, and punish them with
the punishment they realize subconsciously that they also deserve.
Ezekiel 16:53 I will turn again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and
her daughters and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and the
captivity of your captives in their midst- The vision was that the
daughters of Sodom, which I suggested above were Moab and Ammon, along
with the ten tribes, would return from captivity along with Judah. They
had all been taken captive by Assyria or Babylon, and the prophetic vision
was that the Gentiles would return with a repentant Judah and Israel; all
racial and interpersonal divisions would be overcome by a common
experience of grace, forgiveness and the bonds of the new covenant. But
instead of repenting, the restored exiles of Judah became arrogant and
exclusive towards others.
Ezekiel 16:54 That you may bear your own shame, and may be ashamed because of
all that you have done- Shame for sin is a major theme with Ezekiel.
The days of shame would come to an end (Ez. 16:54; 34:29; 36:15; 39:26)-
if Jerusalem accepted shame for her sins. But Ez. 44:13 says that the sins
of the Jerusalem priesthood were such that in the restored temple, they
would bear their shame in that they would never again minister in it.
Likewise the Jewish priesthood who persecuted Jeremiah at this time were
to bear a shame that would last for ever (Jer. 20:11). And yet the hope of
Israel was that they would eternally be unashamed, world without end (Is.
45:17). The resolution of this may be in God's willingness to count them
totally righteous by grace, upon their repentance. And Ezra "blushed"
[s.w. "ashamed"] because of Israel's sins (Ezra 9:6), and Jeremiah at this
time cast himself down in shame because of them (Jer. 3:25). This
representative intercession for Judah had some effect. Just as the Lord
Jesus bore the shame of Israel and all sinners on the cross (Is. 50:6),
and yet because of that He would not be ashamed eternally (Is. 50:7). He
was to become representative of the repentant Israel of God; for the same
words are used of how they too would have unashamed faces eternally (Is.
54:4). But the Jerusalem priesthood refused to take shame, they were
unashamed of their whoredoms (Jer. 3:3; 8:12). Ezekiel's appeal in Ez. 16
was so that they would recognize their sins, and be ashamed (Ez. 16:2).
There was time for them to do so right up until they were led captive, in
the final attempt to make them realize their shame. For when they went
into captivity, then God intended that they would be "ashamed" (Jer.
22:22). The final vision of Ezekiel, of the potential that was possible in
a restored Zion, was in order to make the exiles ashamed of their sins
when they realized the possibilities they had wasted and yet which were
still possible by grace (Ez. 43:10,11). But they didn't respond to that
vision, they refused to build and operate such a temple system; because
they refused to be ashamed in exile, although it was God's intention that
they should be. And so it is for us as a new Israel to be ashamed for our
sins, and identify with the Messiah figure who would bear Israel's shame
and thereby emerge eternally unashamed.
I
Ezekiel 16:55 Your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their
former estate; and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former
estate; and you and your daughters shall return to your former estate-
Ezekiel 16:56 For your sister Sodom was a byword to you in the day of your
pride- The sin of the Jerusalem priesthood, which is whom Ezekiel is
specifically addressing here, was compounded by their spiritual arrogance.
They used proverbs which mocked the wickedness of Sodom (Moab and Ammon)
and the ten tribes (Samaria), thereby exalting themselves spiritually in
their own eyes. We note that God is aware of and sensitive to our
throwaway expressions and words.
Ezekiel 16:57 Before your wickedness was uncovered, as at the time of the
reproach of the daughters of Syria, and of all who are around her, the
daughters of the Philistines, who do despite to you all around- The
GNB helps with "Now you are just like her- a joke to the Edomites, the
Philistines, and your other neighbors who hate you". As the Jerusalem
priesthood had mocked Sodom and Samaria, now they were mocked- by the very
ones whose idols they had accepted, as "hire" or payment for having
military protection from those peoples. The uncovering or exposure of
Jerusalem was when the various nations she had made alliances with in
return for sole devotion to their gods realized that they were being two
timed. And worse. It became known that the Jerusalem temple was a house of
all manner of gods, the symbol of her relationship with multiple nations,
all of whom she had promised total allegiance to in return for their
military and political help. Hence the anger and mockery of all of them,
when their mercenaries confederated with Babylon to totally destroy that
temple.
Ezekiel 16:58 You have borne your lewdness and your abominations, says Yahweh-
To carry sin is a metaphor for carrying the punishment for that sin.
That punishment was still future (:59) and yet the secret was out, the
nations knew they had been deceived, and now there was only a very narrow
window of opportunity for Jerusalem to repent. Their only way out was to
throw themselves solely upon their only true defence, Yahweh. But they
refused.
Ezekiel 16:59 For thus says the Lord Yahweh: I will also deal with you as you
have done, you who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant-
See on Zech. 11:10,11. As explained on :57, they had broken not only
their covenant of exclusive loyalty to Yahweh, but their covenants with
multiple nations and their gods. As noted on :28 and often, they had
broken the covenant which Yahweh made with them at Sinai. And the curses
for disobedience to it were now to come.
Ezekiel 16:60 Nevertheless I will remember My covenant made with you in the
days of your youth, and I will establish to you an everlasting covenant-
Here is amazing grace. They had broken the covenant (:59), but God
would still be faithful to that covenant. Yet it was a broken covenant;
and so He would make a new and everlasting one with them. That covenant
was "everlasting" in that God hoped and envisioned that they would never
again break it. See on :41,43. This was His hope, the hope of the
desperate lover, but it was not to come true. Zechariah some time later
was to speak of God breaking the covenant with His people. And so He has
made the new covenant with us, a new Israel.
Ezekiel 16:61 Then you shall remember your ways, and be ashamed, when you
shall receive your sisters, your elder sisters and your younger; and I
will give them to you for daughters, but not by your covenant- This
implies a new covenant would be made with the exiles, as explained in Jer.
31, Ez. 36 etc. That new covenant involved acceptance of the ten tribes on
an equal footing with themselves, as well as with the people of Sodom,
whom I have suggested refer to the children of Lot born near there, Moab
and Ammon- in other words, the reconcilliation of all the seed of Abraham.
Given their spiritual pride and elitism, that was perhaps not a great
prospect for the Jerusalem leadership at Ezekiel's time. And after the
restoration, their elitism continued, despising the Samaritans and indeed
all Gentiles, rather than welcoming them into the covenant of grace.
Acceptance of the new covenant, then as now, required reconcilliation with
God to be reflected in reconcilliation with our brethren. They preferred
the old covenant at Sinai; but they had broken that, and this acceptance
of their apparently spiritually weaker brethren was to be "not by your
covenant", the covenant made exclusively with Israel at Sinai, but by the
new covenant. The way the Jews tenaciously held on to that old covenant
merely reflected their refusal of this new way, this new covenant of
grace. Whilst that covenant was fully ended by the Lord's death on the
cross, in effect it had ended at Ezekiel's time; for here it is pronounced
broken, and a new covenant offered- which they refused to enter. So from
now onwards, their covenant relationship with God was effectively over.
Ezekiel 16:62 I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall know that I
am Yahweh- They would "know" Him through the utter grace of this new
covenant. They deserved death, the death of a whore, to be eternally
forgotten after how they had treated their husband- the God of all grace
and patience.
Ezekiel 16:63 That you may remember, and be confounded, and never open your
mouth any more because of your shame, when I have forgiven you all that
you have done, says the Lord Yahweh- The not opening their mouth
again could refer to not using the language of spiritual superiority
against others referenced in :56. But we can also read it as meaning that
they will be so ashamed that they will feel as if they are dumb; and yet
they will speak, but only of God's grace, and with a deep humility.
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