A graphic tale of unfaithfulness
Jerusalem is like a useless vine. The wood of the vine cannot be used for anything at all. All it is good for is to be tossed on the fire. That’s what’s going to happen to Jerusalem.
And when I set my face against them, you will know that I am the Lord. Ezekiel 15:7
And there’s that phrase again.
Imagine Jerusalem as a baby. A baby of mixed parentage who was neglected at birth. Unwashed, the cord not cut. Not clothed. No one looked on with any pity or compassion. No one cared. A baby thrown out into an open field. Despised at birth.
But God saw. God passed by and saw the baby kicking about in its blood and said ‘Live!’ God cared for the baby and saw that it grew and developed into a young woman. A naked young woman.
God covered the girl’s nakedness. He entered into a relationship with her. A covenant. She became his. He bathed her and washed the blood from her and covered her in ointments. He dressed her in fine clothes and sandals. He showered her with jewellery – bracelets, a nose ring, a necklace, earrings, a crown. He provided the best food for her. She became beautiful – a queen – so beautiful that everyone heard of her fame.
But she trusted in her beauty and fame. She used them to prostitute herself. She lavished her favours on anyone who passed by. She used some of her garments to decorate special places where she carried on her prostitution. She used the gold and silver jewellery to make male idols to carry on her prostitution with. She put her embroidered clothes on them and covered them in the fragrant ointments. She offered them the foods that had been provided for her.
She went on to take her sons and daughters and sacrifice them to the idols too. She did not remember where she had come from, what God had delivered her from.
At every street corner you built your lofty shrines and degraded your beauty, spreading your legs with increasing promiscuity to anyone who passed by. Ezekiel 16:25
She engaged in prostitution with the Egyptians, her ‘neighbours with large genitals’.
And in her promiscuity, she aroused God’s anger. He gave the young woman over to her enemies – even they were shocked at her lewd behaviour. She continued to engage in prostitution with all the surrounding nations. She was insatiable. Never satisfied.
Imagine how it felt to be that woman’s husband. To love her and care for her and watch her behave like this. To be married to a woman who prefers strangers to her own husband. She wasn’t even a prostitute, getting paid for her sexual favours. No, she gave them away for free. Even gave gifts to those who would engage in promiscuity with her.
And so God responded. He decided to gather all the nations who had entered into promiscuity with her and strip her naked in front of all them. Expose her behaviour. Deliver the punishment for adultery and murder. He would give her over to her lovers and let them destroy all that she had constructed. Let them strip her of her clothes and jewellery. Let them stone her and hack her to pieces. Let them burn down her houses.
And so appease God’s jealous anger.
Her mother had been a Hittite and her father an Amorite. Her sisters Samaria and Sodom. She had been brought out from all this and redeemed and yet she had ended up doing far worse than any of them had ever done. Even Sodom. She’d been ashamed of where she had come from, ashamed of the sins of her family and yet now, everyone has seen her own detestable practices.
And this is what God says to her.
I will deal with you as you deserve. But I will remember my promise to you. I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. You will never forget the journey you have taken to get to this point. You will know that I am the Lord. I will make atonement for all that you have done. And you will always remember your humiliation. And never behave in the same way again.
Wow! What a powerful story! I cannot believe I have never come across that graphic tale before. I have nothing to add. It says it all.
Once heard, it will never be forgotten.
