As I mentioned last week, I’ve been a Christian for over 50 years but don’t recall spending much time at all studying the book of Ezekiel. I looked upon it as one of those books in the Bible full of strange visions and difficult prophesies that had little impact on my life. While studying the book of Revelation, some of our congregation recognized John referenced many prophecies of Ezekiel’s. So, we decided to take a deep dive into the book of Ezekiel.

Ezekiel writes while in Babylonian captivity in approximately 590 BC. God directed Ezekiel to prophesy to the other captives, informing them of his displeasure with their behavior as well as that of those still in Judah. As we study Ezekiel, it becomes apparent very quickly that God’s people are for the most part very unfaithful. But it was a surprise to find that God looked upon His people as far more evil than Sodom. Who would have thought a people could be more evil than a city God wiped off the earth because fewer than 10 citizens were found faithful (Genesis 18)?

In Ezekiel 16 we find an allegory or symbolic story portraying ancient Judah in three stages of life: infancy, young womanhood, and adulthood.  Right off the bat God implies that because Judah is so evil, her parents must have been an  Amorite and a Hittite – two Canaanite tribes guilty of incest, homosexuality, bestiality and human sacrifice. In the allegory, due to his compassion, God takes the abandoned, unwanted infant, cleans her, and blesses her with growth. This period of adolescence likely represents the period when Israel was in Egyptian captivity (Exodus 1). In 16:7 the girl comes into womanhood and in 16:8 God marries her and makes a covenant with her. This event is symbolic of the covenant God made with Israel at Mt. Sinai after the exodus from Egypt (Exodus 19).  Ezekiel 16:9-14 describe how God adorns his wife with great treasures. Verse 14 reads, “Then your name went forth among the nations on account of your beauty.”  This likely symbolizes when Israel was under the leadership of Solomon. 1 Kings 10:23 reads, “thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. And the whole earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind.”

Though ancient Israel reached its zenith under Solomon, under his reign its demise also began. Solomon had over 1000 wives and concubines whose pagan ways turned his attention away from God. Ezekiel 16:25 reads, “you built yourself a shrine and made yourself a high place in every square.” Additionally, despite God’s repeated warnings, Solomon formed alliances with foreign nations through his marriages. In 1 Kings 3:1 we read, “Then Solomon formed a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt…” Ezekiel 16:15 may be speaking of this event where he writes, “You also played the harlot with the Egyptians…”

These foreign alliances were so disgusting in God’s eyes that He describes ancient Judah as a harlot so evil that she paid men to come to her! In 16:33 we read, “Men give gifts to all harlots, but you (Judah) give your gifts to all your lovers to bribe them to come to you from all around for your harlotries. 34 Thus you are the opposite of those women in your harlotries, in that no one plays the harlot as you do, because you give away your earnings and no earnings are given to you; thus you are the opposite.”

How rejected God must have felt when he said in 16:32, “You adulteress wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband!” At this point in the chapter, one would not think Judah could be more sinful. But in 16:47 we find that Judah is worse than her “sister” Sodom, “‘As I live,’ declares Lord Yahweh, ‘Sodom your sister and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done.’” God declares that Judah is worse than Sodom, a city so evil that God could not find 10 righteous people (Genesis 18)!  In fact, Judah’s behavior was so abominable that God said she had made Sodom “appear righteous” (16:51).

It's hard to believe a people that God had chosen to be His own and had nurtured, protected, made prosperous and dealt with personally, could become so evil. But they did and received His judgement. In 16:58 we read, “‘You have borne the penalty of your lewdness and abominations,’ declares Yahweh. 59 For thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘I will also do with you as you have done, you who have despised the oath by breaking the covenant.’” In less than 5 years from when Ezekiel wrote this, Jerusalem and Judah would be wiped out by Babylonian armies and the survivors taken into captivity (2 Kings 25).

But amazingly, despite their abominable behavior, God would provide a means so His people would be ashamed and given the chance to be forgiven and restored. Ezekiel 16:60-63 looks to the future when God would make an everlasting covenant with them. Contemporary prophet Jeremiah speaks of this covenant in Jeremiah 31:31, which the Hebrew writer says was fulfilled through the new covenant God made with his new people, Christians (Hebrews 8:8).

I believe every Biblical study should not end without making an application to Christians today. I often call these “so whats?”  The “so whats?” from Ezekiel 16 are:

1)    Even though we are God’s children in a covenant relationship with Him, we are human and can sin. (Rom 3:23).

2)    Like ancient Judah, we should be ashamed when we recognize our sin.

3)    God shows his incredible love and mercy toward us that even when we sin, He has made provision for forgiveness.

The Christians of the Blanco Hills Church of Christ invite you to worship and “search the Scriptures” with us every Sunday at 11 am and Wednesdays at 6:30 pm.

Buz Turk

Blanco Hills Church of Christ