Jerusalem’s Harlotry
May 7, 2022
Commentary
It seems that Israel devoted her beauty and blessings to other lovers, the neighboring nations and their pagan idols (vv. 15-19). She sacrificed her own children to these gods, and forgot all that the true God had done for her (vv. 20-22). She gave herself over to a series of liaisons, political alliances and mingling of faiths, with Egypt, Philistia, Assyria and Babylon (the Chaldeans). There were platforms for idol-worship, like beds, in every square and at the end of every road (vv. 23-30).
In verse. 15 we read ‘But’ and there follows a description of mankind’s total ingratitude and rebellion against his God. As God views all this, his reaction to people in sin is ‘How weak-willed you are’ (v. 30), or, as the New King James Version renders it, ‘How degenerate is your heart.’ The problem is a person’s heart. It is degenerate, weak, stubborn and rebellious.
Our sins are the evidence of our heart condition. Sin always brings pain; it appears to be enjoyable but it always ends in unhappiness. Sin brings breathlessness, an absence of the life-giving breath of the Holy Spirit. Sin renders us unable to do the things we were created for; to love and serve God. If a heart specialist told you that you had a serious heart condition, you would be a fool to ignore it. What is your reaction to God’s diagnosis of your heart? Do you take it seriously?
Application
God is a jealous God and He wants to me my first love. That is why I must never let anything crowd out my time and devotion to Him and to His Word.
Ezekiel 16:15– 30 (NET)
15 “‘But you trusted in your beauty and capitalized on your fame by becoming a prostitute. You offered your sexual favors to every man who passed by so that your beauty became his. 16 You took some of your clothing and made for yourself decorated high places; you engaged in prostitution on them. You went to him to become his. 17 You also took your beautiful jewelry, made of my gold and my silver I had given to you, and made for yourself male images and engaged in prostitution with them. 18 You took your embroidered clothing and used it to cover them; you offered my olive oil and my incense to them. 19 As for my food that I gave you—the fine flour, olive oil, and honey I fed you—you placed it before them as a soothing aroma. That is exactly what happened, declares the Sovereign Lord.
20 “‘You took your sons and your daughters whom you bore to me and you sacrificed them as food for the idols to eat. As if your prostitution was not enough, 21 you slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols. 22 And with all your abominable practices and prostitution you did not remember the days of your youth when you were naked and bare, kicking around in your blood.
23 “‘After all your evil—“Woe! Woe to you!” declares the Sovereign Lord— 24 you built yourself a chamber and put up a pavilion in every public square. 25 At the head of every street you erected your pavilion, and you disgraced your beauty when you spread your legs to every passerby and multiplied your promiscuity. 26 You engaged in prostitution with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, multiplying your promiscuity and provoking me to anger. 27 So see here, I have stretched out my hand against you and cut off your rations. I have delivered you into the power of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your obscene conduct. 28 You engaged in prostitution with the Assyrians because your desires were insatiable; you prostituted yourself with them and yet you were still not satisfied. 29 Then you multiplied your promiscuity to the land of merchants, Babylonia, but you were not satisfied there either.
30 “‘How sick is your heart, declares the Sovereign Lord, when you perform all these acts, the deeds of a bold prostitute.