To try and convey the awfulness of what had happened to Jerusalem through the centuries, the Lord speaks to Ezekiel (v.1) and tells him to face Jerusalem with all the wrong things it has done (v.2).

He starts by reminding Jerusalem of where she had come from. Originally she had simply been a town of the Canaanites (v.3) and on the day when she was established (v.4) there was no formality or process, and she was just built with little thought and with no thought of future splendour (v.5) but the Lord came along and decreed new life for her (v.6) and made her grow and develop (?under David?), then made her look something special and entered into a covenant of blessing with her (v.7 & 8)

He goes on to speak of how He washed and dressed her with finery and jewellery (v.8-13) presumably under Solomon, such that her fame spread (v.14).

Then comes her downfall: she trusted in her beauty and entered into covenants with foreign kings or foreign religions (v.15) and ended up bribing them with her riches or using her riches to create idols. She used her riches to enter into idol worship (v.16) using her wealth to create idols (v.17) and then dress them (v.18) and used their food as offerings to these idols (v.19).

This city which had been raised up by the Lord and made a place where He could dwell in the midst of His people, had taken the blessings He had bestowed on them and ended up using them for idol worship. They should have had a unique relationship with the Lord, one whereby they would be faithful to Him alone, and through that relationship He would bless them and bless them again and again. In relationship language He describes their behaviour as that of a prostitute. It is a terrible picture meant to shake them to the core!

D. Application:

1. When God calls us it is to a monogamous relationship.

2. Going after false beliefs is akin to spiritual prostitution

Chapter: Ezek 16

Passage 6: Ezek 16:20-29 - Further Condemnation

A. Find Out

1. What also had they done? v.20,21

2. What had they forgotten? v.22

3. What further had they done? v.23-25

4. With whom had they linked themselves? v.26

5. So who had the Lord given them over to? v.27

6. Who else had they linked themselves to? v.28,29

B. Think:

1. What was the first of the three things condemned in this passage?

2. What was the second and third thing?

3. Why were these things so wrong for Israel ?

C. Comment:

At Mount Sinai, at the inauguration of Israel as a nation, the Lord had declared, “if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.” (Ex 19:5) This Israel accepted and entered into a relationship with the Lord that demanded faithfulness on both sides. This is why the present passage is so terrible

Having already spoken so strongly against Israel , the Lord now details His specific complaints against this nation that was supposed to be holy, a nation that was supposed to reveal Him to the rest of the world. His first complaint here was that they had turned to child sacrifice (v.20,21). They had forgotten their earliest days as a city (v.22) where they had been in the midst of the Canaanites who also practiced child sacrifice. They had reverted right back to their earliest pagan days.

In addition to this (and perhaps as part of it) they build mounds and shrines to idols all over the place (v.23-25) partaking of any false religion they heard about. Indeed this had come about as they allied themselves to Egypt (v.26). The Lord had used the Philistines to discipline them but they had not learned (v.27). It got worse and worse as they allied themselves with Assyria and Babylon (v.28,29) instead of relying upon the Lord.

This indeed was their twofold folly. First they failed to rely upon the Lord and turned to other nations for comfort, but then they took on board the false religions of those other countries, yet even more turning away from the Lord. No wonder back in 14:3 the Lord had said they had set up idols AND put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Idols AND hearts set on other peoples instead of God. They are past hope!

D. Application:

1. We do what our hearts tell us.

2. The direction of our heart is all important.

Chapter: Ezek 16

Passage 7: Ezek 16:30-35 - Prostitute or Adulterer

A. Find Out

1. Like who does the Lord say they are behaving? v.30

2. And yet how do they differ? v.31

3. But then what does He call them? v.32

4. Why does He call them that? v.33

5. In what other way are they even more distinctive? v.34

6. How finally does He describe them? v.35

B. Think:

1. Focus on what they have been doing first.

2. How had they been acting like a prostitute?

3. But how also had they been acting like an adulterous wife?

C. Comment:

As we have noted before – and it needs repeating to emphasise this if we are to understand these verses – God is confronting the nation of Israel with their state and their behaviour. They had been called to be holy nation, a nation in relationship with Him, that relied upon Him and received all of His blessings and which stood out in the world, pointing towards the wonderful possibilities for anyone and everyone to have a similar glorious relationship with the Lord. But that depended on their reliance on Him. Often in prophetic scripture this relationship was typified as husband and wife, spiritually.

So now the Lord confronts them with the way they have been behaving. It was more like a spiritual prostitute, like a woman brazenly hiring herself out to all-comers. (v.30) He called them weak-willed because they had not have the strength to overcome the temptations of the enemy and so drifted from God.

Yet, having said that, although they appeared as a spiritual prostitute going after all false religions and setting up their places for idol worship, they didn't receive any payment from those false religions, (v.31) they didn't get anything back for worshipping idols. It was entirely a one-way street!

In fact they were more like an adulterous wife (v.32) preferring other religions to God. Typifying them as a prostitute wasn't enough because at least a prostitute charged those who came whereas they gave gifts to other nations who they turned to (v.33,34). Yes, they were more like an adulterous wife but the number of those who they turned to (implied) suggests they were more like a prostitute with numerous ‘clients' and so He will address them as a prostitute (v.35). The whole point that comes screaming through this chapter is that they have been terribly unfaithful to God.

D. Application:

1. Relying upon people rather than on God denies who we are supposed to be.

2. In doing this we demean our relationship with the Lord.

Chapter: Ezek 16

Passage 8: Ezek 16:36-42 - The Coming Chastising

A. Find Out

1. What was their fourfold condemnation? v.36.

2. So what was the Lord going to do? v.37,38

3. So what further will they do to Jerusalem ? v.39

4. What also will they do? v.40,41a

5. With what end result? v.41b

6. How will the Lord then respond? v.42

B. Think:

1. What was the cause of God's action?

2. What, in simple terms, was He going to do?

3. With what end result?

C. Comment:

Now comes the specific things that God will do to this city He calls a prostitute, but they start with a fourfold condemnation (v.36). They had used their wealth to attract other nations and in so doing exposed themselves to their religions which they accepted and took on board, bringing in their idols and even their pagan practices of sacrificing children. Their guilt is clear and obvious. So, because of all this, the Lord is going to gather those other nations (v.37) from whom they received these false religions, nations who they apparently loved as well as those they hated, and He will bring them against Jerusalem and they will strip it and show it as naked or vulnerable, and they will treat Jerusalem like a woman caught in adultery, punishing her by stoning or burning to death (v.38).

They will plunder the city even taking and destroying the places of false worship (v.39) and will strip the city of its finery and leave it bare. They will indeed stone the city and hack it to pieces in their violence against it (v.40) even burning down houses and destroying the city (v.41a) before the very eyes of the helpless watching women (the men presumably being destroyed in the attack). Thus the Lord will bring an end to this spiritual prostitution, this bribing other nations and taking on board their religions; all this will come to an end. At the end of all this, the Lord will be satisfied (v.42), satisfied that justice has been applied and the city purged of all this wrong. When it has been properly dealt with the Lord can be at rest.

In all of this we have a terrible picture of both the guilt of Jerusalem and the punishment that is coming upon Jerusalem . When the city is eventually destroyed in 587BC there can be no doubt as to its cause. It was because the city and its people had irreversibly sold themselves to paganism.

D. Application:

1. God's justice is always just. He never punishes unfairly.

2. Even in judgment there is the desire to preserve His people and His name.

Chapter: Ezek 16

Passage 9: Ezek 16:43-48 - Like others, worse than others

A. Find Out

1. What had Israel done so what would the Lord do? v.43

2. What Proverb applies to them and why? v.44,45

3. Who were their ‘sisters'? v.46

4. Why was that significant? v.47a

5. Yet how did they go further? v.47b,48

B. Think:

1. How was remembering ‘their youth' supposed to help, do you think?

2. What do you think is the point of all the relational language here?

3. Yet what is the overall conclusion brought through it?

C. Comment:

Previously the Lord had pictured Israel 's sin (that of Jerusalem specifically) in terms of a prostitute or unfaithful wife. Spiritually they had taken from other nations and allowed idolatry to settle in the city.

Now the Lord uses different relational language to convey similar truths. He starts by pointing out that they had forgotten their origins as a city (v.43). The city had had pagan origins in the time of the Canaanites but they had forgotten this and reverted back to that and so He will punish them for that. But as well as their idolatry He also accused them of lewdness, which suggests that morally (possibly sexually) they had also gone astray.

Then He quotes the old proverb: “Like mother, like daughter” (v.44). He portrays present Jerusalem as a daughter of the original land. (v.45) The original land has been their mother – they developed from her. Yet even that ‘mother' despised her husband, who is referred to later. Canaan brought forth children, daughter, sisters - cities and town states who despised all others. Their ‘parents' were people groups in that land.

Jerusalem had sisters - Samaria in the north and Sodom in the south (v.46) – but she not only followed their sinful and godless practices but in fact became worse than they were (v.47). Sodom , He goes on, had never done such awful things as were done in Jerusalem (v.48). We will go on to see more about those cities in the next study.

The condemnation of Jerusalem continued in these verses, building on what had gone before and adding to it. They were seen in historical and geographical context. They had forgotten their godless origins, their origins as part of Canaan , and had become not only as bad as the other godless and sinful peoples round about, but worse than them. How terrible.

D. Application:

1. Sinful change comes about slowly. Watch for such signs in your won life.

2. We need to remind ourselves of our godless origins.

Chapter: Ezek 16

Passage 10: Ezek 16:49-58 - Comparisons

A. Find Out

1. What were the sins of Sodom ? v.49,50

2. How did Samaria compare with Israel ? v.51,52

3. But what will the Lord do? v.53,55

4. With what objective? v.54

5. How had they viewed Sodom previously? v.56,57a

6. How has that all changed? v.57b,58

B. Think:

1. What is God's point in mentioning Sodom and Samaria ?

2. Yet what will He do?

3. How will Israel be shown up?

C. Comment:

The Lord has already said that Jerusalem has sinned more than both Sodom and Samaria (v.46-48) and now the Lord continues to speak about them.

First He lays out the sins of Sodom : they “ were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me.” (v.49,50) In all these ways they were a self-seeking, unjust and ungodly people – and remember He had said that Jerusalem was worse than they had been!

Second, He doesn't detail the sins of Samaria in the same way but reiterates that Jerusalem had been worse than they (v.51a) so much so that they had almost made Samaria appear righteous by comparison! (v.51b,52a)

Third, He tells them to bear their disgrace (v.52a,c) and this comes up again later (v.54) presumably meaning, be seen publicly to be the failure that you are. But then He says something strange: He will restore the fortunes of Sodom and Samaria and then through them, Jerusalem 's fortunes as well (v.53,55). This is not so much that He will bless Jerusalem but as they are each restored in some measure at least, it will become more obvious to all what is the state of Jerusalem (v.54). Previously they looked down on Sodom (v.56) but now their own sin is revealed (v.56) Indeed Edom and the Philistines already mock her (v.57) and so the consequences of her sins will be seen by all and she will be scorned for what she has become (v.58).

The thrust of these verses is to compare Jerusalem with her sinful neighbours who almost seem righteous by comparison, and then to go on and warn that her state will become clear and obvious to all and any fame she once had will be stripped away and she will be seen for what she now is.

D. Application:

1. Never excuse your failures by the worse ones of others.

2. If we continue to sin we will be shown up publicly.

Chapter: Ezek 16

Passage 11: Ezek 16:59-63 - Covenant Hope!

A. Find Out

1. So what will the Lord do and why? v.59

2. But yet what will He remember with what consequence? v.60

3. What will be the long-term effect for them? 61

4. So what will He do and with what effect? v.62

5. What amazing thing will He do? v.63a

6. What will that leave them feeling? v.63b

B. Think:

1. What is clearly going to be negative about their future?

2. Yet what hope is there?

3. Why is there that hope?

C. Comment:

We come to the most amazing verses of this chapter. Bear in mind that it has been a long chapter detailing in a variety of ways the failing of the people of Israel in Jerusalem , a people who are guilty of turning away form the Lord and relying upon other nations and taking the idols of those nations into their national life. They even sacrifice their children in false worship. With the strength of the language we have read, we would expect total destruction of Jerusalem and all its people. Now we come to these verses, verses which explain what is behind all that went on in the years immediately ahead, that involved further deportation of people and the destruction of Jerusalem .

The Lord starts this passage with a declaration that He will deal with them as they deserve (v.59a). That, in the light of what has gone, would imply destruction. They have broken the covenant they had with Him (v.59b). But then amazingly He says He will remember the covenant He established with them at Sinai (implied) for it is an everlasting covenant (v.60). When that happens and they look back they will feel ashamed of what happened (v.61) and when relationships are established with others (?Gentiles in the long term based on the Gospel not on the Law). But He will (re)establish His covenant with them (v.62) and, even more amazing, He will make atonement for them (v.63). This can only be through Christ. Then they will be ashamed when they look back.

How can all this be? Well God's covenant required obedience from the people. There were always a faithful remnant who would be saved and the covenant would be continued through them into eternity. Yes, judgment would come on Jerusalem and it would be destroyed and the people deported, yet a remnant will return and the nation continue. How amazing! .

D. Application:

1. In judgment God always looks to bring mercy to His faithful ones.

2. God looks for continuation, not termination.

RECAP No.2 "Pictures of Unfaithfulness" Ch. 16

SUMMARY :

In this second group of 7 studies we have seen :

Study No.5 : Jerusalem , a Prostitute : Ezek 16:1-19

- Jerusalem 's running after other religions seen as prostitution

Study No.6 : Further Condemnation : Ezek 16:20-29

- she took His blessings and used them for prostitution

Study No.7 : Prostitute or Adulterer? : Ezek 16:30-35

- was she an adulterer, being unfaith to God her husband?

Study No.8 : The Coming Chastising : Ezek 16:36-42

- her ‘lovers' will turn on her and punish her

Study No.9 : Like others, worse than others : Ezek 16:43-48

- in same ways like other nations, in others, worse than them.

Study No.10 : Comparisons : Ezek 16:49-58

- Sodom , Samaria and the Philistines weren't as bad!

Study No.11 : Covenant Hope! : Ezek 16:59-63

- yet because of the covenant there will yet be a future hope.

COMMENT :

False religions are an abomination when the Lord has revealed Himself and we see and know that He is the One and only true God. Idols are just cardboard look-alikes and do nothing. When a nation has known the blessing of the Lord and turns away from Him to other false religions and the worship of idols, it merely shows what the Bible tells us that sin makes us stupid!

Here was Israel who had a long history with the Lord and detailed records of so many of their dealings with Him. They knew how He had delivered them from Egypt and had made them a unique nation, and they knew He had blessed them again and again – and yet still they turned away and went to other nations for help and took on board the religions and superstitions of those nations.

When compared to some of those pagan neighbours they did not show up well. They had gone so deep into the false religions that they compare unfavourably now with those who did not have a relationship with the Lord. It is no wonder that the Lord feels the only way to deal with this is to bring an end to them as a nation under God. Yet even here, we find he holds out hope for their future relationship with Him. Incredible!

PRAY :

Thank the Lord that he honours the faithful remnant always.

PART 3 : "Parables and Individual Accountability" Ch.17-19

Stories convey truth. Watch for them in this part. Watch also for teaching about personal accountability.