Ezekiel 16

Ezekiel 16 is a powerful allegory depicting Jerusalem as an unfaithful wife. God speaks through Ezekiel, using the metaphor of a foundling girl, whom He lovingly cared for and eventually adorned as a bride. However, despite God's kindness, Jerusalem turned away from Him, seeking idols and committing acts of spiritual adultery. This chapter illustrates God's sorrow and anger at Jerusalem's infidelity but also His promise of mercy and restoration.

Ezekiel 16:1-10 (NKJV)
1 Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
2 “Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,
3 and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: “Your birth and your nativity are from the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.
4 As for your nativity, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water to cleanse you; you were not rubbed with salt nor wrapped in swaddling cloths.
5 No eye pitied you, to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you; but you were thrown out into the open field, when you yourself were loathed on the day you were born.
6 And when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ Yes, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’
7 I made you thrive like a plant in the field; and you grew, matured, and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed, your hair grew, but you were naked and bare.
8 When I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed your time was the time of love; so I spread My wing over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine,” says the Lord God.
9 “Then I washed you in water; yes, I thoroughly washed off your blood, and I anointed you with oil.
10 I clothed you in embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of badger skin; I clothed you with fine linen and covered you with silk.

In these verses, God portrays Jerusalem as a helpless infant abandoned at birth, emphasizing her humble beginnings. The image of a forsaken child underscores Israel’s vulnerable origins. God’s compassion is vividly described as He rescues, nurtures, and cares for Jerusalem. Through the act of spreading His wing, He forms a covenant with her, symbolizing His commitment and protective love. This foundational image serves as a poignant reminder of God's mercy and grace, highlighting the depth of Jerusalem's betrayal.

Ezekiel 16:11-14 (NKJV)
11 I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your wrists, and a chain on your neck.
12 And I put a jewel in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head.
13 Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate pastry of fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful, and succeeded to royalty.
14 Your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through My splendor which I had bestowed on you,” says the Lord God.

God’s extravagant adornment of Jerusalem signifies how He elevated her status, blessing her with beauty, wealth, and honor. The jewels and fine clothing symbolize God’s abundant grace and the dignity He bestowed upon Jerusalem, enabling her to rise to prominence. However, this beauty and renown were only possible because of God’s favor, a reminder that Israel’s glory was a gift, not something achieved independently.

Ezekiel 16:15-22 (NKJV)
15 “But you trusted in your own beauty, played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your harlotry on everyone passing by who would have it.
16 You took some of your garments and adorned multicolored high places for yourself, and played the harlot on them. Such things should not happen, nor be.
17 You have also taken your beautiful jewelry from My gold and My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images and played the harlot with them.
18 You took your embroidered garments and covered them, and you set My oil and My incense before them.
19 Also My food which I gave you—the pastry of fine flour, oil, and honey which I fed you—you set it before them as sweet incense; and so it was,” says the Lord God.
20 “Moreover you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore to Me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your acts of harlotry a small matter,
21 that you have slain My children and offered them up to them by causing them to pass through the fire?
22 And in all your abominations and acts of harlotry you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, struggling in your blood.

Jerusalem's unfaithfulness is laid bare in these verses as God laments her spiritual adultery. She abandoned her reliance on God, turning to idols and using His gifts to engage in pagan worship. The betrayal deepens with Jerusalem’s sacrifice of her children to idols, highlighting the severity of her rebellion. This sacrilege is worsened by her forgetfulness of God’s initial compassion, displaying her ingratitude and the depth of her spiritual decline.

Ezekiel 16:23-29 (NKJV)
23 “Then it was so, after all your wickedness—‘Woe, woe to you!’ says the Lord God—
24 that you also built for yourself a shrine, and made a high place for yourself in every street.
25 You built your high places at the head of every road, and made your beauty to be abhorred. You offered yourself to everyone who passed by, and multiplied your acts of harlotry.
26 You also committed harlotry with the Egyptians, your very fleshly neighbors, and increased your acts of harlotry to provoke Me to anger.
27 Behold, therefore, I stretched out My hand against you, diminished your allotment, and gave you up to the will of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior.
28 You also played the harlot with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; indeed, you played the harlot with them and still were not satisfied.
29 Moreover you multiplied your acts of harlotry as far as the land of the trader, Chaldea; and even then you were not satisfied.

Jerusalem’s idolatries expand to political alliances with Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon, symbolizing a dependence on foreign powers rather than God. Her pursuit of security through alliances represents spiritual unfaithfulness. These political entanglements only increased her shame, leading her further from the purity God desired for her. God’s reaction reveals His sorrow over her unrepentant heart, warning that the consequence of such alliances would be her disgrace and eventual loss of His favor.

Ezekiel 16:30-34 (NKJV)
30 “How degenerate is your heart!” says the Lord God, “seeing you do all these things, the deeds of a brazen harlot.
31 “You erected your shrine at the head of every road, and built your high place in every street. Yet you were not like a harlot, because you scorned payment.
32 You are an adulterous wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband.
33 Men make payment to all harlots, but you made your payments to all your lovers, and hired them to come to you from all around for your harlotry.
34 You are the opposite of other women in your harlotry, because no one solicited you to be a harlot, in that you gave payment but no payment was given you; therefore you are the opposite.”

These verses emphasize Jerusalem’s reckless and self-destructive behavior. Unlike a harlot who receives payment, Jerusalem “pays” her lovers, symbolizing her eager pursuit of idolatry without gain. God’s sorrowful tone exposes Jerusalem’s folly in choosing this path willingly, forsaking the safety of her covenant relationship for destructive pursuits.

Ezekiel 16:35-43 (NKJV)
35 “Now then, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord!
36 Thus says the Lord God: ‘Because your filthiness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your harlotry with your lovers, and with all your abominable idols, and because of the blood of your children which you gave to them,
37 surely, therefore, I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved, and all those you hated; I will gather them from all around against you and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness.
38 And I will judge you as women who break wedlock or shed blood are judged; I will bring blood upon you in fury and jealousy.
39 I will also give you into their hand, and they shall throw down your shrines and break down your high places. They shall also strip you of your clothes, take your beautiful jewelry, and leave you naked and bare.
40 They shall also bring up an assembly against you, and they shall stone you with stones and thrust you through with their swords.
41 They shall burn your houses with fire, and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women; and I will make you cease playing the harlot, and you shall no longer hire lovers.
42 So I will lay to rest My fury toward you, and My jealousy shall depart from you. I will be quiet, and be angry no more.
43 Because you did not remember the days of your youth, but agitated Me with all these things, surely I will also recompense your deeds on your own head,” says the Lord God. “And you shall not commit lewdness in addition to all your abominations.”

God’s judgment on Jerusalem is likened to that of a wife who has broken her marriage vows, receiving the punishment for adultery and idolatry. God warns that He will expose her sins to the very nations she pursued, who will strip her of the blessings He had given. The vivid description of Jerusalem’s punishment is a reflection of divine jealousy and sorrow. Through these severe judgments, God intends to bring an end to her harlotries and cleanse her from unfaithfulness, restoring His peace once His wrath subsides.

Ezekiel 16:44-52 (NKJV)
44 “Indeed everyone who quotes proverbs will use this proverb against you: ‘Like mother, like daughter!’
45 You are your mother’s daughter, loathing husband and children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and children; your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.
46 Your elder sister is Samaria, who dwells with her daughters to the north of you; and your younger sister, who dwells to the south of you, is Sodom and her daughters.
47 You did not walk in their ways nor act according to their abominations; but, as if that were too little, you became more corrupt than they in all your ways.
48 “As I live,” says the Lord God, “neither your sister Sodom nor her daughters have done as you and your daughters have done.
49 Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
50 And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit.
51 Samaria did not commit half of your sins; but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and have justified your sisters by all the abominations which you have done.
52 You who judged your sisters, bear your own shame also, because the sins which you committed were more abominable than theirs; they are more righteous than you. Yes, be disgraced also, and bear your own shame, because you justified your sisters.

God declares that Jerusalem’s sins exceeded those of her “sisters,” Samaria and Sodom. This comparison emphasizes how far Jerusalem had fallen, surpassing even the sins of these notorious cities. Sodom’s sins of pride, indifference to the needy, and abominations are highlighted, yet Jerusalem’s sins are deemed worse. This shocking comparison serves to humble Jerusalem, forcing her to confront her own failings and recognize that her once-condemned “sisters” now appear righteous in comparison.

Ezekiel 16:53-59 (NKJV)
53 “When I bring back their captives, the captives of Sodom and her daughters, and the captives of Samaria and her daughters, then I will also bring back the captives of your captivity among them,
54 that you may bear your own shame and be disgraced by all that you did when you comforted them.
55 When your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, return to their former state, and Samaria and her daughters return to their former state, then you and your daughters will return to your former state.
56 For your sister Sodom was not a byword in your mouth in the days of your pride,
57 before your wickedness was uncovered. It was like the time of the reproach of the daughters of Syria and all those around her, and of the daughters of the Philistines, who despise you everywhere.
58 You have paid for your lewdness and your abominations,” says the Lord.
59 For thus says the Lord God: “I will deal with you as you have done, who despised the oath by breaking the covenant.

In these verses, God speaks of a future restoration, suggesting that even Sodom and Samaria will experience mercy, just as Jerusalem will. This promise of redemption highlights God’s desire to forgive, though Jerusalem must first bear the shame of her actions. God’s rebuke emphasizes how, in her pride, Jerusalem once disregarded Sodom, only to surpass her in sin. This judgment serves as both a reprimand and a reminder of God’s covenant, which Jerusalem had broken but which He intends to renew.

Ezekiel 16:60-63 (NKJV)
60 Nevertheless I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.
61 Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed, when you receive your older and your younger sisters; for I will give them to you for daughters, but not because of My covenant with you.
62 And I will establish My covenant with you. Then you shall know that I am the Lord,
63 that you may remember and be ashamed, and never open your mouth anymore because of your shame, when I provide you an atonement for all you have done,” says the Lord God.

The chapter concludes with a promise of restoration through a new, everlasting covenant. Despite Jerusalem’s sins, God’s faithfulness endures, and He vows to reestablish His relationship with His people. This covenant will not be based on their merit but on God’s mercy and love. The people will be humbled, remembering their sins with shame, yet they will also find peace through God’s forgiveness and atonement, understanding the depth of His enduring grace.