Ezekiel 15-16 To Jerusalem

God gives Ezekiel two comparisons for Jerusalem. He tells Ezekiel to; “say to Jerusalem…” words describing her current state.

God is disgusted with how Israel has acted. He is furious with the people in the city that bears HIS name. They have disgraced it with their behavior. He puts His disgust into words they can identify with. Two analogies that show the contempt He has for them at this point in time.

Even though God is exceedingly angry with His people, he STILL loves them. He has made a commitment to them that is timeless. But their actions REQUIRE correction; even to the point of near death. “It has to hurt if it is to heal” (quote from the Neverending Story movie).

Let’s rejoin Ezekiel as God shares His heart over the condition of His people. Holy Spirit, guide my path today as I walk through Your words. Show me what I need to take for my life today as well.

♥ ♦ ♥

Ezekiel knows of the coming destruction of Jerusalem. He has heard the voice of the Lord telling the people what is to come. He doesn’t doubt the Lord’s words at all concerning her downfall or the reasons for it. But his heart hurts for those who are soon to be caught up in Jerusalem’s judgment.

God knows Ezekiel’s heart. He wants him to truly understand how far His people have fallen. He has already promised to bring proof of Jerusalem’s sins with the final exiles, but that isn’t enough to sooth Ezekiel’s heart right now. “It’s time to ‘speak his language’ so that he can understand” reasons God.

“Son of man, how does the wood of the vine surpass any wood, the vine branch that is among the trees of the forest? Is wood taken from it to make anything? Do people take a peg from it to hang any vessel on it?” (Ezekiel 15:2-3).

Ezekiel thinks about this for a few minutes. He thinks of ivy vines, berry vines, and grape vines. Yes. Some of these bear fruit which is food for man, but their wood really isn’t useful for building.

God continues with His analogy. “Behold, it is given to the fire for fuel. When the fire has consumed both ends of it, and the middle of it is charred, is it useful for anything? ⁵ Behold, when it was whole, it was used for nothing. How much less, when the fire has consumed it and it is charred, can it ever be used for anything!” (Ezekiel 15:4-5).

Ezekiel nods. What the Lord is saying makes a lot of sense. He isn’t exactly speaking of the fruit bearing vines but of the vines on the forest floor. They don’t produce the wood useful for building, before or after being burned up. They do produce heat for the fire. The oils in them burn HOT! Some of them, after being soaked in water can be used to weave baskets. But they will never be able to provide the strength required for building. “But there are other uses for vines Lord” Ezekiel offers.

“I know there are, but I’m looking at one concept right now. I’m looking for what is usable to BUILD with. Even the best vines cannot be used to build homes or even furniture. In these terms, the vine is worthless. It is less than worthless even, as it has to be removed to reach the good wood; the trees. The vines trip you and tangle your feet as you search out the healthy wood to build with. They have to be removed before you can harvest the good wood.”

Ezekiel has to agree on this point. “True Lord. But…”

“No buts. My people HAVE to be made of strong wood. I cannot build My house on vines. The weight of what is required would snap them in two. Right now, Jerusalem is like the vine. She is entangling all those around her. She is a snare instead of a cedar. ‘Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so have I given up the inhabitants of Jerusalem’ (Exodus 15:6).”

“Is there any hope Lord?” Ezekiel wonders.

 ^“And I will set my face against them. Though they escape from the fire, the fire shall yet consume them, and you will know that I am the Lord, when I set my face against them. And I will make the land desolate, because they have acted faithlessly, declares the Lord God.” (Ezekiel 15:7-8).

“THIS is how they will know that You are God. I know that You are not cruel. You have a right to judge those who are Yours. We deserve much worse, Lord God. Help me understand deep in my heart too please.”

“I have another analogy that you might find easier to grasp.”

Ezekiel waits with anticipation of what the Lord will use next.

“This analogy, you are to speak out against the people of Jerusalem.”

Ezekiel shows the Lord that he is listening with his whole heart.

 “Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations, and say, Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. And as for your birth, on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you, but you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, on the day that you were born” (Ezekiel 16:2-5).

Ezekiel’s heart hurts, thinking of a newborn child being treated this way. “A child would die like this!”

“Stay with me here” God admonishes Ezekiel before continuing. “And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ I made you flourish like a plant of the field. And you grew up and became tall and arrived at full adornment. Your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown; yet you were naked and bare” (Ezekiel 6-7).

“Like a child growing up wild in the forest” muses Ezekiel. “Still uncared for and unloved though.”

“I’m getting there. Be patient” God tells Ezekiel. “When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, and you became mine. Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil. I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk. And I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck. And I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour and honey and oil. You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord God” (Ezekiel 16:8-14).

“Not until the child was fully grown was love shown to it. It was left to grow wild until then. But the love lavished on it is complete; from the removing of the blood to the clothes worn, to the advancement in status. NOW it is worthy of being a bride!”

“But you trusted in your beauty and your fame. You became unfaithful to Me! You gave yourself to any who passed by. You made shrines, where you would go in and sleep with whomever you wanted with, your beautiful clothing. The jewelry I gave you, you melted down and cast into the form of idols of every shape and variety. You took the most beautiful embroidered garments I gave you, and the incense I provided for you and used them to worship these idols. You poured out your heart and body to them. The children WE bore together, you killed in the fire as an offering to whomever asked of you! And I’m supposed to think that these things meant nothing to you! You didn’t even once consider where you came from and what I had done for you.”

Ezekiel is speechless!

“Then you made palaces and ornamental buildings where you would bring your lovers. You invited ALL the nations into your bed. The Egyptians, Philistines, Assyrians, and even Chaldeans. You gave yourself to these lovers instead of remaining pure for your husband.”

Ezekiel is shaking his head in shame for Jerusalem.

“I tried taming you by cutting down on what I was providing to you. But this didn’t stop you. Even those you had taken as lovers were ashamed of your behavior. No matter how many lovers you brought into your bed, you were still not satisfied. And you provoked me to anger with your actions.”

Ezekiel is nodding his head. He would be furious with such a wife!

“How SICK is your heart, that you would do these things; like a prostitute. But wait! You are not like a prostitute because you don’t allow these men to PAY you. Instead, YOU spend what I have given you on THEM! You bribe them with your favors and use them for your advantage. And it wasn’t THEM who sought out these assignations; it was YOU!”

Ezekiel is sickened by what he is hearing. How despicably God’s people have acted towards Him.

“Therefore, O prostitute, hear the word of the Lord: Thus says the Lord God, Because your lust was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your whorings with your lovers, and with all your abominable idols, and because of the blood of your children that you gave to them, therefore, behold, I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from every side and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness. And I will judge you as women who commit adultery and shed blood are judged, and bring upon you the blood of wrath and jealousy. And I will give you into their hands, and they shall throw down your vaulted chamber and break down your lofty places. They shall strip you of your clothes and take your beautiful jewels and leave you naked and bare. They shall bring up a crowd against you, and they shall stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords. And they shall burn your houses and execute judgments upon you in the sight of many women. I will make you stop playing the whore, and you shall also give payment no more. So will I satisfy my wrath on you, and my jealousy shall depart from you. I will be calm and will no more be angry. Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have enraged me with all these things, therefore, behold, I have returned your deeds upon your head, declares the Lord God. Have you not committed lewdness in addition to all your abominations?” (Ezekiel 16:35-43).

Ezekiel drops his face into his hands. He scrubs his face with his hands, as if trying to erase this visual image.

 “Behold, everyone who uses proverbs will use this proverb about you: ‘Like mother, like daughter.’ You are the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. And your elder sister is Samaria, who lived with her daughters to the north of you; and your younger sister, who lived to the south of you, is Sodom with her daughters. Not only did you walk in their ways and do according to their abominations; within a very little time you were more corrupt than they in all your ways. As I live, declares the Lord God, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it. Samaria has not committed half your sins. You have committed more abominations than they, and have made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominations that you have committed. Bear your disgrace, you also, for you have intervened on behalf of your sisters. Because of your sins in which you acted more abominably than they, they are more in the right than you. So be ashamed, you also, and bear your disgrace, for you have made your sisters appear righteous” (Ezekiel 16:44-52).

Ezekiel’s jaw drops open as God compares Jerusalem to Sodom. “Everyone has heard the stories of Sodom and its destruction. Their great evil! And now, You say Jerusalem is even WORSE? That is heart rending!”

God nods His head at Ezekiel’s pronouncement. “I will restore their fortunes, both the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters, and I will restore your own fortunes in their midst, that you may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all that you have done, becoming a consolation to them. As for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters shall return to their former state, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former state, and you and your daughters shall return to your former state. Was not your sister Sodom a byword in your mouth in the day of your pride, before your wickedness was uncovered? Now you have become an object of reproach for the daughters of Syria and all those around her, and for the daughters of the Philistines, those all around who despise you. You bear the penalty of your lewdness and your abominations, declares the Lord” (Ezekiel 16:53-58).

“WHY God? Why would You restore us after so much sin against You? We deserve death; each and every one of us.”

“Because I still love you and have made a covenant with you in your youth. However, Jerusalem will NOT go unpunished!” “For thus says the Lord God: I will deal with you as you have done, you who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant, yet I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish for you an everlasting covenant. Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you take your sisters, both your elder and your younger, and I give them to you as daughters, but not on account of the covenant with you. I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the Lord, that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I atone for you for all that you have done, declares the Lord God” (Ezekiel 16:59-63).

Ezekiel drops his face into his hands again and sobs. “Even after ALL that we have done to You, You STILL forgive us and love us! This is beyond my comprehension Lord, but I am most grateful for Your love.”

God gives Ezekiel’s heart comfort until he is ready to go out and proclaim the Lord’s words to the people. He knows that they won’t believe either Him or Ezekiel, yet. “There is coming a day when they won’t be able to deny it any longer.”

(to be continued)

Father God, don’t let me EVER become like Jerusalem! I want to ALWAYS remember ALL that You have done for me. I want to be faithful to You with my WHOLE heart. For all the things that I have chased after in my life, please forgive me. Help me to be the woman You intended for me to be. One who values you more than ANYTHING or ANYONE else.