Yes, in Ezekiel the shortest chapter (15) is juxtaposed to its longest chapter (16), an unusual situation. From an empty, fruitless vine … to a poor sinful woman! Yet both Units describe the horrors of sin!
And chapter 16 also tells a story, on top of the heavy theological freight it carries! Yes, it truly has a “plot.” A “trajectory,” revealing all the “ups” and “downs” in the life of the Nation of Judah, of Israel.
Today we can only discuss the first part of the chapter, essentially the first 14 verses. (Then things take a turn for the “worse!” To be studied tomorrow, Lord willing.)
A “word picture” reigns again! (I read one published preacher/teacher late last night who called Ezekiel the Prophet the “master of metaphor!”)
Verses 1 and 2 answer the basic questions; “Who, Where, Why,” etc.
“Again the word of the LORD came unto me, Ezekiel, saying, Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations.” Wow, the word “abominations” (in the plural) occurs in our chapter 8 times! And in the singular (“abomination”) one more time! It means a “thing disgusting” to God! That makes the Lord “sick!” That God literally “hates!”
Now, we already know the “tone” of the chapter.
Yet it starts “sweetly,” and could have stayed that way … had Jerusalem only obeyed God.
Next, the Jews’ “background,” as a nation mind you. “And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite.” Verse 3, referring to the lifestyle of Abraham’s clan prior to his meeting God, his salvation. He was a rank “heathen!” Think: “Ur” of the Chaldees.
Let me insert Joshua 24:2 here. “And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods.” Wow, proof.
However, there are other Bible scholars who feel God may be using holy “sarcasm” here. As in: “Jerusalem, they way you’re living you must be a blasphemous Canaanite, without knowledge of God! Surely you have the worst lineage, most wicked, in all creation!”)
Either way, verses 4-5 continue with the biography. God to Judah: “And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born.”
Talk about “no man cared for my soul!” (David’s lament in Psalm 142:1 … “I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.” So sad.)
No one loved Judah, as a baby. At her birth, no one cut her umbilical cord! Or bathed her messy little body! Nor salted (to remove wrinkles, they believed) and wrapped her little body, for warmth and security!
She was, in fact, thrown out into an open field, abandoned to die! (Many thousands of little girls were treated this way in antiquity! They wanted BOYS, back then.)
But … God entered the picture! “And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live.” Verse 6, wonderful! And when God says, “LIVE,” mark it down … something comes alive! In fact, He says it twice in this single verse!
I am right now thankful for the day He said to my lost soul, “LIVE!” The day He saved me, the day I trusted Him to wash away my sin via the precious Blood of Jesus!
But God is not though … watch with me as this little “girl” grows to maturity, a picture of Jerusalem and her people. “I (the Lord) have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare. Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine.” Verses 7-8, quite beautiful wording of a sensitive subject, I think.
God watched her grow into a (beautiful) young woman!
And when she reached the age of marriage, God proposed to her!
To spread a skirt (robe) over an eligible young lady meant to take her under your wings, protection, provision! (Think Boaz and Ruth here!) Gives new meaning to Psalm 91:4, in my heart. “He shall cover thee with his feathers, and UNDER HIS WINGS shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.” The Lord, my Husband!
Wow!
Now in verses 8-16 God gives an overview. What He’s done for Jerusalem, even down to her wardrobe! “Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil. I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers’ skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck. And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head. Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom. And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD.”
Clean!
Anointed!
Shoes!
Quality clothes!
Splendid (royal) diet, food!
Pristine reputation!
Sheer beauty!
How GOOD God was to his people!
Folks, all this is a “picture” of what God did for us when he saved our lost souls!
I’m “Shouting,” at least down inside … as I sit at this keyboard this morning.
God’s Grace!
What an example!
The Lord willing, more tomorrow, Ezekiel 16. But the story “turns” next, you’ll soon see. Oh, how we ought to hate sin, its devastating effects.