Jerusalem November 9, 2016
God’s Grace and Judgment
Ezekiel 16 Page 1
We covered Ezekiel 16:1-19.
We see the Lord using an allegory, a story, to tell us about His love for the city of Jerusalem .
In those verses we saw the origins of the city, how it came from the Gentile nations.
We also saw the picture of the city growing and the Lord loving the city and opting to make it His forever.
Historically this took us up to the time of Solomon.
These lavish provisions portray a husband whose love for his wife knows no bounds. The account reaches its climax in the notice of the stunning effects of his kindness: Jerusalem has become a beautiful queen. The superlative magnificence of her beauty is highlighted in four ways: (a) the employment of the idiom bimʾōd mĕʾōd (lit. “with muchness, muchness”); (b) the use of analogy—she achieved the rank of royalty; (c) the reference to her reputation—she became famous (šēm) for her beauty among all the surrounding nations; (d) the description of her beauty as kālîl, “total, perfect.”
Daniel Isaac Block, The Book of Ezekiel, Chapters 1–24, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1997), 485.
Ezekiel 16:14–19
“Then your fame went forth among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect because of My splendor which I bestowed on you,” declares the Lord GOD. “But you trusted in your beauty and played the harlot because of your fame, and you poured out your harlotries on every passer-by who might be willing. You took some of your clothes, made for yourself high places of various colors and played the harlot on them, which should never come about nor happen. You also took your beautiful jewels made of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images that you might play the harlot with them. Then you took your embroidered cloth and covered them, and offered My oil and My incense before them. Also My bread which I gave you, fine flour, oil and honey with which I fed you, you would offer before them for a soothing aroma; so it happened,” declares the Lord GOD. (NASB95)
We covered this section last week but it is obvious from the references that this is making that it is talking of the activity which began with Solomon in his later years.
The honeymoon is over. Jerusalem’s response to his kindness is characterized by a single word, zānâ, “to act as a prostitute,” and its derivatives, which occur no fewer than eighteen times in the next twenty verses.
Daniel Isaac Block, The Book of Ezekiel, Chapters 1–24, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1997), 487.
This picture of the city of Jerusalem, the Nation, as prostitute is not new to the scripture and not new to Ezekiel.
Another prophet physically portrayed this and this imagery is other places.
Initially it was used of the northern kingdom, but Judah did the same.
Isaiah 57:7–8
“You have committed adultery on every high mountain. There you have worshiped idols and have been unfaithful to me. You have put pagan symbols on your doorposts and behind your doors. You have left me and climbed into bed with these detestable gods. You have committed yourselves to them. You love to look at their naked bodies.” (NLT)
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Jeremiah 2:20
“Long ago I broke the yoke that oppressed you and tore away the chains of your slavery, but still you said, ‘I will not serve you.’ On every hill and under every green tree, you have prostituted yourselves by bowing down to idols.” (NLT)
Hosea 1:2–3
When a message from the LORD came to Hosea, the LORD told him, “Go marry a prostitute and have children with her, because the land is prostituting itself by departing from the LORD.” So he went out and married Diblaim’s daughter Gomer. She conceived with him and gave birth to a son.” (ISV)
Paul wrote a short commentary on the Nation when they reached the point being addressed by Ezekiel.
Romans 1:21–25
“For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.” (NASB95)
Ezekiel 16:20–21
“Moreover, you took your sons and daughters whom you had borne to Me and sacrificed them to idols to be devoured. Were your harlotries so small a matter? You slaughtered My children and offered them up to idols by causing them to pass through the fire.” (NASB95)
Notice who the children actually belonged to.
The Nation turned to human sacrifice and literally killed their children in the name of an idol.
Idolatry became the besetting sin of the Nation, one which was not cured until returning from captivity.
Leviticus 18:21
“‘You shall not give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God; I am the LORD.” (NASB95)
Jeremiah 7:31–34
“They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, and it did not come into My mind. Therefore, behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when it will no longer be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of the Slaughter; for they will bury in Topheth because there is no other place. The dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the sky and for the beasts of the earth; and no one will frighten them away. Then I will make to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land will become a ruin.” (NASB95)
Jeremiah 32:35
“They built the high places of Baal that are in the valley of Ben-hinnom to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I had not commanded them nor had it entered My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.” (NASB95)
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The idea of Gehenna originated in the OT. The Valley of Hinnom (Wâdī er-Rabâbeh, S of Jerusalem) was infamous for the pagan rites, especially child sacrifice, that were offered there (2 K. 16:3; 23:10), and Jeremiah prophesied that God’s judgment would fall there (e.g., Jer. 19:6f.; see HINNOM, VALLEY OF). As the concept of the afterlife developed in the intertestamental period, the Valley of Hinnom came to represent the eschatological place of judgment (12En 27:1f.; 54:1–6; 90:25–27; etc.) or hell itself (2 Esd. 7:36; 2Bar 85:13).
W. Ewing, “Gehenna,” ed. Geoffrey W Bromiley, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1979–1988), 423.
Those were children consecrated unto the Lord, yet being circumcised, and having the token of the covenant, were the Lord’s; therefore it is said, “Which thou hast borne unto me.” This should have restrained them from so sacrilegious an act, as to take them from God and sacrifice them unto devils, for, Psal. 106:37, “They sacrificed their sons and daughters unto devils:” to take them from an infinite, gracious, blessed, holy God, and give them unto idols and devils, what an accursed and horrible thing was this! as if a mother should take the child out of the father’s arms, who is loving, tender over it, and throw it to lions, bears, or any other ravenous creatures.
William Greenhill, An Exposition of the Prophet Ezekiel, with Useful Observations Thereupon, ed. James Sherman (London: Samuel Holdsworth, 1839), 372.
He, YHWH, prohibits the worship of Molech, the Canaanite (Ammon) fire god, who was worshiped by sacrificing the firstborn child of every family in the community. This was to insure fertility. His name (as used by Israelites) is a Hebrew pun on the consonants for “king” and the vowels for “shame.” Israel is warned about this god early and often (cf. Lev. 18:21; 20:2, 3, 4, 5; 1 Kgs. 11:7; 2 Kgs. 23:10; Jer. 32:35; Micah 6:7). This worship was often characterized by the phrase, “passing through the fire” (cf. 20:31; 18:10; 2 Kgs. 16:3; 17:17, 31; 21:6; Ps. 106:37; Jer. 7:31; 19:5).
Bob Utley, Ezekiel, Study Guide Commentary Series (Marshall, TX: Bible Lessons International, 2008), 138.
Exodus 11:4–6
Moses said, “Thus says the LORD, ‘About midnight I am going out into the midst of Egypt, and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of the Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the millstones; all the firstborn of the cattle as well. ‘Moreover, there shall be a great cry in all the land of Egypt, such as there has not been before and such as shall never be again.” (NASB95)
Exodus 12:21–23
Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and take for yourselves lambs according to your families, and slay the Passover lamb. “You shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning. For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to smite you.” (NASB95)
Exodus 13:2
“Sanctify to Me every firstborn, the first offspring of every womb among the sons of Israel, both of man and beast; it belongs to Me.” (NASB95)
It was the firstborn who were being sacrificed to idols, taken from God and given to demons.
Ezekiel 16:23–25
“Then it came about after all your wickedness (‘Woe, woe to you!’ declares the Lord GOD), that you built yourself a shrine and made yourself a high place in every square. You built yourself a high place at the top of every street and made your beauty abominable, and you spread your legs to every passer-by to multiply your harlotry.” (NASB95)
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So how widespread was the idol problem?
Was Jerusalem the center of all things “idol” centric?
The indictment being given by the Lord, saying that not only was Jerusalem a prostitute, but deeply involved in it professionally leads to that conclusion.
If, one might reason, the archaeological picture of the capital defines the very concept of state cult, then the evidence from Jerusalem complicates any clear material distinctions one might posit between state and popular religion, as roughly half of the recovered pillar figurines, some 405 provenanced specimens, in fact come from Jerusalem. Neutron activation analysis (NAA) moreover indicates the probability that the Jerusalem vicinity was also a production center for pillar figurines,29 which allows for the further possibility that some figurines discovered at other sites actually originated in the capital. Even the purportedly royal residence at Ramat Rahel yielded an additional eleven specimens.
Ryan Byrne, “Lie Back and Think of Judah: The Reproductive Politics of Pillar Figurines,” Near Eastern Archaeology 67, no. 1–4 (2004): 140.
The considerable archaeological evidence supports the notion that the production and circulation of objects typically designated as “fertility figurines” were both temporally and spatially familiar to late Iron II Judah.
Ryan Byrne, “Lie Back and Think of Judah: The Reproductive Politics of Pillar Figurines,” Near Eastern Archaeology 67, no. 1–4 (2004): 141.
For all sin, all evil, must first exist before it can spread. The spreading of idolatry was at the same time an increase of apostasy from God. This is not to be sought, however, in the face that Israel forsook the sanctuary, which God had appointed for it as the scene of His gracious presence, and built itself idol-temples.
Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, vol. 9 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1996), 119.
Ezekiel 16:23–25
“And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, (woe, woe unto thee! saith the Lord GOD;) That thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, and hast made thee an high place in every street. Thou hast built thy high place at every head of the way, and hast made thy beauty to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied thy whoredoms.” (KJV 1900)
“An eminent place.” The Heb may be rendered a brothel, or place of prostitution. The word was so understood by the LXX. Thus figuratively the prophet describes their unholy passion for idol-worship. “The natural heights are too far for the people hungering after idols. They wish to plant idolatry in the city thoroughfare, and so build for themselves artificial heights.
D. G. Watt, Thomas H. Leale, and George Barlow, Ezekiel, The Preacher’s Complete Homiletic Commentary (New York; London; Toronto: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1892), 165.
The Reason for The Flood:
Genesis 6:5
“Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (NASB95)