Trampling God’s Grace.
Ezekiel 16: 1-34
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.
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.
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.
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.
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."
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59 For thus says the Lord God: "I will deal with you as you have done, who despised the oath by breaking the covenant.
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.' "
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Chapter 16 is the longest chapter in the book of Ezekiel.
It a poetical account of Israel’s adulterous behaviour. It is a kind of parable that tells of an abandoned child, that is rescued by a traveller and eventually embrace as his wife. Then his wife turns to adultery.
1 Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
2 "Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, (Jerusalem here represents all of Israel)
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.
Although this prophecy is directed at Jerusalem, it is directed to the nation of Israel for Jerusalem was the representative of the whole nation.
"Your birth and your nativity are from the land of Canaan; your father was an Ammorite and your mother a Hittite.
Israel was Canaanite’s through the promise of God to Abraham.
Gen 12:1-3 Now the LORD had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, from your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you. (meaning Canaan)
2. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.
3. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
The Ammorite and Hittite were the dwellers in Canaan and so represented all who dwelt there.
Abraham and Sarah were neither Ammorite or Hittite, They were Chaldeans. They were known as such because that’s where they lived.
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 clothes.
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.
In these verses, God is showing the lowliness and humility of Israel’s birth, No one cared for her. There was no one there to cut the cord or wash her or salt her skin, to make her clean.
She received no pity or compassion from the surrounding nations and she was hated from the very beginning.
but you were thrown out into the open field,
This is what the heathen nations did to deformed or unwanted babies, they threw them into the open field to be devoured by wild animals.
This shows the state of the nation of Israel, lost and completely abandoned, naked, helpless and at the mercy of any who would come to destroy.
It was whilst in this lost state that God reached down and did something.
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!'
What a wonderful example of God’s grace. There was nothing attractive about her, she was struggling in her own blood.
Weak, poor, struggling, and all but dead. But God passed by and took notice.
Deuteronomy 7:7-8, The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the LORD loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers.
Neither did God choose to save us because of what He saw in us. For we too were dead.
Romans 5:6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Come, ye sinners, poor and wretched,
Weak and wounded, sick and sore;
Jesus ready waits to save you,
Full of pity, love and pow’r:
He is able, He is able,
He is willing, doubt no more.
Joseph Hart (1759)
Eze 16:7 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.
Romans 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
I made you thrive.
Any maturity in us is of God, we are being sanctified, made into the image of Jesus Christ.
This passage is quite graphic, in the same way as the Song of Solomon. As one will see if read in a modern translation like the Living Bible.
Charles Spurgeon Quote.
“A very extraordinary chapter this sixteenth of Ezekiel! A minister could scarcely read it in public: he certainly would not like to explain its metaphors to a general audience.”
Eze 16: 9-14
God goes on to show how He acted in His love for Israel, providing all that she needed to thrive and mature.
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.
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.
Israel became a great nation and her fame was admired.
However, this did not last.
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 multicoloured high places for yourself, and played the harlot on them. Such things should not happen, nor be.
Israel became full of themselves and became a harlot. Running after false gods, which is idolatry.
They took the gifts of God and made them into objects of idolatry.
17 You have also taken your beautiful jewellery from My gold and My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images and played the harlot with them.
Whilst Israel did not literally engage in sexual practices with her neighbours, she did engage in idolatrous practices that may have involved sexual practices.
It is suggested that male images here is linked to the practices during the worship of Osiris, Bacchus and Adonis and referred to Phallic worship.
They did abominable things
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?
(David Guzik quote)
By causing them to pass through the fire: Their idolatry went so far that they actually participated in the Canaanite cult of child sacrifice. Even King Ahaz (2 Kings 16:3) and King Manasseh (2 Kings 21:6) took part in this horrific practice. The pagan god (or, demon, more accurately) Molech was worshipped by heating a metal statue representing the god until it was red hot, then placing a living infant on the outstretched hands of the statue, while beating drums drowned out the screams of the child until it burned to death.
This relationship between God and Israel produced new believers but Israel involved themselves in the pagan practice of child sacrifice, which was condemned. End of quote.
Leviticus 20:2: "Again, thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones."
The children of Israel forgot from where they came and who it was that lifted them up.
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.
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 neighbours, and increased your acts of harlotry to provoke Me to anger.
We too as Christians can sometimes forget our past, how God lifted us up out the miry clay and planted our feet on the rock. We experienced God’s grace and forgiveness and this is a lesson to us, not to forget from where we came. We should rid ourselves of anything that could be idolatrous in our lives and seek first the kingdom of God.
Israel joined in idolatry with all the surrounding nations, even the Egyptians.
They sank lower and lower in sin.
30 How degenerate is your heart!" says the Lord God, "seeing you do all these things, the deeds of a brazen harlot.
Israel sank lower than even ordinary Harlots, who prostituted themselves for money.
Israel was doing it for the love of it. They weren’t tempted, they sought it out.
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."
Israel would be judged for this harlotry, this rampant idolatry.
However God still has feelings for Israel.
59 For thus says the Lord God: "I will deal with you as you have done, who despised the oath by breaking the covenant.
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.' "
60. Nevertheless I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth:
God will certainly judge Israel for their sin. However, God would not forget His covenant with Israel.
They would continue to be the apple of His eye, and therefore in His heart.
Even when our children or any part of our family sins against us, we don’t stop loving them. There maybe a punishment and sometimes separation but they always have a place in our hearts and love covers a multitude of sins.
61. Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed:
The restoration would bring humility to Israel.
Sometimes after we have sinned in a bad way and our sin is revealed and yet mercy is still shown, we feel remorse and shame.
62. And I will establish my covenant with you:
The coming judgement would be so great that Israel would be separated from God and maybe feel that there was no more hope for them with God.
Yet again and again God promised to establish His covenant with them again.
This is a fantastic promise to us today. Jesus has established a New Covenant and through God’s grace and our faith we have an unbreakable relationship with Him.
When we sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
However, the object of this lesson is to refrain from sin, which is a violation of the covenant between God and us. We should never trample on God’s grace or use it as a licence for sin.
Romans 8:39 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Eze 16:63 When I provide an atonement for all you have done:
Through this prophecy of Ezekiel, God hints at the nature of the future covenant. The New Covenant, which we have experienced.
This idea of a God-provided atonement is an important aspect of the New Covenant, He is promising that one day the Messiah would come and make a full and final sacrifice for sin.
This would be the true and ultimate restoration of Israel.
