Year 2, Week 18, Day 5 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 18, Day 5

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Ezekiel 15-16.

Today’s reading continues the Book of Ezekiel. Today’s reading proceeds further into the first segment of Ezekiel (chapters 1-24), which is a series of prophecies about impending judgment on the people of Judah for their persistent disobedience to the LORD. Ezekiel 15, which is the start of a new subunit in the first segment of Ezekiel. This subunit will run through chapter 19 and use parabolic type statements and stories instead of the sign act dramatizations in order to convey the Word of the LORD. Ezekiel 15 likens Jerusalem to a vine that has become worthless due to its unfaithfulness: “And the word of the LORD came to me: “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?…And I will make the land desolate, because they have acted faithlessly, declares the Lord GOD” (Ezekiel 15:1-3a,8). Ezekiel 16 is the longest prophetic oracle in the Old Testament, which depicts Jerusalem as a women: “Again the word of the LORD came to me: “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” (Ezekiel 16:1-3). The Word of the LORD that came to Ezekiel pertained to Jerusalem: its history, its present unfaithfulness, but also the LORD’s commitment to provide a sacrifice for their sin: “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 16:62-63).

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading was the shocking and graphic nature surrounding Jerusalem’s origins as well as its unfaithfulness. The beginnings of the LORD’s relationship with Jerusalem is likened to the extraordinary loving care toward a little child who was uncared for: “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. “And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!” (Ezekiel 16:4-6). Jerusalem was abandoned by her parents and left to die. But the LORD saw Jerusalem’s helpless state, writhing around in a field still covered with the blood of her birth, on the verge of death, and intervened in this situation to bring her life. She flourished under the LORD’s care.

Shifting gears, the parable transitions from Jerusalem as a pitiful baby who was rescued by the LORD to a young beautiful lady—her beauty was a result of the LORD’s care and provision. As the LORD visits her as a young lady, He enters into a covenant with Jerusalem, using imagery of a marriage covenant: “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” (Ezekiel 16:8). And the LORD took great care of His bride: “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” (Ezekiel 16:10-13). Jerusalem was provided everything she needed in her display of beauty.

But Jerusalem’s beauty caught the eye of her neighbors, and even more pertinent to Jerusalem’s choices, she became prideful in her beauty: “But you trusted in your beauty and played the whore because of your renown and lavished your whorings on any passerby; your beauty became his” (Ezekiel 16:15). Jerusalem dedicated herself to seeking out many lovers, taking the very gifts the LORD had given her and lavishing them on her illicit partners. Worst of all, she took her sons and daughters, the Lord’s own children, and offered them as burnt offerings to these idols: “And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them?” (Ezekiel 16:20-21). The LORD’s assessment was clear: “How sick is your heart, declares the Lord GOD, because you did all these things, the deeds of a brazen prostitute” (Ezekiel 16:30).

Jerusalem had broken her covenant vows that she made to the LORD. In keeping with His covenantal terms, the LORD would first of all punish His bride: “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” (Ezekiel 16:38). But punishment would not be the last word; hope and renewal would be: “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” (Ezekiel 16:59-60). A New and Everlasting Covenant would not only make atonement for His people’s sins, it would also change the very hearts of His people: “And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God” (Ezekiel 11:19-20).

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe