Ezekiel 16: 13 – 38
‘Betrayed’ Part 2
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.” 35 ‘Now then, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD! 36 Thus says the Lord GOD: “Because your filthiness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your harlotry with your lovers, and with all your abominable idols, and because of the blood of your children which you gave to them, 37 surely, therefore, I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved, and all those you hated; I will gather them from all around against you and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness. 38 And I will judge you as women who break wedlock or shed blood are judged; I will bring blood upon you in fury and jealousy.
Remember this all started off with no one caring whether this child lived or died. Then, the Lord stepped in and look what happened. She was the envy of the whole world. Everyone wanted what she had been given.
“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.”
Have you ever thought that God doesn’t really care much about you. Have you ever been in love? You would know then that your thoughts are fixed on the one you love. You have not taken the time to recognize this great fact. God is in love with you! No really, let me say it again. Our Holy and Awesome God is greatly in love with you and me. Let me show you just a few references;
Psalm 40: 5, “5 Many, O LORD my God, are Your wonderful works which You have done; And Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order; If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.”
Psalm 139: 17 – 18, “ 17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You.”
1 Peter 3: 12, “12 For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers; but the face of the LORD is against those who do evil.”
Psalm 91: 14: “14 “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name.”
Song of Solomon 2: 2, “2 Like a lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.”
Jeremiah 31: 3, “3 The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: “ Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with loving kindness I have drawn you”.
John 15: 9, “9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.”
John 15: 13, “13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”
Romans 5: 8, “8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 8: 35, “35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?”
1 John 4: 19, “19 We love Him because He first loved us.”
Do you grasp the awesome truth of these passages? Do you begin to understand how much He loves us? Why do I share this information? God wants to spend some time with us personally. If you love someone, guess what? You want to spend as much time with him or her as you can. Can you make it your goal to love the Lord God Almighty with all your heart, mind, and strength?
What we see as a picture of this baby girl also is a great picture of the Tabernacle. I would like to get into this but it is a separate study in itself. If you want to be blessed then read the book of Exodus chapters 25 through 30 to read up about the Tabernacle. Cross-reference these chapters to these verses and you will see every items listed on both. Our Holy Father has always desired to dwell with mankind. In the future this will happen forever as the book of Revelation chapter 21 points out to us, “1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. 2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.”
You would expect to find the term ‘and they lived happily ever after’ somewhere in this chapter. However, evil and sin permeate mankind and the happy fairy tale does not happen.
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.”
‘But you trusted in you beauty’. The word ‘trust’ is also related to the words ‘faith’ and ‘believe’. Instead of leaning on or continuing to take refuge in the Lord Yahweh, the nation of Israel began to think that the beauty and renown was the results of their own doing. It led to disobedience and idolatry.
The pride and self-sufficiency thought recesses leads mankind away from a humble appreciation. Is this not the same with all of us today? Whatever things have been obtained such as wealth, position, or power, become a ‘me’ or ‘I’ accomplishment factor. How quickly do we forget that all good things come from above from the One Who invests Himself in our lives. This cocky attitude runs rampant even in the church. All types of individual and marriage problems are principally due to people consumed on self.
Look at verse 15 again, 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.”
We are so naïve that we forget just like the Israelites had done in how people treat each other. Some people will not even give you the time of day. Yet, somehow, if you have something that may benefit them, then all of a sudden they are your best friends. I tell people we set our expectations to high. We love to place people under the category of ‘friend’ when they are not. Then when they hurt us in some way we are devastated because a ‘friend’ hurt us. Not true! They were never our friends to begin with. They belonged in the category as ‘acquaintances’. I know that you are familiar with the Prodigal son as described for us in the Gospel of Luke chapter 15, “11 Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. 13 And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. 14 But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. 15 Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.”
Look at some of the celebrities in sports or in the entertainment fields. They have a bunch a leaches sucking out all they can get from the rich stars.
This could be a good thing if the thing that others want from you is a relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. But this sounds like it is pie in the sky type of thinking. How many people do you know that others were drawn to The Lord Jesus Christ because of their daily walk? The first time people were called ‘Christians’ is told to us in the bible from the book of Acts chapter 11, “26 And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.” Here people began to display the awesome characteristics of our Lord Jesus in their lives and others observed and reacted positively.
Let me give you a theological term for your biblical development. The thing that the Israelites were doing is called an ‘Apostasy’. It is spiritual adultery when one turns away from the One True God. The description of such a strong word ‘Adultery’ might seem out of place but it does and has resulted in the physical acts of adultery. The worship of these phony gods involved literal sexual misconduct as described to us in the book of Hosea chapter 4, 11 “ Harlotry, wine, and new wine enslave the heart. 12 My people ask counsel from their wooden idols, and their staff informs them. For the spirit of harlotry has caused them to stray, and they have played the harlot against their God. 13 They offer sacrifices on the mountaintops, And burn incense on the hills, Under oaks, poplars, and terebinths, Because their shade is good. Therefore your daughters commit harlotry, and your brides commit adultery. 14 “ I will not punish your daughters when they commit harlotry, Nor your brides when they commit adultery; For the men themselves go apart with harlots, And offer sacrifices with a ritual harlot. Therefore people who do not understand will be trampled. 15 “ Though you, Israel, play the harlot, let not Judah offend. Do not come up to Gilgal, Nor go up to Beth Aven, Nor swear an oath, saying, ‘As the LORD lives’— 16 “ For Israel is stubborn Like a stubborn calf; Now the LORD will let them forage. Like a lamb in open country. 17 “ Ephraim is joined to idols, Let him alone. 18 Their drink is rebellion, they commit harlotry continually. Her rulers dearly love dishonor. 19 The wind has wrapped her up in its wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.”
I like to sing the words of this song, which is also my prayer. It helps me remember to appreciate my Wonderful Holy God.
If I lose the wonder of my heart
Help me to remember Who You Are
If I forget the meaning of the cross
Help me to remember what I loss
How amazing that You died for me
So I can be separate and free
You gave Your Life so I would never die
There’s a place I need to be
Where the truth is plain to see
Gotta go down, gotta go down, gotta go down on my knees
There’s a place I need to go
Mercy and Forgiveness grows
Gotta go down, gotta go down, gotta go down on my knees
“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.”
Think for a moment with me. Have you ever experienced this from a relationship you had with someone. You gave the one that you were in love with something expensive because you were motivated by your great emotion of feelings toward him or her. You start sensing that the love you are giving doesn’t seem to be received anymore. In fact, the whole relationship feels cold and dried out, yet your passion for that person is still strong. You become aware that this person that you love, wants more free time away from you. You begin to get jealous. You sense or even hear that the person you love is hanging around with someone else. Without forethought you actually happen to run into them together one day. What adds salt to the wound is that you notice the other person has in his or her possession the item that you went to great lengths and cost to provide for the one you love. How does this make you feel? Pretty Good? No, you are devastated.
Now, think with me one second about the feelings of our Precious Loving God. Here He shows us that all the riches and blessing He gave to His Beloved- Israel. What did she do? She used them to attract and then participate in adultery [Apostasy]. You see, it gets worse than just giving away some precious gifts. She used them to seduce other lovers. Your love wasn’t any good anymore.
Here our Lord Is pointing out that the woman He loves [the nation of Israel] has stripped off the expensive clothes and exposes her nakedness. Jeremiah chapter 3 tells us, 2 “ Lift up your eyes to the desolate heights and see: Where have you not lain with men? By the road you have sat for them like an Arabian in the wilderness; and you have polluted the land with your harlotries and your wickedness.” We also read in 2 Kings chapter 23, “7 Then he tore down the ritual booths of the perverted persons that were in the house of the LORD, where the women wove hangings for the wooden image.”
The Israelites used the precious gifts God had given them to build and decorate worthless high places to worship phony gods. Parts of the rituals of this action were sexual acts.
Such things should not happen, nor be.” These acts were so disgraceful that it was never done this horribly by anyone before.
“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.”
This sounds so pre-enlightment. You think that cave people committed these ridiculous actions. Oh really? There are places of religious worship in established Christian denominations today that have little statues in their churches. They change the clothing of these little dolls on various holidays.
“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?”
Their adultery of leaving The One Who Loved them consisted of first building altars to these Canaanite phony gods as the book of 1 Kings chapter 11 tells us, “7Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon. 8 And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.” The Jews used the precious garments God, Who Is The Only True and Living God, had provided for them. Then they fashioned perverted statues for the worship of these idols. Next they gave what was to be solely used in worship of the Divine Holy Yahweh as symbolic tokens of their admiration to these false images. Lastly they had taken God’s children that they had borne to Him and murdered them for the benefit of these demonic gods. As the book of 2 Kings chapter 16 explains, “1 In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign. 2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right in the sight of the LORD his God, as his father David had done. 3 But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel; indeed he made his son pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out from before the children of Israel. 4 And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.”
If you have not understood by now, you need to know this, God does not condone the killing of babies. It is Satan’s goal to destroy mankind. He is so slick that he is capable of convincing humans to destroy our own children. I said it before how much God loves you. Since that is true and since Satan hates our Awesome God, he can get back at God by destroying God’s kids. Our Holy Lord said these things about children;
Exodus 13: 1 – 2, “1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Consecrate to Me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and beast; it is Mine.”
Numbers 3: 13, “13 because all the firstborn are Mine. On the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast. They shall be Mine: I am the LORD.”
Matthew 19: 13 – 14, 13 Then little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”
To all the abominable acts the Israelites added this, the murder of their own children. Since God especially claimed in writing that mankind’s first born were His, Satan set out to get and kill mankind’s firstborn. The sad point is that through compromise the people had developed a belief that the vile deeds they were doing were right. They had come to believe that God wanted this. How much today do billions of humans think that killing a baby is doing the right thing.
Our Holy Lord God gave this important statement to mankind through Abraham in Genesis chapter 22, 1 Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”And he said, “Here I am.” 2 Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. 5 And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.” 6 So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. 7 But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together. 9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” So he said, “Here I am.” 12 And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” 13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided.” 15 Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, 16 and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son— 17 blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. 18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” 19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.”
Micah 6: 6 – 8, “6 With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, Ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?”
“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.”
Mankind tries to make sense of the past, complains about the present, and fears the future. A person who is an alcoholic tends to remember the fun experiences and not all the terrible times that drinking had caused. So also, the Israelites did not remember their miserable past conditions. It was just a history lesson. The dirty, destitute, and dying conditions that the Jewish ancestors had experienced were to the present just stories. You would be amazed at the amount of people seeking comfort from counseling because their comfortable lifestyles had been interrupted with difficult times.
We read also the statement ‘all your abominations and your whoredoms’ and think they are also just past tales of old. Oh really? Do we today not still practice the same things but just call the by different titles; pornography, greed, sports etc.
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.”
In the name of accepted practices the people built brothels and other sorts of local establishments where people could go to have a fun evening of sexual performances and participation.
‘And have opened your feet to everyone who passed by and multiplied your whoredoms’ not only refers to the participation of sexual acts but leads to the interactions with the nations as listed in verses 26 through 29,
“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.”
Instead of trusting God their Savior they relied with open arms, their former slave masters, the Egyptians
It started with king Solomon when he took Pharaoh’s daughter as his wife as mentioned in the book of 1 Kings chapter 3, 1 Now Solomon made a treaty with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and married Pharaoh’s daughter; then he brought her to the City of David until he had finished building his own house, and the house of the LORD, and the wall all around Jerusalem.”
You would think that it was a smart move being allies with Egypt, which was a protection from its northern enemies, but it also meant acceptance of their phony gods. In the book of 2 Kings chapter 17 we read about the king of Israel’s scheme to deceive the Assyrian’s by seeking alliance with Egypt, “4 And the king of Assyria uncovered a conspiracy by Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and brought no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison.”
Egypt is called ‘fleshly’ because her promises were worthless promises of any treaties were ultimately ignored.
If you remember back to the book of Exodus and the ‘Golden calf’, the old statement of, ‘you can take the boy out of the city, but not the city out of the boy.’ still is true today. Even after centuries of persecution by the Egyptians and what they did to the Jews, the Israelites were still greatly fascinated with Egypt and her culture and customs. In addition, the Philistines are forever noted in Scripture for their menacing ways against the people of Israel.
2 Chronicles 28, “18 The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the lowland and of the South of Judah, and had taken Beth Shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Sochoh with its villages, Timnah with its villages, and Gimzo with its villages; and they dwelt there.”
The Philistines were still around at this time period, not so much as a their prior threats. They would however take advantage of the attacks of the Babylonian army to re-initiate their terror actions against the Jews. Do we not see the same thing happening today by the Palestinians?
Our Holy Lord points out that these Philistines were more righteous than Jerusalem because they were mainly faithful to their pagan gods, not like Israel who forsook their own God for others.
In verse 28 our Lord points out Israel’s lousy resume. They welcomed the Assyrians and their gods with open arms well before Assyria was a threat. 2 Kings 16 reports, 7 So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who rise up against me.” 8 And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and sent it as a present to the king of Assyria. 9 So the king of Assyria heeded him; for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and took it, carried its people captive to Kir, and killed Rezin.”
The Israelites knew that the Assyrians were brutal enemies but left off trusting in God and signed alliances hoping to avoid future wars. You cannot keep poisonous snakes as pets. Sooner or later they are going to bite you. So also, were the ways of the Jews seeking peace without including the Prince of Peace.
Their history revealed to the Jews of the reality of a living and active Holy God yet they considered His miracles as just stories. We see in the book of 2 kings chapter 16 just how far the Jewish people had abandoned the Holy Yahweh, 1 In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign. 2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right in the sight of the LORD his God, as his father David had done. 3 But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel; indeed he made his son pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out from before the children of Israel. 4 And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.5 Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to make war; and they besieged Ahaz but could not overcome him. 6 At that time Rezin king of Syria captured Elath for Syria, and drove the men of Judah from Elath. Then the Edomites went to Elath, and dwell there to this day. 7 So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who rise up against me.” 8 And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and sent it as a present to the king of Assyria. 9 So the king of Assyria heeded him; for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and took it, carried its people captive to Kir, and killed Rezin. 10 Now King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus; and King Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the design of the altar and its pattern, according to all its workmanship. 11 Then Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. So Urijah the priest made it before King Ahaz came back from Damascus. 12 And when the king came back from Damascus, the king saw the altar; and the king approached the altar and made offerings on it. 13 So he burned his burnt offering and his grain offering; and he poured his drink offering and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. 14 He also brought the bronze altar which was before the LORD, from the front of the temple—from between the new altar and the house of the LORD—and put it on the north side of the new altar. 15 Then King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, “On the great new altar burn the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt sacrifice, and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, their grain offering, and their drink offerings; and sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice. And the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.” 16 Thus did Urijah the priest, according to all that King Ahaz commanded. 17 And King Ahaz cut off the panels of the carts, and removed the lavers from them; and he took down the Sea from the bronze oxen that were under it, and put it on a pavement of stones. 18 Also he removed the Sabbath pavilion which they had built in the temple, and he removed the king’s outer entrance from the house of the LORD, on account of the king of Assyria.”
Here we read that king Ahaz had the audacity to replace God’s Holy altar at the Temple with a copy of an Assyrian altar. We read that God allowed Sennacherib, the leader of Assyria, to give some of Jerusalem’s lands to the Philistines in the book of 2 Chronicles 21, 16 Moreover the LORD stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and the Arabians who were near the Ethiopians. 17 And they came up into Judah and invaded it, and carried away all the possessions that were found in the king’s house, and also his sons and his wives, so that there was not a son left to him except Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.
Now where have I read about recently of a nation giving away God’s lands?
How encompassing are the words, ‘and yet you were not satisfied.’ For those of you, like me, who have done graduate work in the pursuit of worldly pleasure, do these words ring true. Psychologists refer the lack of fulfillment and additional problems as ‘unresolved symptom’s or unresolved issues’. The world encourages us to find our answers to everything from what it offers. I know today, thank you Holy Father, is that, our only answers to anything comes from Him, and Him alone! For example, a godly Christian elderly woman’s husband died. Through listening to well intentioned friends, she went to a Psychiatrist, who wound up prescribing her drugs, er. Medication. Her problem was two parts – grief and loneliness. In my opinion her prescription should have been time and friends to help her through this difficult time. Instead, the pursuit of a quick fix caused this poor woman to develop many more problems, which wound up leading to a mental institution. How very sad!
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.”
I used verse 30, ‘How degenerate [weak] is your heart’ as a key verse to develop my theory of marriage success after infidelity. You would be amazed at the eruption of emotions this thesis caused. My findings displayed more marital success or continuation relative to the man who was the sinner.
Israel’s behavior is shown for what it is, a product of a weak, faithless, and love less heart. She is described as being worse than a prostitute who doesn’t do it for money to survive but because her desire is to find satisfaction in the arms of other men. This woman doesn’t care about right or wrong. In fact, she is not ashamed of what she has become, but acts proudly, displaying her behavior and arrogance with it. As you can see how easy it is to see spiritual and physical actions identically.
Oh yeah, in case you are curious of my findings, here is an explanation. Another key verse I saw in scriptures relative to marriage success after the breaking of the covenant comes from the book of Deuteronomy chapter 24, “ 1 “When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, 2 when she has departed from his house, and goes and becomes another man’s wife, 3 if the latter husband detests her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her as his wife, 4 then her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the LORD, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.
Why is this an abomination? I have heard explained that it cheapens marriage. How so? You can play the marry game, which cheapens the sanctity of marriage. Under this formula a man could get married, have the honeymoon, then decide to divorce his wife. Perhaps later on probably just for the desire for sex he could then try to marry again a former wife. Thus playing the hypocritical game of thinking he is doing everything proper.
That is a probability but I do not believe it is the correct thought here. I believe it goes back to the issue of the heart. Here are some basic facts, which I believe you will agree with me. Men overall are attracted to women based on sight. Women are principally driven by the emotions of their hearts. A man is interested in the physical part of a woman. Women are driven by love. Men say, ‘I love you’ in order to get sex. Women want the love of a man before giving her body.
Therefore, a man gets involved with another woman who is not his wife for the thrill of sex. When caught he can more easily walk away and possibly do right as a husband because he never gave his heart to the other woman. I believe that is why you see horrible acts committed by a man toward a wife, who commits; ‘adultery’ because he has given his heart and cannot be appeased. Proverbs chapter 6 teaches us, “ 20 My son, keep your father’s command, and do not forsake the law of your mother. 21 Bind them continually upon your heart; Tie them around your neck. 22 When you roam, they will lead you; when you sleep, they will keep you; and when you awake, they will speak with you. 23 For the commandment is a lamp, and the law a light; Reproofs of instruction are the way of life, 24 To keep you from the evil woman, from the flattering tongue of a seductress. 25 Do not lust after her beauty in your heart, nor let her allure you with her eyelids. 26 For by means of a harlot a man is reduced to a crust of bread; and an adulteress will prey upon his precious life. 27 Can a man take fire to his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? 28 Can one walk on hot coals, and his feet not be seared? 29 So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; whoever touches her shall not be innocent. 30 People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy himself when he is starving. 31 Yet when he is found, he must restore sevenfold; He may have to give up all the substance of his house. 32 Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding; He who does so destroys his own soul. 33 Wounds and dishonor he will get, and his reproach will not be wiped away. 34 For jealousy is a husband’s fury; therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance. 35 He will accept no recompense, nor will he be appeased though you give many gifts.”
I believe what the verse from Deuteronomy is saying to us is that the woman’s heart has now gone to another man. Her new husband does not want her now and so the situation comes up that the first husband wants her back. It can become a revolving door. There is no second return of the heart once it is gone.
Now I am sure there are some who will quickly respond against this theory. They will say, ‘how come some marriages where the woman is the one who committed adultery, those marriages are still continuing?’ I would say these marriages continue due to the woman’s desire to maintain appearances and not lose her investments. A woman does not want to lose her house and possibly her children. Therefore, a woman will come back to her husband and live a love less life rather than face those losses. I also believe you see this point especially after the kids have grown up. The women in these situations leave their husbands in pursuit of the missing ‘love’
“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.”
A prostitute is a woman who gives her body to men for money. Our Lord’s description of Israel is so bad that He presents a totally unrealistic description. The woman in His story does not receive money - she pays. She is in a category all by herself unlike any other.
Psalm 33: 12, “12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people He has chosen as His own inheritance.”
Psalm 2): 7, “7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.”
Psalm 34: 22, ““22 The LORD redeems the soul of His servants, and none of those who trust in Him shall be condemned.”
Our Holy God has proven over and over that He loves us and that we can put our trust in everything in Him. Yet, how ridiculous are we? Just like the Israelites we devise our own schemes and plans to accomplish things. Here the Jews had developed their own ways of protection and that was through the development of treaties with other nations. They thought that they were wise in their own eyes by allying themselves with the Assyrians and Babylonians before they might be a burden to them. This was in fact a sign of weakness since these pagan countries would now want more things from her.
So look at these charges made by our Holy Lord Yahweh against the Israelites. As I list these charges examine yourselves in truth to see if any apply to you.
1. Excessive vanity – verse 15
2. Spiritual prostitution – verses 15 – 19
3. The murder of babies by sacrificing them to idols – verses 20 –21
4. No appreciation for God’s Goodness and Unmerited favor – verse 22
5. Exposing her spiritual prostitution openly – verses 23 – 25
6. Forgetting to trust in God – verse 26
7. Trusting in other worldly solutions – verses 26 – 29
8. Hearts turned toward a life of sin – verses 30 – 34
35 ‘Now then, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD! 36 Thus says the Lord GOD: “Because your filthiness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your harlotry with your lovers, and with all your abominable idols, and because of the blood of your children which you gave to them, 37 surely, therefore, I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved, and all those you hated; I will gather them from all around against you and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness.”
‘Because your brass was poured out’ involves both judgment and uncleanness. For one thing the altar of burnt offerings was made of brass. In the book of Exodus chapter 38 we read about this, “1 He made the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood; five cubits was its length and five cubits its width—it was square—and its height was three cubits. 2 He made its horns on its four corners; the horns were of one piece with it. And he overlaid it with bronze. 3 He made all the utensils for the altar: the pans, the shovels, the basins, the forks, and the firepans; all its utensils he made of bronze. 4 And he made a grate of bronze network for the altar, under its rim, midway from the bottom. 5 He cast four rings for the four corners of the bronze grating, as holders for the poles. 6 And he made the poles of acacia wood, and overlaid them with bronze.”
When a person wanted to be forgiven of their sins they would bring an innocent substitute that would be slain and offered on the altar. In the book of Leviticus chapter 1 we are taught about this act, “ 1 Now the LORD called to Moses, and spoke to him from the tabernacle of meeting, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When any one of you brings an offering to the LORD, you shall bring your offering of the livestock—of the herd and of the flock.3 ‘If his offering is a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish; he shall offer it of his own free will at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the LORD. 4 Then he shall put his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him. 5 He shall kill the bull before the LORD; and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall bring the blood and sprinkle the blood all around on the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of meeting. 6 And he shall skin the burnt offering and cut it into its pieces. 7 The sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar, and lay the wood in order on the fire. 8 Then the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall lay the parts, the head, and the fat in order on the wood that is on the fire upon the altar; 9 but he shall wash its entrails and its legs with water. And the priest shall burn all on the altar as a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the LORD. 10 ‘If his offering is of the flocks—of the sheep or of the goats—as a burnt sacrifice, he shall bring a male without blemish. 11 He shall kill it on the north side of the altar before the LORD; and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall sprinkle its blood all around on the altar. 12 And he shall cut it into its pieces, with its head and its fat; and the priest shall lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire upon the altar; 13 but he shall wash the entrails and the legs with water. Then the priest shall bring it all and burn it on the altar; it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the LORD. 14 ‘And if the burnt sacrifice of his offering to the LORD is of birds, then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves or young pigeons. 15 The priest shall bring it to the altar, wring off its head, and burn it on the altar; its blood shall be drained out at the side of the altar. 16 And he shall remove its crop with its feathers and cast it beside the altar on the east side, into the place for ashes. 17 Then he shall split it at its wings, but shall not divide it completely; and the priest shall burn it on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire. It is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the LORD.”
To obtain an atonement or covering of a person’s sins the blood of a spotless animal had to be shed, which was only a temporary act. It anticipated the eventual offering of the pure and spotless Lamb of God which was a once for all time offering for the sin of the world.
Here our Lord mentions that this brass altar was poured out. It meant that there was no more wood or any more acceptable sacrifices being made to God. The altar fire was put out. We find out in the book of Isaiah how our Lord looked at the sacrifices made by the people, “24 You have bought Me no sweet cane with money, nor have you satisfied Me with the fat of your sacrifices; But you have burdened Me with your sins, you have wearied Me with your iniquities.”
In addition we read in the book of Jeremiah chapter 26 this, “28 They are all stubborn rebels, walking as slanderers. They are bronze and iron, They are all corrupters; 29 The bellows blow fiercely, The lead is consumed by the fire; The smelter refines in vain, For the wicked are not drawn off.”
All along the refining of brass contains impurities that is referred to as ‘dross’. An impurity that cannot be removed is poured out as waste. So, our Lord is telling the Israelites now in His Determinate Will, the elimination of the Jews from His city is a proper way of disposing of wastes.
Cult prostitutes would offer themselves where drinking alcohol also is part of this shameful religious mockery. As a result these women were subjected often to some of the most horrific and degrading treatment.
Israel would suffer from those all around her. Those whom she loved were her supposed allies. Those whom she hated were her enemies who were waiting to pounce. Our Lord describes the coming attack as the enemy surrounding her, gazes on her sad state of affairs, and then abuse her. Not only would Babylon cause total destruction but we will also read in later chapters of surrounding nations and those people who were living among them – the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, and Philistines.
Most prostitutes do not just decide to be one. Based on rape, drugs, money, kidnapping and other horrible deeds done to them in the past they usually without displaying it, despise their clients. Here our Lord points out that Israel’ have taken pleasure.’ Like the book of Romans chapter 1 spells this attitude pretty accurately, “28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.”
38 And I will judge you as women who break wedlock or shed blood are judged; I will bring blood upon you in fury and jealousy.
People who broke wedlock were dealt with very swiftly - they were stoned to death. Add this capital crime to the murder so horrendous as killing your own children, you can rightly understand our Supreme Judge’s decision.
We read this in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 22, 22 “If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then both of them shall die—the man that lay with the woman, and the woman; so you shall put away the evil from Israel. 23 “If a young woman who is a virgin is betrothed to a husband, and a man finds her in the city and lies with her, 24 then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he humbled his neighbor’s wife; so you shall put away the evil from among you.”
God Is a Jealous God. He Is also A Jealous Husband and Lover. He demands the ultimate penality for the betrayal of His Love.
