Ezekiel 16:16

The Bible says in Ezekiel 16:16-22, “And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colours, and playedst the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so.[17] Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,[18] And tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them.[19] My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savour: and thus it was, saith the Lord GOD.[20] Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter,[21] That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them?[22] And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in thy blood.” In the verses previous to these God told the Israelites all the things that He had done for them. Now God talks about how the Israelites took what God gave them and then abused and misused what He gave them. They took the beautiful places and made them places for harlots. They took the silver and gold that God gave them and made idols and images. They took the substance that God gave to them and offered it to false gods. And then the horror that they eventually got involved with: they took their own children that God gave to them and sacrificed them to false gods. When a nation or an individual goes down a path away from God, it can end terribly. All goodness comes from God. When someone goes away from God, they are going away from goodness and toward evil.

One of the reasons that the Israelites went away from God is because of what the Lord said to them in verse 22. God said to them, “thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth.” They forgot what they should have remembered: God’s goodness and love to them. God never changes. If He was good to you in the past then He will always be good to you. If God was good to you when you did not deserve it, then shouldn’t you always love and serve Him? Of course, but you must remember what He did for you in order for His goodness to you to have its proper effect.

The Bible says in Ezekiel 16:23-26, “And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, (woe, woe unto thee! saith the Lord GOD;)[24] That thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, and hast made thee an high place in every street.[25] 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.[26] Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger.” God made two statements in these verses that should have driven the people of Israel to their knees in prayer and repentance. In verse 23 God said, “woe, woe unto thee!” In verse 26 God said that the Israelites had provoked Him “to anger.” If the all-powerful God has decided to judge you, the wise thing is to turn to Jesus for forgiveness. These pronouncements of judgment were God’s attempt to wake them up before the judgment came. Wake up while you have time and turn to Jesus.

The Bible says in Ezekiel 16:27-34, “Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over thee, and have diminished thine ordinary food, and delivered thee unto the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of thy lewd way.[28] Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians, because thou wast unsatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet couldest not be satisfied.[29] Thou hast moreover multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea; and yet thou wast not satisfied herewith.[30] How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord GOD, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman;[31] In that thou buildest thine eminent place in the head of every way, and makest thine high place in every street; and hast not been as an harlot, in that thou scornest hire;[32] But as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband![33] They give gifts to all whores: but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom.[34] And the contrary is in thee from other women in thy whoredoms, whereas none followeth thee to commit whoredoms: and in that thou givest a reward, and no reward is given unto thee, therefore thou art contrary.” Wow, this is not a nice description of Israel. First God calls the nation of Israel a harlot. He calls her “an imperious whorish woman.” The people of Israel were involved in horrendous sexual immorality. The word “imperious” means “domineering.” A woman should be under the authority of her husband. The man is the king of the family and the woman is under him: under his protection, under his care, and under his authority. The nation of Israel was supposed to be under the authority of God, but they rebelled. They wanted to make their own decisions instead of doing things the Lord’s way. That attitude led them to copy the other nations. And that led them to unthinkable immorality. The immorality symbolized their unfaithfulness to God.

The Bible says in Ezekiel 16:35-43, “Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD:[36] Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou didst give unto them;[37] Behold, therefore I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness.[38] And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy.[39] And I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thine eminent place, and shall break down thy high places: they shall strip thee also of thy clothes, and shall take thy fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare.[40] They shall also bring up a company against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with their swords.[41] And they shall burn thine houses with fire, and execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women: and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot, and thou also shalt give no hire any more.[42] So will I make my fury toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry.[43] Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast fretted me in all these things; behold, therefore I also will recompense thy way upon thine head, saith the Lord GOD: and thou shalt not commit this lewdness above all thine abominations.” Verse 36 lists the problems that Israel had: sexual impurity that symbolized spiritual problems, and destroying their own children. It sounds familiar, except there is a different way of destroying the children. The Israelites literally destroyed them by sacrificing them in pagan religious rituals. It is really difficult to protect children today because the pagan unbelieving world is all around us, and comes into our homes through the television and the internet. At least as Christian parents we can do our best to teach our children the Word of God and the Gospel of Christ. Hopefully, by the grace of God they will go the way of the Spirit instead of the way of the world when they reach the years where they start making their own decisions.

Once again God summarizes the spiritual and moral problems of the children of Israel and God says in verse 43, “Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth.” If only they had remembered what God had done for them! If only they had retained an appreciation for what God had given them! If only they had continued to be thankful for God’s many blessings! But sadly, they did not remember.

The Bible says in Ezekiel 16:44-48, “Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter.[45] Thou art thy mother's daughter, that lotheth her husband and her children; and thou art the sister of thy sisters, which lothed their husbands and their children: your mother was an Hittite, and your father an Amorite.[46] And thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters.[47] Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: but, as if that were a very little thing, thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways.[48] As I live, saith the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters.” This is a very revealing passage that has a lot to say about women in marriage. First God says to Israel, “As is the mother, so is her daughter.” We have a similar saying in our culture, “Like father, like son.” Who was this mother that God compared Israel to? In other words what was the example that Israel followed? God mentions the Hittites, the Amorites, Samaria, and Sodom is mentioned 3 times. These were all godless peoples. Israel learned from the worst around them. Israel failed at one of the most important spiritual principles for believers in this world: the right kind of separation from unbelievers. It says in Psalms 1:1, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.” It says in Romans 12:2, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” And it also says in First Corinthians 6:14-17, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?[15] And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?[16] And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.[17] Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.”

Concerning the marriage relationship, in the Old Testament Israel is often pictured as the wife of God. That was their relationship: God as the husband and Israel as the wife. It is very similar in the New Testament: the believers in Jesus are called the bride of Christ, and Christian husbands are told in Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands love you wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it.” God said that Israel had learned from the heathen and because of it they “lothed their husbands.” Can it be that believing wives would learn from the world around them wrong attitudes toward their own husbands and then bring those attitudes into their own marriages? Surely that would never happen! One of the worse things that can happen to any man is when the wife brings those types of attitudes that they learned from the world and from their own selfish nature, and begin to “lothe” the husband, criticize the husband, be negative towards the husband, complain about the husband. It says in Proverbs 21:9, “It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.” It says in Ephesians 5:22, “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.” And it says in First Peter 3:5-6, “For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands:[6] Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.” God designed the husband-wife relationship to be a reflection of His relationship with believers. That is the standard. Israel failed because she became not only an unfaithful wife, but also an angry and complaining wife. True Christianity has a lot to do with submission: submission to God, submission to leaders, submission to bosses, and submission in the husband-wife relationship. Jesus did say, “Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.”

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