Ezekiel 16:30-63
Q.1. Why did God describe Israel as a prostitute? How would God cure them of their unfaithfulness? – (Ezk.16:30-52)
Israel was insulting God by turning to the gods of the nations, just as a harlot was unfaithful to her husband. However, Israel was not being paid but were paying for their harlotry (Ezk.16:30-34). They had turned to idols. They even sacrificed the blood of their sons. Therefore, God would raise up the nations of these gods to strip them bare of the dignity and wealth that they had once enjoyed. God predicted – 41 … I will stop you from playing the harlot, and you will also no longer pay your lovers. 42 So I will calm My fury against you and My jealousy will depart from you, and I will be pacified and angry no more. 43 Because you have not remembered the days of your youth but have enraged Me by all these things, behold, I in turn will bring your conduct down on your own head,” declares the Lord God … (Ezk.16:41-43). Judah had acted more corruptly and treacherously than her sister Israel and made the wicked northern kingdom of Israel appear righteous by contrast (Ezk.16:47-52).
Q.2. On what basis will God bring His people back into a Covenant relationship again? – (Ezk.16:53-63)
In the midst of this message of doom for the nation, God spoke about a future time when He will do something totally unexpected and undeserved. He will restore both the northern and southern tribes of Israel – “Nevertheless, I will restore their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and along with them your own captivity (Ezk.16:53). At that time, He needed to deal with them as they had treated Him, even as He promised – For thus says the Lord God, “I will also do with you as you have done, you who have despised the oath by breaking the covenant (Ezk.16:59). However, God has not permanently rejected His people whom He foreknew (c.f. Rom.11:2-6). The Lord foretold of a future time – 60 “Nevertheless, I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you … 62 Thus I will establish My covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the Lord, 63 so that you may remember and be ashamed and never open your mouth anymore because of your humiliation, when I have forgiven you for all that you have done,” the Lord God declares (Ezk.16:60, 62-63). What a God we have. He brings life where death is deserved. We need to be eternally grateful for this.