A TALE OF UNFAITHFUL KINGDOMS (PART 1)

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother. They became prostitutes in Egypt, engaging in prostitution from their youth. In that land their breasts were fondled and their virgin bosoms caressed. The older was named Oholah, and her sister was Oholibah. They were mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.”

Ezekiel 23:1-4

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Have you ever heard of an allegory?

By definition, it’s “a story in which the characters and events are symbols that stand for ideas about human life.” Perhaps, you know a similar word, one that described a method of teaching that Jesus used over and over again. That word is parable.

Why do we need discuss this at the start of today’s devotion?

Because over the next several messages, we are going to see God speaking about His people by way of allegories. We’ll set the stage for following devotions today as we look at the opening verses of Ezekiel 23:

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother. They became prostitutes in Egypt, engaging in prostitution from their youth. In that land their breasts were fondled and their virgin bosoms caressed. The older was named Oholah, and her sister was Oholibah. They were mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.” Ezekiel 23:1-4

Before we jump into what the Lord is getting at here, let me first relate some of what we will discuss based on our own life experiences.

Go back in time and remember your days of youth. You grew up under the watchful eye of your parents and, like myself, grew up with other siblings (four of them in my case). As you grew up, you behaved in certain ways usually consistent with your age but one common thread was that you seemed to rebel against authority to the point where you always wanted to see what you could get away with. Sometimes you succeeded, sometimes you didn’t but it seemed like you were always compelled to challenge the rules.

This went on for some time but then something happened, a rite of passage that comes to all of us.

You became an adult.

Your life changed as you entered into this stage because now, you were on your own. You could make your own choices and do what you wanted to do. There wasn’t anyone around anymore to tell you how you were to do anything. You could continue to act as you did in your days of youth, now without worry of being regulated, or you could decide to be different, to change and live your life differently.

The choice was all yours.

With this as a premise to our scripture today, let’s now turn to the Lord’s allegory. In it, we’re introduced to two sisters named Oholah and Oholibah, born of the same mother who were raised up in Egypt and grew up in difficult circumstances, both becoming prostitutes in their youth. They were sexually used by their lovers, their “breasts fondled” and “virgin bosoms caressed”. This was the environment in which these women grew up, an environment grounded in sinfulness.

Now, note that the Lord wasn’t really speaking about two sisters here. He let us know as much when He shares that Oholah was Samaria while Oholibah was Jerusalem. Essentially, all of the Israelites started together in Egypt, held in oppressive captivity by Pharaoh. Whether forced to engage in prostitution or enslaved in labor, life was harsh and difficult, so much so that God, their heavenly Father, was unwilling to allow them to suffer and delivered them from their hardship. He set His people free under the leadership of Moses and set them on a course to a land where they could have a fresh start and a clean slate, a land where God would be their God and they would be His people.

It all seemed like it would be the perfect new start, an arrangement where the young girls, Oholah and Oholibah (Samaria and Jerusalem), could grow up and live a life different from their youth.

But that’s not what happened.

For when Oholoah and Oholibah grew up into adulthood, they went their separate ways.  Oholah (Samaria) went to the northern part of the holy land while Oholibah (Jerusalem) inhabited the south. And not only were the two sisters opposed to one another but each returned to the sinful unfaithfulness that dominated their early years.

And so this chapter of Ezekiel begins, with God offering us a tale of two unfaithful kingdoms. We’ll continue to look at the allegory and examine each of those kingdoms separately over the next several days.     

Amen

In Christ,

Mark
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