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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet in her lust and
prostitution she was more depraved than her sister. She too lusted after the
Assyrians—governors and commanders, warriors in full dress, mounted horsemen,
all handsome young men. I saw that she too defiled herself; both of them went
the same way.”
“But she carried her prostitution still further. She saw men
portrayed on a wall, figures of Chaldeans portrayed in red, with belts around
their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like
Babylonian chariot officers, natives of Chaldea. As soon as she saw them, she
lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. Then the Babylonians
came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. After she
had been defiled by them, she turned away from them in disgust. When she
carried on her prostitution openly and exposed her naked body, I turned away
from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her sister. Yet she became
more and more promiscuous as she recalled the days of her youth, when she was a
prostitute in Egypt. There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were
like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses. So you longed
for the lewdness of your youth, when in Egypt your bosom was caressed and your
young breasts fondled.”
“Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
I will stir up your lovers against you, those you turned away from in disgust,
and I will bring them against you from every side—the Babylonians and all the
Chaldeans, the men of Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them,
handsome young men, all of them governors and commanders, chariot officers and
men of high rank, all mounted on horses. They will come against you with
weapons, chariots and wagons and with a throng of people; they will take up
positions against you on every side with large and small shields and with
helmets. I will turn you over to them for punishment, and they will punish you
according to their standards. I will direct My jealous anger against you, and
they will deal with you in fury. They will cut off your noses and your ears,
and those of you who are left will fall by the sword. They will take away your
sons and daughters, and those of you who are left will be consumed by fire. They
will also strip you of your clothes and take your fine jewelry. So I will put a
stop to the lewdness and prostitution you began in Egypt. You will not look on
these things with longing or remember Egypt anymore.”
“For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am about to
deliver you into the hands of those you hate, to those you turned away from in
disgust. They will deal with you in hatred and take away everything you have
worked for. They will leave you stark naked, and the shame of your prostitution
will be exposed. Your lewdness and promiscuity have brought this on you,
because you lusted after the nations and defiled yourself with their idols.”
Ezekiel 23:11-30
This ends today’s
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Today is the final installment in the three part series on
God’s allegory found in the opening verses of Ezekiel 23. In these verses, we Thus
far, we have been introduced to two sisters, Oholah and Oholibah, who
represented Samaria and Jerusalem respectively.
The first devotion in this series focused on the sisters in
their youth and how they ended up in prostitution in Egypt before God delivered
them into freedom, bringing them to a land He had set aside for them to live
in. It was there that the two sisters grew up and went their separate ways as
they reached adulthood. This paralleled the nation of Israel dividing into two
kingdoms.
This led to the second devotion which focused solely on
Oholah (Samaria) who was in the north and reverted back to sinful prostitution
with the Assyrians. And as if this wasn’t bad enough, God shares that the
sister (kingdom) had also worshiped the idols of Assyria in direct violation of
His commands to have no other gods before Him.
So God took action and turned Oholah (Samaria) over to her
Assyrian lovers who proceeded to kill her and her relatives. They would not be
heard from again.
That leads us to today’s devotion and the other sister,
Oholibah (Jerusalem).
What path did she take as she branched out on her own? Did
she repeat the mistakes of her sister?
Let’s look again at our scripture passage for the answers:
“Her sister Oholibah
saw this, yet in her lust and prostitution she was more depraved than her
sister. She too lusted after the Assyrians—governors and commanders, warriors
in full dress, mounted horsemen, all handsome young men. I saw that she too
defiled herself; both of them went the same way.”
“But she carried her
prostitution still further. She saw men portrayed on a wall, figures of
Chaldeans portrayed in red, with belts around their waists and flowing turbans
on their heads; all of them looked like Babylonian chariot officers, natives of
Chaldea. As soon as she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to
them in Chaldea. Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and in
their lust they defiled her. After she had been defiled by them, she turned
away from them in disgust. When she carried on her prostitution openly and
exposed her naked body, I turned away from her in disgust, just as I had turned
away from her sister. Yet she became more and more promiscuous as she recalled
the days of her youth, when she was a prostitute in Egypt. There she lusted
after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission
was like that of horses. So you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when in
Egypt your bosom was caressed and your young breasts fondled.”
“Therefore, Oholibah,
this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will stir up your lovers against you,
those you turned away from in disgust, and I will bring them against you from
every side—the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, the men of Pekod and Shoa and
Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, handsome young men, all of them governors
and commanders, chariot officers and men of high rank, all mounted on horses. They
will come against you with weapons, chariots and wagons and with a throng of
people; they will take up positions against you on every side with large and
small shields and with helmets. I will turn you over to them for punishment,
and they will punish you according to their standards. I will direct My jealous
anger against you, and they will deal with you in fury. They will cut off your
noses and your ears, and those of you who are left will fall by the sword. They
will take away your sons and daughters, and those of you who are left will be
consumed by fire. They will also strip you of your clothes and take your fine
jewelry. So I will put a stop to the lewdness and prostitution you began in
Egypt. You will not look on these things with longing or remember Egypt
anymore.”
“For this is what the
Sovereign Lord says: I am about to deliver you into the hands of those you
hate, to those you turned away from in disgust. They will deal with you in
hatred and take away everything you have worked for. They will leave you stark
naked, and the shame of your prostitution will be exposed. Your lewdness and
promiscuity have brought this on you, because you lusted after the nations and
defiled yourself with their idols.” Ezekiel 23:11-30
Note that Oholibah (Jerusalem) was well aware of her sister’s
sins and the punishment those sins brought her. And yet, given all this,
Oholibah chose to be “more depraved than her sister” for she not only lusted
after the Assyrians and their idols but also the Chaldeans (Babylonians) and
their false gods as well. There was no discretion in the way that Oholibah (Jerusalem)
defiled herself.
And so God took action against Oholibah (Jerusalem) just as
He had Oholah (Samaria). He turned away from her in disgust, repulsed at her
willful wickedness and blatant disrespect for Him. But even this wasn’t enough
to convince Oholibah (Jerusalem) to change her behavior as she continued her
sexual promiscuity and infidelity, behaving just as she had in her youth while
captive in Egypt. Through her actions, Oholibah (Jerusalem) showed God she was
more devoted to the Assyrians, Babylonians, and their gods then she was to Him
and so He turned her over to them. And like her sister Oholah (Samaria),
Oholibah’s (Jerusalem’s) pleasure turned to pain and anguish.
For the scriptures tell us that God stirred up Oholibah’s
(Jerusalem’s) lovers against her and brought them upon her from every side with
weapons, chariots, wagons, and a throng of fighting men. He then handed
Oholibah (Jerusalem) over to them as punishment for her indiscretions. In turn,
the Assyrians and Babylonians leveraged God’s jealous anger against Jerusalem
as the divine, holy city was looted as it fell by the sword and was consumed in
fire, leaving it empty and in ashes and rubble. The people who survived the
onslaught would be taken away into seventy long years of captivity in Babylon.
This was the way God stopped the lewdness and unfaithfulness
of His people as they abided in the kingdoms He provided, handing them over to
those they had a lust/hate relationship with.
Now ask yourself the following questions about where you
live today:
If God were to tell a tale of nations, would your nation be comparable
to either Oholah or Ohilibah, unfaithful in the way the people live toward God?
If so, how long do you think it’s going to take before God
takes action against your nation as He did against Samaria and Jerusalem, as He
did against Sodom and Gomorrah before them?
How long will it be before your nation is included in a tale
of unfaithfulness?
Amen
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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