Signs

In Ezekiel 23, the Lord compares those who abandon Him to harlots. They prefer the favor of ungodly peers more than desire the favor of the lover of their souls.

“The Word of the Lord came again to me, saying: ‘Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother. They committed harlotry in Egypt... Their names: Oholah the elder and Oholibah her sister; they were Mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem is Oholibah.’” Ezekiel 23:1-4

Oholah means “her tent,” representing the northern kingdom of Israel (Samaria), while Oholibah means “My tent is in her,” representing the southern kingdom of Judah (Jerusalem). These symbolic names describe how both kingdoms were unfaithful to God. Oholah signifies Israel’s self-made places of worship, while Oholibah refers to Jerusalem, which housed God’s temple but was still idolatrous and unfaithful.

“Oholah played the harlot even though she was Mine; and she lusted for her lovers, the neighboring Assyrians.” “Therefore, I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, for whom she lusted. ...They executed judgment on her.” Ezekiel 23:5, 9-10

The ones who lured her from God, turned on her and destroyed her. Kind of like hunters who set out an animal’s favorite food not because they love the animal but because they want to kill it and devour it’s goods.

“Now although her sister Oholibah saw this, she became more corrupt in her lust than she, and in her harlotry more corrupt than her sister’s harlotry.” “She increased her harlotry; she looked at men portrayed on the wall images of Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion... As soon as her eyes saw them, she lusted for them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. Then the Babylonians came to her, into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their immorality; so, she was defiled by them and alienated herself from them.” Ezekiel 23:11, 14, 16-17

Oholibah (Jerusalem) followed in her sister’s ways even though she saw that her sister’s ending was not a happy one. Those who lure people from God are defiled and by their nature seek to defile others, especially the one who is holy to the Lord. Gaining a defiler’s favor is no favor, but a death trap. After joining herself to the Chaldeans, and after being defiled by them, she alienated herself from them. Now, she had loneliness.

“Then I alienated Myself from her, as I had alienated Myself from her sister.” Ezekiel 23:18

Sin alienates us from God. The only way back to God is via repentance of unfaithfulness to Him and via sincerely asking Him for His forgiveness with a view to be faithful to Him going forward.

“I will delegate judgment to them, and they shall judge you according to their judgments. I will set My jealousy against you, and they shall deal furiously with you...” “For thus says the Lord God: surely I will deliver you into the hand of those you hate, into the hand of those from whom you alienated yourself. They will deal hatefully with you, take away all you have worked for, and leave you naked and bare...” Ezekiel 23:24-25, 28-29

They didn’t want to hear or accept God’s judgments. They told God’s messengers not to judge them. So, God handed them over to people who hated them. Their new masters judged them with cruelty. They robbed them of everything including their self-respect.

“You have walked in the way of your sister; therefore, I will put her cup in your hand. Thus says the Lord God: you shall drink of your sister’s cup, the deep and wide one; you shall be laughed to scorn and held in derision; it contains much. You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, the cup of horror and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria.” Ezekiel 23:31-33

God gave to Samaria and to Jerusalem a cup filled with scorn, derision, drunkenness, sorrow, horror and desolation. This is the cup of God’s wrath against sin. It is the cup that Jesus drank in the garden of Gethsemane. After Jesus submitted to drinking God’s cup of wrath for our sins, He experienced captivity, insults, torture, crucifixion, and finally death. He did this for our salvation that we might saved from the eternal torments which unforgiven sinners experience.

“Therefore, thus says the Lord God: because you have forgotten Me and cast Me behind your back, therefore you shall bear the penalty of your lewdness and your harlotry.” Ezekiel 23:35

It is a terrible decision to forget God and cast Him behind one’s back. Those who do so must bear the consequences of their bad choices.

“The Lord also said to me: ‘Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations.” “After they had slain their children for their idols, on the same day they came into My sanctuary to profane it; and indeed, thus they have done in the midst of My house.” Ezekiel 23:36, 39

Ezekiel was to judge the abdominal acts of his people including how they sacrificed their children to idols and then, came into God’s house as though nothing was wrong.

“Then you shall know that I am the Lord God.” Ezekiel 23:49

The Lord’s goal was to bring His erring child back into fellowship with Him.

In Ezekiel 24:1-14, the Lord compares the city of Jerusalem to a cooking pot and the people in it to meat for cooking. He called them scum.

“Then set the pot empty on the coals, that it may become hot and its bronze may burn, that its filthiness may be melted in it, that its scum may be consumed.” “I, the Lord, have spoken it; it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not hold back, nor will I spare, nor will I relent; according to your ways and according to your deeds they will judge you, says the Lord God.” Ezekiel 24:11, 14

In Ezekiel 24:15-27, the Lord told Ezekiel that he was a sign to the people of things to come. The Lord told him that his wife would die, but he was not to grieve for her. Then, she died that evening, and Ezekiel did just as the Lord told him to do. People said to Ezekiel, “Will you not tell us what these things signify to us, that you behave so?” He told the people that he was sign to them of things to come for them.

The Apostle Paul spoke of being a sign to people. In 1 Corinthians 4:9-13, he wrote, “For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored! To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless. And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now.”

It isn’t that the Lord does not love His beloved prophets and apostles, but as He says in Luke 10:3, He sends us “out as lambs among wolves.” A lamb amidst a pack of wolves is not a pretty sight. To get a preview of what happens we need look no farther than what happened to Jesus on Good Friday. Nevertheless, may the Lord help us to be His signs so that people see Christ in us and turn to Him for salvation. And in the end, those of us who serve the Lord faithfully, speaking what He speaks, we shall enjoy pleasures forevermore at His right hand.