August 20

Ezekiel 23

Samaria and Jerusalem as promiscuous sisters.

The Lord tells Ezekiel about two sisters, Oholah andOholibah, who were very promiscuous. They engage in prostitution with Egyptians, Assyrians, Chaldeans. They have no shame and there is no satisfying their lust. Oholahis Samaria and Oholibah is Jerusalem. The people of Samaria and Jerusalem turn have turned their backs on the Lord in favor of foreign gods. They worship idols, sacrifice their children to the false gods, and desecrate God's sanctuary. Verse 35 says: "Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Since you have forgotten me and thrust me behind your back, you must bear the consequences of your lewdness and prostitution." Verses 48-49 say: "So I will put an end to lewdness in the land, that all women may take warning and not imitate you. You will suffer the penalty for your lewdness and bear the consequences of your sins of idolatry. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign LORD."

This is not the first time that we've encountered this comparison: unfaithfulness to God is the same as adultery. Hosea was instructed by God to marry Gomer, an unfaithful wife to show a concrete example of the sin of unfaithfulness. This is something that God obviously wants all His people to fully understand: looking for comfort, pleasure, happiness, or gratification from any other source besides the Lord is as shameful, lewd, and disgusting as committing adultery. Image how much pain it would cause your spouse if you cheated on them. That's the same kind of pain we bring on God when we are unfaithful. The graphic image of the promiscuous sisters is not one that we should forget, or else we risk committing the same sin.