Ezekiel 23

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Tonight after 3 years, I am engaged with my granddaughter, watching the story of Joseph from the book of Genesis.  She is hoping I will watch this story with her and I am trying my best to grant her, her desire but at the same time finished chapter 23.

  This is a very easy story to read.  I would love to answer any questions after it has been read.  I will summarize the learning that I received and hope that it will help shed some light on your understanding.

The two sister's had a deep appetite for adultery.  God used a story that is uncomfortable for people to talk about, but some live this way hoping never to be revealed.  God speaks in a tone that leaves no stone unturned and He meant for every man, woman, boy and girl to hear these words.  I took my time and read every verse and it is clear that God loves man enough to tell us how His heart is broken when we see that we rather lose our lives than to stay in His Word. From a youth to older woman, God showed how these women cared nothing for themselves and others.  The women represented the church in a backslidden state of being.  We may read this passage with embarrassment, but God knew that if it took explaining this chapter with a strong sexual context, then He gave the right man to write and speak exactly what He need us to know.  When we walk away from the Word of God, we are as these two sister living life down a deadend road.

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, They committed harlotry in their youth; Their breasts were there embraced, Their virgin bosom was there pressed. 

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. 

"Oholah played the harlot even though she was Mine; And she lusted for her lovers, the neighboring Assyrians, 

Who were clothed in purple, Captains and rulers, All of them desirable young men, Horsemen riding on horses. 

Thus she committed her harlotry with them, All of them choice men of Assyria; And with all for whom she lusted, With all their idols, she defiled herself. 

She has never given up her harlotry brought from Egypt, For in her youth they had lain with her, Pressed her virgin bosom, And poured out their immorality upon her. 

What she learned in Egypt she is now an adult doing with the men of Assyria.

"Therefore I have delivered her Into the hand of her lovers, Into the hand of the Assyrians, For whom she lusted. 

They uncovered her nakedness, Took away her sons and daughters, And slew her with the sword; She became a byword among women, For they had executed judgment on her.

The northern kingdom is represented as the sister, Oholah.  Israel was the name of the northern kingdom that sinned against God. God called them prostitutes because they left him for other gods.  They committed sins after sins and did not stop.  Because they refused to submit to God, God turned them over to the Assyrians, and they destroyed many of them.   What they had and who they were, did not mean anything to anyone because God ensured they were not remembered.

"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. 

Oholibah, the southern kingdom, did not learn the lesson of the destruction of the northern kingdom.

"She lusted for the neighboring Assyrians, Captains and rulers, Clothed most gorgeously, Horsemen riding on horses, All of them desirable young men. 

Then I saw that she was defiled; Both took the same way. 

But she increased her harlotry; She looked at men portrayed on the wall, Images of Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion, 

This sounds like our modern-day match-making social media in finding mates by portraits.

Girded with belts around their waists, Flowing turbans on their heads, All of them looking like captains, In the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, The land of their nativity. 

As soon as her eyes saw them, She lusted for them And sent messengers to them in Chaldea. 

She called, and they came.

"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. 

She lusted after the men of Babylon, they committed adultery, and she was polluted by them, and she hated the thought of what they did to her.

She revealed her harlotry and uncovered her nakedness. Then I alienated Myself from her, As I had alienated Myself from her sister.

Judah refused to change, so God left them as He did Israel, her sister. 

"Yet she multiplied her harlotry In calling to remembrance the days of her youth, When she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt. 

For she lusted for her paramours, Whose flesh is like the flesh of donkeys, And whose issue is like the issue of horses. 

When she did not have a man, she took her mind and thought of her younger days when the men she committed adultery with had the genitals of a donkey and the discharged as a horse.

Two sister of the same mother was a story given to Ezekiel by God concerning the conduct and fate of the children of Israel.

Thus you called to remembrance the lewdness of your youth, When the Egyptians pressed your bosom Because of your youthful breasts. 

"Therefore, Oholibah, thus says the Lord GOD: 'Behold, I will stir up your lovers against you, From whom you have alienated yourself, And I will bring them against you from every side: 

Judah desired the past life of her adultery, and God sent the lover she hated from Babylon.

The Babylonians, All the Chaldeans, Pekod, Shoa, Koa, All the Assyrians with them, All of them desirable young men, Governors and rulers, Captains and men of renown, All of them riding on horses. 

God is bringing the men to you, but not for the reasons you want them.

And they shall come against you With chariots, wagons, and war-horses, With a horde of people. They shall array against you Buckler, shield, and helmet all around. '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; They shall remove your nose and your ears, And your remnant shall fall by the sword; They shall take your sons and your daughters, And your remnant shall be devoured by fire. 

They shall also strip you of your clothes And take away your beautiful jewelry. 

God is sending an army against you because of you definaced toward His aurthourity.

'Thus I will make you cease your lewdness and your harlotry Brought from the land of Egypt, So that you will not lift your eyes to them, Nor remember Egypt anymore.' 

When the judgment of God is over, you will be changed.

"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. The nakedness of your harlotry shall be uncovered, both your lewdness and your harlotry. 

'I will do these things to you because you have gone as a harlot after the Gentiles, because you have become defiled by their idols. 

God promises the His judgement upon Judah.

'You have walked in the way of your sister; therefore I will put her cup in your hand.' 

The same judgment that came against the northern kingdom will be the same judgement I will bring upon Jerusalem.

"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. 

You shall drink and drain it, You shall break its shards, And tear at your own breasts; For I have spoken,' Says the Lord GOD. 

"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.' " 

The LORD also said to me: "Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations. 

"For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols, and even sacrificed their sons whom they bore to Me, passing them through the fire, to devour them. 

"Moreover they have done this to Me: They have defiled My sanctuary on the same day and profaned My Sabbaths. 

"For 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. 

"Furthermore you sent for men to come from afar, to whom a messenger was sent; and there they came. And you washed yourself for them, painted your eyes, and adorned yourself with ornaments. 

"You sat on a stately couch, with a table prepared before it, on which you had set My incense and My oil. 

"The sound of a carefree multitude was with her, and Sabeans were brought from the wilderness with men of the common sort, who put bracelets on their wrists and beautiful crowns on their heads. 

"Then I said concerning her who had grown old in adulteries, 'Will they commit harlotry with her now, and she with them?' 

"Yet they went in to her, as men go in to a woman who plays the harlot; thus they went in to Oholah and Oholibah, the lewd women. 

"But righteous men will judge them after the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands. 

"For thus says the Lord GOD: 'Bring up an assembly against them, give them up to trouble and plunder. 

'The assembly shall stone them with stones and execute them with their swords; they shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn their houses with fire. 

Execute judgment upon the adulterous woman.

'Thus I will cause lewdness to cease from the land, that all women may be taught not to practice your lewdness. 

'They shall repay you for your lewdness, and you shall pay for your idolatrous sins. Then you shall know that I am the Lord GOD.' "

The pain that God will use to teach His people will cause them to realize God is God.