Isaiah 57:7-11

⁷ You have set your sex bed upon a tall mountain; you also went up there to slaughter sacrifice. ⁸ And behind the door and the doorpost you have placed your erotic image; because you have divorced yourself from me, and you climb up; you make your bed wide, and you have covenanted for yourself with them, you have loved their sex bed; you have watched their naked form. ⁹ And you climbed down to “the king”[1] with the oil, and you poured out lots of perfume, and you sent out your messengers to entice them from a distance and you climbed down to Sheol itself. ¹⁰ You struggled because your road was so long, but you did not say, I give up!’ You gained new life by thinking about the sex you had, so you do not grow weak. ¹¹ And who did you fear and dread, that you lied and did not remember me? Did you not think about it in your heart? Was it not that I have been silent, even from long ago, and so you do not fear me?

hypocritical hanky-panky

Isaiah’s words reflect God as a husband whose wife has not just been unfaithful. She has opened up her sex bed to anyone. She sends out messengers enticing people to come and have sex with her. She climbed down to Molech, the king. Then, she kept climbing until she reached the depths of the grave (Sheol) itself. All the while this adulteress is doing this, she keeps up the appearance that she is still faithful. She goes out to slaughter a sacrifice to Yahveh, and on the way back she has sex with an idol. You would think that she would get tired of this hypocritical road she is travelling, but, no. Nothing is going to stop her, because Yahveh has been silent. So, she keeps at it.

This is how our Lord feels when we prostitute ourselves. He knows the depths of our betrayal. It grieves him to see our disloyalty. He waits in silence to see if we will ever recognize how much our unfaithfulness hurts him. He still wants us to come back.

LORD, we are running back to you. Help us to put an end to our race away from you.

[1] למלך — a reference to Molech.