20221010

the consequences of your indecency

Ezekiel 23:28-35 (JDV)

Ezekiel 23:28 “For this is what the Lord Yahveh says: notice I am going to hand you over to those you hate, to those you turned away from in disgust.
Ezekiel 23:29 They will treat you with hatred, take all you have worked for and leave you stark naked, so that the nakedness of your prostitution will be exposed, both your infamy and obscenity.
Ezekiel 23:30 These things will be done to you because you committed fornication with the nations, defiling yourself with their idols.
Ezekiel 23:31 You have followed the path of your sister, so I will put her cup in your hand.”
Ezekiel 23:32 This is what the Lord Yahveh says: “You will drink your sister’s cup, which is deep and wide. You will be an object of ridicule and scorn, for it holds so much.
Ezekiel 23:33 You will be filled with drunkenness and grief, with a cup of devastation and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria.
Ezekiel 23:34 You will drink it and drain it; then you will gnaw its broken pieces, and tear your breasts. For I have spoken.” This is the declaration of the Lord Yahveh.
Ezekiel 23:35 Therefore, this is what the Lord Yahveh says: “Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, you must bear the consequences of your indecency and obscenity.”

the consequences of your indecency

Coffman comments on this text “Since the worship of those evil pagan gods was depraved and licentious almost beyond imagination, the representation of God’s Chosen People here under the figure of two sisters, insatiable in their lewdness, must be accepted as authentic and appropriate.”

We need passages like this in the Bible to remind us that sin is not a light thing. Our God is passionate about judging sin, even among people who claim him as their God.

LORD, purge us of our unfaithful ways.