Ezekiel · chapter 16 of 48
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Ezekiel 16 is a long allegory about Jerusalem: a girl abandoned at birth whom the Lord takes in, raises and makes his bride, but who, surrounded by beauty and fame, gives herself to other lovers who stand for idols and alliances with the nations. The Lord announces judgment, recalls her sisters Samaria and Sodom and, at the end, promises to restore her in an everlasting covenant.
Ezekiel 16 is the longest of the first fifteen chapters and one of the strongest in the book. It uses the language of marriage and unfaithfulness, common among the prophets, to show the history of Jerusalem and the faithfulness of God. Its imagery is stark and must be read as allegory, with respect and care, keeping in view that it aims to show the pain of betrayed love and the grace that overcomes it.
The Lord tells Ezekiel to make known to Jerusalem her abominations. Her origin is in the land of the Canaanites; her father was an Amorite and her mother a Hittite. On the day she was born her cord was not cut, she was not washed, and she was cast out into the open field, abandoned. The Lord passed by, saw her in her blood and told her to live. He made her grow like a plant of the field, and when she reached the age for love, he spread his cloak over her and entered into a covenant with her, and she became his.
He washed her, anointed her with oil, clothed her in fine garments, adorned her with jewels, a crown and a necklace. Her fame spread among the nations because of her beauty, which was perfect through the splendor God had given her. But she trusted in her beauty and gave herself to idolatry. She used her garments and jewels to make high places and idols, set her food before them and even sacrificed the children she had borne to the Lord. She gave herself to Egypt, Assyria and Chaldea, not taking payment like a prostitute but giving gifts to her lovers.
The Lord announces that he will gather her lovers against her, strip her before them and give her over to their anger; they will stone her and cut her down with swords. He then compares her with her sisters Samaria (the elder) and Sodom (the younger). Sodom's guilt was pride, excess of food and prosperous ease, without helping the poor and needy; Jerusalem has done worse. Yet the Lord promises to restore the fortunes of Sodom, Samaria and Jerusalem, so that Jerusalem will bear her shame.
The chapter ends in grace: the Lord will remember the covenant he made with her in her youth and establish with her an everlasting covenant. She will remember her ways and be ashamed, when the Lord forgives her all she has done, and she will know that he is the Lord.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The Lord finds the abandoned girl in her blood and tells her to live. Everything Jerusalem had began with a word of grace: she did nothing to deserve life.
The Lord spreads his cloak over her and makes a covenant: she becomes his. The image describes God's commitment to Israel, like that of a marriage.
Sodom's guilt was pride, excess of food and prosperous ease, without helping the poor and needy. The sin of indifferent prosperity is as serious as any other.
God remembers the covenant of her youth and promises to establish an everlasting one. Even after the betrayal, the last word of the chapter is God's faithfulness, not Jerusalem's.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: The daughter of an Amorite father and a Hittite mother, abandoned at birth. — Ezekiel 16:3
Answer: That she should live. — Ezekiel 16:6
Answer: He made a covenant with her, and she became his. — Ezekiel 16:8
Answer: Her beauty and her fame. — Ezekiel 16:15
Answer: Pride, excess of food and prosperous ease, without helping the poor and needy. — Ezekiel 16:49
Answer: To remember his covenant of her youth and establish an everlasting covenant with her. — Ezekiel 16:60
This chapter begins and ends with grace. Jerusalem's life was a gift, and her restoration will be one too. Believers can remember that everything good we have, even our salvation, comes from God's mercy, not our merits, and that frees us from both pride and despair.
It also warns that gifts can become idols. Beauty, talent, success or blessings can take the place of the one who gave them. When studying the passage in a group, it should be read with respect: it is an allegory about God's faithfulness and the people's idolatry, not a description to treat lightly.
Ezekiel 16 traces Jerusalem's history from her rescue to her unfaithfulness and her final forgiveness. In chapter 17 the prophet will use another parable, that of the eagles and the cedars, to speak of Judah's political alliances.
As allegory, in the line of other prophets such as Hosea, who use marriage and unfaithfulness to describe the relationship between God and Israel. The images aim to show the gravity of idolatry and the wound of God's love. When teaching youth or children, it is advisable to summarize the story without going into detail.
It is a promise of restoration for the judged cities, showing that God's grace exceeds what we imagine. Interpreters understand it as a future restoration of those cities' fortunes alongside Jerusalem's, so that she is ashamed of her pride and acknowledges grace.
Ezekiel 16:20-21 accuses Jerusalem of offering her children to idols, a practice the law forbade (Leviticus 18 and Deuteronomy 18). Other texts, such as 2 Kings 16 and 21, recall that kings of Judah fell into that sin. It is one of the prophet's gravest accusations.