Context No. 2796 of 4322 · Ezekiel

Ezekiel 16:6-14: in context

6“‘“When I passed by you, and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you, ‘Though you are in your blood, live!’ Yes, I said to you, ‘Though you are in your blood, live!’ 7I caused you to multiply as that which grows in the field, and you increased and grew great, and you attained to excellent beauty. Your breasts were formed, and your hair grew; yet you were naked and bare. 8“‘“Now when I passed by you, and looked at you, behold, your time was the time of love; and I spread my garment over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I pledged myself to you and entered into a covenant with you,” says the Lord GOD, “and you became mine. 9“‘“Then I washed you with water. Yes, I thoroughly washed away your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil. 10I clothed you also with embroidered work and put leather sandals on you. I dressed you with fine linen and covered you with silk. 11I decked you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands, and put a chain on your neck. 12I put a ring on your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. 13Thus you were decked with gold and silver. Your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered work. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful, and you prospered to royal estate. 14Your renown went out among the nations for your beauty; for it was perfect, through my majesty which I had put on you,” says the Lord GOD.

This is the tender heart of Ezekiel 16, and it should be read slowly. God pictures Jerusalem as a newborn thrown out in an open field, unwashed and unwanted, left to die in her own blood. He passes by and speaks a single word over her: Live. And he does not stop at rescue. He raises her, washes her, clothes her in fine linen and embroidery, decks her with gold and jewels, sets a crown on her head, until her beauty is renowned among the nations.

Then the line that gives it all away: your beauty was perfect, he says, through the splendor that I had put on you. Everything the bride has, she was given. She contributed nothing to her own rescue; she was dying when love found her, and every ornament of her beauty came from the hand that saved her. This is grace laid bare, chosen while unlovely, made beautiful by pure gift, and about to be warned never to forget that none of it began with her.

Do I remember that whatever is lovely in me was put there by the God who found me dying, or do I take the credit for the splendor he gave?

Sources

Ezekiel 16:6: "When I passed by you, and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you, Though you are in your blood, live!"
Deuteronomy 7:7: "The LORD didn't set his love on you or choose you because you were more in number... but because the LORD loves you."
1 Corinthians 4:7: "For who makes you different? And what do you have that you didn't receive?"