Scripture Daily

Context No. 3858 of 4322 · Ezekiel

Context · Reflection

Ezekiel 16:35-42: in context

35“Therefore, prostitute, hear the LORD’s word: 36‘The Lord GOD says, “Because your filthiness was poured out, and your nakedness uncovered through your prostitution with your lovers; and because of all the idols of your abominations, and for the blood of your children, that you gave to them; 37therefore see, I will gather all your lovers, with whom you have taken pleasure, and all those whom you have loved, with all those whom you have hated. I will even gather them against you on every side, and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness. 38I will judge you as women who break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will bring on you the blood of wrath and jealousy. 39I will also give you into their hand, and they will throw down your vaulted place, and break down your lofty places. They will strip you of your clothes and take your beautiful jewels. They will leave you naked and bare. 40They will also bring up a company against you, and they will stone you with stones, and thrust you through with their swords. 41They will burn your houses with fire, and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women. I will cause you to cease from playing the prostitute, and you will also give no hire any more. 42So I will cause my wrath toward you to rest, and my jealousy will depart from you. I will be quiet, and will not be angry any more.

This is one of the hard passages in the prophets, a graphic announcement of judgment on Jerusalem for her covenant unfaithfulness, pictured under the disturbing image of a wife who has betrayed her husband. We read it soberly and with restraint, not lingering over its harsh imagery, listening instead for the truth beneath it.

And the truth is about the seriousness of unfaithfulness to God and the reality of his jealous love. God had bound himself to his people in a covenant of love, and their idolatry was not a small thing but a betrayal that grieved and provoked him. His judgment here is the response of a love that has been spurned, a holy jealousy that will not treat covenant-breaking as though it did not matter. And yet even here, the judgment has an end: I will satisfy my fury on you, God says, and then my jealousy shall depart from you; I will be calm and no more angry. There is a hard but important lesson here. God's love is not indifferent; he cares how his people respond to him, and unfaithfulness wounds a real relationship. Yet his fury, once spent, gives way to calm; judgment is not his final word to those he has loved.

Do I take seriously the truth that God's love is not indifferent, that unfaithfulness to him wounds a real relationship, while trusting that beyond his righteous jealousy lies the calm of a love that does not stay angry forever?

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