Ezekiel 23:22-27: a reflection

22“Therefore, Oholibah, the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I will raise up your lovers against you, from whom your soul is alienated, and I will bring them against you on every side: 23the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, Shoa, Koa, and all the Assyrians with them; all of them desirable young men, governors and rulers, princes and men of renown, all of them riding on horses. 24They will come against you with weapons, chariots, and wagons, and with a company of peoples. They will set themselves against you with buckler, shield, and helmet all around. I will commit the judgment to them, and they will judge you according to their judgments. 25I will set my jealousy against you, and they will deal with you in fury. They will take away your nose and your ears. Your remnant will fall by the sword. They will take your sons and your daughters; and the rest of you will be devoured by the fire. 26They will also strip you of your clothes and take away your beautiful jewels. 27Thus I will make your lewdness to cease from you, and remove your prostitution from the land of Egypt, so that you will not lift up your eyes to them, nor remember Egypt any more.’

This passage continues Ezekiel's stark allegory of unfaithfulness. Under the image of a woman who chased after many lovers, God portrays how his people had run after foreign nations and gods; and now he declares that those very lovers, the nations she had pursued, will turn against her in judgment. The alliances and idols she had chased will become the instruments of her undoing; and God's purpose in it, painful as it is, is to make her unfaithfulness cease.

Notice the turning here: the very things she pursued become the means of her judgment. The nations she had chased after, trusting and desiring them, now turn against her. This is often the way with the idols and false loves we pursue: the things we chase after, that promise us so much, in the end turn on us and become our undoing. And God's purpose, even in the severity, is stated: to make her unfaithfulness cease, to end the chasing that was destroying her.

That is a sobering picture, but with a mercy hidden in its severity. The idols and false loves we pursue, the things we chase instead of God, often turn on us in the end, becoming the source of our pain rather than the satisfaction they promised. And sometimes God, in severe mercy, allows the very things we have chased to turn against us, to break our attachment to them and make our unfaithfulness cease. If the things you have pursued instead of God are turning bitter, becoming a source of pain rather than the satisfaction they promised, consider whether God may be using even this to break your grip on them and turn you back to himself. The lovers she chased turned against her, that her unfaithfulness might cease; let the bitterness of misplaced pursuits turn you back to God, rather than deeper into the chasing that will only undo you.

Lord, in this stark allegory you declare that the very nations your people had chased after would turn against them in judgment, the alliances and idols they pursued becoming the instruments of their undoing; and your purpose, painful as it was, was to make their unfaithfulness cease. Show me the sobering picture, and the mercy hidden in its severity. The idols and false loves I pursue, the things I chase instead of you, often turn on me in the end, becoming the source of my pain rather than the satisfaction they promised. And sometimes you, in severe mercy, allow the very things I have chased to turn against me, to break my attachment to them and make my unfaithfulness cease. If the things I have pursued instead of you are turning bitter, becoming a source of pain rather than satisfaction, help me consider whether you may be using even this to break my grip on them and turn me back to yourself. The lovers she chased turned against her, that her unfaithfulness might cease; let the bitterness of misplaced pursuits turn me back to you, rather than deeper into the chasing that will only undo me. Break my grip on what I chase instead of you, Lord, and turn me back.