Ezekiel 16:36, commentary and pictures

Ezekiel 16 is a rebuke of the apostasy of Judah and Israel, showing the wickedness of their sin under the figure of a lewd, unfaithful woman. Her filthiness poured out and her nakedness discovered means her conjugal unfaithfulness to the Lord as her husband, through whoredoms with lovers and with all the idols of her abominations and through the blood of her children given to them. A city joined with a woman stands for a church, and a harlot stands for a corrupt, fallen, apostate church that, though espoused to God alone, joins itself to the world. Such union with surrounding nations, other powers, and the kings of the earth, with its idolatry and shedding of innocent blood, is fornication and spiritual adultery against God, a violation of the church's lawful marriage to Him alone. Jerusalem as harlot is thus the prototype of Babylon, the universal worldly church unlawfully united with the kings of the earth, whose moral fall in alienation from God precedes her destruction and leaves time for God's people to be called out of her.

Language and Historical Setting

Ezekiel 16:36 belongs to Ezekiel's awful messages of warning and reproof to the sinners among his own people. He prophesied among the captives of Israel between the years 595 and 574, beginning and closing his work just a little later than Jeremiah, and he belonged to the priestly family. Before sending him with such messages God first revealed His own glory to him in wonderful visions, impressing His great majesty upon him, so that having once seen God he would not fear the face of man in meeting the sinners among his own people. The chapter is a strong parable rebuking the apostasy of Judah and Israel and showing the awful wickedness of sin under the figure of a lewd woman.

The combined symbol of a city and a woman represents a church, the professed people of God, here showing the chosen people apostatizing by joining themselves to surrounding nations and worshiping their gods. A harlot, a lewd and sexually corrupt woman, is the symbol of a corrupt, fallen, apostate church. God's church becomes a harlot when, though espoused to Him alone, it joins with the world.

Under the old covenant the Lord is the husband, the land or Jerusalem is the wife, and the people are the children. Her filthiness poured out and her nakedness discovered means wanton violation of her marriage covenant with the Lord by conjugal infidelity, through whoredoms with lovers and with all the idols of abominations and through the blood of her children given to them. This was a breach of God's covenant with His people in which they turned from Him and relied on another and committed spiritual unfaithfulness. It brought withdrawal of gifts and contempt and final desolation as described in Ezekiel 16:15-43. The verse contains the word often rendered reconciliation in the Old Testament, which shows that reconciliation is God being pacified toward man for all that he has done. His justice or displeasure is made appeasable by sacrifice but is actually appeased by the mediation of the High Priest.

Unfaithfulness as Adultery

The Jewish church was once espoused to the Lord, and she became a harlot through unfaithfulness to God by unlawful union with the world. That unlawful tie was her joining herself to the surrounding nations and to other powers, even to the kings of the earth, and seeking the friendship of the world. The combined symbol of a city and a woman stands for a church, for the professed people of God, and here it shows the chosen people apostatizing by joining themselves to the nations around them and worshiping their gods. In the same manner Jerusalem is portrayed as an adulterous wife who turned from God to other powers and idols.

Her apostasy included idolatry and bloodshed as part of that harlotry. Her unfaithfulness included shedding the blood of her children, the shedding of innocent blood, identified with her idolatry. By abandoning His commands she became like the surrounding nations by following Babylon.

Union of God's church with the world is fornication and spiritual adultery against God. It is a violation of the church's lawful marriage union to God alone, to whom as husband Israel belongs. The attempt to mix heaven with earth and righteousness with sin is spiritual adultery, conformity to the world and backsliding and idolatry set forth as adultery against Him.

Her fall was a moral fall consisting in alienation from Him and rejection by Him for union with the world, not her immediate destruction. Her destruction was deferred for a considerable period, coming later than her rejection. The account of her wickedness illustrates why God rejected her. In this strong rebuke of the apostasy of Judah and Israel, showing the awful wickedness of sin, God earnestly pleads with His people to turn back to Him.

Under the old covenant the Lord is the husband, the land or Jerusalem is the wife, and the people are the children. Her filthiness poured out and nakedness discovered means conjugal infidelity through whoredoms with lovers and with all the idols of abominations and through the blood of her children given to them. That wanton violation of her marriage covenant brought withdrawal of gifts and contempt and final desolation described in Ezekiel 16:15-43. Yet the later marriage under an everlasting covenant restores the wife Jerusalem to the Lord in connection with the restoration of her sisters Samaria and Sodom, denoting the receiving of the New Jerusalem to be His throne when the kingdom is the Lord's.

Prototype of Babylon

The Jewish church in her harlotry illustrates the fall of Babylon, for unlawful union with the world made her a harlot by a moral fall consisting in rejection by God and not in immediate destruction. The pouring out of filthiness and discovering of nakedness exposes Israel's joining of herself to lovers and to idols with her shame made plain. That apostasy is the prototype of an apostate church that seeks the support of earthly powers instead of seeking God, by unlawful union with the kings of the earth and seeking the friendship of the world. Her destruction was deferred for a considerable period, just as Babylon's fall precedes her destruction and leaves time for God's people to be called out of her.

A harlot is the symbol of a corrupt, fallen church, and therefore the harlot of Revelation 17 is not a single ecclesiastical body nor a civil power nor a literal city, but the universal worldly church, the entire corrupt church including her daughters. Nor is she the whole world or the city of Rome, but she includes related churches whose worship and conduct reflect more of the world's spirit than of Christ's. A woman stands for a church and a harlot for a church made corrupt by whoredom with lovers and idols, which identifies Babylon as a distinct, professedly religious body unlawfully united with the kings of the earth. The woman of Revelation 17 represents an ecclesiastical body, not the earthly power of human government itself. Just as Jerusalem's fall preceded her deferred destruction, so Babylon's fall precedes her destruction and leaves time for God's people to be called out of her.