1/18/13  Ezekiel 16
The Lord compares Jerusalem to a woman.  As a newborn baby she was left in a field, the cord not cut, the blood not washed away.  The child of an Amorite father and a Hittite mother. Abandoned to die. Abhorred from the day of her birth. The Amorites were residents of Canaan and obstacles to Israel when they returned from Egypt.  Although Abraham had helped Mamre the Amorite, when Joshua led the people back to the Promised land, the Amorites opposed them. The Hittites were also residents of Canaan.  Abraham lived among them and purchased the tomb for Sarah from Ephron the Hittite.  Israel began in that vicinity, with the birth of Isaac, followed by Jacob and Esau ( who married Hittite women).   But in this strange and foreign land, Abraham's offspring became God's chosen ones.  He gave her life, he made her thrive, He watched her become full grown.

When she was mature, the parable indicates that she was naked and bare. Then God once again intervenes for her.  He covers her, clothes her, cleans her, anoints her, adorns her, feeds her and makes her beautiful, a royal princess.  He made a covenant with her.  A marriage covenant that made her His own.  She had everything!  But....

She trusted in her beauty and fame.. and played the harlot.  She took all that God, her Husband, had provided and used it for idolatry.   Her beautiful clothes she used for high places, her gold and silver, that He gave her were turned into male images.  She offered His oil and incense to these and covered them with the embroidered cloth He had provided.  His bread was given to the false idols.  But worst of all that she did was that she took His sons and daughters and sacrificed them to the idols. Slaughtering His children!

Her wickedness grew and grew.  She forgot that she had started out an orphan and had become a princess.  She was so wicked and sick that she paid others to sleep with her, lower than a prostitute who gets money from those she entices.  There would be no more mercy.  The time for judgement had come.  And it would come from the very hands of those she had taken pleasure from, her lovers.
What a picture!

We are also called into a covenant with God, a relationship likened to a marriage with our Lord Jesus Christ.  It is the church who is called the Bride of Christ.  He chose us, He cleansed us, clothed us, adorns us and makes us to thrive.  More than that He gave Himself for us because of His great love.
Oh let us be faithful! Let us remember all that He has done and satisfy ourselves in Him alone.
Keep us abiding in You, oh Lord.  Draw us nearer every day.  Thank You for Your great and glorious love.  Amen