And tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them.
Ezekiel 16:18 pictures Jerusalem taking the broidered garments and other gifts God had given her and using them to cover and adorn idols, setting His oil and incense before them in idolatrous worship. It belongs to a strong parable rebuking the apostasy of Judah and Israel, in which the Lord has made Jerusalem His own espoused wife but she breaks the covenant and turns to another for support. That unfaithfulness meant turning from God to foreign powers and their ways, joining the surrounding nations and seeking help from earthly powers instead of seeking the Lord, which the chapter presents as adultery and violation of the marriage bond. A woman is the symbol of a church, and a harlot woman is the symbol of a corrupt, fallen, apostate church, so this spiritual fornication represents apostasy by unlawful connection with idolatrous worship and the world. Her fall thus illustrated is not her destruction but a moral fall and rejection by God, deferred for a considerable period before later destruction, just as with Babylon the great harlot, which is a corrupt professedly religious body unlawfully united with the kings of the earth.
Parable of Unfaithful Jerusalem
Ezekiel 16:18 belongs to a strong parable that rebukes the apostasy of Judah and Israel and shows the wickedness of sin. The parable describes a covenant relationship in which the Lord makes Jerusalem His own wife, espoused to Him, but she breaks the covenant and turns to another for support. The verse pictures the specific unfaithfulness in that relationship.
Jerusalem took the broidered garments and other gifts God had provided and used them to cover and adorn idols, and set His oil and His incense before them. That was a misuse of His gifts in idolatrous worship to serve and honor those she had chosen in place of Him. It was a violation of the marriage bond. That idolatry meant turning from God to foreign powers and their ways, joining the surrounding nations and worshiping their gods. It meant seeking help from earthly powers instead of seeking the Lord.
The chapter presents this backsliding, conformity to the world, idolatry, and departure from God as adultery and violation of the marriage bond, a mixing of what belongs to God with sin. That violation of the marriage bond is followed by the withdrawal of the gifts, disgrace, and desolation.
Harlot Symbol of Apostasy
In Ezekiel 16 a harlot stands as the symbol of a corrupt church, just as a woman in prophecy is the symbol of the church. A corrupt, licentious woman there represents a corrupt, fallen, apostate church. The combined symbol of a city and a woman represents a church, or the professed people of God, and verse 18 belongs to the portrayal of Jerusalem as a lewd woman playing the harlot with many lovers. Here that figure applies to the chosen people of God, the Jews, when they apostatized from Him and joined themselves to the surrounding nations and worshiped their gods.
Spiritual fornication in the passage represents apostasy, turning from God's law and worship to unlawful connection with idolatrous or false religious groups. God calls the church's union with the world adultery and fornication against Him. When God's church, though espoused to Him, joins itself to the world, it becomes a harlot in that biblical picture.
The verse applies this to the Jewish church, represented as espoused to the Lord, which became a harlot through unfaithfulness to God. It became a harlot in the same manner as Babylon does, by seeking the friendship of the world through unlawful connection with the kings of the earth. Verse 18 is part of that picture, in that the people used the garments God had provided to adorn their idols and presented His oil and incense before them, misusing His gifts in idolatrous worship.
Babylon the great harlot is therefore not the earthly power of human government in the abstract, nor earthly civil power in the abstract nor a literal city, but a corrupt, professedly religious body, distinct from yet unlawfully united with the kings of the earth. A woman as a symbol of a church is a figure also used for Babylon in Revelation 17, and this supports understanding apocalyptic Babylon as a religious body rather than a literal city. Israel's old example of seeking help from earthly powers instead of seeking the Lord illustrates the apostate church's alliance with the world.
Fall Foreshadows Babylon's Fall
The chapter's portrayal of the Jewish church as a harlot illustrates the fall of Babylon. That fall is God's rejection of a church that has become alienated from him and joined to the world. Her fall was not her destruction but a moral fall, her rejection by God. That rejection is distinct from her later destruction, which was deferred for a considerable period after her fall, just as Babylon's fall precedes her destruction. That rejection is clearly described in Romans 11, with details given in Matthew 21:43 and 23:12 and 24:43-45.
Ezekiel 16:18 pictures Jerusalem taking the broidered garments and other gifts God had given her and using them to cover and adorn idols, setting His oil and incense before them in idolatrous worship. It belongs to a strong parable rebuking the apostasy of Judah and Israel, in which the Lord has made Jerusalem His own espoused wife but she breaks the covenant and turns to another for support. That unfaithfulness meant turning from God to foreign powers and their ways, joining the surrounding nations and seeking help from earthly powers instead of seeking the Lord, which the chapter presents as adultery and violation of the marriage bond. A woman is the symbol of a church, and a harlot woman is the symbol of a corrupt, fallen, apostate church, so this spiritual fornication represents apostasy by unlawful connection with idolatrous worship and the world. Her fall thus illustrated is not her destruction but a moral fall and rejection by God, deferred for a considerable period before later destruction, just as with Babylon the great harlot, which is a corrupt professedly religious body unlawfully united with the kings of the earth.
Parable of Unfaithful Jerusalem
Ezekiel 16:18 belongs to a strong parable that rebukes the apostasy of Judah and Israel and shows the wickedness of sin. The parable describes a covenant relationship in which the Lord makes Jerusalem His own wife, espoused to Him, but she breaks the covenant and turns to another for support. The verse pictures the specific unfaithfulness in that relationship.
Jerusalem took the broidered garments and other gifts God had provided and used them to cover and adorn idols, and set His oil and His incense before them. That was a misuse of His gifts in idolatrous worship to serve and honor those she had chosen in place of Him. It was a violation of the marriage bond. That idolatry meant turning from God to foreign powers and their ways, joining the surrounding nations and worshiping their gods. It meant seeking help from earthly powers instead of seeking the Lord.
The chapter presents this backsliding, conformity to the world, idolatry, and departure from God as adultery and violation of the marriage bond, a mixing of what belongs to God with sin. That violation of the marriage bond is followed by the withdrawal of the gifts, disgrace, and desolation.
Harlot Symbol of Apostasy
In Ezekiel 16 a harlot stands as the symbol of a corrupt church, just as a woman in prophecy is the symbol of the church. A corrupt, licentious woman there represents a corrupt, fallen, apostate church. The combined symbol of a city and a woman represents a church, or the professed people of God, and verse 18 belongs to the portrayal of Jerusalem as a lewd woman playing the harlot with many lovers. Here that figure applies to the chosen people of God, the Jews, when they apostatized from Him and joined themselves to the surrounding nations and worshiped their gods.
Spiritual fornication in the passage represents apostasy, turning from God's law and worship to unlawful connection with idolatrous or false religious groups. God calls the church's union with the world adultery and fornication against Him. When God's church, though espoused to Him, joins itself to the world, it becomes a harlot in that biblical picture.
The verse applies this to the Jewish church, represented as espoused to the Lord, which became a harlot through unfaithfulness to God. It became a harlot in the same manner as Babylon does, by seeking the friendship of the world through unlawful connection with the kings of the earth. Verse 18 is part of that picture, in that the people used the garments God had provided to adorn their idols and presented His oil and incense before them, misusing His gifts in idolatrous worship.
Babylon the great harlot is therefore not the earthly power of human government in the abstract, nor earthly civil power in the abstract nor a literal city, but a corrupt, professedly religious body, distinct from yet unlawfully united with the kings of the earth. A woman as a symbol of a church is a figure also used for Babylon in Revelation 17, and this supports understanding apocalyptic Babylon as a religious body rather than a literal city. Israel's old example of seeking help from earthly powers instead of seeking the Lord illustrates the apostate church's alliance with the world.
Fall Foreshadows Babylon's Fall
The chapter's portrayal of the Jewish church as a harlot illustrates the fall of Babylon. That fall is God's rejection of a church that has become alienated from him and joined to the world. Her fall was not her destruction but a moral fall, her rejection by God. That rejection is distinct from her later destruction, which was deferred for a considerable period after her fall, just as Babylon's fall precedes her destruction. That rejection is clearly described in Romans 11, with details given in Matthew 21:43 and 23:12 and 24:43-45.