Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,
God charges His prophet to make Jerusalem recognize and be aware of her detestable sins and unfaithfulness. The charge is given in a strong parable that sets forth her sins under the figure of a lewd woman, picturing the Lord as husband and Jerusalem as His wife whom He took into covenant and affection but who broke that covenant for another. Jerusalem stands for the Jewish church espoused to the Lord and belonging to Him, so that a city pictured as a woman shows a professed people of God turned false, playing the harlot by forsaking God her husband to join the surrounding nations and Babylon, seek the friendship of the world and the kings of the earth, and worship their gods. That unlawful union of God's church with the world is spiritual fornication and adultery, and it is the same pattern by which a professed people allied to Christ but united to the world becomes Babylon, the great harlot. For a woman is the symbol of a church, where a pure woman means the true church and a lewd and corrupt harlot with her daughters means the fallen apostate church in all its corrupt bodies.
Context and Imagery
Ezekiel 16:2 is an awful message of warning and reproof to the sinners among the prophet's own people. It was given among the captives of Israel between 595 and 574, beginning and ending just a little later than Jeremiah. The prophet was of priestly family, and he could expose Jerusalem's evil without fearing the face of man because God first showed him wonderful visions of His own glory and impressed His great majesty upon him before sending him. The command directs the prophet to make Jerusalem know, recognize, and be aware of her abominations, that is, her detestable sins and unfaithfulness.
The chapter is a very strong parable concerning the apostasy of Judah and Israel that presents Judah's sins under the figure of a lewd woman. It rebukes sin in its awful wickedness while God earnestly pleads with His children to turn to Him. The allegory portrays the Lord as husband, Jerusalem or the land as wife, and the people as children. It recounts the covenant and affection shown to Jerusalem, how they became His but broke the covenant and relied on another, and her resulting unfaithfulness and desolation.
The abominations thus exposed are spiritual adultery, for Israel's idolatry, conformity to the world, and departures from God are pictured as unfaithfulness to the Lord as her husband. The chapter thereby shows the danger of mixing heaven with earth and righteousness with sin. The same allegory recounts restoration to the Lord through an everlasting covenant. That restoration, alongside the restoration of Samaria and Sodom, represents the Lord receiving Jerusalem as His throne when the kingdom is His.
Jerusalem's Unfaithfulness Explained
Jerusalem is the Jewish church espoused to the Lord and belonging to Him, and the joined symbol of a city and a woman shows that a city stands for a church or the professed people of God, so her abominations lay bare a professed people turned false. She is pictured as a lewd woman playing the harlot with many lovers and as an adulterous woman because she abandoned God her husband, joined herself to the surrounding nations and to Babylon and the world, sought the friendship of the world through unlawful connection with the kings of the earth, worshiped their gods and rejected His precepts, having become His but breaking the covenant and relying on another. That union of God's church with the world is spiritual fornication and adultery, for God's church, though belonging to Him, becomes a harlot when she joins herself to the world, and her alliance with Babylon made her life like Babylon's and brought spiritual corruption. Her fall was her rejection by God following her alienation from God and union with the world, while her destruction came later. The record of Israel's history stands as a prototype for the church's apostasy in turning from the Lord to worldly powers instead of seeking Him.
Babylon and Corrupt Church
In the imagery of the verse a woman is the symbol of a church, and a harlot is the symbol of a corrupt church. A lewd, corrupt, licentious woman represents a corrupt, fallen, apostate church, just as a pure woman represents the true church. As the woman of Revelation 12 means the true church, so the harlot of Revelation 17 means the corrupt church. The biblical use of a woman as a symbol of a church is linked to this showing of Jerusalem's abominations.
The Jewish church espoused to the Lord became a harlot in the same manner as Babylon. She became a harlot by seeking the friendship of the world through unlawful connection with the kings of the earth, and Babylon becomes the great harlot of the Apocalypse by that same unlawful union with the world. Jerusalem as a lewd woman playing the harlot with many lovers means the chosen Jewish people apostatized from God by joining themselves to the surrounding nations and worshiping their gods. The combined symbol of a city and a woman teaches that a city stands for a church or the professed people of God, so her abominations expose a professed people turned false, the same pattern by which the false church professedly allied to Christ but united to the world is symbolized as Babylon.
The harlot and her daughters mean the entire corrupt church, not limited to a single ecclesiastical body but composed of many. Babylon the great harlot is not civil government or abstract earthly power but a corrupt professedly religious body distinct from yet unlawfully united with the kings of the earth.
God charges His prophet to make Jerusalem recognize and be aware of her detestable sins and unfaithfulness. The charge is given in a strong parable that sets forth her sins under the figure of a lewd woman, picturing the Lord as husband and Jerusalem as His wife whom He took into covenant and affection but who broke that covenant for another. Jerusalem stands for the Jewish church espoused to the Lord and belonging to Him, so that a city pictured as a woman shows a professed people of God turned false, playing the harlot by forsaking God her husband to join the surrounding nations and Babylon, seek the friendship of the world and the kings of the earth, and worship their gods. That unlawful union of God's church with the world is spiritual fornication and adultery, and it is the same pattern by which a professed people allied to Christ but united to the world becomes Babylon, the great harlot. For a woman is the symbol of a church, where a pure woman means the true church and a lewd and corrupt harlot with her daughters means the fallen apostate church in all its corrupt bodies.
Context and Imagery
Ezekiel 16:2 is an awful message of warning and reproof to the sinners among the prophet's own people. It was given among the captives of Israel between 595 and 574, beginning and ending just a little later than Jeremiah. The prophet was of priestly family, and he could expose Jerusalem's evil without fearing the face of man because God first showed him wonderful visions of His own glory and impressed His great majesty upon him before sending him. The command directs the prophet to make Jerusalem know, recognize, and be aware of her abominations, that is, her detestable sins and unfaithfulness.
The chapter is a very strong parable concerning the apostasy of Judah and Israel that presents Judah's sins under the figure of a lewd woman. It rebukes sin in its awful wickedness while God earnestly pleads with His children to turn to Him. The allegory portrays the Lord as husband, Jerusalem or the land as wife, and the people as children. It recounts the covenant and affection shown to Jerusalem, how they became His but broke the covenant and relied on another, and her resulting unfaithfulness and desolation.
The abominations thus exposed are spiritual adultery, for Israel's idolatry, conformity to the world, and departures from God are pictured as unfaithfulness to the Lord as her husband. The chapter thereby shows the danger of mixing heaven with earth and righteousness with sin. The same allegory recounts restoration to the Lord through an everlasting covenant. That restoration, alongside the restoration of Samaria and Sodom, represents the Lord receiving Jerusalem as His throne when the kingdom is His.
Jerusalem's Unfaithfulness Explained
Jerusalem is the Jewish church espoused to the Lord and belonging to Him, and the joined symbol of a city and a woman shows that a city stands for a church or the professed people of God, so her abominations lay bare a professed people turned false. She is pictured as a lewd woman playing the harlot with many lovers and as an adulterous woman because she abandoned God her husband, joined herself to the surrounding nations and to Babylon and the world, sought the friendship of the world through unlawful connection with the kings of the earth, worshiped their gods and rejected His precepts, having become His but breaking the covenant and relying on another. That union of God's church with the world is spiritual fornication and adultery, for God's church, though belonging to Him, becomes a harlot when she joins herself to the world, and her alliance with Babylon made her life like Babylon's and brought spiritual corruption. Her fall was her rejection by God following her alienation from God and union with the world, while her destruction came later. The record of Israel's history stands as a prototype for the church's apostasy in turning from the Lord to worldly powers instead of seeking Him.
Babylon and Corrupt Church
In the imagery of the verse a woman is the symbol of a church, and a harlot is the symbol of a corrupt church. A lewd, corrupt, licentious woman represents a corrupt, fallen, apostate church, just as a pure woman represents the true church. As the woman of Revelation 12 means the true church, so the harlot of Revelation 17 means the corrupt church. The biblical use of a woman as a symbol of a church is linked to this showing of Jerusalem's abominations.
The Jewish church espoused to the Lord became a harlot in the same manner as Babylon. She became a harlot by seeking the friendship of the world through unlawful connection with the kings of the earth, and Babylon becomes the great harlot of the Apocalypse by that same unlawful union with the world. Jerusalem as a lewd woman playing the harlot with many lovers means the chosen Jewish people apostatized from God by joining themselves to the surrounding nations and worshiping their gods. The combined symbol of a city and a woman teaches that a city stands for a church or the professed people of God, so her abominations expose a professed people turned false, the same pattern by which the false church professedly allied to Christ but united to the world is symbolized as Babylon.
The harlot and her daughters mean the entire corrupt church, not limited to a single ecclesiastical body but composed of many. Babylon the great harlot is not civil government or abstract earthly power but a corrupt professedly religious body distinct from yet unlawfully united with the kings of the earth.