Ezekiel 16:20
Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter, Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter,
Ezekiel 16:20 belongs to a searching parable that lays open the sins of Judah and Jerusalem under the figure of a lewd woman, to rebuke sin and call God's people back to Him. Jerusalem there stands for God's professed people, joined to the Lord as His espoused wife by covenant, and a woman in symbol means a church, so the lewd woman or harlot means a corrupt and apostate church. The verse charges that the sons and daughters borne to God were literally sacrificed to idols to be devoured, after the manner of the surrounding nations, and this child-sacrifice belongs at the same time to the figurative charge of spiritual adultery in departing from God for idolatry. That harlotry is religious apostasy, turning from God to worship the gods of the nations and abandoning His precepts, which the Jewish church committed in the same manner as Babylon by seeking the friendship of the world through unlawful connection with the kings of the earth. God's church being lawfully married to Him as her husband, her union with the world is fornication and spiritual adultery that breaks the marriage bond.
Parable of Unfaithful Wife
Ezekiel 16:20 stands within a strong parable that lays open the sins of Judah, Israel and Jerusalem under the figure of a lewd woman. The chapter rebukes sin and pleads earnestly with God's people to turn back to Him. Jerusalem there stands for God's people, bound to the Lord as His espoused wife by covenant. They became His, then broke the covenant, turned from Him and leaned upon another.
In violating the covenant they forfeited His gifts and were brought to desolation. The people are set forth as her children, with the slaying of sons and daughters in verse 21 belonging expressly to that picture of the people as children, while the taking and sacrificing of sons and daughters in verse 20 belongs to the account of Jerusalem's abominations and unfaithfulness. In symbol a woman denotes a church, and a lewd woman or harlot denotes a corrupt or apostate church. The unfaithful woman of Ezekiel 16 is therefore a corrupt church in religious unfaithfulness.
The verse records that the sons and daughters borne unto God were taken and sacrificed unto idols to be devoured. This was literal human sacrifice practiced as part of idolatry, in which they were offered to be consumed. In doing so Israel followed the customs of the nations around them. At the same time the sacrificing of children belongs to the figurative charge of spiritual apostasy and idolatry.
The Lord names Israel's backsliding, idolatry and departure from Him adultery. Biblical language about spiritual fornication concerns departure from God's law and worship for idolatrous or false religious worship, not a church's use of civil laws to manage temporal affairs.
Apostasy as Union with World
The harlotry of the chapter is religious apostasy, the turning of Jerusalem, who stands for God's people, from God to worship the gods of the surrounding nations. It is the act of a wife bound to God by covenant becoming an adulterous woman when she abandons His precepts and turns to the world and to Babylon. In joining herself to Babylon her life becomes like Babylon's.
A harlot is the symbol of a corrupt church, for a woman means a church and a harlot means a corrupt church. The Jewish church was espoused to the Lord and became a harlot in the same manner as Babylon does, by seeking the friendship of the world through apostasy and unlawful connection with the kings of the earth. By that joining of herself to the world and to Babylon her life became like Babylon's.
God's church is lawfully married to Him as her husband, and is to keep exclusive loyalty to Him. Her union with the world is therefore fornication and spiritual adultery against God that breaks the marriage bond. The unfaithfulness of Israel is the prototype of an apostate church that rejects God's message and turns to worldly powers for help. In that sense the harlot shows Babylon to be a corrupt professedly religious body, distinct from the kings of the earth though unlawfully united with them.
The fall of the church as a harlot was its rejection by God, while its destruction came afterward. The sacrificing of children to be devoured belongs to that figurative charge of spiritual apostasy and idolatry. Biblical language about spiritual fornication concerns departure from God's law and worship for idolatrous or false religious worship, not a church's use of civil laws to manage temporal affairs.