And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, ( woe, woe unto thee! saith the Lord GOD;)
After all her wickedness the double woe pronounces God's judgment upon Jerusalem and Judah, pictured as a lewd woman. In the allegory Jerusalem is the Lord's covenant wife who breaks her covenant with Him, while her people as her children turn to other powers and commit wickedness. A woman is the symbol of the church, and a lewd woman is the chosen representative of a corrupt, fallen, apostate church. Her spiritual adultery is apostasy from God's law, worship and covenant to idols and other powers, taking the form of unlawful union with the kings of the earth by seeking the friendship and support of the world instead of remaining chaste to Christ. The Jewish church thus became a harlot through unfaithfulness in the same manner as Babylon, and her fall and rejection illustrate Babylon's moral fall and rejection for wickedness.
Woe Against Unfaithful Jerusalem
After all her wickedness the double woe pronounces God's judgment upon Jerusalem after its wickedness. The woe belongs to a chapter that portrays Judah's sins under the figure of a lewd woman and pronounces woe over her wickedness. It belongs to the account of Jerusalem's unfaithfulness, declaring judgment against the city for her wickedness. Jerusalem is shown as an unfaithful wife who has turned from God to the world and to Babylon. Her spiritual adultery means abandoning her covenant with God and His precepts to follow other powers and their ways.
In the allegory Jerusalem is the wife who violates her covenant with the Lord, and the people are represented as her children. The Lord claims them as His own, but they break the covenant, turn to other powers, and commit wickedness. The chapter portrays their apostasy and unfaithfulness after wickedness, with the Lord pronouncing woe upon her. It does not describe the marriage of the Lamb at the end.
The chapter is a strong parable about the apostasy of Judah and Israel. It rebukes sin in its awful wickedness. It presents God earnestly pleading with His children to turn back to Him.
Harlot Means Corrupt Church
In Ezekiel 16 the lewd and licentious woman is the chosen scriptural symbol of a corrupt, fallen and apostate church, just as a woman in prophecy is the symbol of the church itself. The combined figure of a city and a woman is the appointed representative of a church, or the professed people of God, here picturing the apostasy of the chosen people when they joined themselves to the surrounding nations and worshiped their gods.
Spiritual fornication and adultery in the chapter mean apostasy, turning away from God's law, worship, covenant and precepts to idolatrous or false religious groups, to the surrounding nations and their gods, and to other powers and their ways. It is backsliding, idolatry and departure from God, abandoning covenant and precepts to follow other powers, and mixing righteousness with sin as a dangerous joining of heaven with earth.
That adultery takes the form of unlawful union and attachment of the church, pledged to the Lord alone, with the kings of the earth and the world, seeking the friendship and support of the world instead of remaining chaste to Christ. The passage about such spiritual fornication is not a statement about churches complying with civil laws for their temporal affairs. Babylon pictured as a harlot is therefore a corrupt professedly religious body, distinct from the kings of the earth though unlawfully united with them, and not the abstract earthly power of human government.
Jewish Fall Warns Babylon
The Jewish church was espoused to the Lord and became a harlot through unfaithfulness in the same manner as Babylon. That unfaithfulness was unlawful attachment and union with the kings of the earth and with the world, seeking the friendship and support of the world instead of remaining chaste to Christ. Her fall and rejection by God illustrate Babylon's moral fall and rejection for wickedness. Israel's unfaithfulness stands as a prototype of the apostate church that rejects God's message and seeks the support of earthly powers instead of the Lord.
The fall of the Jewish church is an example of God rejecting an unfaithful church, though its destruction was delayed for a considerable time. Jerusalem as an unfaithful wife turned from God to the world and to Babylon, abandoning her covenant with Him and His precepts to follow other powers and their ways. Her spiritual adultery is that abandonment of covenant and precepts for the ways of other powers. After all her wickedness the repeated woe declares judgment upon her.
After all her wickedness the double woe pronounces God's judgment upon Jerusalem and Judah, pictured as a lewd woman. In the allegory Jerusalem is the Lord's covenant wife who breaks her covenant with Him, while her people as her children turn to other powers and commit wickedness. A woman is the symbol of the church, and a lewd woman is the chosen representative of a corrupt, fallen, apostate church. Her spiritual adultery is apostasy from God's law, worship and covenant to idols and other powers, taking the form of unlawful union with the kings of the earth by seeking the friendship and support of the world instead of remaining chaste to Christ. The Jewish church thus became a harlot through unfaithfulness in the same manner as Babylon, and her fall and rejection illustrate Babylon's moral fall and rejection for wickedness.
Woe Against Unfaithful Jerusalem
After all her wickedness the double woe pronounces God's judgment upon Jerusalem after its wickedness. The woe belongs to a chapter that portrays Judah's sins under the figure of a lewd woman and pronounces woe over her wickedness. It belongs to the account of Jerusalem's unfaithfulness, declaring judgment against the city for her wickedness. Jerusalem is shown as an unfaithful wife who has turned from God to the world and to Babylon. Her spiritual adultery means abandoning her covenant with God and His precepts to follow other powers and their ways.
In the allegory Jerusalem is the wife who violates her covenant with the Lord, and the people are represented as her children. The Lord claims them as His own, but they break the covenant, turn to other powers, and commit wickedness. The chapter portrays their apostasy and unfaithfulness after wickedness, with the Lord pronouncing woe upon her. It does not describe the marriage of the Lamb at the end.
The chapter is a strong parable about the apostasy of Judah and Israel. It rebukes sin in its awful wickedness. It presents God earnestly pleading with His children to turn back to Him.
Harlot Means Corrupt Church
In Ezekiel 16 the lewd and licentious woman is the chosen scriptural symbol of a corrupt, fallen and apostate church, just as a woman in prophecy is the symbol of the church itself. The combined figure of a city and a woman is the appointed representative of a church, or the professed people of God, here picturing the apostasy of the chosen people when they joined themselves to the surrounding nations and worshiped their gods.
Spiritual fornication and adultery in the chapter mean apostasy, turning away from God's law, worship, covenant and precepts to idolatrous or false religious groups, to the surrounding nations and their gods, and to other powers and their ways. It is backsliding, idolatry and departure from God, abandoning covenant and precepts to follow other powers, and mixing righteousness with sin as a dangerous joining of heaven with earth.
That adultery takes the form of unlawful union and attachment of the church, pledged to the Lord alone, with the kings of the earth and the world, seeking the friendship and support of the world instead of remaining chaste to Christ. The passage about such spiritual fornication is not a statement about churches complying with civil laws for their temporal affairs. Babylon pictured as a harlot is therefore a corrupt professedly religious body, distinct from the kings of the earth though unlawfully united with them, and not the abstract earthly power of human government.
Jewish Fall Warns Babylon
The Jewish church was espoused to the Lord and became a harlot through unfaithfulness in the same manner as Babylon. That unfaithfulness was unlawful attachment and union with the kings of the earth and with the world, seeking the friendship and support of the world instead of remaining chaste to Christ. Her fall and rejection by God illustrate Babylon's moral fall and rejection for wickedness. Israel's unfaithfulness stands as a prototype of the apostate church that rejects God's message and seeks the support of earthly powers instead of the Lord.
The fall of the Jewish church is an example of God rejecting an unfaithful church, though its destruction was delayed for a considerable time. Jerusalem as an unfaithful wife turned from God to the world and to Babylon, abandoning her covenant with Him and His precepts to follow other powers and their ways. Her spiritual adultery is that abandonment of covenant and precepts for the ways of other powers. After all her wickedness the repeated woe declares judgment upon her.