Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord is His summons of Jerusalem to hear His judgment upon her as an unfaithful wife for wantonly breaking her covenant marriage with Him. The chapter sets forth the sins of Judah, Israel and Jerusalem under the figure of a lewd, adulterous woman, to rebuke apostasy and show the exceeding wickedness of sin. A harlot is the scriptural symbol of a corrupt, fallen, apostate church, and Jerusalem once espoused to the Lord alone became that harlot when she united herself with the world. Her unfaithfulness was in joining the surrounding nations and worshiping their gods, conforming to the world and turning to worldly powers for help instead of seeking the Lord, which is spiritual fornication and adultery in breaking her lawful union to Him alone. In the same manner Babylon pictured as a harlot is not earthly civil power but a corrupt professedly religious body unlawfully united with the kings of the earth through seeking the friendship of the world.
Setting and Judgment
Ezekiel 16 is a strong parable that sets forth the sins of Judah, Israel and Jerusalem under the figure of a lewd, adulterous woman. It is given to rebuke apostasy and to show the awful wickedness of sin. In it God earnestly pleads with His children to turn to Him.
The chapter describes the Lord's covenant marriage with His people, in which He is the husband, the land or Jerusalem is the wife, and the people are the children. They became His, and were given gifts and beauty. But they broke the promise and covenant of Ezekiel 16:8 and despised the gifts and beauty of Ezekiel 16:10-14 to rely on another.
The verse itself is the summons to the unfaithful people to hear the Lord's word. It is His word of judgment pronounced upon Jerusalem as a harlot for wantonly violating that wedlock. That judgment brings withdrawal of gifts with contempt, wretchedness and the final desolation of the outcast. In this way God speaks His word to His backslidden church as a harlot.
The fall of the Jewish church portrayed as a harlot was her rejection by God. Her destruction did not follow immediately but was deferred for a considerable time and came later. This judgment under the old covenant is followed by marriage under an everlasting covenant in Ezekiel 16:60-62 that restores the wife Jerusalem to the Lord together with Samaria and Sodom, which denotes the receiving of the New Jerusalem to be His throne when the kingdom is the Lord's.
Harlot as Apostate Church
A harlot, a lewd and licentious woman, is the scriptural symbol of a corrupt, fallen, apostate church. Jerusalem and the Jewish church, once espoused to the Lord alone, are identified as that harlot after turning from God, when His chosen people joined the surrounding nations and worshiped their gods and the city was pictured as a harlot with many lovers. God's church becomes a harlot in the same manner whenever, though espoused to God alone, she unites with the world, and this image of unfaithfulness represents the apostasy of God's professed people.
Her unfaithfulness consisted in turning from God her husband to foreign powers and their ways and to Babylon, abandoning God's precepts and joining herself to Babylon. It was conformity to the world in idolatry and departure from God's law, the attempt to mix heaven with earth and righteousness with sin, and turning to worldly powers for help instead of seeking the Lord. Israel's unfaithfulness thus stands as the record and prototype of an apostate church.
Such union with the world is spiritual fornication and adultery, breaking her lawful marriage union to Him alone. It is an unlawful connection with the kings of the earth and with idolatrous or false religious groups, turning from God's law and worship. It is seeking the friendship of the world by the professed church espoused to the Lord.
In the same manner Babylon pictured as a harlot in Revelation is a corrupt church, after the figure established by the address to the harlot. She is not the earthly power of human government or an abstract evil, but a corrupt professedly religious body, distinct from yet unlawfully united with the kings of the earth through seeking the friendship of the world.
Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord is His summons of Jerusalem to hear His judgment upon her as an unfaithful wife for wantonly breaking her covenant marriage with Him. The chapter sets forth the sins of Judah, Israel and Jerusalem under the figure of a lewd, adulterous woman, to rebuke apostasy and show the exceeding wickedness of sin. A harlot is the scriptural symbol of a corrupt, fallen, apostate church, and Jerusalem once espoused to the Lord alone became that harlot when she united herself with the world. Her unfaithfulness was in joining the surrounding nations and worshiping their gods, conforming to the world and turning to worldly powers for help instead of seeking the Lord, which is spiritual fornication and adultery in breaking her lawful union to Him alone. In the same manner Babylon pictured as a harlot is not earthly civil power but a corrupt professedly religious body unlawfully united with the kings of the earth through seeking the friendship of the world.
Setting and Judgment
Ezekiel 16 is a strong parable that sets forth the sins of Judah, Israel and Jerusalem under the figure of a lewd, adulterous woman. It is given to rebuke apostasy and to show the awful wickedness of sin. In it God earnestly pleads with His children to turn to Him.
The chapter describes the Lord's covenant marriage with His people, in which He is the husband, the land or Jerusalem is the wife, and the people are the children. They became His, and were given gifts and beauty. But they broke the promise and covenant of Ezekiel 16:8 and despised the gifts and beauty of Ezekiel 16:10-14 to rely on another.
The verse itself is the summons to the unfaithful people to hear the Lord's word. It is His word of judgment pronounced upon Jerusalem as a harlot for wantonly violating that wedlock. That judgment brings withdrawal of gifts with contempt, wretchedness and the final desolation of the outcast. In this way God speaks His word to His backslidden church as a harlot.
The fall of the Jewish church portrayed as a harlot was her rejection by God. Her destruction did not follow immediately but was deferred for a considerable time and came later. This judgment under the old covenant is followed by marriage under an everlasting covenant in Ezekiel 16:60-62 that restores the wife Jerusalem to the Lord together with Samaria and Sodom, which denotes the receiving of the New Jerusalem to be His throne when the kingdom is the Lord's.
Harlot as Apostate Church
A harlot, a lewd and licentious woman, is the scriptural symbol of a corrupt, fallen, apostate church. Jerusalem and the Jewish church, once espoused to the Lord alone, are identified as that harlot after turning from God, when His chosen people joined the surrounding nations and worshiped their gods and the city was pictured as a harlot with many lovers. God's church becomes a harlot in the same manner whenever, though espoused to God alone, she unites with the world, and this image of unfaithfulness represents the apostasy of God's professed people.
Her unfaithfulness consisted in turning from God her husband to foreign powers and their ways and to Babylon, abandoning God's precepts and joining herself to Babylon. It was conformity to the world in idolatry and departure from God's law, the attempt to mix heaven with earth and righteousness with sin, and turning to worldly powers for help instead of seeking the Lord. Israel's unfaithfulness thus stands as the record and prototype of an apostate church.
Such union with the world is spiritual fornication and adultery, breaking her lawful marriage union to Him alone. It is an unlawful connection with the kings of the earth and with idolatrous or false religious groups, turning from God's law and worship. It is seeking the friendship of the world by the professed church espoused to the Lord.
In the same manner Babylon pictured as a harlot in Revelation is a corrupt church, after the figure established by the address to the harlot. She is not the earthly power of human government or an abstract evil, but a corrupt professedly religious body, distinct from yet unlawfully united with the kings of the earth through seeking the friendship of the world.