Ezekiel 16:46, commentary and pictures

The verse names Samaria and her surrounding towns as the older sister on the left and Sodom and hers as the younger on the right of Jerusalem, setting forth Judah's sins under the figure of unfaithful women. A woman and a city pictured as a woman stand for a professed people or religious body, and an immoral woman stands for a corrupt church that has broken covenant with God. That unfaithfulness is spiritual adultery, turning from His precepts to join the surrounding nations, worship their gods, seek help from earthly powers, and mix with the world and Babylon. The unfaithful Jewish church shown here is the historical pattern of the fall of Babylon the great harlot, a corrupt professed religious body distinct from the kings of the earth. Her fall was her rejection by God rather than her immediate destruction, which was deferred to a later time.

Sisters and Harlot Imagery

Ezekiel 16:46 names Jerusalem or Judah's elder sister dwelling at the left hand as Samaria and her younger sister dwelling at the right hand as Sodom, with their daughters as their inhabitants and surrounding towns, in a portrayal of Judah's and Israel's sins under the figure of lewd women. A woman, and a city pictured as a woman, is the symbol of a church, a people or religious body, the professed people of God. A harlot, lewd woman, adulterous woman, or immoral woman is the symbol of a corrupt, apostate church, as when God's church turns from devotion to Him and unites with the world. That same figure is used for Scripture portraying God's church as a harlot when it turns from Him.

The chapter presents the Lord's covenant and marriage relationship with His people: the Jewish church was espoused to the Lord as a chaste virgin and became His, but became unfaithful to Him and broke the covenant by turning to another. That harlotry means apostasy from God, which God calls fornication and adultery. It is seeking the friendship of the world, unlawful union with the kings of the earth, joining the surrounding nations and worshiping their gods, turning from His precepts to follow the world and Babylon, seeking help from earthly powers instead of the Lord, conformity to the world and idolatry, and mixing heaven with earth and righteousness with sin. In this unfaithfulness the lives of Israel and Babylon become one.

The chapter presents Judah's apostasy in a strong parable that rebukes sin and pleads with God's children to turn back to Him. Its marriage language describes that covenant relationship and unfaithfulness, and does not identify the bride in the final marriage of the Lamb. Sodom's sins described in the following verses — pride, excess, idleness, neglect of the poor, and abomination — will characterize people just before Christ's coming.

Fall Foreshadows Babylon's Fall

Ezekiel 16 portrays the Jewish church as a harlot, and that portrayal stands as the historical prototype of the apostate church. Her fall illustrates the fall of Babylon, showing how God deals in rejection with an unfaithful church. The church is bound to God, yet becomes unfaithful when it turns from His precepts to follow the world and Babylon, and by that unfaithfulness the lives of Israel and Babylon become one. Israel's seeking help from earthly powers instead of the Lord foreshadows the later union of the church with the world.

Her fall was her rejection by God and not her destruction. That destruction was deferred for a considerable period after the rejection. Rejection and later destruction are distinct events, the one not to be confused with the other. Since a woman signifies the church and a harlot signifies a corrupt church, Babylon the great harlot is a corrupt professedly religious body distinct from the kings of the earth, not abstract earthly power.