Ezekiel 16:61
Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger: and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant. Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger: and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant.
Ezekiel 16 is a searching parable rebuking the apostasy of Judah and Israel, portraying Jerusalem as an unfaithful wife who left the Lord her husband to play the harlot with surrounding nations and their gods. A woman is the symbol of a church, and a harlot or lewd woman is the symbol of a corrupt church made unfaithful by unlawful union and friendship with the world. Yet Jerusalem will be restored as wife to the Lord under an everlasting covenant, with her elder and younger sisters Samaria and Sodom restored and given to her as daughters. Then she will remember her own ways and be ashamed, for that they are her own ways gives no excuse for them but calls for them to be rejected and forsaken. Those who are truly ashamed and forsake sin will be received into the covenant God himself establishes, for the sisters are given by God and not secured through the covenant she had made and broken.
Parable Setting and Restoration
Ezekiel 16 is a strong parable rebuking the apostasy of Judah and Israel, in which God earnestly pleads with His children to turn to Him. It sets forth their grave sins through the figure of lewd women, and its moral instruction is searching. Jerusalem is portrayed as an unfaithful woman, for when God's chosen people abandoned Him, joined the surrounding nations and worshiped their gods, their city was shown as a woman playing the harlot with many lovers. She is pictured as an adulterous wife who turned from God and followed Babylon, casting off God's precepts.
The Lord is the husband, the land or Jerusalem is the wife, and the people are the children. The marriage denotes the act of receiving the New Jerusalem to be His throne when the kingdom is the Lord's, and the Jerusalem called by a new name under the new covenant is what its type was under the old covenant. Jerusalem will be restored as wife to the Lord under an everlasting covenant, together with the restoration of her elder and younger sisters, Samaria and Sodom, given to her as daughters. Those sister peoples are received as daughters when she remembers and is ashamed of her former ways, and their restoration is given to her by God, not secured by the covenant Jerusalem had made and broken. The chapter thus traces the Lord's covenant with His people and their breaking of it by turning to another, followed by their later shame and restoration when they receive their sisters as daughters, not through the covenant they had broken.
The marriage language represents the relationship between God and His people, but it does not identify that relationship with the marriage of the Lamb at the end. Israel's history stands as a prototype of the apostate church, which seeks help from earthly powers instead of the Lord.
Harlot Sign of Apostasy
A woman stands for a church, and a harlot stands for a corrupt church. The same figure is taught by the lewd woman, who represents a corrupt or apostate church. An unfaithful woman likewise represents a corrupt, apostate church.
The Jewish church was once espoused to the Lord as His wife, but she turned from God and became unfaithful to Him. By leaving God and uniting with the world she became a harlot. That corruption came through an unlawful bond with the world, even an unlawful friendship with the world.
Union of God's church with the world is called by God fornication and adultery. Israel's backsliding, conformity to the world, idolatry, and departures from God are portrayed as adultery. To mix what is holy with what is sinful is spiritual unfaithfulness to God.
The harlot's fall was her rejection by God, namely God's rejection of the Jewish church. That rejection took place before its destruction. Its destruction was delayed and deferred for a considerable time.
Shame Covenant and Application
The verse is God's plea for Israel to call its own conduct back to mind with shame, for remembering its ways is meant to produce shame over them. That a wrong word or act is one's own way gives it no justification, and saying it is my way does not excuse it. Such ways, when they are wrong, are to be met with shame and to be rejected and forsaken, not retained and followed nor excused.
Those who are truly ashamed of their sins and forsake them will be received into the covenant that God himself establishes, not into one made by human effort. Turning from sin and yielding to God brings knowledge of the Lord. When Jerusalem remembers and is ashamed of her former ways, she receives her sister peoples as daughters, and their restoration is given to her by God rather than secured by the covenant Jerusalem had made and broken. The chapter thus traces the Lord's covenant with His people, their breaking of it by turning to another, and then their later shame and restoration in receiving their sisters as daughters, not through the covenant they had broken.
The verse does not teach that Israel will at some future time tell the Gentiles, Know the Lord. The new-covenant promise that people will no longer need to teach one another to know the Lord has been fulfilled, as Hebrews 10 shows.