Ezekiel 23:14
And that she increased her whoredoms: for when she saw men pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion, And that she increased her whoredoms: for when she saw men pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion,
The term rendered images denotes portrayals of Chaldean men upon a wall, made by human hands and having reference to physical form. The specification of figures painted on walls in vermilion accords with Babylonian art in Ezekiel's time, for unlike Assyria and other ancient cultures which chiefly displayed art in sculpture, Babylonia employed enameled bricks and painted plaster, its walls were richly colored, and its ornamentation was mainly indoors. This correspondence fits Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar's reign and supports dating Ezekiel to 604-561 B.C.
The passage is searching moral instruction setting forth the dreadful sins of Judah and Israel under the figure of a lewd woman, and is best read in private. In symbolic prophecy a woman signifies a church, an assembly of people called out and united for a spiritual purpose whether good or evil, and a corrupt woman or harlot signifies a corrupt, false and evil church. Backsliding Israel and Judah are likened to such harlots, who have ensnared souls and corrupted the nations of the earth.
Whoredom and related terms signify spiritual apostasy, departing from God's law and testimony and joining idolatrous or false religious groups, and do not signify a church's use of civil laws for its temporal affairs. An image in the Bible signifies that which has real form and shape, and the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion are men portrayed upon the wall, painted figures possessing form and real substance and shape. Since man made of dust was made in the image of God, man is in God's bodily form and shape, so God has a body in form like a man.
The chapter depicts Israel's unfaithfulness to God as spiritual fornication, in which forsaking God and seeking help from Egypt is rebellion, and the same principle applies to churches that seek union with civil power. God has provided abundant blessings in Jesus Christ and demands the church's full allegiance, sharing His glory with no other. Samaria and Jerusalem are shown as two adulterous women doting on the Assyrians and Babylonians and bringing the Babylonians into the bed of love.
The verse signifies spiritual fornication by a church married to Christ by covenant sealed by His blood and solemn vow, for whom friendship with the world and following the world is departure from her Husband. As a wife committing adultery takes strangers instead of her husband, she listens to the siren of Babylon, follows Satan's voice, seeks to become his bride with sister Babylon, builds her eminent place at the head of every way and her high place in every street, casts off the precepts of God which is casting off God, and becomes one in life with Babylon and like all the heathen. The result is Babylon's wine cup, a drunken lascivious life under statutes that are not good and judgments whereby they should not live, leaving Zion drunken but not with wine and Israel fallen.
The verse describes the Chaldeans' images painted on a wall in vermilion as part of Israel's growing unfaithfulness, and ancient palace wall reliefs and inscriptions illustrate the prophet's language concerning these images and the lavish appearance of foreign rulers. The imagery further teaches that people can fill the inner chambers of the heart with evil pictures through memory, imagination, and desire. These secret sins will be exposed and must be cleansed.