Are you a prostitute?
Text Ezekiel 23 Time 06/05/07 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church
Prostitution is a rather unsavoury subject. It is incorrectly referred to sometimes as the world's oldest profession. It is not the oldest but it is certainly very ancient and yet still part of life today. In various cities and towns throughout the world it exists in various forms. In this country there are estimated to be some 80,000 prostitutes at work. Most of them are addicted to alcohol or other drugs. Living in London we cannot be completely unaware of it. In some parts you only have to pass a telephone kiosk or open a local paper to be made aware of its existence.
I mention it because in the chapter we are looking at today the subject is raised. Ezekiel uses it as an illustration to confront God's people with their sins and to warn them of coming judgement. You may find some of its language shocking. Certainly the Jews did. I read somewhere that training rabbis only looked at this chapter at the end of their studies. However, it is here in God's Word and is intended to benefit us. It looks at themes already covered, especially back in Chapter 16, but themes we need to come back to.
1. Do you understand the powerful picture of sin used by Ezekiel here?
I mention it because in the chapter we are looking at today the subject is raised. Ezekiel uses it as an illustration to confront God's people with their sins and to warn them of coming judgement. You may find some of its language shocking. Certainly the Jews did. I read somewhere that training rabbis only looked at this chapter at the end of their studies. However, it is here in God's Word and is intended to benefit us. It looks at themes already covered, especially back in Chapter 16, but themes we need to come back to.
1. Do you understand the powerful picture of sin used by Ezekiel here?
Let's begin by getting this story clear in our heads. It is the story of two women who get caught up in the world of prostitution. We can consider
1. The Beginnings
1. The Beginnings
Even today most women get involved in prostitution while they are still in their teens. That's what happened to these girls. They were sisters, born to the same woman and it all started while they still very young. It happened in Egypt. Men would pay to fondle their breasts, to caress their bosoms and sleep with them. Men poured out their lust upon them. They used no contraception and so they gave birth to a number of children.
2. The older sister
2. The older sister
Both sisters carried on being prostitutes as they grew older. The older one, we are told, particularly liked to sell her favours to soldiers of the then very powerful Assyrian army, especially the governors and commanders, handsome young men, cavalry officers. She became what is known as a courtesan or a high class prostitute, serving the Assyrian elite. How she loved all the pomp and idolatry of that nation. Eventually, however, they turned against her and she suffered greatly at their hands.
3. The younger sister
3. The younger sister
The younger sister followed the same route and became worse again. She also loved to bed those Assyrian soldiers but she went much further. Someone showed her a picture of some Chaldeans or Babylonians portrayed in red, with belts around their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like Babylonian chariot officers, natives of Chaldea. As soon as she saw this she wanted these men and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. These Babylonians then came to her, to her bed and she engaged in prostitution with them. She soon grew disgusted with them but rather than repenting she became more and more promiscuous as she recalled the days of her youth, when she was a prostitute in Egypt. She dreamed of her younger days when her lovers, it seemed to her had massive genitals ... like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses. We are not country folk and so such language shocks us perhaps but it is the language Ezekiel uses here in order to get his message across.
4. The Meaning
4. The Meaning
In his story Ezekiel calls the two sisters Oholah, and ... Oholibah. They stand for Samaria and the northern kingdom of Israel and Jerusalem and the southern tribe of Judah. Samaria is said to be the older because it had more tribes and by this stage had already passed out of existence. Oholibah means 'my tent is in her' as Judah had the God-given Tabernacle. Oholah means 'her tent' as Israel had only their own invented forms of worship.
The people of the north had been carried into exile by the Assyrians in 721 BC. What had happened to Samaria should have acted as a warning to Judah. They too would be judged and sent into exile. This is spelled out in 22-34. Instead of remaining loyal to the LORD like a good wife, the people of Judah had prostituted themselves to other gods. Even though the people Ezekiel is speaking to were already in exile and the king back in Judah was under Babylonian power they did not believe that the whole kingdom would fall. Yet we know it did. These verses then should act as a warning to us too.
2. Are you aware of the temptations outlined here?
The people of the north had been carried into exile by the Assyrians in 721 BC. What had happened to Samaria should have acted as a warning to Judah. They too would be judged and sent into exile. This is spelled out in 22-34. Instead of remaining loyal to the LORD like a good wife, the people of Judah had prostituted themselves to other gods. Even though the people Ezekiel is speaking to were already in exile and the king back in Judah was under Babylonian power they did not believe that the whole kingdom would fall. Yet we know it did. These verses then should act as a warning to us too.
2. Are you aware of the temptations outlined here?
Now, of course, we live in very different times to those of Ezekiel and these people but the same sorts of temptations are still around. What drew Judah and Samaria into prostitution? Whatever we may make of what happened in Egypt it was certainly the case later that they were driven by a lust for power and for pleasure. She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians says Ezekiel. He describes the warriors clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all of them handsome young men, and mounted horsemen ... governors and commanders, warriors in full dress, mounted horsemen, all handsome young men to give us an idea of the way she was drawn in.
Isn't that how it is today? The lure of power and pleasure comes to us in different forms but what happens is that we forget the Lord and chase after the things of this world. We are motivated by a desire for fame or fortune or peace.
In verse 14 and the verses that follow he describes how She saw men portrayed on a wall, figures of Chaldeans portrayed in red, with belts around their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like Babylonian chariot officers, natives of Chaldea. As soon as she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. She longed for the lewdness of her youth.
Again it is no different today really. We see pictures in magazines or on TV, on a computer screen or in films and we are hooked. We read things in books and newspapers that excite us and we are drawn in. They stir up desires in us for pleasure and for power. How very careful we must be that we do not become prostitutes like Oholah and Oholibah – turning our backs on God and selling ourselves for mere pleasure and power that cannot last, that will eventually be turned against us.
Who would want to be a prostitute? Surely no-one. So what happens? Sometimes, I know, people are forced into prostitution against their will, but what so often happens is that they lust after money or some sort of pleasure and so are drawn in. We have mentioned how often drug addiction drives the people on.
Similarly, who would want to go to hell? No-one. But the lure of sin – the desire for money and things, for pleasure, becomes a sort of addiction driving them on. Beware!
3. Are you guilty of the sorts of sins that God condemns here?
Isn't that how it is today? The lure of power and pleasure comes to us in different forms but what happens is that we forget the Lord and chase after the things of this world. We are motivated by a desire for fame or fortune or peace.
In verse 14 and the verses that follow he describes how She saw men portrayed on a wall, figures of Chaldeans portrayed in red, with belts around their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like Babylonian chariot officers, natives of Chaldea. As soon as she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. She longed for the lewdness of her youth.
Again it is no different today really. We see pictures in magazines or on TV, on a computer screen or in films and we are hooked. We read things in books and newspapers that excite us and we are drawn in. They stir up desires in us for pleasure and for power. How very careful we must be that we do not become prostitutes like Oholah and Oholibah – turning our backs on God and selling ourselves for mere pleasure and power that cannot last, that will eventually be turned against us.
Who would want to be a prostitute? Surely no-one. So what happens? Sometimes, I know, people are forced into prostitution against their will, but what so often happens is that they lust after money or some sort of pleasure and so are drawn in. We have mentioned how often drug addiction drives the people on.
Similarly, who would want to go to hell? No-one. But the lure of sin – the desire for money and things, for pleasure, becomes a sort of addiction driving them on. Beware!
3. Are you guilty of the sorts of sins that God condemns here?
Down in verse 35 we read Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Since you have forgotten me and thrust me behind your back, you must bear the consequences of your lewdness and prostitution. The accusation then is that these people had forgotten God and thrust him behind their back. Are you guilty of such behaviour?
The words (36) Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then confront them with their detestable practices take us back to Ezekiel 20 and suggests that these verses are really summarising the whole section. Ezekiel is told to confront the people with their detestable practices. We must seek to do something like that this morning. Here he speaks of
1. Their adultery
The words (36) Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then confront them with their detestable practices take us back to Ezekiel 20 and suggests that these verses are really summarising the whole section. Ezekiel is told to confront the people with their detestable practices. We must seek to do something like that this morning. Here he speaks of
1. Their adultery
37 for they have committed adultery ... They committed adultery with their idols.
What about us? Are we being disloyal to the Lord? Are we cherishing idols in our hearts?
2. Their murder
2. Their murder
And blood is on their hands ... they even sacrificed their children, whom they bore to me, as food for them.
It may be that someone here has gone so far in their lust for what this world has to offer that they have killed for it. Abortions as we know are common and can be arranged quite quietly. It may be that some woman here has had one or a man here has been involved in arranging one. The temptation to hasten the death of an elderly or seriously ill person can also be driven by the lust for pleasure or power. Sometimes it is more subtle than that but it results in death.
3. Their sacrilege
3. Their sacrilege
38, 39 They have also done this to me: At that same time they defiled my sanctuary and desecrated my Sabbaths. On the very day they sacrificed their children to their idols, they entered my sanctuary and desecrated it. That is what they did in my house.
When idolatry is hidden under the cloak of true religion that is sacrilege. It is a sin all of us here are in danger of committing – mere pretence, hypocrisy.
Are we just acting? And what about the Lord's Day? Is it God's day in your house or just a day for pleasure and for sin?
4. Their prostitution
4. Their prostitution
40-42 describes how They even sent messengers for men who came from far away, and when they arrived you bathed yourself for them, painted your eyes and put on your jewellery. You sat on an elegant couch, with a table spread before it on which you had placed the incense and oil that belonged to me. The noise of a carefree crowd was around her; Sabeans were brought from the desert along with men from the rabble, and they put bracelets on the arms of the woman and her sister and beautiful crowns on their heads.
This is the basic charge - that they had used what God gave them to pursue what the world holds dear. And I'm asking, have we done something similar? Are we being prostitutes – using a God given talent or blessing simply to satisfy our lust for power or pleasure? Have we chased after the world? Are we forgetting God, so driven by ambition for what this world offers that we've thrown ourselves into it regardless? What dangers confronts us.
4. Do you understand the sort of punishment awaiting those who sin against God in this way?
4. Do you understand the sort of punishment awaiting those who sin against God in this way?
Dire warnings of judgement take up much of this chapter. In 22-25a God says to them
I will stir up your lovers against you, those you turned away from in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side - the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, the men of Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, handsome young men, all of them governors and commanders, chariot officers and men of high rank, all mounted on horses. They will come against you with weapons, chariots and wagons and with a throng of people; they will take up positions against you on every side with large and small shields and with helmets. I will turn you over to them for punishment, and they will punish you according to their standards. I will direct my jealous anger against you, and they will deal with you in fury.
It will be a judgement from God but it will be by means of the very people the people of Judah had so assiduously pursued. Do we not see that the very world that we pursue is the same world that hates believers and will destroy them or anyone else if and when they so choose?
Look at the warnings here. Death, mutilation, exile, fire, nakedness, robbery – this is what they will be subject to. They will cut off your noses and your ears, and those of you who are left will fall by the sword. They will take away your sons and daughters, and those of you who are left will be consumed by fire. They will also strip you of your clothes and take your fine jewellery. So I will put a stop to the lewdness and prostitution you began in Egypt. You will not look on these things with longing or remember Egypt any more.
In verse 28 and the verses that follow
Look at the warnings here. Death, mutilation, exile, fire, nakedness, robbery – this is what they will be subject to. They will cut off your noses and your ears, and those of you who are left will fall by the sword. They will take away your sons and daughters, and those of you who are left will be consumed by fire. They will also strip you of your clothes and take your fine jewellery. So I will put a stop to the lewdness and prostitution you began in Egypt. You will not look on these things with longing or remember Egypt any more.
In verse 28 and the verses that follow
the Sovereign LORD says: I am about to hand you over to those you hate, to those you turned away from in disgust. They will deal with you in hatred and take away everything you have worked for. They will leave you naked and bare, and the shame of your prostitution will be exposed. Your lewdness and promiscuity have brought this upon you, because you lusted after the nations and defiled yourself with their idols.
The warning is for us too. If we forsake the Lord and seek the world it will be the world that destroys us.
In verse 31 he says You have gone the way of your sister; so I will put her cup into your hand. In verses 32-34 he takes up this picture of a cup in verse, a cup of ruin and desolation.
In verse 31 he says You have gone the way of your sister; so I will put her cup into your hand. In verses 32-34 he takes up this picture of a cup in verse, a cup of ruin and desolation.
You will drink your sister's cup, a cup large and deep; it will bring scorn and derision, for it holds so much. You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, the cup of ruin and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria. You will drink it and drain it dry; you will dash it to pieces and tear your breasts. I have spoken, declares the Sovereign LORD.
The theme of judgement is taken up again towards the end of the chapter.
1. Act as a prostitute and you will be used as a prostitute
The theme of judgement is taken up again towards the end of the chapter.
1. Act as a prostitute and you will be used as a prostitute
Think of what happened to Samaria (9, 10) Therefore I handed her over to her lovers, the Assyrians, for whom she lusted. They stripped her naked, took away her sons and daughters and killed her with the sword. She became a byword among women, and punishment was inflicted on her. 43, 44 Then I said about the one worn out by adultery, Now let them use her as a prostitute, for that is all she is. And they slept with her. As men sleep with a prostitute, so they slept with those lewd women, Oholah and Oholibah. When God punishes often his first move is simply to take the pleasure out of a sin. The adulteress seeks and finds pleasure at first but it doesn't last. So with all our sins.
2. Act as a prostitute and you will suffer the penalty for prostitution
2. Act as a prostitute and you will suffer the penalty for prostitution
45-49 But righteous men will sentence them to the punishment of women who commit adultery and shed blood, because they are adulterous and blood is on their hands. This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Bring a mob against them and give them over to terror and plunder. The mob will stone them and cut them down with their swords; they will kill their sons and daughters and burn down their houses. So I will put an end to lewdness in the land, that all women may take warning and not imitate you. You will suffer the penalty for your lewdness and bear the consequences of your sins of idolatry. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign LORD. God hates sin and where it appears he will punish it.
5. Flee from such prostitution and find grace in Jesus Christ
5. Flee from such prostitution and find grace in Jesus Christ
This is all very negative I recognise and there is no explicit word of hope but we know from elsewhere in Scripture that there is hope even for those far gone in such sins. The hope is found in Jesus Christ. It is to him you must turn. Don't lust after the sorts of things they did in ancient times, the Assyrians - governors and commanders, warriors in full dress, mounted horsemen, all handsome young men. Rather long for Christ. He comes meekly and lowly, riding on donkey not a horse, wearing Galilean homespun not a Babylonian warrior's full battle dress. He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him but he is the Saviour of the World and if you turn to him all will be well.
The people were entranced by this picture of Babylonians they had seen and we can easily be drawn in a similar worldly way. Rather, we need to get a new vision of Jesus. We need to see him placarded before us in all his grace and glory. As soon as you see him as he is you will want him. You won't turn from him in disgust. And God will never turn away from you either. Look to Christ.
The people were entranced by this picture of Babylonians they had seen and we can easily be drawn in a similar worldly way. Rather, we need to get a new vision of Jesus. We need to see him placarded before us in all his grace and glory. As soon as you see him as he is you will want him. You won't turn from him in disgust. And God will never turn away from you either. Look to Christ.
