January 14, 2013 – Ezekiel 16:30 – 16:63

The prostitution imagery is continued here, but it is given a twist.  God says that not only did Israel act as a prostitute; they acted as a prostitute that didn’t charge and actually gave more to the customer.  When I was reading this, I was wondering if God wasn’t just saying that they were the customers of a prostitute, paying for the services a prostitute gives.  I don’t think it works as well because God wants the image of the female and what the female loses by giving herself up in prostitution, but it hard to envision the prostitute paying the customer.  Maybe a better image would be a young female who goes out to find a male prostitute.  Here, the female (Israel) gives up herself and pays to have is done.  The prostitute (foreign lands) take the females gift and charge her for it as well.  I think that fully gets God’s image across.

How God was going to put Israel on display in front of all these nations that they put themselves out there to has a “walk of shame” feel to it.  God says that all these nations will see them exposed and marched out, shamed and brought low.  This what happened in the exile.  Israel, in view of all these other nations, was defeated and made to leave there home and march to foreign land.  When you think about what a walk of shame in a college dorm relates to and the imagery of prostitution and that Israel was being walked out in front of its “lovers”, the idea of a walk of shame seems very appropriate.

But, even after this walk of shame, God says that there will be a time that Israel will turn back and renew their covenant with Him and that He will be waiting for them.  Just like us, if we have ever had a walk of shame or a moment when we were embarrassed by our sin, or just knew that we were making the wrong choices, God is there for us when we are ready to turn it around.  That walk of shame is sometimes required to help us understand the ugliness that our sin is bringing and the shame that we should feel each and every time we sin.