Ezekiel – 16:43-63
v. 43-44 Jerusalem is like her mother and sisters – This statement could summarize Yahweh’s judgment or the preface to the following. Everyone knew Israel’s wild and agrant behavior and discussed it with the proverb, “Like mother, like daughter.” v.45 – The metaphor of verse three returns: Jerusalem is not the only child of her pagan mother and father but has two sisters. All neglect their responsibilities to their husbands and children. All are guilty of idolatry and defection from Yahweh. He is not the God of Jews only, but of Gentiles(Acts 17:22-31). v. 46-50 – Sodom and Samaria were notorious for their behavior, leading to their downfall. Jerusalem’s rebellion is greater than Sodom, the very archetype of wickedness. Ezekiel is engaging in “shock therapy.” Christians speak of sin singularly: failure to fear, love, and trust the one true God above all things and to worship others in His place. And then, Christians speak of individual sins and their consequences. Sodom is notorious for the homosexual gang rape in Genesis 19 (see also Lev 18:22; 20:13). Her sins are expanded as the picture of arrogance, complacency, gluttony, and shirking responsibilities to the poor. Sodom’s sexual abomination is possible by her wealth, prosperity led to arrogance and ungodliness. v. 51-52 – Samaria’s sins will be described in detail in Ezek 23. Despite the universality of sin, relative degrees of manifest sinfulness exist, and the worst are those who have the greatest exposure to the Gospel. “I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you” (Mt 11:24). This completely de ates the self-righteousness of Jerusalem, who misunderstood the grace of election as some magical guarantee of her superiority over her neighbors. She must own the greater shame to confess her justi cation is by God’s mercy alone (Rom 4:5). v. 53-54 – Restoration ultimately comes by the miracle of justi cation and regeneration (11:19-20; 16:59-63) as she regains in a new creation the birthright that was hers by adoption and marriage (16:6-9), which corresponds to Holy Baptism (Gal 3:26-29) and is the betrothal of the church to Christ (Eph 5:25-27). Restoration typically has end-times signi cance (Jer 29–33; Amos 9:14). The risen Christ “took captivity captive” (Eph 4:8; Ps 68:18). Consider stanza one of “Oh, come, oh come, Emmanuel!” Ezekiel prophesies a restoration of both…