Tuesday, February 10, 2015

The People of Judah Sinned even more than Samaria Did (Ezek. 23:14-21)


SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/10/2015 7:54 PM

My Worship Time                     Focus:  The People of Judah Sinned even more than Samaria Did

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Ezekiel 23:14-21

            Message of the verses:  “14 “So she increased her harlotries. And she saw men portrayed on the wall, images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion, 15 girded with belts on their loins, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, like the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their birth. 16 “When she saw them she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. 17 “The Babylonians came to her to the bed of love and defiled her with their harlotry. And when she had been defiled by them, she became disgusted with them. 18 “She uncovered her harlotries and uncovered her nakedness; then I became disgusted with her, as I had become disgusted with her sister. 19 “Yet she multiplied her harlotries, remembering the days of her youth, when she played the harlot in the land of Egypt. 20 “She lusted after their paramours, whose flesh is like the flesh of donkeys and whose issue is like the issue of horses. 21 “Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians handled your bosom because of the breasts of your youth.”  Not sure I should do this but I did not understand what verse 20 meant so I looked it up in the NLT “She lusted after lovers with genitals as large as a donkey’s and emissions like those of a horse.” 

            If we look at what happened after the Angel of the Lord killed 185,000 Assyrians you may think that Judah would be thankful to the Lord and would begin to come out of the idolatry that she was participating in.  Not so for even King Hezekiah continued to have problems as we read:  “12 At that time Berodach-baladan a son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick. 13 Hezekiah listened to them, and showed them all his treasure house, the silver and the gold and the spices and the precious oil and the house of his armor and all that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his house nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them. 14 Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and said to him, "What did these men say, and from where have they come to you?" And Hezekiah said, "They have come from a far country, from Babylon." 15 He said, "What have they seen in your house?" So Hezekiah answered, "They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasuries that I have not shown them." 16 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the LORD. 17  ’Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and all that your fathers have laid up in store to this day will be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says the LORD (2 Kings 20:12-17).  Now mind you that this happened right after the Lord had healed Hezekiah and gave him 15 more years to live.

            Dr. Wiersbe concludes his commentary on this section with these words:  “The kingdom of Judah became more and more idolatrous as on weak king after another took the throne, some of them for only three months.  Judah was actually more corrupt than her sister Samaria! (32:11).”

2/10/2015 8:09 PM

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