her abominations

April 22, 2017

Jerusalem did not remember (Ezek 16:43-16:43)

“‘You have not remembered

The days of your youth.

But you have enraged me

With all these things.

Therefore,

I have returned

Your deeds

Upon your head.’

Says Yahweh God.

‘Have you not

Committed lewdness

Beyond all

Your abominations?’”

Jerusalem did not remember the days of her youth when Yahweh was kind and compassionate towards her. Instead Jerusalem enraged Yahweh with her wicked actions. Thus Yahweh has returned these deeds back on her. Jerusalem has committed many lewd deeds, beyond all her abominations. Yahweh is portrayed as ungrateful man because his lover Jerusalem has left him for other lovers.

April 20, 2017

The sacrificed children (Ezek 16:20-16:22)

“You took your sons.

You took your daughters.

You had borne them

To me.

You sacrificed them

To be devoured.

As if being a whore

Was not enough?

You slaughtered

My children.

You delivered them up

As an offering

To them.

In all your abominations,

In all your acts

Of prostitution,

You did not remember

The days of your youth,

When you were naked,

When you were bare,

Flailing about

In your blood.”

There is little doubt that this young girl Jerusalem and Yahweh bore children together. Yahweh clearly says that their mutual sons and daughters had been sacrificed to these false gods. This woman Jerusalem had slaughtered their children. Was it not bad enough that she was a prostitute? Did she have to sacrifice their children too? They were delivered to these strange gods as a death offering. In all her abominations and various prostitute ways, she never remembered her youth when she was naked, lying in blood. She was not grateful for all that Yahweh had done for her.

April 18, 2017

The symbolic history of Jerusalem (Ezek 16:1-16:3)

“The word of Yahweh

Came to me.

‘Son of man!

Make known

To Jerusalem

Her abominations!

Say!

Thus says Yahweh God

To Jerusalem.

Your origin,

Your birth

Were in the land

Of the Canaanites.

Your father was

An Amorite.

Your mother was

A Hittite.’”

Once again, Yahweh came to Ezekiel, the son of man. This time, it was about the origins and symbolic history of Jerusalem. The context was a berating of Jerusalem and her abominations. Unlike most stories of Israel that talk about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob or the Egyptian experience under Moses, this history of Jerusalem starts with the Canaanites. This has led many to believe that there may be some validity to this history. Of course, this is specifically aimed at the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They were Canaanites whose mother was a Hittite with their father an Amorite. The Amorites were an ancient Syrian tribe with a Semitic language that also lived in Canaan from about 1700 BCE. From a biblical perspective based on Genesis, chapter 10, they were the descendants of Canaan and Ham. Amorite and Canaanite were interchangeable. They were definitely there before the Moses-Joshua experience. The Hittites were another Canaanite group that seemed to be friendly in many of the Genesis stories.