EZEKIEL Bible Study No.

13 Paphos 27 April 2006 & 4 May 2000

Ezekiel chapters 16:35-63 and 23:1-49
With acknowledgements to Chris Wright The Message of Ezekiel, IVP, 2001
Introduction
Remember that Ezekiel chapters 16 and 23 are the least likely chapters to be read
aloud or preached on, except for some long genealogies in 1 Chronicles. Parts of these
chapters seem lewd and pornographic. Ezekiel used shock tactics. Despite Ezekiel’s
messages so far the exiles still clung to their glorious history. Ezekiel revisits that
history and retells it in a thoroughly revisionist way. He uses allegory and satire. In
their worldview it was axiomatic that Israel was indestructible, Jerusalem inviolable
and the covenant unbreakable. Ezekiel dared to tell the story another way that
demanded a different ending. Jesus did this in the parable of the tenants in the
vineyard, giving the story of Israel a very different flavour and a very different ending
from the official version.

Questions
1. Ezekiel 16:35-43. Compare with 23:22-49. Ezekiel 16:35 begins with the
judicial ‘Therefore’ plus the key elements of the accusation. Verse 36 follows
with the outline of the fate of the accused and then the statutory penalty in
verse 38. The story began with the blood of foetal abandonment, proceeded
through the blood of social oppression and ritual violence and ended in the
blood of vengeance of God’s wrath. What is the New Testament parallel to all
this? See 1 Corinthians 10:1-13.

2. Ezekiel 16:44-63 and 23:1-49. “The two ugly sisters”. What new proverb does
Ezekiel introduce into his allegory? What further two characters does he
introduce? How does he change the story line? Read chapter 23 which
expands the new story with extra local colour and symbolic names.

3. Ezekiel 16:44-46 and 23:1-4. A sordid family. Reread Ezekiel 16:1-5. Ezekiel
16:45-46 extends the despising to include husbands. Who was the third sister?
Israel is depicted as lower than the worst. Shocking! Ezekiel is master of
shock and shock tactics.

4. The sin of Samaria. Ezekiel 23:5-10.

In chapter 16 Ezekiel only says one verse about Samaria. Which is the verse?
In 23:5-11 he names the sisters. What were their names? Note Leviticus 18:18.
Ezekiel’s task was to get the people of Judah to see that everything they
believed about the northern kingdom was true of them more so.

5. The sin of Sodom. Ezekiel 16:49-50. Sodom is the third sister. List and
examine the charges against Sodom and her daughters. What is the difference
between arrogance and haughtiness? What did they do against their fellow
humans? And against God? Outcry – see Genesis 18:20-21 and 19:13 (divine
fact-finding – a theophany?). Is this a picture of our society? The G8
Conference in July 2000 in Okinawa, Japan, cost over £500 million to hold but
the nations present had after a year made only minimal contributions on what
they promised to help reduce world poverty. James 1:27.
6. The shame of comparison. Ezekiel 16:47-48, 51-52; 23:11-21. Jerusalem had
sunk to depths of depravity that made Sodom seem righteous in comparison.
Compare this with Billy Graham’s reputed remark that God must either judge
America or apologize to Sodom. Both Sodom and Samaria have been fully
judged for their sin. Read Matthew 11:20-24. What was so shocking about the
sin of the people of Jerusalem? Read Ezekiel 23:11-21 and list the catalogue of
sin and compare it with that of today’s society in the West. Having received
light and then having rejected it makes people more depraved than the
depraved.

7. The surprise of restoration. Ezekiel 16:53-63. In what ways had the end
come? Yet why was it not finally the end? Leviticus 26:43b-45.

8. It will be a shared restoration. If God is able and willing to pardon and

restore you then Sodom will be no problem. The grace of God is good news
for all. It will be a shared restoration – shared with the most unlikely
candidates.

9. It will be a shamed restoration. Ezekiel 16:61 and 63. How was it that Paul
regarded himself as the chief of sinners even towards the end of his life?
1 Timothy 1:15.