Israel’s Shedding of Blood
The word of the Lord went to Ezekiel and asked if he would be the one to judge the bloody city, and he was to declare all her abominations.
He was to say, “Thus says the Lord God: A city that sheds blood in her midst, so that her time may come, and that makes idols to defile herself! You have become guilty by the blood that you have shed, and defiled by the idols that you have made, and you have brought your days near, the appointed time of your years has come. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to all the countries. Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you; your name is defiled; you are full of tumult.” -Ezekiel 22:3-5
The princes of Israel, everyone according to their power, was bent on shedding blood. Father and mother were treated with contempt. The sojourner suffered extortion in their midst, and the fatherless and widow were wronged in her.
They all had despised the Lord’s holy things and profaned the Sabbaths. The men there would slander to shed blood, and the people committed lewdness. They broke all the rules and commandments the Lord had set out for them.
The Lord struck His hand at the dishonest gain they had made in their midst. “Can your courage endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it. I will scatter you among the countries, and I will consume your uncleanness out of you. And you shall be profaned by your own doing in the sight of the nations, and you shall know that I am the Lord.” -Ezekiel 22:14-16
The word of the Lord went to Ezekiel and told him to say, “You are a land that is not cleansed or rained upon in the day of indignation. The conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured human lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they had made many widows in her midst.” -Ezekiel 22:24-25
It continued on explaining all the abominations the people had done in the land, and how the Lord was seeking a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before Him for the land, that He should not destroy it, but the Lord found none.
“Therefore I have poured out my indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have returned their way upon their heads, declares the Lord God.” -Ezekiel 22:31
Oholah and Oholibah
There were two women, the daughters of one mother. They played the whore in Egypt and in their youth. Oholah was the name of the elder and Oholibah the name of her sister. They became the Lord’s, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.
Oholah played the whore while she was the Lord’s, and she lusted after her lovers the Assyrians. Warriors clothed in purple, governors and commanders, all of them desirable young men, horseman riding on horses. She bestowed her whoring upon them, and she defiled herself with all the idols of everyone after whom she lusted.
She didn’t give up her whoring that she began in Egypt, therefore she was delivered into the hands of her lovers, the Assyrians. These uncovered her nakedness; they seized her sons and daughters; and as for her, they killed her with the sword. She became a byword among women, when judgment had been executed on her.
Her sister Oholibah saw this, and she became more corrupt than her sister in her lust and in her whoring. She too lusted after the Assyrians and was defiled. But she took her whoring further.
She saw men portrayed on the wall, the images portrayed of the Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion, wearing belts on their waists and turbans on their heads. All of them had the appearance of officers, a likeness of Babylonians whose native land was Chaldea. When she saw them she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.
And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with her whoring lust. After she was defiled by them, she turned from them in disgust. When she continued her whoring so openly and flaunted her nakedness, the Lord turned from her in disgust just as He had her sister.
Yet she increased her whoring, remembering the days of her youth, when she played the whore in the land of Egypt. Therefore, the Lord would stir up her lovers from whom she turned in disgust, and would bring them against her from every side.
The Babylonians, the Chaldeans, and the Assyrians would all come against her from all sides, and the Lord would commit the judgment to them, and they would judge her according to their judgments.
The Lord would direct His jealousy against her, and they would deal with her in fury. They would cut off her nose and ears, and the survivors would fall by the sword. They would seize her sons and daughters, and the survivors would be devoured by fire.
They would also strip her of her clothes and take away her beautiful jewels. Thus the Lord would put an end to her lewdness and her whoring that began in the land of Egypt, so that she would not lift up her eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.
“For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate, into the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust, and they shall deal with you in hatred and take away all the fruit of your labor and leave you naked and bare, and the nakedness of your whoring shall be uncovered. Your lewdness and your whoring have brought this upon you, because you played the whore with the nations and defiled yourself with their idols. You have gone the way of your sister; therefore I will give her cup into your hand.” -Ezekiel 23:28-31
Because she had forgotten the Lord and cast Him behind her back, she herself would bear the consequences of her lewdness and whoring. Ezekiel was told to declare to them their abominations. For they had committed adultery, and blood was on their hands.
The Lord would put an end to lewdness in the land, and all women would take warning. They would bear the penalty of their sinful idolatry, and they would know the Lord.