Ezekiel 15-16

Bible study with Dr. Chuck Missler


EZEKIEL 15: PARABLE OF THE UNFRUITFUL VINE

There are at least four idioms for Israel
1) The Olive Tree
2) The Fig Tree
3) The Vine
4) The Bramble Bush

Parable of Jotham (Judges 9:7-15)
• The Olive Tree was an idiom for the covenant relationship between YHWH and Israel (Romans 11; Jeremiah 11).
• The Fig Tree was a common idiom which speaks of Israel in a national sense (Matthew 24:32).
• The Vine speaks of the SPIRITUAL relationship between Israel and YHWH (Isaiah 5:1-7; Hosea 10:1; Genesis 49:22; Deuteronomy 32:32; Jeremiah 2:21; Ezekiel 17:6; Psalm 80:8-16)
• The Bramble Bush was idiomatic of Israel in terms of their failure (Judges 9:14-15).

The purpose of a vine is to bear fruit (Ezekiel 15:1-5)
The purpose of a vine is not for making furniture, etc. It either produces fruit or is burnt up in fire. The vine that does not produce fruit, it is set aside – not even useful to make a peg (Ezekiel 15:3)

Revelation 14:18-20 (Cf. Isaiah 63; Matthew 21:33-46; John 15) 
Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, "Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth's vine, because its grapes are ripe." The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.

“… fire burns both ends” (Ezekiel 15:4)
The Northern Kingdom had already been overturned by Assyria under Tiglath-Pileser. The Southern Kingdom was then being pressed on by Egypt (Cf. 2 Kings 23:29-35).

Jerusalem is a useless vine destined for burning (Ezekiel 15:6-8).
Jerusalem became a vine destined for burning (Ezekiel 5:2; 10:2, 7; 16:38).

Israelites would escape the burning city, only to meet another fate (Ezekiel 5:4; 11:9; 12:14; 23:25).

The Vine
Unregenerate man in general is tough, twisted, unworkable, fit only for fuel (judgment); Israel in particular (Ezekiel 15; Isaiah 5)!

Jesus transforms the vine and applies it to Himself —The True Vine (John 15), with Christians being His branches, to bear fruit for Him.

EZEKIEL 16: PARABLE OF AN ABANDONED BABY

This allegory, like that in Ezekiel 23, depicts the connection between the Lord and his people in terms of a husband-wife relationship (Cf. Hosea 2; Jeremiah 2:1-3; 3:1-5).

Overview of the Parable
A foundling child of dubious origin, Jerusalem is exposed by the roadside to die. Fortunately, she is rescued by the Lord, who becomes her benefactor (Ezekiel 16:1-7). Having grown up to beautiful maidenhood, she is taken in marriage by her benefactor and becomes His royal consort (Ezekiel 16:8-14). She becomes a proud queen and proves to be utterly unfaithful and plays the harlot with Canaanites and other pagans (Ezekiel 16:15-34).

The Adulterous Wife of YHWH
Isaiah had spoken of the “faithful city that had become a harlot.” (Isaiah 1:21). Jeremiah had represented YHWH as remembering “the kindness of her youth, the love of her espousals” (Jeremiah 2:2). Hosea, the forerunner who, in order that his own life might be itself a parable, was ordered to take to himself “a wife of whoredom,” one whose character was tainted before her marriage (Hosea 1:2).

Ezekiel does not recognize any period in which Israel had been as a faithful wife.

The punishment for this conduct (Ezekiel 16:35-43) was justified, since Israel’s depravity was worse than that of her two sisters, Sodom and Samaria (Ezekiel 16:44-52). Nevertheless, the Lord makes glorious promises of restoration for the three sisters (Ezekiel 16:53-58), foretelling that penitent Jerusalem will experience a glorious reconciliation through an everlasting covenant (Ezekiel 16:59-63).

Jerusalem is an abandoned child (Ezekiel 16:1-5)
Who was the little orphan? Who was the little dirty, filthy child who has been thrown out? It was the city of Jerusalem. She was an orphan child who was just thrown out—abandoned and uncared for. This does not speak of the origin of the nation Israel; it is not speaking of Abraham and Sarah.

The City of Jerusalem
The history of Jerusalem is that it was an Amorite city: “But in the fourth generation they [that is, the children of Israel] shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full” (Genesis 15:16). Hammurabi (1728-1686 BC), of the first dynasty of Babylon, was an Amorite.

Jerusalem was a Hittite city also. A non-Semitic people, resident in Asia Minor in the second millennium BC, Israel, of course, descended from Shem (Genesis 10:21-31). By contrast, Jerusalem, before it was conquered by David (1 Chronicles 11:4-9) was a Canaanite city. Canaan descended from Ham, not Shem (Genesis 10:6-20).

The city’s early inhabitants were called Jebusites (Judges 19:10-12). Through Ezekiel’s description, the “Jebusite city” was never really of pure Israelite descent. Its people descended from Canaanites, Amorites, and Hittites and are tainted, as by a law of heredite, with the vices of their forefathers. [Reference: The doctrine of heredite: “Like father, like son.”]

Canaanites
The Canaanites represented the dwellers in the lowland country west of the valley of the Jordan. The plains of Philistia, Sharon, Esdraelon, and Phoenicia; their leading representatives in Ezekiel’s time were the cities of Tyre and Zidon.

The knowledge of the true God had originally been in Canaan, handed down from Noah (hence we find Melchisedek, king of Salem, in Canaan, “priest of the most high God”; Genesis 14:18), but Canaan apostatized from it. This was what constituted the blackness of the Canaanites’ guilt.

Amorites
The Amorites were people of the mountains—at first, west of the Jordan, on the heights over the Dead Sea and as far as Hebron; afterwards, under Sihon, on the high tablelands east of the Jordan.

The Hittites
The Hittites appear first in the history of the purchase of the cave of Macphelah (Genesis 23) at Kirjath-Arba, or Hebron, and that history implies commerce and culture. They are always numbered with six other nations, whom the Israelites were to conquer or expel (Exodus 3:8; 13:5; 33:2; 34:11). Esau’s marriage with the daughters of two Hittite chiefs implies, perhaps, a recognition of their value as allies (Genesis 26:34).

Children of Satan (John 8:39-47)
“If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did. As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the works of your own father.” “We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”

“… your mother a Hittite” (Ezekiel 16:3)
This alluded to Esau’s wives, daughters of Heth, whose ways vexed Rebekah (Genesis 26:34,35;27:46), but pleased the degenerate descendants of Jacob. These descendants were called, in respect of morals, children of the Hittite (Cf. Ezekiel 16:45).

In the late historical books, Hittites seldom appear. One Hittite captain, Uriah, occupied a high position in David’s army (2 Samuel 11:3). The kings of the Hittites traded with Solomon and gave their daughters to him in marriage (1 Kings 10:29). They appear for the last time as possible allies of the kings of Judah (2 Kings 7:6), in the lists of the older nations (Ezra 9:1; Nehemiah 9:8). Then, they disappear from the pages of history.

Much light on their history has emerged through recent Egyptian and other discoveries.

God nurtures the abandoned child, Jerusalem (Ezekiel 16:6-14)
Cf. Revelation 12

“... spread the corner of my garment over you” (Ezekiel 16:8)
This is an idiom of betrothal and is reminiscent of the request of Ruth to Boaz (Ruth 3:9), where Ruth solicited Boaz to be her kinsman redeemer.

“I bathed you with water” (Ezekiel 16:9)
Preparatory ceremonies for the nuptials (Cf. Ruth 3:3; Hosea 2; Malachi 2:14; Ezekiel 19).

“... sandals of fine leather” (Ezekiel 16:10)
The leather was made from badger’s skins. These skins were also used as the outer covering of the tabernacle, which was, as it were, the nuptial tent of God and Israel (Exodus 26:14), and the material of the shoes worn in the wanderings.

God adorns His wife (Ezekiel 16:11-12)
Cf. Genesis 24:22, 47

God is saying, “This is what I did for Jerusalem.” What do you have to boast about? I think the application to our lives is quite obvious: you and I have a pretty bad background. Adam and Eve became sinners, and you and I were born in iniquity. David said, “… in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:5), and David is no different than you and me. That is our origin, our background—we were all dead in trespasses and sin.

At this point, Jerusalem had risen to become the queen, whose “fame spread among the nations” (Ezekiel 16:13-14). This points to the magnificence of the kingdom under Solomon.

Jerusalem becomes a harlot (Ezekiel 16:15-19)
At her height, Jerusalem fully matured into a beautiful young woman. Yet, instead of remaining faithfully to God, she played the harlot. She went into idolatry and turned her back on Him.

Jerusalem forgot the One who had supplied her with her wealth and turned away from Him (Deuteronomy 6:10-12; 8:10-20).

Starting in Solomon’s reign (1 Kings 11:7-13) and until her fall to Nebuchadnezzar, Jerusalem turned away from God and marched right into idolatry. Jerusalem had times of revival, but the general trend was downward.

The penalty for adultery in ancient Hebrew culture was stoning. How did Jerusalem fall in 70 AD? Not one stone remained standing.

Jerusalem sacrifices her children to false idols (Ezekiel 16:20-22)

Moloch Worship
Cf. Ezekiel 20:26; 23:37-39; Exodus 22:29; Judges 11:39; 2 Kings 16:3; 21:6; 23:10; Jeremiah 7:31; 19:5; 32:35

Child sacrifice never entirely ceased as long as the monarchy of Judah lasted (2 Kings 16:3; Psalm 106:37; Isaiah 57:5; Jeremiah 7:32; 19:5; Micah 6:7; Leviticus 18:21; 20:2).

Jerusalem turns to form allegiances with idolatrous nations (Ezekiel 16:23-29)
Now, Ezekiel addressed the later forms of evil which had been adopted from more distant nations, especially the worship of Baal and Moloch (Ezekiel 16:15-22) and alliances with heathen nations (Ezekiel 16:23-34). This took place from the time of Solomon to that of Ahaz and Manasseh.
Jerusalem formed an alliance with Egypt (Ezekiel 16:26; Cf. Isaiah 30:1; 31:1; 2 Kings 18:21).

The Philistines attacked Judah and Jerusalem (Ezekiel 16:27) in the reigns of Jehoram (2 Chronicles 21:16-17) and Ahaz (2 Chronicles 28:16-19).

Jerusalem formed alliances with Assyria and Babylon (Ezekiel 16: 28-29), a part of Ahaz’s and Manasseh’s pro-Assyria policy (2 Kings 16:7; 21:1; 2 Chronicles 33:1) (Cf. Ezekiel 17:4; Hossea 12:7; Zephaniah 1:11; Zechariah 14:21)

God judges Jerusalem (Ezekiel 16:30-39)
The conduct of Ahaz in stripping the Temple of its gold and silver to pay tribute to Assyria (2 Kings 16:8) gives an apt illustration of what Ezekiel spoke of in Ezekiel 16:30-33 (Cf. Hosea 12:1; Isaiah 30:6).

Jerusalem was the adulterous wife who forsook her husband and gave what belonged to Him to strangers.

Ezekiel 16:34-46 interweaves a description of the punishment of an adulteress with a preview of the destruction of Jerusalem.

Ezekiel 16:37-39 signifies the exposure of the adulteress.

Jerusalem and her sister cities, Samaria and Sodom (Ezekiel 16:40-58)
This passage is an analogy between Jerusalem and her sister cities, Samaria and Sodom. The knowledge of the true God had originally been in Canaan, handed down from Noah (hence we find Melchisedek, king of Salem, in Canaan, “priest of the most high God,” Genesis 14:18), but Canaan apostatized from it; this was what constituted the blackness of the Canaanites’ guilt.

Samaria and Sodom, one was north and the other was south of Jerusalem—Both cities are known for their gross sins and divine judgment.

The prophetic destruction of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 16:53-58) will cause unholy glee among the Edomites and Philistines (Ezekiel 25:12-14, 15-17; Psalm 137:7-9).

God will remember Jerusalem (Ezekiel 16:59-63)
Cf. Deuteronomy 30

“I will remember...” (Ezekiel 16:60)
This is a continual source of encouragement to God’s people to have the assurance from His Word that He remains faithful even when they themselves are unfaithful (2 Timothy 2:13)!

“... an everlasting covenant” (Ezekiel 16:60)
God is going to make good His covenants with the nation Israel. The sin of these people, their rebellion, their constant departure from Him, their backsliding, will not annul, abrogate, or destroy God’s covenant with them.
Jerusalem had broken the covenant made in her youth at the Exodus (Cf. Ezekiel 16:8, 43), the covenant that she made to keep the Law of the LORD. Consequently, she will be judged. However, in the day of her repentance, God will give her an everlasting covenant (Cf. Ezekiel 37:26; Isaiah 54:9-10; 55:3; Jeremiah 31:35-36; 32:40; 33:20-22). God is faithful and always fulfills His covenants. Man, on the hand, is flawed and fails to keep his covenant – as illustrated through Israel.

Samaria and Sodom (representatives of the heathen world) will be included in the new covenant as an act of grace, since the former covenant broken by Israel did not include them.

These passages make it very clear that God still has a future purpose with the nation Israel (Romans 9-11).


Dr. Missler's Reflections

Let these passages be a personal lesson for each one of us
The destruction of Jerusalem was to be God’s answer to the disputing Jews. God speaks to us through his providence. History is a record of God’s answers to man’s questions. Such an answer has many merits.

1. It is perceptible to all. The fall of Jerusalem sent a shock through the Jewish world.

2. It is clear and unmistakable. God had threatened judgment. Would his threat prove true? Who could doubt the meaning of the terrible response?

3. It is irreversible. An event which has once occurred can never be undone. The lessons of history are eternal.