While much of God's revelation is on
this subject, the following verses should
make the point that God is serious about us
being loyal to Him with our affections, and
Scripture uses the strongest, most graphic
language to warn us not to "play the
harlot".
The Truth About Us, Revealed By God
Jer 3:1-3 (NIV, all,
except where noted) "If a man
divorces his wife and she leaves him and
marries another man, should he return to her
again? Would not the land be completely
defiled? But you have lived as a prostitute
with many lovers--would you now return to
me?" declares the Lord. "Look up to the
barren heights and see. Is there any place
where you have not been ravished? By the
roadside you sat waiting for lovers, sat
like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled
the land with your prostitution and
wickedness... Yet you have the brazen look
of a prostitute; you refuse to blush with
shame."
Jer 3:6-10 ..."Have you seen what
faithless Israel has done? She has gone up
on every high hill and under every spreading
tree and has committed adultery there. I
thought that after she had done all this she
would return to me but she did not, and her
unfaithful sister Judah saw it. I gave
faithless Israel her certificate of divorce
and sent her away because of all her
adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful
sister Judah had no fear; she also went out
and committed adultery. Because Israel's
immorality mattered so little to her, she
defiled the land and committed adultery with
stone and wood. In spite of all this, her
unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me
with all her heart, but only in pretense,"
declares the Lord.
Looking For Someone Who Loves The Truth
Jer 5:1-6 "Go up and down the streets...
If you can find but one person who deals
honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive
this city..." O Lord, do not your eyes look
for truth?... You crushed them, but they
refused correction. They made their faces
harder than stone and refused to repent. I
thought, "These are only the poor; they are
foolish, for they do not know the way of the
Lord, the requirements of their God. So I
will go to the leaders and speak to them;
surely they know the way of the Lord, the
requirements of their God." But with one
accord they too had broken off the yoke and
torn off the bonds... their rebellion is
great and their backslidings many.
Jer 5:7-13 "Why should I forgive you?
Your children have forsaken me and sworn by
gods that are not gods. I supplied all their
needs, yet they committed adultery and
thronged to the houses of prostitutes. They
are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing
for another man's wife. Should I not punish
them for this?" declares the Lord. "Should I
not avenge myself on such a nation as this?
Go through her vineyards and ravage them,
but do not destroy them completely. Strip
off her branches, for these people do not
belong to the Lord. The house of Israel and
the house of Judah have been utterly
unfaithful to me," declares the Lord. They
have lied about the Lord; they said, "He
will do nothing! No harm will come to us; we
will never see sword or famine." The
prophets are but wind and the word is not in
them; so let what they say be done to them.
False Religion Is Worthless; Our Shame
Will Be Exposed
Jer 7:8-11 But look, you are trusting in
deceptive words that are worthless. "Will
you steal and murder, commit adultery and
perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow
other gods you have not known, and then come
and stand before me in this house, which
bears my Name, and say, 'We are safe'--safe
to do all these detestable things?
Has this house, which bears my Name, become
a den of robbers to you? But I have been
watching! declares the Lord."
Jer 9:2-3 ...For they are all adulterers,
a crowd of unfaithful people. "They make
ready their tongue like a bow, to shoot
lies; it is not by truth that they triumph
in the land. They go from one sin to
another; they do not acknowledge me,"
declares the Lord.
Jer 13:22-27 "And if you ask yourself,
'Why has this happened to me?'--it is
because of your many sins that your skirts
have been torn off and your body mistreated.
Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the
leopard its spots? Neither can you do good
who are accustomed to doing evil. I will
scatter you like chaff driven by the desert
wind. This is your lot, the portion I have
decreed for you," declares the Lord,
"because you have forgotten me and trusted
in false gods. I will pull up your skirts
over your face that your shame may be
seen--your adulteries and lustful neighings,
your shameless prostitution! I have seen
your detestable acts on the hills and in the
fields. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! How long
will you be unclean?"
The following two "parables" should be
as well known as any in Scripture, but few
have even read them. They are the
big-picture story of God's relationship to
man in history.
Parable 1: The Adopted Prostitute
Eze 16:1-5 The word of the Lord came to
me: "Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her
detestable practices and say, 'This is what
the Sovereign Lord says to Jerusalem... On
the day you were born your cord was not cut,
nor were you washed with water to make you
clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or
wrapped in cloths. No one looked on you with
pity or had compassion enough to do any of
these things for you. Rather, you were
thrown out into the open field, for on the
day you were born you were despised.'"
Eze 16:6-8 "Then I passed by and saw you
kicking about in your blood, and as you lay
there in your blood I said to you, 'Live!' I
made you grow like a plant of the field. You
grew up and developed and became the most
beautiful of jewels. Your breasts were
formed and your hair grew, you who were
naked and bare. Later I passed by, and when
I looked at you and saw that you were
old enough for love, I spread the
corner of my garment over you and covered
your nakedness. I gave you my solemn oath
and entered into a covenant with you,
declares the Sovereign Lord, and you became
mine."
Eze 16:9-14 "I bathed you with water and
washed the blood from you and put ointments
on you. I clothed you with an embroidered
dress and put leather sandals on you. I
dressed you in fine linen and covered you
with costly garments. I adorned you with
jewelry: I put bracelets on your arms and a
necklace around your neck, and I put a ring
on your nose, earrings on your ears and a
beautiful crown on your head. So you were
adorned with gold and silver; your clothes
were of fine linen and costly fabric and
embroidered cloth. Your food was fine flour,
honey and olive oil. You became very
beautiful and rose to be a queen. And your
fame spread among the nations on account of
your beauty, because the splendor I had
given you made your beauty perfect, declares
the Sovereign Lord."
Eze 16:15-17 "But you trusted in your
beauty and used your fame to become a
prostitute. You lavished your favors on
anyone who passed by and your beauty became
his. You took some of your garments to make
gaudy high places, where you carried on your
prostitution. Such things should not happen,
nor should they ever occur. You also took
the fine jewelry I gave you, the jewelry
made of my gold and silver, and you made for
yourself male idols and engaged in
prostitution with them."
Eze 16:22,25-26,28-30 "In all your
detestable practices and your prostitution
you did not remember the days of your youth,
when you were naked and bare, kicking about
in your blood. Woe! Woe to you, declares the
Sovereign Lord... At the head of every
street you built your lofty shrines and
degraded your beauty, offering your body
with increasing promiscuity to anyone who
passed by. You engaged in prostitution with
the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, and
provoked me to anger with your increasing
promiscuity... You engaged in prostitution
with the Assyrians too, because you were
insatiable; and even after that, you still
were not satisfied. Then you increased your
promiscuity to include Babylonia, a land of
merchants, but even with this you were not
satisfied. How weak-willed you are, declares
the Sovereign Lord, when you do all these
things, acting like a brazen prostitute!"
Eze 16:25 (NAS) "...you spread your legs
to every passer-by to multiply your
harlotry."
Worse Than A Prostitute, WE PAY For This
Abuse!
Eze 16:31-34 "...You were unlike a
prostitute, because you scorned payment. You
adulterous wife! You prefer strangers to
your own husband! Every prostitute receives
a fee, but you give gifts to all your
lovers, bribing them to come to you
from everywhere for your illicit favors. So
in your prostitution you are the opposite of
others; no one runs after you for your
favors. You are the very opposite, for you
give payment and none is given to you."
Eze 16:35-41 "Therefore, you prostitute,
hear the word of the Lord! This is what the
Sovereign Lord says: Because you poured out
your wealth and exposed your nakedness in
your promiscuity with your lovers, and
because of all your detestable idols...
therefore I am going to gather all your
lovers, with whom you found pleasure, those
you loved as well as those you hated. I will
gather them against you from all around and
will strip you in front of them, and they
will see all your nakedness. I will sentence
you to the punishment of women who commit
adultery... I will bring upon you the blood
vengeance of my wrath and jealous anger.
Then I will hand you over to your lovers...
They will strip you of your clothes and take
your fine jewelry and leave you naked and
bare. They will bring a mob against you, who
will stone you and hack you to pieces with
their swords. They will burn down your
houses and inflict punishment on you in the
sight of many women. I will put a stop to
your prostitution, and you will no longer
pay your lovers."
Eze 16:42-43,47 "Then my wrath against
you will subside and my jealous anger will
turn away from you; I will be calm and no
longer angry. Because you did not remember
the days of your youth but enraged me with
all these things, I will surely bring down
on your head what you have done, declares
the Sovereign Lord. Did you not add lewdness
to all your other detestable practices?...
You not only walked in their ways and copied
their detestable practices, but in all your
ways you soon became more depraved than
they."
Eze 16:58-60,62-63 "You will bear the
consequences of your lewdness and your
detestable practices, declares the Lord.
This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will
deal with you as you deserve, because you
have despised my oath by breaking the
covenant. Yet I will remember the covenant I
made with you in the days of your youth, and
I will establish an everlasting covenant
with you... So I will establish my covenant
with you, and you will know that I am the
Lord. Then, when I make atonement for you
for all you have done, you will remember
and be ashamed and never again open
your mouth because of your humiliation,
declares the Sovereign Lord."
Parable 2: Oholah and Oholibah
Eze 23:1-7 The word of the Lord came to
me: "Son of man, there were two women,
daughters of the same mother. They became
prostitutes in Egypt, engaging in
prostitution from their youth. In that land
their breasts were fondled and their virgin
bosoms caressed. The older was named Oholah,
and her sister was Oholibah. They were mine
and gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah
is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.
Oholah engaged in prostitution while she was
still mine; and she lusted after her lovers,
the Assyrians--warriors clothed in blue,
governors and commanders, all of them
handsome young men, and mounted horsemen.
She gave herself as a prostitute to all the
elite of the Assyrians and defiled herself
with all the idols of everyone she lusted
after."
Eze 23:8-13 "She did not give up the
prostitution she began in Egypt, when during
her youth men slept with her, caressed her
virgin bosom and poured out their lust upon
her. Therefore I handed her over to her
lovers, the Assyrians, for whom she lusted.
They stripped her naked, took away her sons
and daughters and killed her with the sword.
She became a byword among women, and
punishment was inflicted on her. Her sister
Oholibah saw this, yet in her lust and
prostitution she was more depraved than her
sister. She too lusted after the
Assyrians--governors and commanders,
warriors in full dress, mounted horsemen,
all handsome young men. I saw that she too
defiled herself; both of them went the same
way."
Eze 23:17-20 "Then the Babylonians came
to her, to the bed of love, and in their
lust they defiled her. After she had been
defiled by them, she turned away from them
in disgust. When she carried on her
prostitution openly and exposed her
nakedness, I turned away from her in
disgust, just as I had turned away from her
sister. Yet she became more and more
promiscuous as she recalled the days of her
youth, when she was a prostitute in Egypt.
There she lusted after her lovers, whose
genitals were like those of donkeys and
whose emission was like that of horses."
Eze 23:21-23,25-27 "So you longed for the
lewdness of your youth, when in Egypt your
bosom was caressed and your young breasts
fondled. Therefore, Oholibah, this is what
the Sovereign Lord says: I will stir up your
lovers against you, those you turned away
from in disgust, and I will bring them
against you from every side... handsome
young men, all of them governors and
commanders, chariot officers and men of high
rank, all mounted on horses... I will direct
my jealous anger against you, and they will
deal with you in fury. They will cut off
your noses and your ears, and those of you
who are left will fall by the sword... They
will also strip you of your clothes and take
your fine jewelry. So I will put a stop to
the lewdness and prostitution you began in
Egypt. You will not look on these things
with longing or remember Egypt anymore."
Eze 23:28-31,34 "For this is what the
Sovereign Lord says: I am about to hand you
over to those you hate, to those you turned
away from in disgust. They will deal with
you in hatred and take away everything you
have worked for. They will leave you naked
and bare, and the shame of your prostitution
will be exposed. Your lewdness and
promiscuity have brought this upon you,
because you lusted after the nations and
defiled yourself with their idols. You have
gone the way of your sister; so I will put
her cup into your hand... You will drink it
and drain it dry; you will dash it to pieces
and tear your breasts. I have spoken,
declares the Sovereign Lord."
Eze 23:35-37 "Therefore this is what the
Sovereign Lord says: Since you have
forgotten me and thrust me behind your back,
you must bear the consequences of your
lewdness and prostitution." The Lord said to
me: "Son of man, will you judge Oholah and
Oholibah? Then confront them with their
detestable practices, for they have
committed adultery... They committed
adultery with their idols..."
Eze 23:40-41,43-44 "They even sent
messengers for men who came from far away,
and when they arrived you bathed yourself
for them, painted your eyes and put on your
jewelry. You sat on an elegant couch, with a
table spread before it on which you had
placed the incense and oil that belonged to
me... Then I said about the one worn out by
adultery, 'Now let them use her as a
prostitute, for that is all she is.' And
they slept with her. As men sleep with a
prostitute, so they slept with those lewd
women, Oholah and Oholibah."
Eze 23:46-49 "This is what the Sovereign
Lord says: Bring a mob against them and give
them over to terror and plunder. The mob
will stone them and cut them down with their
swords; they will kill their sons and
daughters and burn down their houses. So I
will put an end to lewdness in the land,
that all women may take warning and not
imitate you. You will suffer the penalty for
your lewdness and bear the consequences of
your sins of idolatry. Then you will know
that I am the Sovereign Lord."
Hosea Lives Out The Painful Truth About
Us
Hosea 1:2 When the Lord began to speak
through Hosea, the Lord said to him, "Go,
take to yourself an adulterous wife and
children of unfaithfulness, because the land
is guilty of the vilest adultery in
departing from the Lord."
Hosea 3:1-3 The Lord said to me, "Go,
show your love to your wife again, though
she is loved by another and is an
adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the
Israelites, though they turn to other
gods..." So I bought her for
fifteen shekels of silver... Then I told
her, "You are to live with me many days; you
must not be a prostitute or be intimate with
any man, and I will live with you."
Hosea 7:11-13 "Ephraim is like a dove,
easily deceived and senseless--now calling
to Egypt, now turning to Assyria. When they
go, I will throw my net over them; I will
pull them down like birds of the air.
When I hear them flocking together, I will
catch them. Woe to them, because they have
strayed from me! Destruction to them,
because they have rebelled against me! I
long to redeem them but they speak lies
against me."
Hosea 4:10-12 "...They will engage in
prostitution but not increase, because they
have deserted the Lord to give themselves to
prostitution... They consult a wooden idol
and are answered by a stick of wood. A
spirit of prostitution leads them astray;
they are unfaithful to their God."
Hosea 7:4,6-7 "They are all adulterers,
burning like an oven whose fire the baker
need not stir from the kneading of the dough
till it rises... Their hearts are like an
oven; they approach him with intrigue. Their
passion smolders all night; in the morning
it blazes like a flaming fire. All of them
are hot as an oven... and none of them
calls on me.'"
Hosea 2:2-3,5-7 "...Let her remove the
adulterous look from her face and the
unfaithfulness from between her breasts.
Otherwise I will strip her naked and make
her as bare as on the day she was born; I
will make her like a desert, turn her into a
parched land, and slay her with thirst...
She said, 'I will go after my lovers, who
give me my food and my water...' She will
chase after her lovers but not catch them;
she will look for them but not find them.
Then she will say, 'I will go back to my
husband as at first, for then I was better
off than now.'"
Hosea 2:8-10,13 "She has not acknowledged
that I was the one who gave her the
grain, the new wine and oil, who lavished on
her the silver and gold--which they used for
Baal. Therefore I will take away my grain
when it ripens, and my new wine when it is
ready. I will take back my wool and my
linen, intended to cover her nakedness. So
now I will expose her lewdness before the
eyes of her lovers; no one will take her out
of my hands... I will punish her for the
days she burned incense to the Baals; she
decked herself with rings and jewelry, and
went after her lovers, but me she forgot,"
declares the Lord.
Hosea 2:14-17,19-20,23 "Therefore I am
now going to allure her; I will lead her
into the desert and speak tenderly to her.
There I will give her back her vineyards,
and will make the Valley of Achor a door of
hope. There she will sing as in the days of
her youth, as in the day she came up out of
Egypt. In that day," declares the Lord, "you
will call me 'my husband'; you will no
longer call me 'my master.' I will remove
the names of the Baals from her lips; no
longer will their names be invoked... I will
betroth you to me forever; I will betroth
you in righteousness and justice, in love
and compassion. I will betroth you in
faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the
Lord... I will plant her for myself in the
land; I will show my love to the one I
called 'Not my loved one. ' I will say to
those called 'Not my people, ' 'You are my
people'; and they will say, 'You are my
God.'"
