The Treason of Ungrateful Beauty Text: Ezekiel 16:15-34
Introduction: The Logic of Adultery
The prophet Ezekiel is tasked with a difficult ministry. He is to hold up a mirror to the people of God, a people steeped in covenant amnesia, and show them not just their sins, but the very heart of their sin. And God does not mince words. The central metaphor of this chapter is that of spiritual adultery. God had found Israel as an abandoned infant, bloody and dying in a field. He rescued her, cleaned her, raised her, entered into a marriage covenant with her, and lavished upon her unimaginable beauty and wealth. She became royalty, not because of any inherent goodness in her, but entirely because of the grace of her husband, Yahweh.
And what did she do with these gifts? She took the very beauty and wealth He gave her and used them to solicit lovers. This is the logic of all sin, but it is seen with particular clarity here. Sin is not just breaking an abstract rule. It is a deeply personal, relational betrayal. It is taking the gifts of the giver and using them to worship something, anything, other than the giver. It is cosmic treason. And in our passage today, God, through Ezekiel, lays out the indictment in excruciating detail. He is not being vindictive; He is being precise. He is causing Jerusalem to know her abominations.
We live in a therapeutic age that is allergic to this kind of language. We want a God who is a celestial butler, affirming our choices and stroking our egos. But the God of the Bible is a jealous husband. His jealousy is not the petty, insecure jealousy of a fallen man. It is the righteous, holy jealousy of a creator for His creation, of a husband for His bride. He will not share His glory with another. And when His bride takes His gifts and lays them at the feet of worthless idols, He is provoked to a righteous and holy anger. This is not a comfortable passage, but it is a necessary one. If we do not understand the depth of our sin, we will never understand the heights of His grace.
The Text
"But you trusted in your beauty and played the harlot because of your name, and you poured out your harlotries on every passer-by who might be willing. You took some of your clothes, made for yourself high places of various colors, and played the harlot on them, which should never come about nor happen. You also took your splendid jewelry made of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images that you might play the harlot with them. Then you took your embroidered cloth and covered them and gave My oil and My incense before them. Also My bread which I gave you, fine flour, oil, and honey with which I had you eat, you gave before them for a soothing aroma; so it happened,” declares Lord Yahweh. “Moreover, you took your sons and daughters, whom you had borne to Me, and sacrificed them to idols to be devoured. Were your harlotries so small a matter? You slaughtered My children and gave them up to idols by causing them to pass through the fire. Besides all your abominations and harlotries you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, you were squirming in your blood!
“Now it happened after all your evil, ‘Woe, woe to you!’ declares Lord Yahweh, that you built yourself a shrine and made yourself a high place in every square. You built yourself a high place at the head of every street and made your beauty abominable, and you spread your legs to every passer-by to multiply your harlotry. You also played the harlot with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, and you multiplied your harlotry to provoke Me to anger. Behold now, I have stretched out My hand against you and cut off your rations. And I gave you up to the desire of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your lewd way. Moreover, you played the harlot with the Assyrians because you were not satisfied; you played the harlot with them and still were not satisfied. You also multiplied your harlotry with the land of merchants, Chaldea, yet even with this you were not satisfied.”
“How languishing is your heart,” declares Lord Yahweh, “while you do all these things, the actions of a bold-faced harlot. When you built your shrine at the head of every way and made your high place in every square, in disdaining your earnings, you were not like a harlot. You adulteress wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband! Men give gifts to all harlots, but you give your gifts to all your lovers to bribe them to come to you from all around for your harlotries. Thus you are the opposite of those women in your harlotries, in that no one plays the harlot as you do, because you give away your earnings and no earnings are given to you; thus you are the opposite.”
(Ezekiel 16:15-34 LSB)
The Great Perversion (vv. 15-19)
The indictment begins by identifying the root of the fall: pride in God's gifts, which leads to the perversion of those gifts.
"But you trusted in your beauty and played the harlot because of your name, and you poured out your harlotries on every passer-by who might be willing." (Ezekiel 16:15)
Here is the genesis of the fall, both for Israel and for us. "You trusted in your beauty." God had made her beautiful. Her renown went forth among the nations. But she made a fatal mistake. She began to think the beauty was her own doing. She took credit for it. She trusted in the gift instead of the Giver. This is the essence of idolatry. It is taking a good thing, a created thing, and elevating it to the place of God. And once you trust in your own beauty, the next logical step is to leverage that beauty for your own glory. She "played the harlot because of your name." She used her fame, which God had given her, to attract lovers.
Notice the utter lack of discernment. She poured out her harlotries "on every passer-by." This is not a calculated affair with one powerful suitor. This is indiscriminate, desperate prostitution. She has lost all sense of her own value as the bride of Yahweh. She is offering herself to anyone and everyone who comes along. This points to Israel's frantic political and spiritual alliances with any pagan nation that seemed to offer a moment of security or prosperity.
In the following verses, God itemizes the gifts she perverted. She took His clothes to make gaudy high places (v. 16). She took His gold and silver to make male idols (v. 17). She took His embroidered cloth, His oil, and His incense to offer to these dead things (v. 18). She even took the very food He provided, the fine flour, oil, and honey, and set it before her idols as a "soothing aroma" (v. 19). Every gift intended for the worship and enjoyment of her husband was hijacked and offered to cheap substitutes. This is a picture of all sin. We take the strength God gives us and use it to rebel. We take the intellect He gives us and use it to devise arguments against Him. We take the prosperity He gives us and use it to fund our idolatries.
The Ultimate Abomination (vv. 20-22)
The sin escalates from perverting God's material gifts to sacrificing the children of the covenant.
"Moreover, you took your sons and daughters, whom you had borne to Me, and sacrificed them to idols to be devoured. Were your harlotries so small a matter? You slaughtered My children and gave them up to idols by causing them to pass through the fire." (Ezekiel 16:20-21)
This is the horrifying climax of idolatry. When you worship a god other than the true God, that god will eventually demand blood. He will demand your children. This is not hyperbole; this is a literal description of the cult of Molech, where Israelite parents would sacrifice their own children in the fire. God's language here is intensely personal and accusatory. He says, "your sons and daughters, whom you had borne to Me." These were covenant children. They belonged to God. And Israel slaughtered "My children."
The question God asks is rhetorical and dripping with holy fury: "Were your harlotries so small a matter?" As if to say, was it not enough to prostitute yourself with every passerby? Was it not enough to desecrate every good gift I gave you? Did you have to go this far? This is where all idolatry leads. It leads to the shedding of innocent blood. We should not read this and feel comfortably distant. Our nation has sacrificed millions of its children on the altar of sexual convenience. The spirit of Molech is alive and well, and he is worshipped in our land under the guise of "reproductive freedom."
And the reason for this monstrous behavior? Covenant amnesia. "You did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, you were squirming in your blood!" (v. 22). They forgot where they came from. They forgot the grace that had rescued them. An ungrateful heart is the devil's workshop. When we forget the gospel, when we forget that we were spiritual foundlings, dead in our trespasses and sins, we become capable of any atrocity.
Insatiable Lust (vv. 23-29)
Having reached the pinnacle of abomination, Israel does not repent. Instead, she institutionalizes and multiplies her harlotry.
"that you built yourself a shrine and made yourself a high place in every square. You built yourself a high place at the head of every street and made your beauty abominable, and you spread your legs to every passer-by to multiply your harlotry." (Ezekiel 16:24-25)
This is public, shameless, organized idolatry. The sin is no longer hidden; it is advertised. She builds her shrines and high places "in every square" and "at the head of every street." She has taken her God-given beauty and made it "abominable." The thing that was meant to reflect God's glory now repulses Him. This is a picture of a culture that has completely given itself over to its lusts. It is not content to sin in private; it must celebrate its sin in public parades. It builds monuments to its perversions.
The passage then lists her specific lovers, her political and spiritual entanglements. She played the harlot with Egypt, her "lustful neighbors" (v. 26). This provoked God to anger, and He began to discipline her by cutting off her rations and giving her over to her enemies, the Philistines, who were themselves "ashamed of your lewd way" (v. 27). Think about that. Even the pagans were embarrassed by Israel's behavior. When your sin makes the world blush, you are in a very bad place.
But did the discipline work? No. She was not satisfied. So she turned to the Assyrians (v. 28). Still not satisfied. Then she turned to the Chaldeans, the Babylonians (v. 29). "yet even with this you were not satisfied." This is the nature of all sin, but particularly sexual sin and idolatry. It never satisfies. It always promises more than it can deliver, and it always leaves you emptier than you were before. The appetite grows with the eating. The heart that has turned from the living God becomes a black hole of desire, a bottomless pit that can never be filled.
A Harlot Unlike Any Other (vv. 30-34)
In the final section, God diagnoses the sickness of Israel's heart and explains why her harlotry is unique in its perversity.
"How languishing is your heart,” declares Lord Yahweh, “while you do all these things, the actions of a bold-faced harlot." (Ezekiel 16:30)
The heart is "languishing," meaning it is sick, faint, and weak. It is a heart enslaved to its passions, with no strength to resist. And yet, this weakness manifests as brazen boldness. She is a "bold-faced harlot." This is the paradox of sin. It weakens the sinner while making him more arrogant in his rebellion.
But Israel is not just any harlot. She is an adulteress wife, who takes strangers "instead of her husband!" (v. 32). This is the key distinction. A common prostitute has no husband to betray. Israel does. Her sin is not just fornication; it is adultery. It is covenant-breaking of the highest order.
And then comes the final, damning indictment:
"Men give gifts to all harlots, but you give your gifts to all your lovers to bribe them to come to you from all around for your harlotries. Thus you are the opposite of those women in your harlotries..." (Ezekiel 16:33-34)
This is a stunning reversal of the normal course of things. Harlots get paid. That is the point of the transaction. But Israel is so desperate for lovers, so consumed with her lust for idols and foreign alliances, that she pays them to come to her. She bribes them with the very wealth her husband gave her. She is not even sinning for profit. She is sinning for the sake of sinning. She is paying for her own degradation. This is utter insanity. It is the logic of addiction. It is a picture of a heart so far gone that it will sacrifice everything for another hit of its chosen idol, even when that idol gives nothing in return.
The Gospel for Reverse Harlots
This is a brutal passage. It is meant to be. It is meant to strip away all our self-righteousness and show us the true nature of our sin apart from Christ. For we are all this harlot. We have all taken the good gifts of God, life, breath, family, possessions, and used them to serve our own little idols. We have all forgotten the days of our youth, when we were spiritually dead, bloody, and abandoned. We have all, in our hearts, paid to have our idols, bribing them with our time, our energy, and our affections.
The law, as illustrated in this chapter, is a mirror that shows us our filth. It shows us the gravity of our sin. It shows us that we are not just rule-breakers, but covenant-breakers, spiritual adulterers of the worst kind. And if the story ended here, we would be left in utter despair, awaiting the righteous judgment of a scorned husband.
But praise God, the story does not end here. The rest of this chapter, and indeed the rest of the Bible, is about how this same jealous husband, in an act of unfathomable grace, acts to redeem and restore His whorish bride. He does this not by ignoring her sin, but by taking the punishment for it upon Himself. The Lord Jesus Christ, the true and faithful Israel, came to the harlot. He went to the cross, and there He became the curse for His adulterous people. He absorbed the full fury of God's righteous jealousy so that we, the guilty bride, could be forgiven.
He takes the harlot, washes her clean, not with water but with His own blood, and clothes her in His own perfect righteousness. He removes her languishing, sick heart of stone and gives her a new heart of flesh, a heart that desires to be faithful to Him. He does not just forgive her; He makes her a new creation. And He presents her to Himself as a "glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish" (Ephesians 5:27).
This is the gospel. It is not for the pretty, the put-together, or the self-sufficient. It is for bold-faced, reverse harlots who have nothing to offer and everything to be forgiven for. It is for those who, having seen the ugliness of their sin in the mirror of God's law, are ready to be made beautiful by His astonishing grace.