Eze 16:32 | KingComments | STEP | The heart of Jerusalem has been utterly captured by harlotry ( ). She has become the most shameless of all harlots. She has shamelessly pursued all the gods of the nations and has bowed down before them at every street and square. There she stands with her harlot’s wages in her hand ( ). In doing so, she is not even a real harlot who has received money for her disgusting act. She is a woman who is all about playing the harlot, about committing adultery. It is like a woman who offers herself to strange men out of pure lust. It is supreme unfaithfulness to her own Husband, the LORD ( ). Her harlotry is worse than that of an unmarried person because she despises the solemnly promised faithfulness. Jerusalem’s harlotry is all the more heinous because the people belong to the LORD by virtue of their covenant with Him and are bound to serve Him alone. On top of that, the LORD has His dwelling place in this city. There is no other place on earth at that time where people can sacrifice Him than in the temple in Jerusalem. The gift of a harlot she has in her hand are to be paid to anyone who wants to commit harlotry with her ( ). She not only disdains the wages of a harlot, but pays out a reward or gives a gift to any idol she sees. She makes costly sacrifices to foreign gods and pays tribute to foreign peoples to secure their support ( ). In doing so, she has become the opposite of a “normal” harlot who gets paid for her disgusting services and has sunk deeper than this already deeply sunk woman.

‏ Ezekiel 16:32

Jerusalem, a Special Harlot

The heart of Jerusalem has been utterly captured by harlotry (Eze 16:30). She has become the most shameless of all harlots. She has shamelessly pursued all the gods of the nations and has bowed down before them at every street and square. There she stands with her harlot’s wages in her hand (Eze 16:31). In doing so, she is not even a real harlot who has received money for her disgusting act. She is a woman who is all about playing the harlot, about committing adultery. It is like a woman who offers herself to strange men out of pure lust. It is supreme unfaithfulness to her own Husband, the LORD (Eze 16:32).

Her harlotry is worse than that of an unmarried person because she despises the solemnly promised faithfulness. Jerusalem’s harlotry is all the more heinous because the people belong to the LORD by virtue of their covenant with Him and are bound to serve Him alone. On top of that, the LORD has His dwelling place in this city. There is no other place on earth at that time where people can sacrifice Him than in the temple in Jerusalem.

The gift of a harlot she has in her hand are to be paid to anyone who wants to commit harlotry with her (Eze 16:33). She not only disdains the wages of a harlot, but pays out a reward or gives a gift to any idol she sees. She makes costly sacrifices to foreign gods and pays tribute to foreign peoples to secure their support (Eze 16:34). In doing so, she has become the opposite of a “normal” harlot who gets paid for her disgusting services and has sunk deeper than this already deeply sunk woman.