Ezekiel 16:53-59 – Let's be faithful to our Lord

As we have discovered, most prophecies essentially have a message of judgment as well as a message of hope. We saw this in the messages of Isaiah and Jeremiah, and these two essential elements are also seen in Ezekiel’s messages. In this chapter, we have been given the account of how Jerusalem, the wife of the Lord turned against Him and was unfaithful and engaged in harlotry. From her sordid past, God granted her the privilege over that of her sisters Sodom and Samaria. But she spurned His love and committed sins, so atrocious that far outweighed that of her two sisters. In comparison, Jerusalem’s sins would make Sodom’s and Samaria’s look righteous.

However, in God’s plan for His people, He all along had their ultimate restoration in perspective.  So, after giving the message of judgment, Ezekiel 16:53-63 now turned to give the message of hope. He saw hope for the restoration of the Lord’s unfaithful wife. He saw the fulfillment of God’s ultimate plan for her - the restoration of Jerusalem after she had endured the judgment that was meted out to her.

Verse 53 is saying that if God would restore Jerusalem, whose sin far exceeded those of Sodom and Samaria, He would surely also restore the latter two cities. Why? Because God is just. Not only would Sodom and Samaria and her people be restored, but Ezekiel also envisioned that their restoration would take precedence over that of Judah in verse 53.  What we see here is astonishing. God would restore Sodom and Samaria though they had the reputation of being the symbols of evil on which God’s judgment had fallen. The irony of what’s happening is this: in times past Judah had viewed Sodom and Samaria with disdain, but now she herself would become the scorn of her neighbors, especially Edom and Philistia. Judah’s and Jerusalem’s reputation was no better off than that of Sodom and Samaria.

What’s puzzling about this passage is that Sodom as we know had already been destroyed (Genesis 19:24-25).  Yet God would speak of her restoration. This suggests to us that the rebuilding of Sodom and Samaria should not be taken literally. To speak of their restoration was perhaps God’s way of saying that there would be a time when other cities would be restored as well. This is a prophetic message that placed Christ in the picture of mankind’s restoration. Jesus Christ came so that Gentiles like us could receive our forgiveness and repent. This is a prediction of widespread repentance of the Gentiles of which we are all included.

Verse 59 can be seen as a summary statement of what would happen when a person becomes unfaithful. Judah’s breaking of her covenant with God was seen as a wife who had been unfaithful to her husband for which she would be punished. Even as a husband would not ignore his unfaithful wife, God also would not ignore our unfaithfulness. If we live a compromised life, we would be guilty of not taking our commitment to our Lord seriously. Let us be found faithful in our walk with Him.