What other scriptures warn against the behaviors seen in Ezekiel 23:18? Ezekiel 23:18 at a Glance “When Oholibah openly prostituted herself and exposed her nakedness, I turned away from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her sister.” Key Behaviors Condemned • Open prostitution (literal and spiritual) • Deliberate exposure of nakedness • Idolatrous alliances that replace covenant loyalty to the LORD • Defilement that provokes God to turn away in righteous wrath Old-Testament Warnings against Spiritual Adultery • Exodus 34:15-16 — “Do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest they prostitute themselves after their gods…” • Deuteronomy 31:16 — Israel will “prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land.” • Jeremiah 3:6-10 — Judah “committed adultery with stone and wood,” refusing to return. • Hosea 4:12-13 — “A spirit of prostitution has led them astray; they have been unfaithful to their God.” • Nahum 3:4-5 — Nineveh is exposed as “the prostitute alluring, the mistress of sorceries,” and the LORD says, “I will lift your skirts over your face.” • Isaiah 1:21 — “How the faithful city has become a prostitute!” Warnings against Literal Sexual Immorality and Prostitution • Leviticus 19:29 — “Do not degrade your daughter by making her a prostitute.” • Deuteronomy 23:17-18 — “No daughter or son of Israel is to be a shrine prostitute.” • Proverbs 5:3-11; 6:24-29; 7:6-27 — graphic cautions against the seductress whose house “leads down to death.” • 1 Corinthians 6:15-20 — “Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!” • Ephesians 5:3-7 — “But among you, as is proper among saints, there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality.” • 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 — “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality.” • Hebrews 13:4 — “Marriage must be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept undefiled.” Exposure of Nakedness and Lewd Display • Isaiah 47:3 — Of Babylon: “Your nakedness will be uncovered and your disgrace will be exposed.” • Lamentations 1:8 — Jerusalem “exposed herself; she herself groans and turns away.” • Nahum 3:5 — “I will lift your skirts over your face; I will show the nations your nakedness.” • Revelation 17:16 — “They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.” New-Testament Echoes of Spiritual Unfaithfulness • James 4:4 — “Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” • Revelation 2:20-22 — The church tolerating “that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and teaches and deceives My servants to commit sexual immorality.” • Revelation 18:3 — The nations “have drunk the wine of her passionate immorality.” God’s Response to Persistent Unfaithfulness • Deuteronomy 31:17-18 — “I will become angry… I will hide My face from them.” • Hosea 5:6-7 — “The LORD has withdrawn from them.” • Revelation 2:5 — “If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.” Call to Covenant Fidelity Today • 2 Corinthians 11:2-3 — “I promised you to one husband, to Christ… But I am afraid that, just as the serpent deceived Eve, your minds may be led astray.” • 1 Peter 1:14-16 — “As obedient children, do not conform to the passions of your former ignorance… ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’” The Lord’s Word is consistent: whether in Ezekiel’s day or ours, He demands exclusive, pure devotion, guarding both heart and body from the corrupting seductions of idolatry and immorality. |
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