What other scriptures warn against spiritual adultery like Ezekiel 23:28? Ezekiel’s Warning Revisited Ezekiel 23:28: “For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will surely deliver you into the hands of those you hate, to those from whom you turned in disgust.’” God brands Israel’s idolatry as adultery and announces severe judgment. Other passages issue the same charge and warning. Old Testament Echoes of the Same Warning • Exodus 34:15—“Make sure that you make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they invite you, and you eat their sacrifices.” • Leviticus 17:7—“They must no longer sacrifice their offerings to the goat demons to which they prostituted themselves.” • Deuteronomy 31:16—“These people will soon prostitute themselves to the foreign gods of the land they are entering.” • Judges 2:17—“They would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves with other gods and bowed down to them.” • Psalm 106:39—“They defiled themselves by their actions and prostituted themselves by their deeds.” • Jeremiah 3:8-9—“Faithless Israel committed adultery… treacherous Judah had no fear, but she too went and prostituted herself.” • Jeremiah 13:27—“Your adulteries and lustful neighings, your shameless prostitution on the hills and in the fields—I have seen your detestable acts.” • Hosea 4:12—“A spirit of prostitution has led them astray, and they have prostituted themselves from their God.” • Hosea 9:1—“For you have prostituted yourself, forsaking your God.” • Nahum 3:4—“All because of the countless harlotries of the prostitute, the charming mistress of sorcery…” New Testament Echoes and Fulfillment • Matthew 12:39—“A wicked and adulterous generation demands a sign.” • James 4:4—“You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?” • 2 Corinthians 11:2-3—“I betrothed you to one husband… But I am afraid… your minds may be led astray.” • Revelation 2:20-22—“You tolerate that woman Jezebel… she misleads My servants to commit sexual immorality… I will cast her on a bed of sickness.” • Revelation 17:1-2, 5—“Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute… Babylon the Great, the mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth.” • Revelation 18:3—“All the nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.” Consistent Thread Across Scripture • Idolatry equals covenant infidelity; God calls it adultery. • Spiritual adultery always invites judgment—foreign domination (Ezekiel), national ruin (Hosea, Jeremiah), or ultimate destruction (Revelation). • The cure is exclusive, wholehearted devotion to the Lord alone (Deuteronomy 6:5; 2 Corinthians 11:2). |
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