Ezekiel 23:40
Furthermore, you sisters sent messengers for men who came from afar; and behold, when they arrived, you bathed for them, painted your eyes, and adorned yourself with jewelry.
Sermons
Aholah and AholibahA London MinisterEzekiel 23:1-49
Inexcusable InfidelityJ.R. Thomson Ezekiel 23:1-49














Moreover this they have done unto me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, etc. The chief practical suggestions of our text may be arranged under three heads.

I. MEN INSTRUCTED IN THE TRUE RELIGION PRACTISING THE GREATEST ABOMINATIONS OF HEATHENISM. "They had slain their children to their idols" (Ver. 39). "They have caused their sons, whom they bare unto me, to pass through the fire unto them to be devoured" (Ver. 37). We have already noticed the offering of children to Moloch (on Ezekiel 16:20, 21). And in this age and in this professedly Christian land people make sacrifices which bear some resemblance to these in spirit. How many respectable and avowedly Christian parents sacrifice their daughters in marriage to mammon l The man may be unsuitable in age, uncongenial in temper, immoral in character and conduct; but, if he be rich, he is welcomed as a suitor. How frequently, too, are the best and the abiding interests of children - their intellectual, spiritual, and eternal interests - risked, or even sacrificed, by their parents, in order that they may attain unto higher social status or gain worldly honors and distinctions! And in other ways practices which are worthy only of heathen intelligence and morality are at work amongst us.

II. MEN PASSING AT ONCE FROM THE PRACTICE OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF HEATHENISM INTO THE SANCTUARY AND SERVICE OF THE LIVING GOD. "When they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and, lo, thus have they done in the midst of mine house." The Prophet Jeremiah complains of a similar sin: "Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye have not known; and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my Name, and say, We are delivered; that ye may do all these abominations?" (Jeremiah 7:9, 10). The sin is not unknown amongst us in these days. Men are on the racecourse, with its cruelty, profanity, and gambling, on the weekday, and on Sunday they enter the sanctuary of God, and take part in its services. There are those who, during the week, visit scenes of drunkenness and profligacy, and on the Lord's day they go to church and unite in the forms of worship. It is an ill preparation for the sacred engagements of the house of God to spend the Saturday evening in the public house, worshipping Bacchus. Nor is the character of the case much altered when persons attend church on Sunday morning, and spend the remainder of the day in social festivity and dissipation.

III. THAT SUCH CONDUCT IS A PROFANATION BOTH OF THE SABBATH AND THE SANCTUARY OF GOD. "Moreover this they have done unto me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths. For when they had slain their children to their idols," etc. We may show this by noticing:

1. That these things should be held in reverence.

(1) Because they were instituted by God. He ordained the sabbath and the sanctuary. They rest upon the basis of Divine authority.

(2) Because they were instituted for his glory. Both the sabbath and. the sanctuary are for the worship of the Most High. Both are intended to promote the best interests of man, to elevate him as a spiritual and immortal being, and thus to enable him more fully to glorify God. As man grows in spiritual purity and power, in righteousness and kindness towards men, and in reverence and devotion towards God, his life contributes to the honor of God. The sabbath and the sanctuary, when properly used, further these ends.

2. The conduct exhibited and condemned in the text is most irreverent in relation to these things.

(1) Because it puts the sanctuary and. the sabbath on the low level of heathen institutions and customs. So did the people of Israel and of Judah. How many today attend religious services for no higher reason than this, that it is socially respectable to do so.

(2) Because it disparages them in the eyes of observers. If men form their opinion of religious services and ordinances from such persons as take part in them on Sunday, and during the rest of the week lead lives of a character which is in utter opposition to them, they must conclude that they are shams and unworthy of the regard of true men.

(3) Because it is insulting to God. Such conduct implies that our outward and empty forms and ceremonies can please him, or that he will accept our attendance upon his worship as a compensation for our disregard of his will when we are absent from his house. "But the Lord looketh on the heart," He rejects the worship which is offered to him by such persons as hypocritical service and offensive to him (cf. Psalm 1:7-23; Isaiah 1:11-15).

CONCLUSION. The worship of God is exclusive. "Thou shalt have none other gods before me;" "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve;" "Ye cannot serve God and mammon." Let us cultivate decision and thoroughness in his service. How different from the conduct condemned in the text was that of Cyprian! On his way to martyrdom he was told by the emperor that he would give him time to consider if he had not better cast a grain of incense into the fire in honor of the idol-gods than die so ignominiously. Cyprian replied, "There needs no deliberation in the case." John Huss, at the stake, was offered a pardon if he would recant. His reply was, "I am here, ready to suffer death." Thomas Hawkes, in like circumstances, said, "If I had a hundred bodies, I would suffer them all to be torn in pieces, rather than recant." Let us seek to be alike true, whole-hearted, and firm in our allegiance to our Lord. - W.J.

Thou shalt drink of thy sister's cup.
Homilist.
I. THE SYMBOL SUGGESTED.

1. The "cup" is sometimes the emblem of joy and gladness (Psalm 23:5); but here of indignation and wrath, in allusion probably to a very ancient method of punishing criminals — a poisoned cup.

2. The cup is sometimes afflictive dispensations (Psalm 73:10); and though the Lord's people are made to drink deeply of it, yet the dregs only are reserved for the wicked (Psalm 75:8).

3. The cup is significant of future and eternal misery, hence called "the cup of wrath" (Revelation 16:19). The wrath of God and of the Lamb is put into it; the cup has been filling for many years; it will never be emptied. It is also called "the cup of fury," as containing the inexpressible fierceness of Divine indignation (Jeremiah 25:15).

II. THE DESCRIPTION AFFORDED — "Much."

1. It contains all the sins that we have ever committed, and these, if not now repented of, will fill us with ceaseless remorse.

2. It contains all the curses of that law which we have violated.

3. It is the everlasting vengeance of God. A lost estate, lost liberty, or lost friends may be regained; but the loss of the soul is irreparable.

(Homilist.).

People
Aholah, Aholibah, Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Ezekiel
Places
Assyria, Chaldea, Egypt, Jerusalem, Koa, Pekod, Samaria, Shoa
Topics
Adornment, Afar, Arrived, Bathed, Behold, Body, Came-for, Deck, Decked, Deckedst, Decorate, Decorated, Fair, Furthermore, Hast, Herself, Jewelry, Making, Messenger, Ornaments, Paint, Painted, Paintedst, Painting, Servant, Thyself, Wash, Washed, Washing, Yourselves
Outline
1. The unfaithfulness of Aholah and Aholibah
23. Aholibah is to be plagued by her lovers
36. The prophet reproves the adulteries of them both
45. and shows their judgments

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Ezekiel 23:40

     5129   bathing
     5915   ornaments

Ezekiel 23:1-49

     5737   sisters
     7241   Jerusalem, significance

Ezekiel 23:36-49

     6243   adultery, spiritual

Ezekiel 23:40-41

     4496   perfume

Library
How those are to be Admonished who have had Experience of the Sins of the Flesh, and those who have Not.
(Admonition 29.) Differently to be admonished are those who are conscious of sins of the flesh, and those who know them not. For those who have had experience of the sins of the flesh are to be admonished that, at any rate after shipwreck, they should fear the sea, and feel horror at their risk of perdition at least when it has become known to them; lest, having been mercifully preserved after evil deeds committed, by wickedly repeating the same they die. Whence to the soul that sins and never
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Scriptures Showing the Sin and Danger of Joining with Wicked and Ungodly Men.
Scriptures Showing The Sin And Danger Of Joining With Wicked And Ungodly Men. When the Lord is punishing such a people against whom he hath a controversy, and a notable controversy, every one that is found shall be thrust through: and every one joined with them shall fall, Isa. xiii. 15. They partake in their judgment, not only because in a common calamity all shares, (as in Ezek. xxi. 3.) but chiefly because joined with and partakers with these whom God is pursuing; even as the strangers that join
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Ezekiel
To a modern taste, Ezekiel does not appeal anything like so powerfully as Isaiah or Jeremiah. He has neither the majesty of the one nor the tenderness and passion of the other. There is much in him that is fantastic, and much that is ritualistic. His imaginations border sometimes on the grotesque and sometimes on the mechanical. Yet he is a historical figure of the first importance; it was very largely from him that Judaism received the ecclesiastical impulse by which for centuries it was powerfully
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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