◄ Ezekiel 16:16 ►
You took some of your garments and made colorful high places for yourself, and on them you prostituted yourself. Such things should not have happened; never should they have occurred!
Study Bible
You took some of your garments

In ancient Israel, garments were often symbolic of one's status and identity. The Israelites were given fine garments by God, symbolizing His provision and blessing (Ezekiel 16:10). By taking these garments, the Israelites were misusing the blessings and gifts God had bestowed upon them. This act represents a betrayal of the covenant relationship between God and His people, as they used what was meant for holiness for idolatry.

Gen 38:14-15 she removed her widow’s garments, covered her face…
Pro 7:16-17 I have decked my bed with coverings, …
2Ki 23:7 He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes…

and made colorful high places for yourself,

High places were elevated sites often used for worship, typically of pagan deities. The use of "colorful" suggests an attempt to make these places attractive and appealing, perhaps to draw in worshippers. This reflects the Israelites' syncretism, blending the worship of Yahweh with pagan practices, which was strictly forbidden (Deuteronomy 12:2-4). The construction of these high places was a direct violation of God's command to worship Him alone and in the manner He prescribed.

Jer 2:20 “For long ago you broke your yoke and tore off your chains,…
Isa 57:7 On a high and lofty hill you have made your bed…
1Ki 14:23 They also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars,…

and on them you prostituted yourself.

The imagery of prostitution is frequently used in the Bible to describe idolatry and unfaithfulness to God (Hosea 1:2). This metaphor highlights the spiritual adultery of the Israelites, as they turned away from their covenant with God to pursue other gods. It underscores the gravity of their sin, equating their idolatry with the betrayal of a marriage covenant, which was meant to be exclusive and sacred.

Jer 3:6 Now in the days of King Josiah, the LORD said to me,…
Hos 4:13-14 They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings…
Isa 1:21 See how the faithful city has become a harlot!…

Such things should not have happened; never should they have occurred!

This phrase emphasizes the severity and unnaturalness of Israel's actions. It reflects God's righteous anger and disappointment, as these actions were a complete departure from His intentions for His people. The repetition underscores the gravity of their sin and the breach of the covenant relationship. This echoes the call to repentance and the need for Israel to return to faithfulness, as seen throughout the prophetic books (Jeremiah 3:12-14).

Jer 5:30-31 A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land.…
Ezk 8:17 “Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see this?…
Deu 12:31 You must not worship the LORD your God in this way,…

Persons / Places / Events
1. Ezekiel
A prophet of God who ministered to the Israelites during their Babylonian exile. He conveyed God's messages, often using vivid imagery and allegory.

2. Jerusalem
The city symbolically represented as an unfaithful wife in this chapter. It serves as a metaphor for the people of Israel and their spiritual adultery.

3. High Places
Elevated sites where idolatrous worship occurred. These were often adorned with garments and other offerings, representing Israel's unfaithfulness to God.

4. Garments
Symbolic of the blessings and provisions God gave to Israel, which they misused for idolatry.

5. Prostitution
Used metaphorically to describe Israel's spiritual unfaithfulness and idolatry, turning away from God to worship other deities.
Teaching Points
Spiritual Adultery
Just as Israel was unfaithful to God by worshiping idols, Christians must guard against allowing anything to take God's place in their hearts.

Misuse of God's Gifts
The garments symbolize blessings from God. Believers should use their resources and talents to honor God, not for selfish or idolatrous purposes.

Repentance and Restoration
Despite Israel's unfaithfulness, God continually calls His people to repentance. Christians should seek forgiveness and restoration when they stray.

Holiness and Separation
God calls His people to be holy and separate from the practices of the world. Believers should avoid compromising their faith by engaging in worldly practices.

The Danger of Idolatry
Idolatry can take many forms, not just physical idols. Believers must be vigilant in identifying and removing anything that competes with their devotion to God.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the imagery of garments in Ezekiel 16:16 relate to the blessings God has given you, and how can you ensure you use them for His glory?

2. In what ways can modern Christians fall into the trap of spiritual adultery, and how can we guard against it?

3. Reflect on a time when you misused a gift from God. What steps did you take to repent and realign your focus on Him?

4. How can the concept of "high places" be applied to contemporary life, and what are some practical ways to tear them down?

5. Compare the warnings in Ezekiel 16:16 with those in Exodus 34:15-16 and Jeremiah 3:6-9. What consistent message do you see, and how can it be applied to your spiritual walk today?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Exodus 34:15-16
Warns against making covenants with the inhabitants of the land, which would lead to spiritual prostitution through idolatry.

Hosea 2:8
Describes Israel's misuse of God's gifts for idol worship, similar to the imagery in Ezekiel 16.

Jeremiah 3:6-9
Compares Israel's idolatry to adultery, emphasizing the nation's unfaithfulness to God.
Sermons
A Picture of Flagrant Apostasy from GodW. Jones Ezekiel 16:15-34
Inexcusable InfidelityJ.R. Thomson Ezekiel 16:15-59
People
Aram, Assyrians, Canaanites, Egyptians, Ezekiel
Places
Chaldea, Jerusalem, Samaria, Sodom, Syria
Topics
Acting, A-whoring, Carried, Clothes, Colors, Colour, Colours, Deck, Decked, Deckedst, Divers, Fear, Gaily, Garments, Gaudy, Harlot, High-places, Loose, Madest, Occur, Ornamented, Pass, Places, Play, Played, Playedst, Prostitute, Prostitution, Robes, Shame, Shrines, Spotted, Thereupon, Thyself, Various, Yourselves
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Ezekiel 16:1-63

     7241   Jerusalem, significance

Ezekiel 16:15-17

     6189   immorality, examples

Ezekiel 16:15-22

     6243   adultery, spiritual

Ezekiel 16:15-42

     8705   apostasy, in OT

Ezekiel 16:16-17

     6239   prostitution
     8748   false religion

Library
How Saints May Help the Devil
One way in which sinners frequently excuse themselves is by endeavoring to get some apology for their own iniquities from the inconsistencies of God's people. This is the reason why there is much slander in the world. A true Christian is a rebuke to the sinner, wherever he goes he is a living protest against the evil of sin. Hence it is that the worldling makes a dead set upon a pious man. His language in his heart is, "He accuses me to my face; I cannot bear the sight of his holy character; it makes …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 5: 1859

Vile Ingratitude!
I. First, then, let us consider our iniquities--I mean those committed since conversion, those committed yesterday, and the day before, and to-day--and let us see their sinfulness in the light of what we were when the Lord first looked upon us. In the words of the prophet Ezekiel, observe what was our "birth and our nativity." He says of us, "Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canan. Thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite." Now, Canaan, as you know, was a cursed one, and the …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 6: 1860

"Who Walk not after the Flesh, but after the Spirit. "
Rom. viii. 1.--"Who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." It is difficult to determine which of these is the greatest privilege of a Christian,--that he is delivered from condemnation, or that he is made to walk according to the Spirit, and made a new creature; whether we owe more to Christ for our justification, or sanctification: for he is made both to us: but it is more necessary to conjoin them together, than to compare them with each other. The one is not more necessary--to be delivered …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Humbled and Silenced by Mercy. Ezek 0. 711111111
 …
John Newton—Olney Hymns

For whom did Christ Die?
While man is in this condition Jesus interposes for his salvation. "When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly"; "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us," according to "his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses and sins." The pith of my sermon will be an endeavour to declare that the reason of Christ's dying for us did not lie in our excellence; but where sin abounded grace did much more abound, for the persons for whom Jesus …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 20: 1874

The Use of Fear in Religion.
PROVERBS ix. 10.--"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Luke xii. 4, 5.--"And I say unto you, my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him." The place which the feeling of fear ought to hold in the religious experience of mankind is variously assigned. Theories of religion are continually passing …
William G.T. Shedd—Sermons to the Natural Man

Certainty of Our Justification.
"Being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."--Rom. iii. 24. The foregoing illustrations shed unexpected light upon the fact that God justifies the ungodly, and not him who is actually just in himself; and upon the word of Christ: "Now are ye clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." (John xv. 3) They illustrate the significant fact that God does not determine our status according to what we are, but by the status to which He assigns us He determines …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Some Helps to Mourning
Having removed the obstructions, let me in the last place propound some helps to holy mourning. 1 Set David's prospect continually before you. My sin is ever before me' (Psalm 51:3). David, that he might be a mourner, kept his eye full upon sin. See what sin is, and then tell me if there be not enough in it to draw forth tears. I know not what name to give it bad enough. One calls it the devil's excrement. Sin is a complication of all evils. It is the spirits of mischief distilled. Sin dishonours …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

"And the Redeemer Shall Come unto Zion, and unto them that Turn,"
Isaiah lix. 20.--"And the Redeemer shall come unto Zion, and unto them that turn," &c. Doctrines, as things, have their seasons and times. Every thing is beautiful in its season. So there is no word of truth, but it hath a season and time in which it is beautiful. And indeed that is a great part of wisdom, to bring forth everything in its season, to discern when and where, and to whom it is pertinent and edifying, to speak such and such truths. But there is one doctrine that is never out of season, …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Annunciation of Jesus the Messiah, and the Birth of his Forerunner.
FROM the Temple to Nazareth! It seems indeed most fitting that the Evangelic story should have taken its beginning within the Sanctuary, and at the time of sacrifice. Despite its outward veneration for them, the Temple, its services, and specially its sacrifices, were, by an inward logical necessity, fast becoming a superfluity for Rabbinism. But the new development, passing over the intruded elements, which were, after all, of rationalistic origin, connected its beginning directly with the Old Testament …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

"But Ye are not in the Flesh, but in the Spirit, if So be that the Spirit of God Dwell in You. Now, if any Man
Rom. viii. 9.--"But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." Application is the very life of the word, at least it is a necessary condition for the living operation of it. The application of the word to the hearts of hearers by preaching, and the application of your hearts again to the word by meditation, these two meeting together, and striking one upon another, will yield fire. …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Covenant of Grace
Q-20: DID GOD LEAVE ALL MANKIND TO PERISH 1N THE ESTATE OF SIN AND MISERY? A: No! He entered into a covenant of grace to deliver the elect out of that state, and to bring them into a state of grace by a Redeemer. 'I will make an everlasting covenant with you.' Isa 55:5. Man being by his fall plunged into a labyrinth of misery, and having no way left to recover himself, God was pleased to enter into a new covenant with him, and to restore him to life by a Redeemer. The great proposition I shall go …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

An Exhortation to Love God
1. An exhortation. Let me earnestly persuade all who bear the name of Christians to become lovers of God. "O love the Lord, all ye his saints" (Psalm xxxi. 23). There are but few that love God: many give Him hypocritical kisses, but few love Him. It is not so easy to love God as most imagine. The affection of love is natural, but the grace is not. Men are by nature haters of God (Rom. i. 30). The wicked would flee from God; they would neither be under His rules, nor within His reach. They fear God, …
Thomas Watson—A Divine Cordial

Degrees of Sin
Are all transgressions of the law equally heinous? Some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others. He that delivered me unto thee, has the greater sin.' John 19: 11. The Stoic philosophers held that all sins were equal; but this Scripture clearly holds forth that there is a gradual difference in sin; some are greater than others; some are mighty sins,' and crying sins.' Amos 5: 12; Gen 18: 21. Every sin has a voice to speak, but some …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

"And He is the Propitiation,"
1 John ii. 2.--"And he is the propitiation," &c. Here is the strength of Christ's plea, and ground of his advocation, that "he is the propitiation." The advocate is the priest, and the priest is the sacrifice, and such efficacy this sacrifice hath, that the propitiatory sacrifice may be called the very propitiation and pacification for sin. Here is the marrow of the gospel, and these are the breasts of consolation which any poor sinner might draw by faith, and bring out soul refreshment. But truly, …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Spiced Wine of My Pomegranate;
OR, THE COMMUNION OF COMMUNICATION. I would cause Thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate."--Song of Solomon viii. 2.And of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace."--John i. 16. THE SPICED WINE OF MY POMEGRANATE. THE immovable basis of communion having been laid of old in the eternal union which subsisted between Christ and His elect, it only needed a fitting occasion to manifest itself in active development. The Lord Jesus had for ever delighted Himself with the …
Charles Hadden Spurgeon—Till He Come

The Section Chap. I. -iii.
The question which here above all engages our attention, and requires to be answered, is this: Whether that which is reported in these chapters did, or did not, actually and outwardly take place. The history of the inquiries connected with this question is found most fully in Marckius's "Diatribe de uxore fornicationum," Leyden, 1696, reprinted in the Commentary on the Minor Prophets by the same author. The various views may be divided into three classes. 1. It is maintained by very many interpreters, …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Annunciation to Joseph of the Birth of Jesus.
(at Nazareth, b.c. 5.) ^A Matt. I. 18-25. ^a 18 Now the birth [The birth of Jesus is to handled with reverential awe. We are not to probe into its mysteries with presumptuous curiosity. The birth of common persons is mysterious enough (Eccl. ix. 5; Ps. cxxxix. 13-16), and we do not well, therefore, if we seek to be wise above what is written as to the birth of the Son of God] of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When his mother Mary had been betrothed [The Jews were usually betrothed ten or twelve months …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Epistle cxxii. To Rechared, King of the visigoths .
To Rechared, King of the Visigoths [82] . Gregory to Rechared, &c. I cannot express in words, most excellent son, how much I am delighted with thy work and thy life. For on hearing of the power of a new miracle in our days, to wit that the whole nation of the Goths has through thy Excellency been brought over from the error of Arian heresy to the firmness of a right faith, one is disposed to exclaim with the prophet, This is the change wrought by the right hand of the Most High (Ps. lxxvi. 11 [83] …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

Bunyan's Last Sermon --Preached July 1688.
"Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God;" John i. 13. The words have a dependence on what goes before, and therefore I must direct you to them for the right understanding of it. You have it thus,--"He came to his own, but his own received him not; but as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them which believe on his name; which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God." In …
by John Bunyan—Miscellaneous Pieces

Effectual Calling
THE second qualification of the persons to whom this privilege in the text belongs, is, They are the called of God. All things work for good "to them who are called." Though this word called is placed in order after loving of God, yet in nature it goes before it. Love is first named, but not first wrought; we must be called of God, before we can love God. Calling is made (Rom. viii. 30) the middle link of the golden chain of salvation. It is placed between predestination and glorification; and if …
Thomas Watson—A Divine Cordial

Mr. Bunyan's Last Sermon:
Preached August 19TH, 1688 [ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR] This sermon, although very short, is peculiarly interesting: how it was preserved we are not told; but it bears strong marks of having been published from notes taken by one of the hearers. There is no proof that any memorandum or notes of this sermon was found in the autograph of the preacher. In the list of Bunyan's works published by Chas. Doe, at the end of the 'Heavenly Footman,' March 1690, it stands No. 44. He professes to give the title-page, …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

The Birth of Jesus.
(at Bethlehem of Judæa, b.c. 5.) ^C Luke II. 1-7. ^c 1 Now it came to pass in those days [the days of the birth of John the Baptist], there went out a decree [a law] from Cæsar Augustus [Octavius, or Augustus, Cæsar was the nephew of and successor to Julius Cæsar. He took the name Augustus in compliment to his own greatness; and our month August is named for him; its old name being Sextilis], that all the world should be enrolled. [This enrollment or census was the first step …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

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