What a graphic and vulgar image. But it comes from the mouth of God. The statement is found in the preaching of Ezekiel, 16:25: “You built yourself a high place at the top of every street and made your beauty abominable, and you spread your legs to every passer-by to multiply your harlotry.”
Ezekiel 16 is an extended metaphor about the nation of Israel. God begins describing the nation as a baby who was hated and exposed to the elements, left for dead (16:1-5). God cleaned “her” up and took care of her as she grew (16:6-7).
When she “grew up,” God married her (Prophetic imagery can mix portraits like this, moving from “child” to “wife”), making a covenant with her. As His bride, He provided all that she needed (16:8-14). As a result of the love of God, He tells her: “so you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty” (16:14). Royalty is the highest position she could enjoy.
But then she began attracting the interest of other “suitors:” “so you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty” (16:13). That’s when the vulgarity begins and Ezekiel’s use of the word “harlot” and its related words begin, the first of twenty uses in this chapter of Ezekiel.
“But you trusted in your beauty and played the harlot because of your fame, and you poured out your harlotries on every passer-by who might be willing” (vs 15). Israel was looking for anyone or anything to trust, besides the unseen God who bought her and loved her. Clearly the “harlotry” imagery refers to her worshipping false gods. We have words like “high places,” “male images,” “idols,” and “abominations” scattered throughout the chapter.
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Israel would trust anyone or anything before she would trust God: Egyptians (vs 26), Philistines (vs 27), even the Chaldeans (vs 29). Unlike literal prostitutes who receive money for their services, Israel gave to entice men to lie with her (vs 34).
If she were going to war, she sacrificed to the gods of war. If she were suffering from famine, she sacrificed to the gods of harvest. If she were barren, she sacrificed to the gods of fertility. She did not trust God, so she “spread her legs to every passer-by,” looking for safety, security, and happiness.
We are not different than Israel. We look for escape from our stress and trust in the bottle. We look for companionship and trust in cohabitation. We look for love and trust in adultery. We look for security and trust in our military. We look for stability and trust in our courts. We look for growth and trust in the denominations. We look for funds and trust in gimmicks. We look for prestige and trust in the world’s “gospel.”
Are we “spreading our legs to every passer-by?” Or are we trusting the God of heaven and His word, the One to whom we are engaged (2 Cor. 11:2)? Because trusting in anyone or anything besides God and His word is vulgar.
–Paul Holland
