Has such a thing ever been done before? Would not the lovers line up in droves to satiate their lusts and their greed? Who would do such a thing?
Israel came into being as an unwanted child. There was no one there to clean the blood off her body or tie up her umbilical cord. There was no kindness in rubbing her body with salt as a newborn or wrapping her in bundling cloth to keep her warm. Instead she was thrown into an open field, much like many a mother has wrapped her living child up and thrown them into a dumpster. Israel was not wanted.
But Got wanted her.
He took her and cared for her. He lavished on her and she grew and matured, becoming beautiful. When she came to maturity and to a time of development, the LORD like a husband made a covenant with her. She would be His and He would be theirs.
He continued to pour on her blessing after blessing. She did not lack but lived in abundance and fruitfulness. She had wealth, beauty, influence and more.
But Israel became “confident in her beauty and acted like a prostitution because of her fame” (v. 15).
She began to play the part of the adulteress wife, lavishing her favors and neighing lustily after them. She built high places and sacrificed her children and participate in lewd sexual acts. But it didn’t stop there. She went public with her lasciviousness which can even be seen today with large phallic representations in the city streets that were touched and adored.
When she couldn’t get satisfied and couldn’t get enough, she prostituted herself to the nations around her. To the point where she actually began to pay them, the prostitute, a married woman, paying them, her lovers. Has such a thing ever been done before?
Judah and Jerusalem had once scorned the sin of her sister Samaria to the north for worshipping in places not Jerusalem and for the evil done in her. Judah and Jerusalem had also scorned Sodom for the wickedness in that city. And yet Jerusalem and Judah’s sin was far worse than both of these. In fact, she made them look good.
So God was going to bring judgment. He was going to hand her over to the nations she adored and they would strip her bare, use her, and be done with her. What they would do would be a. horror upon horror. She wanted these lovers desperately and he was going to give them to her. She just didn’t know what she was asking for. They didn’t care for her. They wanted to use and discard her like the cheap prostitute she was acting like.
It would be horrific in more ways than she could know. But the LORD was going to offer them hope. He would not desert them forever. When her punishment was complete and she had her fill of her lovers, he would bring them back. They would return to Jerusalem. They would not crave their sin any longer but seek after God. And at some point He was going to bring them atonement. It was the whisper of a new covenant.
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One of the worst things that can happen is that we get what we want when it’s something that is evil. We can be so hardened by sin that we enjoy the pleasure of sin and yet still want more. Who we are begins to be chipped away and degraded.
Who are we as a nation? Who are we as a people?
We think the grass is greener on the other side of God’s fence. Only time will tell us otherwise.