Nativity - Ezekiel 16

Ezekiel 16:6 "And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live."

Chapter 16 is a chapter that should be read in it's entirety. It is a picture of Jerusalem as a newborn baby, neglected until the Lord came by, then raised up and decked out in fine linen and jewels.

v9 "Then washed I thee with water; yea, I thoroughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil."

It is a picture of a child cast out and unwanted. Then the Lord passed by.

v5 "None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee, but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the loathing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born."

I think of the song "When Jesus passed by my way." I don't know if that is the title. But the Lord does care for the outcast. He does have time to stop and take note of our needs. Just think of the blind man who sat by the roadside begging. Jesus stopped to fill his need. So did the Lord with Jerusalem. He cared for them.

Jerusalem turned from the Lord after all this loving care and worshipped things instead of the One who was taking care of them. The chapter goes on to compare Jerusalem to a wife who turned to another but found not fulfillment for her desires.

v15 "But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on everyone that passed by; his it was."

Besides being unfaithful, Jerusalem took the children and sacrificed them to idols.

v21 "That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them?"

These are the sins of Jerusalem, recounted to the people so that the might remember and know why they were uprooted from their homeland and taken into captivity.

v38 "And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy."

After all this, Jerusalem will be remembered and there is hope in this chapter as well.

v60 "Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant. See Exodus 2:24 and Hosea 2:15