September 29 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading:

Ezekiel 16:1-14

¹Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
²Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,
³And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite.
⁴And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.
⁵None 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 lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born.
⁶And 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.
⁷I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare.
⁸Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine.
⁹Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil.
¹⁰I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk.
¹¹I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck.
¹²And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head.
¹³Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom.
¹⁴And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD.

Devotional:

Again God speaks to His people through His prophet concerning their sin. Here He expresses Himself through images drawn from family life. Through them He reminds His people of His love for them down through the years.

In verses 3-6 He speaks of His people as a newborn baby, navel uncut, unwashed, not cleaned with salt, not carefully wrapped, but rather cast out in an open field to perish with no one to pity! God reminds them that He took compassion upon the baby and cared for her, nurturing her until she was grown up and mature.

Then in verses 7-14 God speaks of His people as a mature young woman whom He has washed and arrayed in fine clothing and jewels. In verse 8 He speaks of actually making her His bride.

How could God explain to us more clearly His love for us, and our dependence upon His grace for all that we are? In this remarkable passage we see in small compass the rich imagery of the father's love and care for his child (even an adopted child) and of the husband's love and care for his wife! We see, too, a powerful demonstration of the truth found later in the New Testament: 'Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled' (Hebrews 13:4). O God, thank You for Your love!