Sodom Thy Sister Hath Not Done (Ezekiel 16:48)

2023-12-30

As I live, saith the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters. (Ezekiel 16:48)

According to this passage, Jerusalem’s sins were greater than the sins of Sodom. The next verse explains what some of that is, including pride, wealth, laziness, and not helping the poor. So much money and time to help those who need it, but they would not. This also does not preclude the other sins we know about Sodom from the book of Genesis. Jerusalem’s sins are also said to be worse than Samaria, the fallen capital of the northern kingdom. How can this be? The sins of Samaria and Sodom were quite egregious.

Jerusalem’s sins are specifically evil because they had a righteous heritage, the Temple with its priests, and the king from the line of David. Despite having all these things, they chose the path of the Amorite. “Thou art thy mother’s daughter, that lotheth her husband and her children; and thou art the sister of thy sisters, which lothed their husbands and their children: your mother was an Hittite, and your father an Amorite” (Ezekiel 16:45). Those people were destroyed for their sins, as Jerusalem was for its sins.

Having seen many verses of the potent imagery of the sins of Jerusalem, one also might say why that was necessary. The reason is that idolatrous sin, which included the sexual immortality that was listed, is that disgusting. Serving other gods is a gross form of spiritual adultery. This is why extreme measures were taken against Jerusalem to turn them around from the destructive path they were on. The same will be brought against any place that celebrates the same wickedness.