Sins of the City (2)
You have despised My holy things and profaned My sabbaths. Slanderous men have been in you for the purpose of shedding blood, and in you they have eaten at the mountain shrines. In your midst they have committed acts of lewdness.In you they have uncovered their fathers’ nakedness; in you they have humbled her who was unclean in her menstrual impurity. Ezekiel 22:8-10 NASB
Menstrual impurity – How do you know that a civilization has reached the nadir of its existence? You observe its sexual mores. At least that’s what the Bible suggests. It doesn’t matter if great public works are accomplished. It matters not how prosperous or how powerful. Education and health turn out to be unimportant. Political prowess means nothing. In the end, it’s about sex. Sexual conduct is the primary indicator of a covenant relationship or a lack thereof. In Ezekiel’s prophetic word, God accuses Jerusalem of violating very specific sexual taboos. First, males commit incest with mothers. “Uncovering your father’s nakedness” is not about exposing a man’s genitals. It is an idiomatic euphemism for sexual relations with the wife of the father. This is a capital offense (Leviticus 20:11). Second, men have sexual intercourse with women during their menstrual period. In fact, the verb (“humbled”) is ‘ana. It is not a word for consensual sex. It is a euphemism for rape. It means forced affliction. It is reasonable to assume that these women knew the sexual mores of Israel and the prohibition against intercourse during menstruation, but the men didn’t care. They acted with sexual aggression.
Our chosen word is niddah. In Torah, sexual contact is forbidden during niddah (menstruation). Why? The Bible does not explain. Does God really have to give us explanations in order for us to decide to obey? Certain normal bodily functions make a person ritually unclean. There are consequences. They are not punitive. They are merely consequences. But they are important because God asks for obedience. No sex during menstruation is simply another form of a fast. It’s not such a big deal unless you are addicted to this “food.”
The third offense is adultery with the neighbor’s wife. The fourth, they defile the land with sexual lewdness toward their daughters-in-law. And fifth, they demand incest with their sisters. The one constant theme is violence. Sexual aggression characterizes this population. Honor, respect and love have been replaced by the demand for orgasm.
Of course, our world isn’t like this, is it? We respect the institution of marriage. We honor our spouses. We maintain exclusivity. We are shocked at even the suggestion of incest. And we are comfortably blind!
In America there is a sexual assault of some type every two minutes. 44% of the victims are under the age of 18. 29% of these victims were under 11. 27% of these victims were raped by a family member. One out of six women in America has been the victim of rape or attempted rape. If Torah were enforced in America, capital executions for sexual crime would result in approximately 200,000 lethal injections a year. And you go blissfully on your way.
But that is only the tip of the iceberg. Internet pornography allows fantasy sexual aggression without criminal repercussions. The statistics are hard to pin down, but this much seems clear. One porn site had 100 million page views per day. Another site reported 4.46 billion page views from 350 million unique visitors. And there are no limits on sexual behavior via the internet. Ezekiel’s indictment of Jerusalem pales in comparison.
Has my nation despised God? I can’t imagine how anyone could argue otherwise. Getting clean while living in a sewer is very difficult. Do you suppose there won’t be collateral damage when it is all washed away?
Topical Index: niddah, menstruation, rape, ‘ana, sex, Ezekiel 22:8-1
The command of YHWH is clear: ~ Be holy, for I AM holy ~ (Leviticus 20.7 and again in 1 Peter 1.13-16)
But”if”.. no.. – “since” we are ALL sinners..(Romans 3.23) – How is “holiness” (what a foreign word to us!!) possible? (Matthew 19.26)
One law at a time. Obedience. And I fail everyday.
Whoever has been forgiven much, loves much. This is my Achilles heel, my greatest weakness, which keeps me from whole-hearted obedience. If the love of Christ/Messiah controled me, and motivated me like it should, I would be embracing holiness much more than I am now. Father, Holy Spirit, convict me of the sin that keeps us apart, that keeps me apart from my brothers and sisters, that keeps the Body of Messiah so torn up and fragmented! Please, please, answer the prayer of your Son and perfect the unity of your people that your Son died to achieve! Yes, there will be collateral damage when You come to judge, not just the world, but first your own household! I don’t care about the pain, as long as You root out that foul, unclean spirit of religion that has defiled your people for so long! Hew down that Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil
and plant within us the Tree of Life, the Vine of Your Son, apart from Whom we cannot live and fulfill your commandments!
Hi Bruce:
You wrote, “Yes, there will be collateral damage when You come to judge, not just the world, but first your own household! I don’t care about the pain, as long as You root out that foul, unclean spirit of religion that has defiled your people for so long!”
The truth is, we do care about pain. It’s our natural inclination to avoid or at least mitigate it. We may willingly endure some pain for a while if we can see a purpose or an end to it, but when it continues unabated, we will look for ways to get away from it. We will beg God to make it stop because everything we think we believe and hold dear is being shaken to the depths. When that pain extends to the disruption of institutions — like the church or our country — we will look to compromise in order to stop it. I don’t say this to castigate you. I just think we need to have realistic expectations about how we will react. We need to count the cost honestly. The only way that we may even hope to endure is to accept — no, “accept” is not strong enough — we must EMBRACE upfront that we aren’t going to understand God’s judgement, we are going to want it to stop, and we are going to want to compromise, to do whatever we must to stop the pain, before it is over. Many, probably most, WILL compromise before it’s over because they never counted the cost of what collateral damage really means. Do we really think we are ready to endure judgment when we can’t even endure getting our feelings hurt in church without running to leadership to invoke Matthew 18? I thank God everyday that His judgement has been held back. I know it won’t be forever.
“Pain” is part of the program. Pain is purposeful. Pain (always) serves a purpose. Yes, I (too) have felt pain. Pain in all areas of life.. but (for realz)- every single time and in every single situation, Our Sovereign and (always good!) Shepherd shows Himself strong “all the time and every time!” – and each (and every!) time, we (in the end) will (all) recognize and realize (AFTER)- ~ The LORD IS good!! We (too) will say with David, ~ it is good(?) for me that I have been afflicted! ~
May we never (ever) be “desensitized” or “anethesized” to pain. What pain have I felt? – (or why do we suffer?) – This could take awhile!
What an “eye-opener!” pain is. Nothing better for our physical or spiritual eyes than tears! And?? When we cry (not if, but when) we have the attention of our Father who is “attentive to our cry!” In short.. “God hears tears.”
~ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God ~
~ Weeping may last through the night, but joy(!) comes with the morning ~
This is scaring me. I feel shallow for saying this but I think I have always taken for granted that God always has and always will selectively protect those who are faithful. The idea that his judgment is going to be widespread destruction that will have ALL of us begging for mercy, faithful believers (and doers!) or not… this is a lot to take in. And I can’t help but feel like… who can possibly stand?
My comment is in reference to the other comments, not directly in reference to TW.
Paul tells us in Rom. 11 (or somewhere near there) that we need to consider both the kindness and the severity of God, To know only one and not the other is to not truly know God. I have heard it said that there are many different words in the Scripture that are translated “judgement”, but only one of those means complete devastation or annihilation. All the others have to do with His discipline, as Hebrews 12 speaks of. By the way, that chapter ends with the warning that the time is coming when God will shake not only the earth (again), but also the heavens (where the principalities and powers of this age hold sway), so that only that which has its foundation in Him will be left standing. Yes, it is scary, but it’s also the most exciting time to be living on this earth. God will have a people that will be able to stand through the onslaught of hell itself. It’s time to secure our foundations in Him, to be a branch that is firmly attached to the Vine, that will only grow stronger and bear better fruit as it is pruned back.
Skip,
This is a most difficult subject to take on. Americans have developed a habit over the years that one does not talk about sex. It is just not proper to speak of such things! One finds this flavor in a lot of American literature and within a lot of religions.
To take something that God speaks of so many times and places such importance on and relegate it to a closet never to be opened is to ask for a disaster! We have such a disaster right now as you so clearly have shown.
I believe this has a strong part in why there is so much interest in “secret” sex via internet and also why sex often comes out in violent ways. A part but not really the main cause. (The main cause is because people do not believe and obey what God tells us is acceptable to Him.)
Jesus says that the world will know us by our love for one another. On this particular subject I would say that many demonstrate how much they hate one another! Sex has been used forever to gain power and to degrade ones enemies. It is such a basic, built-in, fundamental part of being human–sex that is!
America is not much better than other countries in this particular aspect. I am thinking that this will constitute a large portion of collateral damage when God levees His judgement on the whole earth.
I have not done well in my past with these standards of God. However,He has continued to teach and humble me and I can say that much has changed in my life. I still seem to live close to the sewer though and therein lies the challenge. Some doors when opened can never be shut completely. This is why each one of us must learn to take captive our thoughts and practice discipline in what we ruminate on.
Thank you Skip for bringing this teaching to us. We must consider and choose whom to serve especially involving sexual matters!