Ezekiel: Reader Discretion is Advised

I read through the book of Ezekiel and was surprised, shocked, and a bit disgusted at all the sexually explicit material in the book. Chapters 16 and 23 are especially explicit, containing stark imagery of how God felt about Judah's unfaithfulness to Him. In fact, some rabbis centuries ago questioned whether Ezekiel should be in the canon! Read for yourself.

"Thou hast built thy high place at every heard of the way, and hast made thy beauty to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by" (16:25 KJV)

The marginal note in the ESV has "spread your legs for everyone who passes by." Wow.

"And I say of the worn-out one in adulteries, Now they commit her whoredoms--she also!"(23:43 Young's Literal Translation).

I don't normally quote "The Message" because it is not an actual translation. Sometimes, however, it hits the nail on the head, like here. So in case you missed what Young's says...

"I said, 'She's burned out on sex!' but that didn't stop them. They kept banging on her doors night and day as men dow hen they're after a whore. That's how they used Oholah and Oholibah, the worn-out whores" (23:43 The Message).

Yikes. And perhaps the most shocking of all...

"There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses" (23:20).

Whoa. For real. Call me crazy, but that sounds like something Michael Scott would hear from his buddy Todd Packer (whose car tag is WLLHUNG).

This says nothing dirty about the Bible. The Word of God is not a misogynistic product of antiquity. Instead, it says much about the filthiness of sin, which is often pictured as "adultery" in the prophets. These graphic images should make us realize how God looks at us when we turn our backs on Him and "go whoring" after our own desires. It's sad, really.