In the Book of Job we see the devil exposed and the devil’s purpose revealed. We see why he was created. The devil is sporting with humans as he is the elohim of this cosmos. With the understanding of the devil’s purpose we can then understand the controversy we see in the Bible and around us today. Unfortunately, the church has fallen short in it’s teachings and message to the world regarding this subject. Just as Israel and Judah were led into fornication and adultery we too are tempted, teased, and goaded in this way. We will look at the idea of sporting or competing with the devil. We will look at mockery and a sneering reaction to the words of Yahweh by the people of Judah just before they were led into captivity. We will also look at Yahweh’s words to Judah through the prophet Ezekiel and the prophecy that people mocked. We will uncover some of the tricks and schemes the devil used on Israel and Judah so that we can be better prepared for this game we are living in. We will look at the problem humans have with lust, harlotry, and adultery and how it caused the southern kingdom to go into captivity.
In the beginning of the Book of Job we can see the devil accusing Job on the days that the sons of God meet and give an account of earth’s happenings. Job is attacked and laments as he doesn’t believe he has done anything wrong. Job’s three friends are convinced that he has done something sinful. A fourth young man was the most intelligent as he basically told all of them that we humans are finite, and that Yahweh is infinite so we can’t possibly know all his ways. Then, as we looked at a few weeks ago, Yahweh explains to Job the purpose of the devil/dragon.
Job 41:24 There is nothing upon the earth like to him, formed to be sported with by my angels.
Job 41:33 G3756 There is not G1510.2.3 G3762 anything G1909 upon G3588 the G1093 earth G3664 likened G1473 to him, G4160 being made, G1460.1 to be mocked at G5259 by G3588 G32 my angels. G1473
1461 Dodson:ἐγκεντρίζω I graft in I graft in, ingraft.
Thayer:
1) to cut into for the sake of inserting a scion
2) to inoculate, ingraft, graft in
ἐγκεντρίζω
KJV Usage: graff in (-to).
1722
ἐν
en en A primary preposition denoting (fixed) position (in place, time or state), and (by implication) instrumentality (medially or constructively), that is, a relation of rest (intermediate between G1519 and G1537); “in” , at, (up-) on, by, etc.
KJV Usage: about, after, against, + almost, X altogether, among, X as, at, before, between, (here-) by (+ all means), for (. . . sake of), + give self wholly to, (here-) in (-to, -wardly), X mightily, (because) of, (up-) on, [open-] ly, X outwardly, one, X quickly, X shortly, [speedi-] ly, X that, X there (-in, -on), through (-out), (un-) to(-ward), under, when, where (-with), while, with (-in). Often used in compounds, with substantially the same import; rarely with verbs of motion, and then not to indicate direction, except (elliptically) by a separate (and different) prep.
2760 LSJ Gloss:κέντρον any sharp point
Dodson:κέντρον a sting, goad a sting, goad; met: of death.
Thayer:
1) a sting, as that of bees, scorpions, locusts. Since animals wound by their sting and even cause death, Paul attributes death, personified as a sting, i.e. a deadly weapon
2) an iron goad, for urging on oxen, horses and other beasts of burden
2a) hence the proverb, "to kick against the goad", i.e. to offer vain and perilous or ruinous resistance
κέντρον
kentron ken'-tron From κεντέω kenteō (to prick); a point (“centre”), that is, a sting (figuratively poison) or goad (figuratively divine impulse) KJV Usage: prick, sting.
The word egkentrizō literally means “in sting” or “instrumentally goad”. The devil/dragon was created to literally be a prick or to prick. Why was the devil created to sting? Our fantasized imaginations of heaven don’t usually allow for an opponent; just clouds, harps, white gowns, and wings. We are not taught that there was a created opponent to the angels who competes and stings. We have not been taught that the devil is a prick. We somehow believe he became that way. But the devil/dragon was poieō, formed or made to be sported with. The devil/dragon was manufactured and constructed to be a competitor, a being that would sting and goad.
Why would Yahweh create a stinging competitor? Think about our nature as a freewill being. If we didn’t have competition would we strive hard? Would we work better? Would we try to be efficient? If a runner runs a mile, with no competition, that runner could start to run, take a nap, and finish the mile two hours later. But if the runner has a competitor who can do it better, that runner strives harder. If an individual has someone mocking him or her, or someone goading him or her, that individual will define what he/she believes and learn to fight for it. Why does one need to learn to fight? Think on this for a moment. Let’s put this in the context of angels sporting or fighting with the devil. Isn’t there going to be a war in heaven where Michael and His angels will fight the devil and his angels? How about Daniel 10? What about humans? Are we to wage spiritual warfare against principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, and spiritual wickedness? An opponent causes each son of God to make a choice as to who to serve. But that is not where this decision ends; each son of God must contend and strive for masteries.
Yahweh also tells us that the devil/dragon was made to be played with by the angels. There is no suggestion of the devil being made to be played with by man.
Job 40:14 This is the chief of the creation of the Lord; made to be played with by his angels.
Job 40:19 G5123 This is G746 the beginning G4110 of the thing shaped G2962 by the lord; G4160 being made G1460.1 to be mocked G5259 by G3588 G32 his angels. G1473
Teasing and goading are a form of play that we all partake in. Sometimes innocent teasing goes too far and becomes hurtful. Sometimes goading causes a reaction of retaliation. Sometimes goading causes a reaction of submission. What happens when the devil goads people to sin? What happens when people submit to that sin?
The angels were to engage in banter with the devil. The angels were to spar with the archē, the chief of the Lord’s creation. What about humans? The adam may not have been created to spar or sport with the devil/dragon; but as we know, in a round about way the devil was able to steal the adam’s authority by sending a fallen angel, Gadreel, to Eve. Therefore under the authority of the devil, the creation is under constant goading and stinging. We also know that Jesus overcame all of the devil’s goading, mocking, and stinging, and took back the keys to hades and death.
Isn’t this why we see constant fighting among us? This is the culture that the devil brought to the earth. And while we don’t wrestle against humans, people’s minds have been blinded to the degree that we must learn to contend openly for the Lord Jesus. It is no wonder that the Masoretic text hid this truth in Job as they would have to explain why the Jews were not victims but failures of this game. The Masoretes would rather pretend that all Jews are victims than teach the truth, that the devil is a real enemy we all have to spar with. Those who claim victimization are those who lose the game. They sin and have a price to pay for the consequence of their sins. Most people want others to think that they innocently made a mistake rather than willfully chose to sin.
Today when people are captured by an opposing army they are beaten, taunted, and goaded. That is part of being a prisoner of war. In regular society people also yell, scream, and lie, when they hear something they don’t like. This has been the case more often then not regarding Yahweh. No matter whether the people reacting badly were Jews in the northern or southern kingdom, the Pharisees, Jews of today, or simply people who harden their hearts toward God. The devil via demons stirs up ire in people when they hear about Jesus, Yahweh, God the Father, the Creator, the Holy Spirit, or any other Biblical idea. Madness takes over peoples’ minds and they become enraged. This happened in Israel.
Josiah turned Judah around, bringing back the passover, and removing all the idols and evil practices in the temple including the booths for male and female prostitution within the temple. Eleven years and six months after Josiah died, Zedekiah was put in place to reign in Judah by Nebuchadnezzar. Zedekiah hardened his neck against Yahweh Elohim. The people also became wicked and defiled the temple again. Yahweh Elohim sent prophets to correct the situation.
2 Chronicles 36:11 Sedekias was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and be reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. 12 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God: he was not ashamed before the prophet Jeremias, nor because of the word of the Lord; 13 in that he rebelled against king Nabuchodonosor, which he adjured him by God not to do: but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart, so as not to return to the Lord God of Israel. 14 And all the great men of Juda, and the priests, and the people of the land transgressed abundantly in the abominations of the heathen, and polluted the house of the Lord which was in Jerusalem. 15 And the Lord God of their fathers sent by the hand of his prophets; rising early and sending his messengers, for he spared his people, and his sanctuary. 16 Nevertheless they sneered at his messengers, and set at nought his words, and mocked his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose up against his people, till there was no remedy. http://ecmarsh.com/lxx/Chronicles%20II/index.htm
2 Chronicles 36:16 G2532 And G1510.7.6 they were G3456 sneering at G3588 G32 his messengers, G1473 G2532 and G1848 treating with contempt G3588 G3056 his words, G1473 G2532 and G1702 mocking G1722 among G3588 G4396 his prophets, G1473 G2193 until G305 [4ascended G3588 1the G2372 2rage G2962 3 of the lord] G1722 among G3588 G2992 his people G1473 G2193 until G3756 there was no G1510.7.3 G2386 cure.
1702 LSJ Gloss:ἐμπαίζω to mock at, mock
Dodson:ἐμπαίζω I mock I mock, ridicule.
Thayer:
1) to play with, trifle with
1a) to mock
1b) to delude, deceive
ἐμπαίζω
KJV Usage: mock.
3456 LSJ Gloss:μυκτηρίζω to turn up the nose
Dodson:μυκτηρίζω I sneer at, disdain (properly: I turn up the nose as a sign of contempt), I sneer at, disdain.
Thayer:
1) to turn up the nose or sneer at
2) to mock, deride
μυκτηρίζω
muktērizō mook'-tay-rid'-zo From a derivative of the base of G3455 (meaning snout, as that whence lowing proceeds from); to make mouths at, that is, ridicule KJV Usage: mock.
1848 Dodson:ἐξουθενέω I ignore, despise I set at naught, ignore, despise.
Thayer:
1) to make of no account, despise utterly
ἐξουθενέω
exoutheneō ex-oo-then-eh'-o A variation of G1847 and meaning the same KJV Usage: contemptible, despise, least esteemed, set at nought.
2372 LSJ Gloss:θυμός the soul
Dodson:θυμός an outburst of passion, wrath.
Thayer:
1) passion, angry, heat, anger forthwith boiling up and soon subsiding again
2) glow, ardour, the wine of passion, inflaming wine (which either drives the drinker mad or kills him with its strength)
θυμός
thumos thoo-mos' From G2380; passion (as if breathing hard) KJV Usage: fierceness, indignation, wrath.
2386 LSJ Gloss:ἴαμα a means of healing, remedy, medicine
Dodson:ἴαμα healing, curing healing, curing, remedy.
Thayer:
1) a means of healing, remedy, medicine
2) a healing
ἴαμα
iama ee'-am-ah From G2390; a cure (the effect) KJV Usage: healing.
Not more than twelve years after Josiah died, Judah had been invaded by Egypt and had come under the captivity of Babylon. This time period is another eleven years before the second invasion of Babylon where everyone was carried off as captives. While we might think that what Hezekiah and Josiah did was wonderful, it is apparent that the people along with some of the religious leaders were not interested worshipping Yahweh. Yahweh sent his servants the messengers and the prophets. They were sneering, mocking, and deriding the messengers. Were the messengers the angels? We don’t know, but they despised the Lord’s logos. The people also mocked, goaded, pricked, and stung, the prophets. Yahweh’s passionate rage and indignation rose against the people. There was no cure, remedy, or healing, from the wrath of Yahweh. The people enjoyed their sins.
2 Chronicles 36:17 And he brought against them the king of the Chaldeans, and slew their young men with the sword in the house of his sanctuary, and did not spare Sedekias, and had no mercy upon their virgins, and they led away their old men: he delivered all things into their hands. 18 And all the vessels of the house of God, the great and the small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and all the treasures of the king and the great men; he brought all to Babylon.
19 And he burnt the house of the Lord, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt its palaces with fire, and utterly destroyed every beautiful vessel. 20 And he carried away the remnant to Babylon; and they were servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of the Medes. 21 That the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremias might be fulfilled, until the land should enjoy its sabbaths in resting and sabbath keeping all the days of its desolation, till the accomplishment of seventy years.
Twenty three years after Josiah’s death Judah went into captivity for seventy years because of their own bad behavior. Does it seem as if the people failed this sparring match with the devil? They did. We don’t expect this from the children of Israel, but they routinely rejected the prophets and the message that Yahweh sent. Ezra recounts this:
1 Esdras 1:46-52 (KJVApocrypha)
46 And made Zedechias king of Judea and Jerusalem, when he was one and twenty years old; and he reigned eleven years:
47 And he did evil also in the sight of the Lord, and cared not for the words that were spoken unto him by the prophet Jeremy from the mouth of the Lord.
48 And after that king Nabuchodonosor had made him to swear by the name of the Lord, he forswore himself, and rebelled; and hardening his neck, his heart, he transgressed the laws of the Lord God of Israel.
49 The governors also of the people and of the priests did many things against the laws, and passed all the pollutions of all nations, and defiled the temple of the Lord, which was sanctified in Jerusalem.
50 Nevertheless the God of their fathers sent by his messenger to call them back, because he spared them and his tabernacle also.
51 But they had his messengers in derision; and, look, when the Lord spake unto them, they made a sport of his prophets:
52 So far forth, that he, being wroth with his people for their great ungodliness, commanded the kings of the Chaldees to come up against them;
We can look at this sporting or competition as a test, in that the devil will poke at us to see what makes us crack. Here the political leaders and religious leaders were used by the devil to make sport of the prophets and messengers. This is the time when they first threw Jeremiah into prison then later threw him into a pit. Looking back, Jeremiah’s accuracy of seventy years of captivity tells us that he was speaking from Yahweh. We don’t know why the people rejected the Lord after Josiah brought the nation back to Yahweh, but it must have been the very same things that we all deal with today, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. The very same things that Jesus dealt with.
1 John 2:16 (AMP)
16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh [craving for sensual gratification] and the lust of the eyes [greedy longings of the mind] and the pride of life [assurance in one's own resources or in the stability of earthly things]—these do not come from the Father but are from the world [itself].
Notice that Ezra points out that the governors and priests did many things against the laws, and they surpassed all the other non sons of Jacob in pollutions. They also defiled the temple. There was approximately three hundred and thirty seven years of defilement in the temple, from the time of the kingdom split, to the glory leaving the temple in Ezekiel’s time.
Physically, Israel is such a small place as compared to the rest of the world. Why does the devil focus on Israel to the degree that Judah’s people surpassed all other nations in sin? Why did Judah sin more than every other nation? The devil focuses his attacks against Israel and Judah because they were worshippers of Yahweh. Israel and Judah sinned more than the rest of the world because they failed the sporting match with the devil. They were supposed to make Yahweh known to the world, instead they imploded due to their failure to resist the devil’s temptations, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
Ezekiel was taken as a captive in the first wave of captives into Babylon around eleven years after Josiah died. He wrote to Judah regarding what was going on and what would happen, but they did not change. One of the warnings that Yahweh had Ezekiel write was a story about two sisters, Oolla, the older, and Ooliba the younger. Oolla was of the northern kingdom, Ooliba was of the southern kingdom. This is one of the warnings they rejected. We want to pay attention to the way Yahweh is speaking to them. He is directly speaking about their sexual behavior. This is always a game of the devil, the lust of the flesh. How many religious people fall due to this game?
Ezekiel 23:1-49 (DRV)
1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, there were two women, daughters of one mother.
2 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, there were two women, daughters of one mother.
3 And they committed fornication in Egypt, in their youth they committed fornication: there were their breasts pressed down, and the teats of their virginity were bruised.
Before they came out of captivity in Egypt, they committed fornication and lost their virginity. They were mingling and fornicating with Egyptians. Remember that they were there for four hundred years. Let’s not get confused with the Hollywood version of the Exodus. The children of Israel were free people and not slaves until the very end of their time in Egypt. Jacob’s children were not the purest people as we also know. Reuben slept with Bilhah, Judah slept with prostitutes, they ganged up on Joseph and sold him. Years later they looked for Joseph in Egypt thinking he was a prostitute. They fought with many surrounding nations, as we can read in Jasher. The Israelites also worshipped Egyptian gods. As we know, Moses had is hands full just trying to get them free. They made a golden calf, they complained, they even named and worshipped the cherubim on the ark of the covenant. They lost their virginity.
Ezekiel 23:4 And their names were Oolla the elder, and Ooliba her younger sister: and I took them, and they bore sons and daughters. Now for their names, Samaria is Oolla, and Jerusalem is Ooliba.
5 And Oolla committed fornication against me, and doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians that came to her,
6 Who were clothed with blue, princes, and rulers, beautiful youths, all horsemen, mounted upon horses.
7 And she committed her fornications with those chosen men, all sons of the Assyrians: and she defiled herself with the uncleanness of all them on whom she doted.
8 Moreover also she did not forsake her fornications which she had committed in Egypt: for they also lay with her in her youth, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured out their fornication upon her.
The northern kingdom lusted after the Assyrians. The word doted is epitithēmi meaning “to lay on” or “be laid on”. Northern Israel was tempted by their princes and rulers, they probably looked stately and important. They were tempted by their blue clothes. They were tempted by the Assyrian youth. They saw the armies of Assyria and were smitten with the image of force and strength that they portrayed. They lusted in their flesh. Not only did they give themselves over to idolatry, but also to sexual fornication and adultery. Northern Israel offered her porneia, harlotry, adultery, and incest, with the Assyrians. Yahweh is speaking in sexual terms because this was a large part of their problem. We know that there was male and female prostitution in the temple, but Josiah got rid of all that, yet here we are between 12 and 23 years after Josiah died and prostitution was back in the temple. That is when the glory of God was taken up by the Cherubim and Ophanim in Ezekiel 10.
Northern Israel did not forsake the fornications that she committed in Egypt. Notice that the Egyptians poured out their fornications on Israel and Israel kept practicing those fornications. Israel lusted after the Assyrians like Egypt lusted after her. This tells us that the devil played them with sexual perversions, lust of the flesh. The devil distracted them with idols and empty worship and rituals as well, but a bigger problem was their physical porneia. It was all happening in the temple and in their homes.
Ezekiel 23:9 Therefore have I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the sons of the Assyrians, upon whose lust she doted.
10 They discovered her disgrace, took away her sons and daughters, and slew her with the sword: and they became infamous women, and they executed judgments in her.
Upon whose lust she lay on; she doted on. Whoever she lusted after she lay with. Remember the culture of gang rape in Benjamin and in Sodom? Porneia, harlotry, adultery, illicit sexual intercourse, homosexuality, and incest, are all aspects of what was going wrong here. The devil played Oolla with sexual temptations and idolatrous rituals. Yahweh is not speaking figuratively here, he is speaking directly. Remember in the desert the Israelites slept with the Moabite women, wasn’t that Balaam’s instruction to put out women to tempt the Israelite men? They ate and bowed down to the Moabite gods, but they also played the harlot with the women of Moab and Midian, Jasher 85, Numbers 25.
Ezekiel 23:11 And when her sister Ooliba saw this, she was mad with lust more than she: and she carried her fornication beyond the fornication of her sister.
12 Impudently prostituting herself to the children of the Assyrians, the princes, and rulers that came to her, clothed with divers colours, to the horsemen that rode upon horses, and to young men all of great beauty. )
13 And I saw that she was defiled, and that they both took one way.
14 And she increased her fornications: and when she had seen men painted on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans set forth in colours,
15 And girded with girdles about their reins, and with dyed turbans on their heads, the resemblance of all the captains, the likeness of the sons of Babylon, and of the land of the Chaldeans wherein they were born,
16 She doted upon them with the lust of her eyes, and she sent messengers to them into Chaldea.
17 And when the sons of Babylon were come to her to the bed of love, they defiled her with their fornications, and she was polluted by them, and her soul was glutted with them.
18 And she discovered her fornications, and discovered her disgrace: and my soul was alienated from her, as my soul was alienated from her sister.
Ooliba first prostituted herself with the Assyrians and then the Chaldeans. She saw painted images of them, lusted for them, and lay with them. They came to her bed, and then her harlotry was apokaluptō, revealed. Her soul, or breath of life, was seduced away with the Chaldeans/Babylonians. Yahweh’s soul, or breath of life, was separated or removed from Ooliba.
Ezekiel 23:19 For she multiplied her fornications, remembering the days of her youth, in which she played the harlot in the land of Egypt.
20 And she was mad with lust after lying with them whose flesh is as the flesh of asses: and whose issue as the issue of horses.
Ezekiel 23:20 G2532 And G2007 you doted G1909 upon G3588 the G* Chaldeans, G3739 which G3588 G4561 their flesh G1473 G5613 is as G4561 flesh G3688 of donkeys, G2532 and G126.1 [2 as genitals G2462 3of horses G3588 G126.1 1their genitals]. G1473
Ezekiel 23:20 H5689 ותעגבה For she doted H5921 על upon H6370 פלגשׁיהם their paramours, H834 אשׁר whose H1320 בשׂר flesh H2543 חמורים of asses, H1320 בשׂרם the flesh H2231 וזרמת and whose issue H5483 סוסים of horses. H2231 זרמתם׃ the issue
H2232
זרמה
zirmâh zir-maw' Feminine of H2230; a gushing of fluid (semen) KJV Usage: issue.
Brown-Driver-Briggs' Hebrew Definitions
זרמה
1. flow, issue
a. issue (of seminal discharge)
Origin: from H2230
TWOT: 581b
Parts of Speech: Noun Feminine
The Chaldean men were physically fit and well endowed. Does this mean the men of Israel were not as physically fit and well endowed? We don’t really know, but it seems it was the physique of the Chaldeans that they lusted after. The Hebrew makes it seem that Ooliba lusted after their semen, as male paramours, not female concubines. The men lusted after them, not the females. This is probably a subtle way of saying the men of Judah were engaging in fornication with the men of Chaldea. Since they had a history of gang rape and male prostitution in the temple, it is not hard to understand what was going on.
Oolla and Ooliba were sexually involved with the people from other countries, and Yahweh is not shy to point out their large genitals or seminal fluid. The Israelites were then led into other defiled practices. But it started with the lust of the flesh. Yahweh’s description to Ezekiel of the sexual sins of Israel is a very important understanding. If this is a game the devil plays with us, then it is understandable that Israel was played, and led astray with fornication. If we hide the devil, pretend he doesn’t exist, then all of this is not a game, it is simply life. However if it is a game to get our soul and Yahweh’s soul separated, then exposing the devil helps us overcome the game. Why are we keeping the devil’s tactics a secret? Here is the consequence of Ooliba’s sins.
Ezekiel 23:21 And thou hast renewed the wickedness of thy youth, when thy breasts were pressed in Egypt, and the papa of thy virginity broken.
22 Therefore, Ooliba, thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will raise up against thee all thy lovers with whom thy soul hath been glutted: and I will gather them together against thee round about.
23 The children of Babylon, and all the Chaldeans, the nobles, and the kings, and princes, all the sons of the Assyrians, beautiful young men, all the captains, and rulers, the princes of princes, and the renowned horsemen.
24 And they shall come upon thee well appointed with chariot and wheel, a multitude of people: they shall be armed against thee on every side with breastplate, and buckler, and helmet: and I will set judgment before them, and they shall judge thee by their judgments.
25 And I will set my jealousy against thee, which they shall execute upon thee with fury: they shall cut off thy nose and thy ears: and what remains shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons, and thy daughters, and thy residue shall be devoured by fire.
26 And they shall strip thee of thy garments, and take away the instruments of thy glory.
27 And I will put an end to thy wickedness in thee, and thy fornication brought out of the land of Egypt: neither shalt thou lift up thy eyes to them, nor remember Egypt any more.
28 For thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will deliver thee into the hands of them whom thou hatest, into their hands with whom thy soul hath been glutted.
29 And they shall deal with thee in hatred, and they shall take away all thy labours, and shall let thee go naked, and full of disgrace, and the disgrace of thy fornication shall be discovered, thy wickedness, and thy fornications.
The word glutted means “separated” or “removed”. The sins of Ooliba went so far as to separate her breath life from Yahweh, and now her lovers will turn on her and humiliate her.
Ezekiel 23:30 They have done these things to thee, because thou hast played the harlot with the nations among which thou wast defiled with their idols.
31 Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister, and I will give her cup into thy hand.
32 Thus saith the Lord God: Thou shalt drink thy sister's cup, deep, and wide: thou shalt be had in derision and scorn, which containeth very much.
33 Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness, and sorrow: with the cup of grief, and sadness, with the cup of thy sister Samaria.
34 And thou shalt drink it, and shalt drink it up even to the dregs, and thou shalt devour the fragments thereof, thou shalt rend thy breasts: because I have spoken it, saith the Lord God.
35 Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because thou hast forgotten me, and hast cast me off behind thy back, bear thou also thy wickedness, and thy fornications.
At this point the prophet Ezekiel is not being listened to. Remember the people mocked and goaded the prophets and messengers. But the end is near for their kingdom because they failed the test.
Ezekiel 23:36 And the Lord spoke to me, saying: Son of man, dost thou judge Oolla, and Ooliba, and dost thou declare to them their wicked deeds?
37 Because they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands, and they have committed fornication with their idols: moreover also their children, whom they bore to me, they have offered to them to be devoured.
38 Yea, and they have done this to me. They polluted my sanctuary on the same day, and profaned my sabbaths.
39 And when they sacrificed their children to their idols, and went into my sanctuary the same day to profane it: they did these things even in the midst of my house.
Here is a list of Ooliba’s sins: adultry, fornication with idols, offering their children through the fire, polluting the temple, profaning the sabbaths, slaying their children to idols, then going into the temple, as well as doing these things in the middle of the temple. Then they called for the Chaldeans and got dressed up and waited for them in their beds.
Ezekiel 23:40 They sent for men coming from afar, to whom they had sent a messenger: and behold they came: for whom thou didst wash thyself, and didst paint thy eyes, and wast adorned with women's ornaments.
41 Thou sattest on a very fine bed, and a table was decked before thee: whereupon thou didst set my incense, and my ointment.
42 And there was in her the voice of a multitude rejoicing: and to some that were brought of the multitude of men, and that came from the desert, they put bracelets on their hands, and beautiful crowns on their heads.
43 And I said to her that was worn out in her adulteries: Now will this woman still continue in her fornication.
44 And they went in to her, as to a harlot: so went they in unto Oolla, and Ooliba, wicked women.
There wasn’t simply one little thing that went wrong with Oolla and Ooliba. There were many things that they did over and over again until Yahweh’s breath was separated from them. This is the intent of the devil and his game. The devil wants to separate us from Yahweh.
Ezekiel 23:45 They therefore are just men: these shall judge them as adulteresses are judged, and as shedders of blood are judged: because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands.
46 For thus saith the Lord God: Bring a multitude upon them, and deliver them over to tumult and rapine:
47 And let the people stone them with stones, and let them be stabbed with their swords: they shall kill their sons and daughters, and their houses they shall burn with fire.
48 And I will take away wickedness out of the land: and all women shall learn, not to do according to the wickedness of them.
49 And they shall render your wickedness upon you, and you shall bear the sins of your idols: and you shall know that I am the Lord God.
The word rapine means “ravaging” or “plundered”. Since the sisters were separated from Yahweh he called on their lovers to destroy them. Wickedness was going to be removed from the land. This is the message that the people refused to hear. This is the warning that they heard which made them sneer at the messengers. This is the prophetic word they mocked the prophets for speaking. What happened? The devil led the people, the religious leaders, and the political leaders, into sexual sins first, then idolatrous sins. Then the common people joined in. Once the people enjoyed their sin, the devil gave them more things to feed their lusts. The devil led them further and further away from Yahweh until there was a separation between them. Yahweh tried to warn them, but they didn’t listen. By that time they had become very hardened because they enjoyed their sin. They mocked the prophets who warned them because they wanted to continue in their adultery and fornications.
Just a side note regarding the names Oolla and Ooliba. Oolla in Hebrew means “her own tent” and was a name referring to the ten tribes. In Hebrew Ooliba means “tent of the high place” and referred to Judah. The tent of a human is their body, the tent of the Lord is the tabernacle. Yahweh’s breath left the human tent Oolla. Yahweh’s breath left the temple, Ooliba. Both the soul’s of Oolla and Ooliba were separated causing Yahweh’s breath to leave both individual tents and the temple. Oolla and Ooliba were drawn by the lust of the flesh away from Yahweh until they stiffened their necks against Yahweh, enjoying their lusts and losing the game. They were not victims, they simply chose to lose the breath of Yahweh Elohim.
Jacob’s children were tested and tempted with porneuō/porneia/pornē/pornos from the time when they were still living with Jacob. Therefore it is not unusual to assume that as time goes on, more people involve themselves in greater perversions because that is the goading of the devil. And before we become so pious as to think it doesn’t happen in the church let’s remember Jesus’ seven letters to the seven churches. There is sexual perversions, paramours, and harlots, in the church as well. Isn’t this a slap in the face to Yahweh? The place humans are to go and connect with Yahweh, whether the temple or the church, is a place that has become filled with pornē.
This is just a small snapshot of one of the ways the devil goads humans. Fornication is an easy target because we have not been told that the devil is tempting us in this way. The phrase “lust of the flesh” is well understood here in this context. Yahweh is not shy about Israel’s fornication and speaks very plainly to us regarding the downfall of the two sisters. The strongest point we should come away with is that sin separated our breath from Yahweh and Yahweh’s breath from us, in our tent (body). Sin in the temple or church also separates Yahweh’s breath from us. When people embrace pornē they are no longer victims but participants with the devil. Those people become advocates for the devil and evangelize their behaviors causing others to follow. If we do not stand up to the devil’s goading, testing, tempting, we lose the game. Resist.
