The Bible’s book of Ezekiel, chapter 23, employs graphic sexual imagery. I wonder why. I get the analogies of lust, prostitution, and adultery, as applied to the northern and southern regions of the Holy Land. The Hebrew people had broken fidelity to their God in both the religious and political spheres. They had preferred entanglements with the gods and governments of nearby nations, Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon, over faithfulness with their own God.. Rather than serve their One True God, rather than mustering forces to ally with their God-given kings, they had worshiped various idols and had switched alliances from one nearby nation to another to another, depending on their perceptions of the political advantages to be gained.
But why employ sexual imagery in order to communicate God’s disapproval? I don’t know with certainty, but I imagine the ancient Hebrews professed a powerful sexual ethic, whether they practiced one or not. I imagine a people possessed by disgust and shame when confronted with sexual impropriety. If this is so, then it follows that speaking the analogies of lust, prostitution, and adultery would have had a shocking effect on any Hebrew listeners. One would hope that those so shocked would listen carefully to the speaker.
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