Texts in Conversation
Isaiah describes Israel setting up pagan symbols and going to bed with its idols like an unfaithful wife. Ezekiel uses the same sexual imagery when Jerusalem makes male idols from gold and prostitutes herself with them.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Isaiah 57:8
Hebrew Bible
7 On every high, elevated hill you prepare your bed; you go up there to offer sacrifices. 8 Behind the door and doorpost you put your symbols. Indeed, you depart from me and go up and invite them into bed with you. You purchase favors from them; you love their bed, and gaze longingly on their naked bodies. 9 You take olive oil as tribute to your king, along with many perfumes. You send your messengers to a distant place; you go all the way to Sheol.
Ezekiel 16:17
Hebrew Bible
16 You took some of your clothing and made for yourself decorated high places; you engaged in prostitution on them. You went to him to become his. 17 You also took your beautiful jewelry, made of my gold and my silver I had given to you, and made for yourself male images and engaged in prostitution with them. 18 You took your embroidered clothing and used it to cover them; you offered my olive oil and my incense to them.
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Notes and References
"... Second, she melted down the gold and silver jewelry she had received from Yahweh and recast them into male images. The fabrication of cult objects out of personal jewelry recalls the episode of the golden calf at Sinai (Exodus 32:2-4, 24), as well as Gideon's ephod (Judges 8:24-27). The gender of these “male images” was determined by Jerusalem's own personification as a woman. Whether Ezekiel envisages simply phallic forms, as in Isaiah 57:8, or full human figures is uncertain, though the care they are given makes the latter more likely. ..."
Block, Daniel I.
The Book of Ezekiel: Chapters 1-24
(pp. 488-489) William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2007
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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