Ezekiel 23:20—Shocking Imagery, Serious Message: Redeeming the Metaphor
Few verses in Scripture provoke as much discomfort as Ezekiel 23:20:
“There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses.” (NIV)
At first glance, it’s startling—offensive, even. Why would God inspire such vivid, graphic language? Why would a holy text describe something so crude? Yet when we pause long enough to look past the shock, we find a sobering truth: this passage is not about obscenity but about idolatry. It is the language of betrayal—the imagery of a marriage defiled and a covenant broken.
Ezekiel 23:20 stands as a prophetic mirror held up to the human heart, showing us just how grotesque our spiritual adultery looks from God’s perspective.
The Context: Two Sisters, One Tragic Story
Ezekiel 23 tells the story of two sisters—Oholah and Oholibah—who represent the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah. God portrays them as unfaithful wives who traded covenant love for foreign alliances and pagan pleasures.
Oholah symbolizes Samaria (the northern kingdom).
Oholibah symbolizes Jerusalem (the southern kingdom).
Both entered into relationships with foreign nations, not only politically but spiritually, adopting their gods and customs. What was meant to be a holy nation devoted to Yahweh became entangled in the lust of empire, wealth, and power.
Ezekiel doesn’t spare the reader. He uses shocking imagery—adulterous acts, lewd descriptions, and degrading metaphors—not to titillate but to jar. The prophet wants Israel to feel what God feels when His people run to idols.
If we recoil at the language, that’s precisely the point. We’re meant to.
Why Such Graphic Imagery? God’s Pain in Prophetic Form
Ezekiel’s words sound extreme because Israel’s betrayal was extreme. When human language fails to capture the weight of divine heartbreak, the Holy Spirit sometimes chooses the rawest imagery possible.
In the ancient world, adultery was more than personal—it was covenantal. To break a marriage was to shatter trust, intimacy, and purpose. So when God likens Israel’s idolatry to sexual immorality, He’s saying, “This is what My covenant means to you. This is how deeply you’ve wounded our relationship.”
By invoking the grotesque image of bestial lust, Ezekiel underscores how unnatural and debased their idolatry had become. What started as spiritual curiosity ended as moral corruption.
This passage is not about physical lust—it’s about the spiritual appetite of a people who prefer idols that excite their senses over a God who demands their hearts.
Spiritual Adultery: Then and Now
It’s easy to dismiss Ezekiel 23:20 as an ancient relic—a cultural artifact about long-dead nations. Yet its message echoes powerfully today.
Whenever we trade holiness for habit, worship for wealth, or intimacy with God for influence, we replay this same story. Modern idolatry doesn’t involve wooden statues or Babylonian rituals. It looks like:
Trusting in career success more than in God’s provision.
Seeking validation from others instead of resting in His approval.
Prioritizing comfort, entertainment, or digital distraction over time in prayer and Scripture.
The names have changed, but the addiction is the same: we crave what stimulates rather than what sanctifies.
God’s people still chase lovers who cannot love them back.
The Anatomy of a Broken Covenant
Ezekiel’s metaphor unfolds like a painful love story.
Infatuation – Israel was drawn to the glamour of foreign nations, just as we are drawn to the world’s applause.
Compromise – They began “flirting” with other gods, mixing worship of Yahweh with idols.
Bondage – What began as curiosity ended in captivity. The Assyrians and Babylonians—those “lovers”—eventually enslaved them.
Every false god promises pleasure but demands payment. Sin always seduces before it enslaves.
Reading the Verse Without Shame—but With Sobriety
Christians often avoid Ezekiel 23:20 because it feels inappropriate for polite conversation. But to censor it is to lose its power. Scripture’s honesty about human depravity is part of its redemptive beauty.
The verse’s graphic language is not pornographic—it’s prophetic. It’s God’s way of making sin visible, because hidden sin thrives in shadows. When we sanitize Scripture to make it more palatable, we risk dulling its edge and diluting its truth.
Ezekiel 23:20 forces us to confront not only ancient Israel’s perversion but our own capacity for spiritual unfaithfulness.
How God Uses Disgust to Awaken Repentance
There’s a reason we feel revulsion when reading this verse: it’s meant to awaken us. The discomfort isn’t a flaw in the Bible—it’s a feature.
Sin is ugly. Idolatry is obscene. Faithlessness is heartbreaking. God does not describe it gently because He wants us to see it as He sees it.
Just as a doctor might show a patient an X-ray of a diseased organ, God shows us the ugliness of our sin—not to shame us, but to save us.
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Though Ezekiel’s vision is dominated by judgment, it’s not devoid of hope. Later in Ezekiel 36, God promises a new heart and a new spirit for His people:
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26)
This is the turning point of grace. God does not expose our sin to humiliate us but to heal us. He confronts us with the rawness of our rebellion so that we might run to the refuge of His mercy.
In Christ, the story of Ezekiel 23 finds its resolution. Where Israel failed as the unfaithful bride, the Church—Christ’s redeemed bride—is called to fidelity, clothed in white not because she’s pure by nature but because He has washed her clean.
Jesus and the Faithful Bride
The Apostle Paul echoes Ezekiel’s theme when he writes:
“I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.” (2 Corinthians 11:2)
This marriage imagery threads through all of Scripture—from Hosea’s pursuit of his adulterous wife to Revelation’s wedding feast of the Lamb.
God’s love is covenantal, not contractual. Contracts are conditional; covenants are relational. Even when His people broke their vows, He remained faithful.
Ezekiel 23 shows us the ugliness of our unfaithfulness, but the cross shows us the beauty of His faithfulness.
Redeeming the Metaphor
So how do we “redeem” a passage like Ezekiel 23:20? We do it by restoring its divine intent.
See it through the lens of covenant, not carnality.
It’s not about anatomy; it’s about allegiance. God uses shocking images to wake up numbed consciences.Recognize the pattern in our own lives.
Every time we pursue fulfillment apart from God, we repeat Israel’s mistake.Return to the faithful Bridegroom.
The ugliness of the metaphor magnifies the beauty of redemption. We are loved by a God who not only calls out our sin but calls us back home.
Lessons for the Modern Church
The Church today faces temptations eerily similar to ancient Israel’s. When we prioritize numbers over holiness, influence over integrity, or comfort over conviction, we become Oholibah all over again.
Ezekiel 23:20 warns us what happens when worship becomes worldly. The Church loses her purity not when sinners enter her doors, but when idols enter her heart.
We need prophets—not marketers—who will speak truth with tears, calling the Bride of Christ back to her first love.
What This Means Personally
On a personal level, Ezekiel 23:20 challenges every believer to examine what captivates their affections.
What do I run to when I’m weary?
What do I trust when God seems distant?
What do I secretly “lust” after in my heart—approval, success, pleasure, or control?
God is not interested in surface-level morality. He desires a heart wholly His.
“You shall have no other gods before Me.” (Exodus 20:3)
That commandment was not about statues alone. It’s about intimacy—guarding the sacred space of the heart from competing loves.
Hope After the Fall
Ezekiel’s audience was exiled, humiliated, and broken. Yet even there, God spoke restoration.
Today, no matter how far someone has gone, no matter how spiritually “adulterous” they’ve been, the invitation remains the same:
“Return to Me,” declares the Lord Almighty, “and I will return to you.” (Zechariah 1:3)
The shock of Ezekiel 23:20 loses its sting when viewed through the cross. Christ bore the shame of our unfaithfulness so that we could wear the robe of righteousness.
The verse that once made us flinch becomes a window into grace.
A Prophetic Wake-Up Call
In a culture that celebrates self-expression and sensuality, Ezekiel 23:20 reads like divine counter-programming. It reminds us that God sees beneath our polished surfaces. He is not fooled by our religious language or moral façades. He desires purity—not prudishness, but wholehearted devotion.
The world may find Ezekiel’s imagery offensive, but sin is far more offensive to a holy God. When we minimize sin, we minimize grace.
To redeem the metaphor is to recover reverence—to tremble before the Word again.
Conclusion: From Shocking to Saving
Ezekiel 23:20 was never meant to sit comfortably in our devotional reading. It’s meant to disturb us into deeper repentance and awe.
Behind the scandalous language is a love story too fierce to abandon its beloved. God exposes spiritual adultery not because He’s vindictive, but because He’s jealous for our hearts.
The God who once thundered through Ezekiel now whispers through the gospel:
“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” (Jeremiah 31:3)
May the shock of Ezekiel 23:20 lead us not to disgust, but to devotion.
