Reading for March 2nd

Read Ezekiel 16.15-34
God's charge that Jerusalem used the gifts to become a whore is a way to describe religious unfaithfulness.
The metaphor then shifts to political alliances with foreign nations.
Israel allied itself with Egypt during the reigns of Solomon (1 Kings 3.1) and later Hoshea
(2 Kings 17.4).
Following Israel's destruction in 722/1 BCE, Assyria granted Philistia control of Israelite and Judean territory in the coastal plain.
Israel made an alliance with Assyria during the reign of Menahem (2 Kings 15.17-22), and Judah turned to Assyria during the reign of Ahaz (2 Kings 20; Isa 39).
In verses 30-34 Ezekiel charges that Jerusalem pays her lovers.
Ahaz's "bribe" to Tiglath-pileser (2 Kings 16.8) would be a case in point.
When Nebuchadnezzar fist conquered Jerusalem, he stripped the Temple of its wealth
(2 Kings 24.10-17).
Comments or Questions....