Ezekiel 16 Part Seven: Arise, Shine!

Notices the language God uses in verse 11 and 12: “I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands and a necklace around your neck. I also put a ring in your nostril, earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head.” The Hebrew word for ornamentation is similar to the word for witness or testimony, and each of these pieces was to serve as a reminder of the one who gave them. God will later ask of his unfaithful bride in Jeremiah 2:32: “Can a virgin forget her ornaments or a bride her attire?” How can you forget these signs of beauty and testimony between us? These are some of the same gifts that Eliezer put on Rebekah to show Isaac’s intention towards her in Genesis 24:47; it says that Eliezer “put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her arms.” The crown of course demonstrates Israel’s rise to a position of honor and authority.

Verse 13-14 concludes: “...so you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. Then your fame went forth among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect because of My splendor which I bestowed on you," declares the Lord God.”

This description reminded me of the last chapters in Isaiah. For pages the prophet goes on, in no kind terms, as he brings forth the indictments against Israel. But then Isaiah writes of how the Lord is going to restore them at the end of chapter 59, and 60:1 opens this way: “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. For behold, darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples; but the LORD will rise upon you and His glory will appear upon you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.” Observe how God’s glory becomes hers, and then the nations come to her light and the brightness of her rising.

“The Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord gives grace and glory; no good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11).