Ezekiel 23:36,37

The Charges Ezekiel is to Bring against Samaria and Jerusalem.

‘Moreover Yahweh said to me, “Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations, for they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands, and they have committed adultery with their idols. And they have also caused their sons, whom they bore to me, to pass through the fire to them to be devoured.” '

The question was not really intended to give Ezekiel an option. Rather it was a way of introducing the charges. Four main charges were to be laid against both Samaria and Jerusalem by Ezekiel. Sexual misbehaviour, violence, idolatry and child sacrifice. Spiritual adultery was also included in the idea. It should be noted that the first two sins of practical adultery and violence, a result of their ignoring Yahweh's covenant and following idols, are paralleled in the second two sins, spiritual adultery and spiritual violence. They were behaving as they thought the gods behaved, and doing what they thought the gods expected. Misbehaviour regularly follows wrong belief.

‘Their sons, whom they bore to me.' They are doubly guilty in that they offered to these gods what was essentially Yahweh's. Their sons had been dedicated to Yahweh and to the covenant by circumcision and sacrifice. Now they offered them to Molech. So this added spiritual theft to their crimes.