Ezekiel 16

God wasn’t saying the father and mother of the people of Israel were Amorite and Hittite. Abraham and Sarah were from what is now Iraq. The father of the Jews was Iraqi, to use a modern map. The Amorite and Hittites were hill people who lived in the rolling hills in and around Jerusalem. They apparently settled at Jerusalem and lived there until David conquered the town and made it his capital.

People in Bible times taught that rubbing salt on a newborn baby would help protect the baby from sickness. And they taught that it toughened the baby’s skin, making the child less susceptible to injury and disease. In fact, salt does inhibit the growth of bacteria and fungi. And it may have helped protect the incision someone made when cutting the umbilical cord, to keep it from becoming infected. Bible writers also used salt as a metaphor for spiritual purity and endurance and for keeping the covenant agreement that God and the people of Israel made to stay devoted to one another. When Ezekiel wrote about Jerusalem not getting rubbed with salt, he may have been saying they became diseased spiritually.

Instead of abortion, people who didn’t want babies killed them or left them to die of exposure or to get eaten by an animal.

In marriage today people usually exchange wedding rings. In Bible times it seemed common for the man to place a cloak on the bride, a symbol of protection. When the widow Ruth asked Boaz to marry her, she said “You are my relative and my family savior. Cover me” (Ruth 3:9). It was a custom for the closest relative to marry a related widow—ancient social security, particularly social it might seem today. Widows, orphans, and immigrants were among the most vulnerable people. And Bible writers said God wants others to look out for them and help them. Here, Ezekiel seems to be writing about the covenant or the agreement God made with the people of Israel from the time of Abraham and on to Moses and beyond. Ezekiel is comparing that agreement to a marriage contract or nuptials in which a couple vow to devote themselves to one another and stay faithful. Ezekiel says God is telling the people they have become unfaithful because they worship other gods and they practice horrifying religious rituals, including ritual sex and child sacrifice.

Some people seemed to believe that sexual rites in devotion to gods such as Baal, entertained them. And in return, the gods would answer prayers for rain, health, and anything else the worshipper wanted.

Ezekiel seems to be talking about alliances Judah made with Egyptians, Assyrians, and Babylonians. Instead of trusting God, the people of Judah, with Jerusalem as the capital, trusted themselves and their good judgment in making allies. Those allies eventually turned on Judah.

Samaria was in the territory north of Jerusalem. It includes the city of Samaria. The region extends up north to the Carmel Mountains and to the southern edge of the Jezreel Valley beyond. It was where the northern tribes of Israel settled. They took the name of Israel with them. The southern tribes became known as Judah, headquartered out of the capital city of Jerusalem.

Sodom and Gomorrah with neighboring communities are famous for getting wiped off the map because of sin. Location unknown. Many speculate the cities were near what is now the southern shallows of the Dead Sea. Some also theorize that before the land flooded it was a fertile plain in the southern Jordan River Valley, with streams flowing north into the Dead Sea. At the shoreline, the Dead Sea is the lowest body of water on earth (about 430 meters/1,400 feet below sea level).