One night uncle Paul told us a story about our family…
Long, long ago in a land far, far away once there were two sisters who were daughters of the same mother. They were Canaanites—their father was an Amorite and their mother a Hittite. The older sister was named Oholah Samaria, and her younger sister was Oholibah Jerusalem.
Our Father from long ago married the sisters, and they bore him sons and daughters...
Yehowah Confronts Oholibah Jerusalem
“On the day you were born, no one cared about you. Your umbilical cord was not cut, and you were never washed, rubbed with salt, and wrapped in cloth. No one had the slightest interest in you; no one pitied you or cared for you. On the day you were born, you were unwanted, dumped in a field and left to die.
“But I came by and saw you there, helplessly kicking about in your own blood. As you lay there, I said, ‘Live!’ And I helped you to thrive like a plant in the field. You grew up and became a beautiful jewel. Your breasts became full, and your body hair grew, but you were still naked. And when I passed by again, I saw that you were old enough for love. So I wrapped my cloak around you to cover your nakedness and declared my marriage vows. I made a covenant with you, says the Sovereign Yehowah, and you became mine.
“Then I bathed you and washed off your blood, and I rubbed fragrant oils into your skin. I gave you expensive clothing of fine linen and silk, beautifully embroidered, and sandals made of fine goatskin leather. I gave you lovely jewelry, bracelets, beautiful necklaces,a ring for your nose, earrings for your ears, and a lovely crown for your head. And so you were adorned with gold and silver. Your clothes were made of fine linen and were beautifully embroidered. You ate the finest foods—choice flour, honey, and olive oil—and became more beautiful than ever. You looked like a queen, and so you were! Your fame soon spread throughout the world because of your beauty. I dressed you in my splendor and perfected your beauty, says the Sovereign Yehowah.
“But you thought your fame and beauty were your own. So you gave yourself as a prostitute to every man who came along. Your beauty was theirs for the asking. You used the lovely things I gave you to make shrines for idols, where you played the prostitute. Unbelievable! How could such a thing ever happen? You took the very jewels and gold and silver ornaments I had given you and made statues of men and worshiped them. This is adultery against me! You used the beautifully embroidered clothes I gave you to dress your idols. Then you used my special oil and my incense to worship them. Imagine it! You set before them as a sacrifice the choice flour, olive oil, and honey I had given you, says the Sovereign Yehowah.
“Then you took your sons and daughters—the children you had borne to me—and sacrificed them to your gods. Was your prostitution not enough? Must you also slaughter my children by sacrificing them to idols? In all your years of adultery and detestable sin, you have not once remembered the days long ago when you lay naked in a field, kicking about in your own blood.
“What sorrow awaits you, says the Sovereign Yehowah. In addition to all your other wickedness, you built a pagan shrine and put altars to idols in every town square. On every street corner you defiled your beauty, offering your body to every passerby in an endless stream of prostitution. Then you added lustful Egypt to your lovers, provoking my anger with your increasing promiscuity. That is why I struck you with my fist and reduced your boundaries. I handed you over to your enemies, the Philistines, and even they were shocked by your lewd conduct. You have prostituted yourself with the Assyrians, too. It seems you can never find enough new lovers! And after your prostitution there, you still were not satisfied. You added to your lovers by embracing Babylonia, the land of merchants, but you still weren’t satisfied.
“What a sick heart you have, says the Sovereign Yehowah, to do such things as these, acting like a shameless prostitute. You build your pagan shrines on every street corner and your altars to idols in every square. In fact, you have been worse than a prostitute, so eager for sin that you have not even demanded payment. Yes, you are an adulterous wife who takes in strangers instead of her own husband. Prostitutes charge for their services—but not you! You give gifts to your lovers, bribing them to come and have sex with you. So you are the opposite of other prostitutes. You pay your lovers instead of their paying you!
“Therefore, you prostitute, listen to this message from the Yehowah! This is what the Sovereign Yehowah says: Because you have poured out your lust and exposed yourself in prostitution to all your lovers, and because you have worshiped detestable idols, and because you have slaughtered your children as sacrifices to your gods, this is what I am going to do. I will gather together all your allies—the lovers with whom you have sinned, both those you loved and those you hated—and I will strip you naked in front of them so they can stare at you. I will punish you for your murder and adultery. I will cover you with blood in my jealous fury. Then I will give you to these many nations who are your lovers, and they will destroy you. They will knock down your pagan shrines and the altars to your idols. They will strip you and take your beautiful jewels, leaving you stark naked. They will band together in a mob to stone you and cut you up with swords. They will burn your homes and punish you in front of many women. I will stop your prostitution and end your payments to your many lovers.
“Then at last my fury against you will be spent, and my jealous anger will subside. I will be calm and will not be angry with you anymore. But first, because you have not remembered your youth but have angered me by doing all these evil things, I will fully repay you for all of your sins, says the Sovereign Yehowah. For you have added lewd acts to all your detestable sins. Everyone who makes up proverbs will say of you, ‘Like mother, like daughter.’ For your mother loathed her husband and her children, and so do you. And you are exactly like your sisters, for they despised their husbands and their children. Truly your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.
“Your older sister was Oholah Samaria, who lived with her daughters in the north. Your younger sister was Sodom, who lived with her daughters in the south. But you have not merely sinned as they did. You quickly surpassed them in corruption. As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Yehowah, Sodom and her daughters were never as wicked as you and your daughters. Sodom’s sins were pride, gluttony, and laziness, while the poor and needy suffered outside her door. She was proud and committed detestable sins, so I wiped her out, as you have seen.
“Even Oholah Samaria did not commit half your sins. You have done far more detestable things than your sisters ever did. They seem righteous compared to you. Shame on you! Your sins are so terrible that you make your sisters seem righteous, even virtuous.
“I'll bring them back from their captivity—that is, from the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, along with the captivity of Samaria and her daughters and the captivity of your captives among them. Then you will be truly ashamed of everything you have done, for your sins make them feel good in comparison. Yes, your sisters, Sodom and Oholah Samaria, and all their people will be restored, and at that time you also will be restored. In your proud days you held Sodom in contempt. But now your greater wickedness has been exposed to all the world, and you are the one who is scorned—by Edom and all her neighbors and by Philistia. This is your punishment for all your lewdness and detestable sins, says the Yehowah.
“Now this is what the Sovereign Yehowah says: I will give you what you deserve, for you have taken your solemn vows lightly by breaking your covenant.
“Nevertheless, I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters, both your older and your younger; and I will give them to you as daughters, but not because of your covenant. Thus I will establish My covenant with you, and you shall know that I am Yehowah, so that you may remember and be ashamed and never open your mouth anymore because of your humiliation, when I have forgiven you for all that you have done. I, the Sovereign Yehowah, have spoken!”
Oholah Samaria
Then Oholah Samaria lusted after other lovers instead of me, and she gave her love to the Assyrian officers. They were all attractive young men, captains and commanders dressed in handsome blue, charioteers driving their horses. And so she prostituted herself with the most desirable men of Assyria, worshiping their idols and defiling herself. For when she left Egypt, she did not leave her spirit of prostitution behind. She was still as lewd as in her youth, when the Egyptians slept with her, fondled her breasts, and used her as a prostitute.
One day Oholah Samaria conceived and bore a son.
And Yehowah said, “Name him Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will punish the house of Jehu for the bloodshed of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. “On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.”
Then Oholah Samaria conceived again and gave birth to a daughter.
And Yehowah said, “Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, but I will utterly forget them.
“But I will have compassion on the house of Judah and deliver them by Yehowah their God, and will not deliver them by bow, sword, battle, horses or horsemen.”
When Oholah Samaria had weaned Lo-ruhamah, Oholah Samaria conceived and gave birth to a son.
And Yehowah said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not My people and I am not your God.”
And so she was handed over to her Assyrian lovers, whom she desired so much. They stripped her naked, took away her sons and daughters, and executed her with a sword. All the women gossiped about how she was punished.
Oholibah Jerusalem
Yet even though Oholibah Jerusalem saw what had happened to Oholah Samaria, her sister, she followed right in her footsteps. And she was even more depraved, abandoning herself to her lust and prostitution. She fawned over all the Assyrian officers—those captains and commanders in handsome uniforms, those charioteers driving their horses—all of them attractive young men. I saw the way she was going, defiling herself just like her older sister.
Then she carried her prostitution even further. She fell in love with pictures that were painted on a wall—pictures of Babylonian military officers, outfitted in striking red uniforms. Handsome belts encircled their waists, and flowing turbans crowned their heads. They were dressed like chariot officers from the land of Babylonia.When she saw these paintings, she longed to give herself to them, so she sent messengers to Babylonia to invite them to come to her. So they came and committed adultery with her, defiling her in the bed of love. After being defiled, however, she rejected them in disgust...
Yehowah said, “In the same way, I became disgusted with Oholibah Jerusalem and rejected her, just as I had rejected her sister, because she flaunted herself before them and gave herself to satisfy their lusts. Yet she turned to even greater prostitution, remembering her youth when she was a prostitute in Egypt. She lusted after lovers with genitals as large as a donkey’s and emissions like those of a horse. And so, Oholibah Jerusalem, you relived your former days as a young girl in Egypt, when you first allowed your breasts to be fondled.
“Therefore, Oholibah Jerusalem, this is what the Sovereign Yehowah says: I will send your lovers against you from every direction—those very nations from which you turned away in disgust. For the Babylonians will come with all the Chaldeans from Pekod and Shoa and Koa. And all the Assyrians will come with them—handsome young captains, commanders, chariot officers, and other high-ranking officers, all riding their horses. They will all come against you from the northd with chariots, wagons, and a great army prepared for attack. They will take up positions on every side, surrounding you with men armed with shields and helmets. And I will hand you over to them for punishment so they can do with you as they please. I will turn my jealous anger against you, and they will deal harshly with you. They will cut off your nose and ears, and any survivors will then be slaughtered by the sword. Your children will be taken away as captives, and everything that is left will be burned. They will strip you of your beautiful clothes and jewels. In this way, I will put a stop to the lewdness and prostitution you brought from Egypt. You will never again cast longing eyes on those things or fondly remember your time in Egypt.
“For this is what the Sovereign Yehowah says: I will surely hand you over to your enemies, to those you loathe, those you rejected. They will treat you with hatred and rob you of all you own, leaving you stark naked. The shame of your prostitution will be exposed to all the world. You brought all this on yourself by prostituting yourself to other nations, defiling yourself with all their idols. Because you have followed in your sister’s footsteps, I will force you to drink the same cup of terror she drank.
“Yes, this is what the Sovereign Yehowah says:
“You will drink from your sister’s cup of terror,
a cup that is large and deep.
It is filled to the brim
with scorn and derision.Drunkenness and anguish will fill you,
for your cup is filled to the brim with distress and desolation,
the same cup your sister Samaria drank.
You will drain that cup of terror
to the very bottom.
Then you will smash it to pieces
and beat your breast in anguish.
I, the Sovereign Yehowah, have spoken!
“And because you have forgotten me and turned your back on me, this is what the Sovereign Yehowah says: You must bear the consequences of all your lewdness and prostitution.”
Yehowah’s Judgment on Both Sisters
The Yehowah said to me, “Son of man, you must accuse Oholah Samaria and Oholibah Jerusalem of all their detestable sins. They have committed both adultery and murder—adultery by worshiping idols and murder by burning as sacrifices the children they bore to me. Furthermore, they have defiled my Temple and violated my Sabbath day! On the very day that they sacrificed their children to their idols, they boldly came into my Temple to worship! They came in and defiled my house.
“You sisters sent messengers to distant lands to get men. Then when they arrived, you bathed yourselves, painted your eyelids, and put on your finest jewels for them. You sat with them on a beautifully embroidered couch and put my incense and my special oil on a table that was spread before you. From your room came the sound of many men carousing. They were lustful men and drunkards from the wilderness, who put bracelets on your wrists and beautiful crowns on your heads. Then I said, ‘If they really want to have sex with old worn-out prostitutes like these, let them!’ And that is what they did. They had sex with Oholah Samaria and Oholibah Jerusalem, these shameless prostitutes. But righteous people will judge these sister cities for what they really are—adulterers and murderers.
“Now this is what the Sovereign Yehowah says: Bring an army against them and hand them over to be terrorized and plundered. For their enemies will stone them and kill them with swords. They will butcher their sons and daughters and burn their homes. In this way, I will put an end to lewdness and idolatry in the land, and my judgment will be a warning to others not to follow their wicked example. You will be fully repaid for all your prostitution—your worship of idols. Yes, you will suffer the full penalty. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign Yehowah.”
Yet One Day...
Yet the number of the sons of Israel
will be like the sand of the sea,
Which cannot be measured or numbered…
And in the place where it was said to them,
“You are not My people,”
It will be said to them,
“You are the sons of the living God.”
And the sons of Judah
and the sons of Israel
will be gathered together,
and they will appoint for themselves one leader,
and they will go up from the land.
For great will be the day of Jezreel.
My sisters and I were shocked to hear such a story about our Father long ago and his wives—our family! Seeing us upset, Uncle Paul quickly continued…
I tell the truth in Christ. I am not lying, my conscience testifying with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brothers’ sake, my relatives according to the flesh, who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service, and the promises; of whom are the fathers, and from whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God, blessed forever. Amen!
But it was not that the word of God had failed, for not all who are from Israel have descended from our ancestor Israel. Neither because they are of his seed are they all children of his ancestor Abraham, because it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as his seed. For this is a word of promise, “At the appointed time I will come, and Sarah will have a son.” Not only so, but Rebekah also conceived by one, by our father Isaac. And though not even being born—neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him who calls—it was said to her, “The elder will serve the younger.” Even as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? May it never be! For he said to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I caused you to be raised up, that I might show in you my power, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires.
You will say then to me, “Why does he still find fault? For who can withstand God's will?” But indeed, who are we to reply against God? Will the thing formed ask him who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?” Or hasn’t the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel for honor, and another for dishonor? What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath made for destruction, and that he might make known the riches of his glory on vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory, us, whom he also called, not from the Jews only, but also from the people of the nations?
"Do you mean like all those children from the two sisters?", my little sister asked. I was glad that she did, because I wasn't quite sure myself what he meant. Uncle Paul reassured us...
As he says also in Hosea,
“I will call them ‘my people,’ which were not my people;
and her ‘beloved,’ who was not beloved.”
“It will be that in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
There they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”
Isaiah cries concerning Israel,
“If the number of the children of Israel are as the sand of the sea,
it is the remnant who will be saved;
for He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness,
because Yehowah ???? will make a short work upon the earth.”
As Isaiah has said before,
“Unless Yehowah ???? of Armies had left us a seed,
we would have become like Sodom,
and would have been made like Gomorrah.”
"Oh! So you mean that all those babies his wives had—he's going to adopt them?", my sister asks.
"Yes silly, just because their mommies were bad doesn't mean God would punish the children if they grew up to good boys and girls."
Uncle Paul raised an eyebrow, and I shut up quick as he continued...
What shall we say then? That the people of the nations, who didn’t follow after righteousness, attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith; but Israel, following after a law of righteousness, didn’t arrive at the law of righteousness. Why? Because they didn’t seek it by faith, but as it were by works of the law. They stumbled over the stumbling stone; even as it is written,
“Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense;
and no one who believes in him will be disappointed.”
"So they fell on a rock he put there?", my sister asked.
"Yes silly, but they wouldn't have fallen if they were paying attention—keep awake!", I responded.
Uncle Paul eyed me, and I wasn't sure if I was in trouble or not. You can never tell with him.
Mom said it was it getting near my little sister's bed time, and Uncle Paul promised to tell us another story after my sister put on her pajamas.
After she'd gone, he said to me, "I'll tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." I nodded sincerely, I guess it's not so 'silly' to be a kid after all. Though I hoped she'd hurry so we could get on to the next story, and get me out of the hot seat!
"Here I am!", she said as she came running in. As she settled down, he looks at her and begins...
I ask then, did God reject his people? May it never be! For I also am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God didn’t reject his people, which he foreknew.
He looks now at me,
Or don’t you know what the Scripture says about Elijah? How he pleads with God against Israel—remember Oholah Samaria?—“Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have broken down your altars. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.”
And do you remember God’s reply? He said, “No, I have 7,000 others who have never bowed down to Baal!”
It is the same today, for a few of the people of Israel have remained faithful because of God’s grace—his undeserved kindness in choosing them. And since it is through God’s kindness, then it is not by their good works. For in that case, God’s grace would not be what it really is—free and undeserved.
So this is the situation: Most of the people of Israel have not found the favor of God they are looking for so earnestly.
A few have—the ones God has chosen—but the hearts of the rest were hardened.
According as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, to this very day.”
David says,
“Let their table be made a snare, and a trap,
a stumbling block, and a retribution to them.
Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see.
Bow down their back always.”
I ask then, did they stumble that they might fall?
May it never be! But by their fall salvation has come to the people of the nations, to provoke them to jealousy.
Now if their fall is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the people of the nations; how much more their fullness? For I speak to you who are people of the nations. Since then as I am an apostle to people of the nations, I glorify my ministry; if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh, and may save some of them. For if the rejection of them is the reconciling of the world, what would their acceptance be, but life from the dead?
If the first fruit is holy, so is the lump. If the root is holy, so are the branches.
But if some of the branches were broken off, and you—he points at me—being a wild olive, were grafted in among them, and became partaker with them of the root and of the richness of the olive tree; don’t boast over the branches. It is not you who support the root, but the root supports you.
You will say then, “But branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.” True; by their unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by your faith. Don’t be conceited, but fear; for if God didn’t spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.
See then the goodness and severity of God. Toward those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in his goodness; otherwise you also will be cut off. They also, if they don’t continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
I nod, thinking of those children of the two sisters. I looked at my little sister and saw her furrowed brow. I think she was thinking of all those children too… Then momma said that she had to go off to bed. I gave her a hug and was happy that Uncle Paul sat with me a little while longer to explain. He began by asking...
For if you were cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more will these, which are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
I don’t desire you to be ignorant of this mystery—we must warn of becoming wise and conceited—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the people of the nations has come in, and so all Israel will be saved.
"Oh! So it is true?! They will all be saved? I'll have to remember to tell my sister!" He nods and continued,
Even as it is written,
“There will come out of Zion the Deliverer,
and he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
This is my covenant to them,
when I will take away their sins.”
Concerning the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sake. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
For as you in time past were disobedient to God, but now have obtained mercy by their disobedience, even so these also have now been disobedient, that by the mercy shown to you they may also obtain mercy.
For God has shut up all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all.
Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out!
“For who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”
“Or who has first given to him,
and it will be repaid to him again?”
For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen.
I always loved Uncle Paul's stories, especially those about where he was from in Israel, and the two kingdoms of the land, all the kings, and the holy city Jerusalem in Judah. I've never been there, and I miss hearing him tell his stories. I was born in Rome. My daddy's family moved here long ago from Israel, and daddy was one of twelve boys and three girls, but I don't think he was Jewish—I think he was from somewhere in Samaria. I remember hearing my daddy and Uncle Paul talking once about that boy, Timothy, and my daddy—I mean, I know Daddy was a Christian but he died when I was very young, and even though I know about that whole circumcision thing, it's not like I'm gonna ask my momma if he was circumcised or not! I know that when my uncle isn't around some of the Jewish Christians don't treat us so nice. To tell you the truth, I'm not even sure that uncle Paul is my uncle. It seems he goes around calling everybody his "brother". Anyway, as best as I can tell, daddy was an Israelite but not a Jew. He was a Christian—thanks to uncle Paul—and as momma says, "he died faithful". I think momma is one of those "people of the nations" from the story tonight, like uncle Paul's friend Timothy… only that gets confusing, because I know his daddy was a Greek, but I'm pretty sure his momma is Jewish, so was he Jewish before he got circumcised because of his momma? Was he Jewish even though he wasn't circumcised?
You know, all I know is that Daddy married momma and they had me and my sister, and my brother and we're all Christians.
That and it all seemed pretty simple to me before all the older men started arguing about it.
We weren't anybody before, even though daddy was from Israel, and now we're somebody, just like that story about all those children who had to leave Israel like my daddy did.