Adorned
One Year Bible: November 7
Ezekiel 16:42-17:24
ADORNED
Her name is Mary Ann Bevan, and she is known as the “ugliest woman in the world”.
She died in 1933. I guess you could say that she lived a little bit before her time. If she would have lived later she could have been part of the cast for “The Greatest Showman” as her appearance was a real show stopper! Mary Ann suffered from a disease called acromegaly which means that she had abnormal growth and facial distortion.
After her husband died she was left to take care of the financial, physical, and emotional needs of her four children and she had no money. She decided to enter a humiliating contest and won the title of the “ugliest woman in the world”! She was then hired by a circus and toured cities where people came to view her in a mocking manner. That is why I say that she was definitely “ahead of her time” as no one was singing the song “This is Me” in that day and age…
She endured the scorn and agony to give her four children a beautiful life, and they say that if you knew her, you would know a woman who was truly ADORNED in inner beauty!
Today’s passage is truly about the “ugliest woman in the world”, and her name was Jerusalem.
She is the opposite of Mary Ann Bevan as she was given all beauty and lavished with adornment. Out of her own choosing, she became truly ugly in her unfaithfulness. She is worse than Sodom and Gomorrah and they were destroyed completely. Jerusalem did not lay down her life to protect her children as Mary Ann did. Instead, she sacrificed her children on altars to pagan gods with demonic rituals. Jerusalem was the chosen, beautiful, adorned bride that will now be stripped of all her glory. She will be laid bare in shame, humiliation, and captivity.
Listen to what God says to her, “Because you have poured out your lust and exposed yourself in prostitution to all your lovers, and because you have slaughtered your children as sacrifices to your gods, this is what I am going to do. I will gather 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 murder and adultery.” (Ezekiel 16:36-38)
You see, UGLY IS AS UGLY DOES! Jerusalem had degenerated from her beautiful royalty into a detestable harlot (Vv. 35, 36)
God gives a parable of the TWO EAGLES to Ezekiel to demonstrate the theological background for Jerusalem’s condition and to tell of her plight. In Ezekiel 17 we read of the eagle and the cedar. The eagle pictures the beauty and power of Babylon, and the title “Lebanon” stood for Jerusalem. The eagle had gone to Lebanon and plucked off the top of the cedar tree and replanted the bough in a land of merchants a city of traders. This referred to Nebuchadnezzar’s attack on Jerusalem in 597 when he took King Jehoiachin as a prisoner to Babylon.
Nebuchadnezzar did not completely destroy the land at that time and so we see the seed of land is planted in fertile soil so that is sprouted. Zedekiah was planted as a vassal king so the people could continue to live in peace although in bondage if they kept the peace treaty or covenant with Nebuchadnezzar.
Then, there is a parable of a second eagle and the vine. The new eagle was Egypt which influenced Zedekiah to rebel against Babylon whom God had placed over them for discipline. The people were still fighting God and trying to make their own way. Ezekiel is prophesying before the event that this would be a fatal decision and cause destruction as the people would be breaking the oath of their punishment.
The parable of the eagle ends with an amazing Messianic promise. In the future, the Lord God will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar and plant it on top of Israel’s highest mountain and it will become a majestic cedar where all will find shelter. (17:22)
Do you know the name of the highest mountain in Israel?
Mount Hermon which is known as “the sacred mountain” is the highest in ancient Israel at 9,000 feet above sea level. It was significant for many reasons. It marked the northern limits of the Promised Land. King David compared God’s people living in unity to the dew of Mount Hermon falling on Mount Zion in Psalm 133:1-3.
By both accounts of Matthew and Mark Jesus led Peter, James, and John up a “high mountain”. Scholars believe that this “high mountain” was either Mount Tabor or Mount Hermon, which was actually closer to their location. Mount Hermon afforded privacy and seclusion where they were all alone as recorded in Mark 9:2.
The significance of this ending about true beauty is found in the FRUIT, not the FLUFF. God was making a way for his people to bear fruit. Their fruit was rotten as they were not connected to the vine, Jesus. They were not allowing God to prune or discipline them!
As you begin your day, how do you ADORN yourself? How much time is spent on make-up, clothes, and outward adorning? These women in this passage had all the primping in the world, but they didn’t have the inside beauty of Mary Ann Bevan. She sacrificed herself through love.
Reading through the Old Testament is often ugly and painful, but it is necessary. Life isn’t Hallmark. However, it is made of hallmark moments where we choose how we will live…
Are we ADORNED with inner beauty from being connected to the LIVING VINE?
