According to Ezekiel 16, Sodom will be restored.

This fact about Ezekiel 16 has been relevant to my Universal Salvation argument in three prior posts on this Blog.  Words Translated Eternal, KJV only Universalism and My Evangelical Universalism does not contradict Free Will.  Typically also referencing Jude's use of the word Aionios in reference to the Fire that consumed Sodom.

The context is God scolding Judah, foretelling Judgment that will come upon Judah.  And He references both Samaria (The Northern Kingdom) and Sodom as earlier nations He judged.  Saying Samaria had less excuse then Sodom, and Judah has less excuse then Samaria.  But He also promises Judah will eventually be restored, just as Samaria and Sodom will be.  Verses 53-55

When I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them: That thou mayest bear thine own shame, and mayest be confounded in all that thou hast done, in that thou art a comfort unto them. When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate.

Genesis 18-19 clearly tells us Sodom and Gomorrah had no righteous people in them, and so they were completely destroyed with no Survivors.  Lot and his Family were taken out, but they were up to this very day still considered foreigners living among them by the Sodomites.  And Lot's descendants became their own nations living in a different geographical region, Moab and Ammon.

So Sodom's restoration can't be via bringing their descendants back, as we traditionally assume Judah and Samaria's restorations will be.  Sodom's restoration can only be via The Resurrection of the Dead.  And because of Ezekiel 37, I believe that is what Judah and Samaria's restorations are ultimately about as well.

So there is no way an aboslutly Literal interpretation of Ezekiel 16 can get around it's obvious Universalist implications.

And yet, the only valid typolocial or allegorical interpretation, is even more Universalist.  As that says the three nations in question here must somehow represent all of Humanity.

You can't argue that even Sodom represents a type of believer.  Because even going off only what this passage says about Sodom, they are clearly people who never had a relationship with Yahuah.

The only valid typological interpretation, is that Sodom represents people who never believed, Samaria people who believed and then fell away, and Judah people who remained believers, but still even the best of us have our failings.  And our knowledge of God's Word only makes us more accountable for our Sins.

Therefore the Universalist implications of Ezekiel 16 are unavoidable.

Update April 13th 2018: Younger Sister?

I've become aware of an objection to the Universalist use of this passage by pointing out in verse 46 how Sodom is called a Younger Sister of Judah.  "This name must be a poetic idiom or something since literal Sodom clearly came before Judah or Samaria", they say.

Here is the problem with that.  Samaria is definitely called Judah's older Sister.  Even though the Northern Kingdom split off from Solomon.  And Joseph the dominate tribe of the North was literally younger then Judah the dominate tribe of the South in terms of their respective patriarchs.  And Samaria specifically was founded during the reign of Omri but never became the sole chief capital till Jehu.

In Exodus and Hosea Israel as a whole is proclaimed Yahuah's Firstborn when He brought them out of Egypt.  And Joseph received the Firstborn inheritance because of Jacob's love for Rachel though Judah got the Kingship.

What's not literal in that verse is the sibling terminology, not what Nations are being refereed to.

It is still implied in the narrative of the passage that Sodom came first because the Judgment of Sodom was the warning Samaria failed to heed, while Judah failed to heed both warnings.

Update November 10th 2018: Fortunes

I've been presented with another objection, that God is only saying the Fortunes of Sodom will be restored.   Well "Fortunes" isn't used the KJV but I guess they're referring to their Estates.  The passage also refers to the Daughters of Samaria.  The point remains it's the same as Samaria and Jerusalem's restorations.

They actually suggest it's fulfilled in Jerusalem's restoration because of when Jerusalem is called Spiritually Sodom and Egypt.  I find that kind of semantics laughable. 

Fact is it's also part of what YHWH says here that Jersalem's Wickedness was worse then Sodom or Samaria's, and that's why Jerusalem is compared to Sodom in places like Revelation 11.  So it would make Him Unjust to not restore Sodom, instead he chronologically will restore Sodom first.