EPHESUS

In the Epistle to the Assembly at Ephesus, the reference is to Exodus: to God's love in choosing them out of Egypt, and them making them a nation. See Hos. xi. 1: "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt." In Jer. ii. 2 we see this "first love," which Jehovah calls "the love of thine espousals." And in Ezek. xvi. we have a full description of the workings and outcome of this "first love." The whole of Ezek. xvi. must be read with Ex. xix. 4-6. It is this "first love" which Israel is here charged with having "left." This is the beginning of all the subsequent evil.