Ezekiel 16:44-63

III. JUDAH: THE FALLEN SISTER 16:44-63

TRANSLATION

(44) Behold every one who employs proverbs shall use this proverb against you, saying, As the mother, so the daughter. (45) You are the daughter of your mother who loathes her husband and her sons; and you are the sister of your sisters who loathe their husbands and their children; your mother was a Hittite, and your father was an Amorite. (46) And your older sister is Samaria she and her daughters who dwell on your left hand; and your younger sister on your right side is Sodom and her daughters. (47) Yet you have not walked in their ways, and you have not done after their abominations, but in a very little while you acted more corruptly than they in all your ways. (48) As I live (oracle of the Lord GOD) Sodom your sister she and her daughters has not done as You have done, You and your daughters. (49) Behold this was the iniquity of Sodom your sister; pride, fullness of bread and careless ease was in her and in her daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and the needy. (50) And they became haughty, and committed abomination before Me; therefore I removed them when I saw it. (51) And as for Samaria, she did not sin half as much as you; but you increased your abominations more than they while You vindicated your sisters in all the abominations which You did. (52) You also, bear your own shame in which YOU have judged your sister; through your sins in which you have been more abominable than they, they have been more righteous than YOU; yes, you be ashamed and bear your guilt in your vindication of your sisters. (53) And I will turn their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and the captivity of your captives in the midst of them; (54) in order that you may bear your own shame, and may be ashamed because of all which you have done in comforting them. (55) And your sisters Sodom and her daughters shall return to their former state, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former state, and you and your daughters shall return to your former slate. (56) For Sodom your sister was not mentioned by your mouth in the day of your pride; (57) before your wickedness was uncovered, as at the time of the reproach of the daughters of Aram and all that are round about her, the daughters of the Philistine who despise you round about. (58) You have borne your lewdness and your abominations (oracles of the LORD). (59) For thus says the Lord GOD: I will deal with you as you have done, who has despised the oath to break the covenant. (60) Nevertheless, I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish for you an everlasting covenant. (61) And you will remember your ways and you will be ashamed when you receive your sisters, the older and the younger; and I will give them to you for daughters, but not because of your covenant. (62) And I will establish My covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the LORD; (63) in order that you might remember, and be ashamed, and never again open your mouth because of your shame when I have forgiven you of all which you have done (oracle of the Lord GOD).

COMMENTS

When the judgment has fallen no one will be able to say that it was unjust. In years to come those who specialized in proverbs would say concerning sinful Israel, As the mother, as the daughter (Ezekiel 16:44). Like her mother, the Hittite, (and her sisters Samaria and Sodom) she was unfaithful in marriage and as a mother. The point here is that Judah was as sinful as the original inhabitants of Canaan (Ezekiel 16:44). Samaria is Judah's elder sister because she was larger in size and more numerous in population. She is on the left, i.e., north of Judah. The younger sister on the right side (south) of Judah is Sodom. The daughters of Samaria and Sodom are subordinate towns (Ezekiel 16:46). For only a very little while after the fall of Samaria during the reign of Hezekiah Judah did not walk in the abominations of Samaria and Sodom. But after that short pause in her ugly history Judah acted more corruptly than either of her sinful sisters (Ezekiel 16:47).

In Ezekiel 16:48-51 the comparison between the sins of the three sisters Sodom, Samaria and Judah continues. Even sinful Sodom had not surpassed the sin of Judah (Ezekiel 16:48). The root of Sodom's sin was pride which grew out of her security and prosperity. The pride manifested itself in heartless neglect of the poor and needy (Ezekiel 16:49) as well as other abominations. Therefore God removed them after their sins came under His judicial inspection (Ezekiel 16:50). Samaria had not committed even half the sins committed by Judah. In fact, in comparison to Judah's guilt, Sodom and Samaria appeared almost righteous (Ezekiel 16:51). How ashamed Judah ought to be of her gross sin which would cause men to render a favorable judgment with regard to Samaria and Sodom (Ezekiel 16:52).

Sodom and Samaria have a future. God would turn their captivity (i.e., restore their fortunes) and that of Judah as well (Ezekiel 16:53). Judah would actually be a comfort to Sodom and Samaria because of her greater guilt (Ezekiel 16:54). If God restores Judah, He must also restore the two sisters for they had sinned less (Ezekiel 16:55). In hypocritical self-righteousness Judah in former days would not so much as mention the name of Sodom (Ezekiel 16:56). But that was before Judah's own wickedness was made public through divine judgment. Humbled Judah became the object of disdain by the singers in Aram and Philistia. The particular occasion here mentioned is probably the humiliating and devastating Syro-Ephraimitic invasion of Judah in the days of Ahaz[323] (Ezekiel 16:57). Judah already had suffered and would yet suffer for her infidelity (Ezekiel 16:58).

[323] See 2 Chronicles 28:5; 2 Chronicles 28:18

Words of comfort follow the condemnation and threat of the preceding verses. God could not ignore the adulterous behavior of His national wife. She had broken the marriage covenant and must suffer the consequences (Ezekiel 16:59). But God would remember that covenant which He had made with Israel so many years before in the youth of the nation the period of the Exodus and wanderings (cf. Jeremiah 2:2). After judgment, God would enter into a new covenant an everlasting covenant with His people.[324]

[324] Cf. Ezekiel 37:26; Jeremiah 31:30 ff.

How ashamed Israel would be of her sordid and checkered past in that new day. God's grace in overlooking past sin, making a new covenant with His people, and even bestowing upon them Sodom and Samaria, would arouse in them a deep sense of remorse. This reinstatement of Judah (Jews) as God's people would have nothing to do with the old Sinai covenant. That covenant had been broken and disannulled. But the new covenant would be with converted sinners whether they were Jew, Samaritan or Gentile (Sodom).

The establishment of a new covenant is a sovereign act of God. This is emphasized by the pronoun I in Ezekiel 16:62 which is emphatic in the Hebrew. Through this gracious reinstatement of His people, as well as in the punishment previously threatened, men would learn about the nature of the God of the Bible (Ezekiel 16:62). The unfathomable grace of God in forgiving past sin would forever silence any self-justification (Ezekiel 16:63).