XVI. In the magnificent allegory which occupies this chapter, the sin and consequent rejection of Israel is set forth in still stronger terms than in anything which has gone before. There are three main parts of the chapter: the sin (Ezekiel 16:3), the punishment (Ezekiel 16:35), and the final resto... [ Continue Reading ]
THY BIRTH AND THY NATIVITY IS OF THE LAND OF CANAAN. — In the original the words “births” and “nativities” are in the plural, already indicating what the whole context makes plain, that the reference is not to the natural, but to the spiritual origin of Israel. So our Lord says to the Jews of His ti... [ Continue Reading ]
WASHED IN WATER TO SUPPLE THEE. — The various particulars of this and the following verse describe a child cast out into the field immediately upon its birth, unpitied by any one, and in a condition in which it must soon have perished. Neither the text nor the margin seems to have hit upon the sense... [ Continue Reading ]
LIVE. — While they were in this condition, God took pity on them. He delivered them from their oppressors; He raised up a leader for them, He gave them a law and a Church, with its priesthood and its sacraments; He led them into the land of promise, delivered them from their enemies, and constituted... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE CAUSED THEE. — Omit the “have,” and modify the tenses throughout the verse. “I caused thee... thou didst increase and wax tall... and came to beauty... were fashioned... was grown.” In the first clause, “caused thee to multiply,” the literal sense takes the place of the figurative; but the re... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW WHEN I PASSED BY THEE. — Here, as in Ezekiel 16:6, omit the _when,_ and render, “and I passed by thee.” Two separate visits are spoken of: the one in Israel’s infancy in Egypt, when God blessed and multiplied her (Ezekiel 16:6); the other when she had become a nation, and God entered into covena... [ Continue Reading ]
(9-14) These verses describe the purifications and preparations for marriage to one of high rank (comp. Esther 2:9; Esther 2:12). The reality corresponding to the figure is, of course, the Divine care over Israel at Sinai, in the wilderness, and in the conquest of Canaan.... [ Continue Reading ]
BADGERS’ SKIN. — See Exodus 25:5. The thing intended is a fine kind of leather prepared from the skin of some sea animal; but the critics differ as to the particular animal intended, whether the dolphin or the dugong. “Fine linen” was a luxury much valued by the ancients, while “silk” is a word used... [ Continue Reading ]
(11-14) In these verses the Divinely-given prosperity and glory of Israel is set forth under the sustained figure of the ornaments and food of a royal eastern bride. The various particulars mentioned are familiar to all readers of the Scripture histories. The latter part of Ezekiel 16:13 and Ezekiel... [ Continue Reading ]
A JEWEL ON THY FOREHEAD. — Literally, _a nose-ring on thy nostril,_ the custom of the time sanctioning this mode of ornament. In contrast to God’s kindness and abundant blessing, Israel’s grievous sin is now described (Ezekiel 16:15). It is to be remembered that however this extraordinary sin was t... [ Continue Reading ]
DIDST TRUST IN THINE OWN BEAUTY. — Comp. Deuteronomy 32:15; Hosea 13:6. There can scarcely be a more striking instance of the working of the hand of Providence in history than the story of the kingdom of Israel during and after the reign of Solomon. Raised as a theocracy to great power and wealth by... [ Continue Reading ]
DECKEDST THY HIGH PLACES WITH DIVERS COLOURS. — The use of colours, and especially of tapestry in colours, in the adornment of places of worship, was universal throughout the religions of antiquity. It formed a striking feature of the adornment of the Tabernacle, and what is censured here is the per... [ Continue Reading ]
HAST SACRIFICED UNTO THEM, _i.e., hast sacrificed the children unto the idols._ This was a terrible development of the later idolatries of Israel. At first the custom appears to have been a ceremony of passing young children through the fire to thereby consecrate them to Moloch; but afterwards it be... [ Continue Reading ]
AFTER ALL THY WICKEDNESS. — The sin and idolatry hitherto described had been derived by Israel chiefly from the Canaanites, the old inhabitants of the land; but now. in accordance with what was said in Ezekiel 16:15, the prophet goes on to speak of the other abundant idolatries adopted eagerly by th... [ Continue Reading ]
BUILT UNTO THEE AN EMINENT PLACE. — The word means literally, _arches._ Such arched rooms were used in connection with the worship of idols for licentious purposes, and hence the translation of the margin indicates the real object of the structure, whether the word be taken in its literal sense, or... [ Continue Reading ]
THE EGYPTIANS... GREAT OF FLESH. — The Egyptians are properly named first, because, even in the golden calf of the wilderness, the Israelites turned with avidity to the worship of Egypt. This tendency seems to have been only suppressed, not extinguished, during the subsequent ages, and remained ever... [ Continue Reading ]
DIMINISHED THINE ORDINARY FOOD. — This cutting short of the power and prosperity of Israel was a discipline of correction designed to bring her to a consciousness of her sin. THE DAUGHTERS OF THE PHILISTINES, _i.e.,_ their cities, according to the figurative language of the chapter, and indeed the c... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH THE ASSYRIANS. — The Assyrians and Egyptians were for many centuries in deadly hostility against each other, and it would seem that Israel could hardly have formed alliances with and adopted the idolatries of both. Nevertheless they had done so, and in addition to their Egyptian idolatries, had... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE LAND OF CANAAN UNTO CHALDÆA. — Canaan was originally the name of only that strip of land between the hills and the sea occupied by the Phœnicians, in other words, the lowlands. Thence it became extended over the whole land. It is thought by some writers to revert here to its original meaning,... [ Continue Reading ]
WEAK. — The English word scarcely expresses the force of the original : — languishing with desire. The word _heart_ occurs here only in the feminine.... [ Continue Reading ]
EMINENT PLACE. — See note on Ezekiel 16:24. IN THAT THOU SCORNEST HIM. — It was characteristic of both the kingdoms of Israel after the division, that the interference of foreign nations in their affairs was generally sought first by Israel itself and purchased at a heavy price. The people were so... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU GIVEST THY GIFTS. — 2 Kings 16:8, may be referred to as an instance in illustration. Ahaz “took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord,” as well as “the treasures of the king’s house,” and used it to secure the alliance of the king of Assyria. The prophet, having up to this... [ Continue Reading ]
THY FILTHINESS. — Literally, _thy brass, i.e.,_ money, which, as said in the previous verses, Israel had lavished upon the surrounding nations. Either gold or silver is the more common term for money, and the prophet appears to have here used brass contemptuously. In this verse the people’s apostasi... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU HAST LOVED... HAST HATED. — Not only those with whom Israel had sought alliances, but those who had been her hereditary foes, like the Philistines and Edomites, shared in the spoil of her land. Much of this had been already accomplished (see 2 Kings 16:6; 2 Chronicles 28:17, &c). Israel’s weakn... [ Continue Reading ]
WOMEN THAT BREAK WEDLOCK AND SHED BLOOD. — Under the Mosaic law the penalty for adultery was death (Leviticus 20:10), and the same penalty also was attached to the devotion of “seed to Moloch” (Leviticus 20:1), and _to_ murder (Exodus 21:12). The Jewish method of capital punishment on individuals wa... [ Continue Reading ]
EMINENT PLACES. — See Note on Ezekiel 16:24. The destruction of her idolatries as well as the desolation of Israel herself is foretold.... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL BURN THINE HOUSE. — Comp. Deuteronomy 13:16. The figurative and the literal sense here blend together; the house of the unfaithful wife shall be destroyed, and the houses of Jerusalem shall be burned.... [ Continue Reading ]
MY FURY... TO REST. — Not in pity but in satiety, as having accomplished the utter desolation of Israel.... [ Continue Reading ]
HAST FRETTED ME. — Better, _hast raged against me._ This form of the verb does not have a transitive sense. (Comp. Genesis 45:24; Proverbs 29:9; and in this particular form, 2 Kings 19:27; Isaiah 37:28, where the same word is used.) THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT. — The English here follows the Masoretic pun... [ Continue Reading ]
AS IS THE MOTHER. — The sin of the people had become so notorious as to attract general attention, and lead to the application of this proverb. The nativity of Israel described in Ezekiel 16:3 is here in mind, and the proverb becomes equivalent to saying, these sins belong to every people living in... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH LOTHED THEIR HUSBANDS. — Israel, like Samaria and Sodom, being spiritually of Amorite and Hittite descent, they are represented as her sisters. A certain difficulty arises from the statement that they, too, “lothed their husbands and their children,” and this is only removed by remembering tha... [ Continue Reading ]
THINE ELDER SISTER. — The words _elder_ and _younger_ mean, literally, _greater_ and _smaller._ They thus come, like the Latin _major_ and _minor,_ to be used for _older_ and _younger;_ but still their original and most common meaning, which should be retained here, is greater and smaller. Chronolog... [ Continue Reading ]
AS IF THAT WERE A VERY LITTLE THING. — Better, _thou hast not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations a little only, but hast done more corruptly than they, &c._ This excess of wickedness is constantly charged upon the Jews (see Ezekiel 5:6). Sodom had indeed sinned grievously in... [ Continue Reading ]
PRIDE, FULNESS OF BREAD, AND ABUNDANCE OF IDLENESS. — The description strikes at the causes rather than the overt acts of sin, and the unnatural crimes which are always associated in our minds with the name of Sodom are not mentioned. It is noticeable, however, that the distinct sin which is mention... [ Continue Reading ]
AS I SAW GOOD. — The word _good_ is not in the original, and should be omitted, and the particle translated _when:_ “Therefore I took them away when I saw this.” Punishment followed upon the manifestation of their sin. (Comp. Genesis 18:21.)... [ Continue Reading ]
HAST JUSTIFIED THY SISTERS. — The same expression is repeated in the following verse. In both it is evidently used in a comparative sense. By the greatness of Judah’s sins even Sodom and Samaria were made to appear innocent in comparison.... [ Continue Reading ]
HAST JUDGED THY SISTERS. — Judah had approved the judgments upon Sodom and Samaria, as it is always easy for man to approve judgments upon the sins of others; but now this must be brought home to herself for her own greater sins. (Comp. Romans 2) Having described the sin and the punishment, the prop... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL BRING AGAIN THEIR CAPTIVITY. — This is not a promise of restoration to Israel; but, on the contrary, is an expression of the utter hopelessness of their punishment in the strongest possible form. The “bringing again of captivity “does not, indeed, necessarily mean a return from exile (into whi... [ Continue Reading ]
ART A COMFORT UNTO THEM. — Compare what was said of justifying them in Ezekiel 16:51. The greater sin of Judah became a comfort by throwing their own evil into the shade.... [ Continue Reading ]
THY REPROACH OF THE DAUGHTERS OF SYRIA — The pronoun should be omitted, and the phrase read, “the reproach.” The time referred to, when Jerusalem was too proud to make mention of Sodom, was in the days of her prosperity. Later her “wickedness was discovered,” and her pride humbled by such disasters.... [ Continue Reading ]
IN BREAKING THE COVENANT. — This was the especial point of the heinousness of the sin of the Jews, and the one which so greatly aggravated their guilt. The sin was necessarily proportioned to the light against which it had been committed. (Comp. John 9:39; John 9:41; John 15:22; John 15:24.)... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL REMEMBER MY COVENANT. — The remembrance of God’s covenant is made the basis of His mercy to His penitent people (Leviticus 26:42) from the beginning, and it is often spoken of as an everlasting covenant. In the New Testament (Luke 1:54; Luke 1:72, &c.) this covenant is regarded as fulfilled i... [ Continue Reading ]
GIVE THEM UNTO THEE FOR DAUGHTERS. — The humiliation of Jerusalem must be so complete that she will gladly receive these once-despised enemies to the closest family relationship. We are not here to think of Sodom specifically, but (the concrete passing into the general) of that which Sodom represent... [ Continue Reading ]
ESTABLISH MY COVENANT WITH THEE. — The old covenant, having failed, is merged in the new and better covenant promised in 11:19; 18:31; and more fully in Jeremiah 31:31. This new covenant, established through a perfect Mediator, can alone perfectly fulfil God’s gracious designs for man, although the... [ Continue Reading ]
PACIFIED TOWARD THEO. — Better, _when I pardon thee._ The original word is the one used technically in the law for the atonement or “covering up” of sins; and the thought is, when God shall forgive the sins of His people, and receive them to communion with Himself.... [ Continue Reading ]