Ezequiel 16

Eze 16:1-63. Detailed Application of the Parabolical Delineation of the Fifteenth Chapter to Jerusalem Personified as a Daughter.

(1) Taken up by God's gratuitous favor from infancy (Eze 16:1-7); (2) and, when grown up, joined to Him in spiritual marriage (Eze 16:8-14); (3) her unfaithfulness, her sin (Eze 16:15-34); (4) the judgment (Eze 16:35-52); (5) her unlooked-for restoration (Eze 16:53 to the close).

2. cause Jerusalem to know--Men often are so blind as not to perceive their guilt which is patent to all. "Jerusalem" represents the whole kingdom of Judah.

3. birth ... nativity--thy origin and birth; literally, "thy diggings" (compare Is 51:1) "and thy bringings forth."

of ... Canaan--in which Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob sojourned before going to Egypt, and from which thou didst derive far more of thy innate characteristics than from the virtues of those thy progenitors (Eze 21:30).

an Amorite ... an Hittite--These, being the most powerful tribes, stand for the whole of the Canaanite nations (compare Jos 1:4; Am 2:9), which were so abominably corrupt as to have been doomed to utter extermination by God (Le 18:24, 25, 28; De 18:12). Translate rather, "the Amorite ... the Canaanite," that is, these two tribes personified; their wicked characteristics, respectively, were concentrated in the parentage of Israel (Ge 15:16). "The Hittite" is made their "mother"; alluding to Esau's wives, daughters of Heth, whose ways vexed Rebekah (Ge 26:34, 35; 27:46), but pleased the degenerate descendants of Jacob, so that these are called, in respect of morals, children of the Hittite (compare Eze 16:45).

4. Israel's helplessness in her first struggling into national existence, under the image of an infant (Ho 2:3) cast forth without receiving the commonest acts of parental regard. Its very life was a miracle (Ex 1:15-22).

navel ... not cut--Without proper attention to the navel cord, the infant just born is liable to die.

neither ... washed in water to supple thee--that is, to make the skin soft. Rather, "for purification"; from an Arabic root [Maurer]. Gesenius translates as the Margin, "that thou mightest (be presented to thy parents to) be looked upon," as is customary on the birth of a child.

salted--Anciently they rubbed infants with salt to make the skin firm.

5. cast ... in ... open field--The exposure of infants was common in ancient times.

to the loathing of thy person--referring to the unsightly aspect of the exposed infant. Fairbairn translates, "With contempt (or disdainful indifference) of thy life."

6. when I passed by--as if a traveller.

polluted in ... blood--but Piscator, "ready to be trodden on."

I said--In contrast to Israel's helplessness stands God's omnipotent word of grace which bids the outcast little one "live."

in thy blood--Though thou wast foul with blood, I said, "Live" [Grotius]. "Live in thy blood," that is, Live, but live a life exposed to many deaths, as was the case in the beginnings of Israel's national existence, in order to magnify the grace of God [Calvin]. The former view is preferable. Spiritually, till the sinner is made sensible of his abject helplessness, he will not appreciate the provisions of God's grace.

7. caused ... to multiply--literally, "I ... made thee a myriad."

bud of ... field--the produce of the field. In two hundred fifty years they increased from seventy-five persons to eight hundred thousand (Ac 7:14) [Calvin]. But see Ex 12:37, 38.

excellent ornaments--literally, "ornament of ornaments."

naked ... bare--(Ho 2:3). Literally, "nakedness ... bareness" itself; more emphatic.

8. thy time of love--literally, "loves" (compare So 2:10-13). Thou wast of marriageable age, but none was willing to marry thee, naked as thou wast. I then regarded thee with a look of grace when the full time of thy deliverance was come (Ge 15:13, 14; Ac 7:6, 7). It is not she that makes the advance to God, but God to her; she has nothing to entitle her to such notice, yet He regards her not with mere benevolence, but with love, such as one cherishes to the person of his wife (So 1:3-6; Jr 31:3; Mal 1:2).

spread my skirt over thee--the mode of espousals (Ru 3:9). I betrothed thee (De 4:37; 10:15; Ho 11:1). The cloak is often used as a bed coverlet in the East. God explains what He means, "I entered into ... covenant with thee," that is, at Sinai. So Israel became "the wife of God's covenant" (Is 54:5; Jr 3:14; Ho 2:19, 20; Mal 2:14).

thou ... mine--(Ex 19:5; Jr 2:2).

9. washed I thee--as brides used to pass through a preparatory purification (Es 2:12). So Israel, before the giving of the law at Sinai (Ex 19:14); "Moses sanctified the people, and they washed their clothes." So believers (1Co 6:11).

oil--emblem of the Levitical priesthood, the type of Messiah (Psa 45:7).

10. Psa 45:13, 14, similarly describes the Church (Israel, the appointed mother of Christendom) adorned as a bride (so Is 61:10). It is Messiah who provides the wedding garment (Re 3:18; 19:8).

badgers' skin--tahash; others translate, "seal skins." They formed the over-covering of the tabernacle, which was, as it were, the nuptial tent of God and Israel (Ex 26:14), and the material of the shoes worn by the Hebrews on festival days. (See on Ex 25:5).

fine linen--used by the priests (Le 6:10); emblem of purity.

11. The marriage gifts to Rebekah (Ge 24:22, 47).

12. jewel on thy forehead--rather, "a ring in thy nose" (Is 3:21).

a crown--at once the badge of a bride, and of her being made a queen, as being consort of the King; the very name Israel meaning "a prince of God." So they are called "a kingdom of priests" (Ex 19:6; compare Re 1:6). Though the external blessings bestowed on Israel were great, yet not these, but the internal and spiritual, form the main reference in the kingly marriage to which Israel was advanced.

13. flour ... honey ... oil--These three mixed form the sweetest cakes; not dry bread and leeks as in Egypt. From raiment He passes to food (De 32:13, 14).

exceeding beautiful--Psa 48:2, the city; also, Psa 29:2, the temple.

prosper into a kingdom--exercising empire over surrounding nations.

14. thy renown ... among ... heathen--The theocracy reached its highest point under Solomon, when distant potentates heard of his "fame" (1Ki 10:1, &c.), for example, the queen of Sheba, Hiram, &c. (La 2:15).

my comeliness--It was not thine own, but imparted by Me.

15. Instead of attributing the glory of her privileges and gifts to God, Israel prided herself on them as her own (De 32:15; Jr 7:4; Mi 3:11), and then wantonly devoted them to her idols (Ho 2:8; compare Lu 15:12, 13).

playedst ... harlot because of thy renown--"didst play the wanton upon thy name" [Fairbairn], namely, by allowing thy renown to lead thee into idolatry and leagues with idolaters (Is 1:21; 57:8; Jr 3:2, 6). English Version is better, "because of thy renown," that is, relying on it; answering to "thou didst trust in thine own beauty."

his it was--Thy beauty was yielded up to every passer-by. Israel's zest for the worship of foul idols was but an anxiety to have the approbation of heaven for their carnal lusts, of which the idols were the personification; hence, too, their tendency to wander from Jehovah, who was a restraint on corrupt nature.

16. deckedst ... with divers colours--or, "didst make ... of divers colors" [Fairbairn]; the metaphor and the literal are here mixed. The high places whereon they sacrificed to Astarte are here compared to tents of divers colors, which an impudent harlot would spread to show her house was open to all [Calvin]. Compare as to "woven hangings for Astarte" (the right translation for "grove") 2Ki 23:7.

the like ... shall not come, neither shall ... be--rather, "have not come, nor shall be." These thy doings are unparalleled in the past, and shall be so in the future.

17. my gold ... my silver--(Hag 2:8).

images of men--rather, "of the phallus," the Hindu lingam, or membrum virile [Havernick], deified as the emblem of fecundity; man making his lust his god. English Version, however, is appropriate; Israel being represented as a woman playing the harlot with "male images," that is, images of male gods, as distinguished from female deities.

18. tookest thy ... garments ... coveredst them--that is, the idols, as if an adulteress were to cover her paramours with garments which she had received from the liberality of her husband.

my oil--the holy anointing oil sacred to God (Ex 30:22-25). Also that used in sacrifices (Le 2:1, 2).

19. My meat ... I gave--(Ho 2:8).

set it before them--as a minchah or "meat offering" (Le 2:1).

a sweet savour--literally, "a savor of rest," that is, whereby they might be propitiated, and be at peace ("rest") with you; how ridiculous to seek to propitiate gods of wood!

thus it was--The fact cannot be denied, for I saw it, and say it was so, saith Jehovah.

20-21. sons and ... daughters borne unto me--Though "thy children," yet they belong "unto Me," rather than to thee, for they were born under the immutable covenant with Israel, which even Israel's sin could not set aside, and they have received the sign of adoption as Mine, namely, circumcision. This aggravates the guilt of sacrificing them to Molech.

to be devoured--not merely to pass through the fire, as sometimes children were made to do (Le 18:21) without hurt, but to pass through so as to be made the food of the flame in honor of idols (see on Is 57:5; Jr 7:31; Jr 19:5; Jr 32:35).

Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter, that thou hast slain my children--rather, "Were thy whoredoms a small matter (that is, not enough, but) that thou hast slain (that is, must also slay)," &c. As if thy unchastity was not enough, thou hast added this unnatural and sacrilegious cruelty (Mi 6:7).

22. not remembered ... youth--Forgetfulness of God's love is the source of all sins. Israel forgot her deliverance by God in the infancy of her national life. See Eze 16:43, to which Eze 16:60 forms a lovely contrast (Jr 2:2; Ho 11:1).

23. woe, woe unto thee, &c.--This parenthetical exclamation has an awful effect coming like a lightning flash of judgment amidst the black clouds of Israel's guilt.

24. eminent place--rather, "a fornication-chamber," often connected with the impure rites of idolatry; spiritual fornication, on "an eminent place," answering to "fornication-chamber," is mainly meant, with an allusion also to the literal fornication associated with it (Jr 2:20; 3:2).

25. at every head of the way--in the most frequented places (Pr 9:14).

thy beauty ... abhorred, ... opened ... feet to every one--The wanton advances were all on Israel's part; the idolatrous nations yielded to her nothing in return. She had yielded so much that, like a worn-out prostitute, her tempters became weary of her. When the Church lowers her testimony for God to the carnal tastes of the world, with a view to conciliation, she loses everything and gains nothing.

26. fornication with ... Egyptians--alliances with Egypt, cemented by sharing their idolatries.

great of flesh--of powerful virile parts; figuratively for the gross and lustful religion of Egypt (for example, Isis, &c.), which alone could satisfy the abominable lust of Israel (Eze 20:7, 8; 23:19, 20, 21).

to provoke me--wantonly and purposely.

27. The consequent judgments, which, however, proved of no avail in reforming the people (Is 9:13; Jr 5:3).

delivered thee unto ... Philistines--(2Ki 16:6; 2Ch 28:18, 19).

ashamed of thy lewd way--The Philistines were less wanton in idolatry, in that they did not, like Israel, adopt the idols of every foreign country but were content with their own (Eze 16:57; Jr 2:11).

28. unsatiable--Not satisfied with whoredoms with neighbors, thou hast gone off to the distant Assyrians, that is, hast sought a league with them, and with it adopted their idolatries.

29. multiplied ... fornication in ... Canaan unto Chaldea--Thou hast multiplied thy idolatries "in Canaan" by sending "unto Chaldea" to borrow from thence the Chaldean rites, to add to the abominations already practised "in Canaan," before the carrying away of Jehoiachin to Chaldea. The name "Canaan" is used to imply that they had made Judea as much the scene of abominations as it was in the days of the corrupt Canaanites. The land had become utterly Canaanitish (Eze 23:14, &c.).

30. weak ... heart--Sin weakens the intellect ("heart") as, on the contrary, "the way of the Lord is strength to the upright" (Pr 10:29).

31. Repetition of Eze 16:24.

not ... as ... harlot ... thou scornest hire--Unlike an ordinary harlot thou dost prostitute thy person gratis, merely to satisfy thy lust. Jerome translates, "Thou hast not been as a harlot in scorning (that is, who ordinarily scorns) a hire offered," in order to get a larger one: nay, thou hast offered hire thyself to thy lovers (Eze 16:33, 34). But these verses show English Version to be preferable, for they state that Israel prostituted herself, not merely for any small reward without demanding more, but for "no reward."

32. instead of her husband--referring to Nu 5:19, 20, 29. Fairbairn translates, "whilst under her husband."

33-34. Israel hired her paramours, instead of being, like other harlots, hired by them; she also followed them without their following her.

35. Here begins the threat of wrath to be poured out on her.

36. filthiness--literally, "brass"; metaphor for the lowest part of the person [Calvin]. English Version is better: thy filthy lewdness is poured out without restraint (compare Jr 13:27). As silver is an emblem of purity, brass typifies "filthiness," because it easily contracts rust. Henderson explains it, "Because thy money was lavished on thy lovers" (Eze 16:31, 33, 34).

blood of thy children--(Eze 16:20; Jr 2:34).

37. thy lovers--the Chaldeans and the Assyrians. The law of retribution is the more signally exemplified by God employing, as His instruments of judgment on Israel, those very nations whose alliance and idols Israel had so eagerly sought, besides giving her up to those who had been always her enemies. "God will make him, who leaves God for the world, disgraced even in the eyes of the world, and indeed the more so the nearer he formerly stood to Himself" [Hengstenberg], (Is 47:3; Jr 13:26; Ho 2:12; Na 3:5).

all ... thou hast hated--the Edomites and Philistines; also Moab and Ammon especially (De 23:3).

I ... will discover thy nakedness--punishment in kind, as she had "discovered her nakedness through whoredoms" (Eze 16:36); the sin and its penalty corresponded. I will expose thee to public infamy.

38-40. judge thee, as women that break wedlock--(Le 20:10; compare Eze 16:2). In the case of individual adulteresses, stoning was the penalty (Joh 8:4, 5). In the case of communities, the sword. Also apostasy (De 13:10) and sacrificing children to Molech (Le 20:1-5) incurred stoning. Thus the penalty was doubly due to Israel; so the other which was decreed against an apostate city (De 13:15, 16) is added, "they shall stone thee with stones and thrust thee through with ... swords." The Chaldeans hurled stones on Jerusalem at the siege and slew with the sword on its capture.

shed blood ... judged--(Ge 9:6).

jealousy--image taken from the fury of a husband in jealousy shedding the blood of an unfaithful wife, such as Israel had been towards God, her husband spiritually. Literally, "I will make thee (to become) blood of fury and jealousy."

41. The result of the awful judgment shall be, when divine vengeance has run its course, it shall cease.

burn--(De 13:16; 2Ki 25:9).

women--the surrounding Gentile nations to whom thou shalt be an object of mocking (Psa 137:7).

I will cause thee to cease ... harlot--(Eze 23:27). Thou shalt no longer be able to play the harlot through My judgments.

thou ... shall give ... no hire ... any more--Thou shalt have none to give.

42. my fury ... rest--when My justice has exacted the full penalty commensurate with thy awful guilt (see on Eze 5:13). It is not a mitigation of the penalty that is here foretold, but such an utter destruction of all the guilty that there shall be no need of further punishment [Calvin].

43. (Eze 16:22; Psa 78:42). In gratitude for God's favors to her in her early history.

fretted me--(Is 63:10; Ep 4:30).

thou shalt not commit this lewdness above all thine abominations--that is, this the wickedness (compare Zec 5:8), peculiarly hateful to God, namely, spiritual unchastity or idolatry, over and "above" (that is, besides) all thine other abominations. I will put it out of thy power to commit it by cutting thee off. Fairbairn translates, "I will not do what is scandalous (namely, encouraging thee in thy sin by letting it pass with impunity) upon all thine abominations"; referring to Le 19:29, the conduct of a father who encouraged his daughter in harlotry. English Version is much better.

44. As ... mother ... her daughter--"Is," and "so is," are not in the original; the ellipsis gives the proverb (but two words in the Hebrew) epigrammatic brevity. Jerusalem proved herself a true daughter of the Hittite mother in sin (Eze 16:3).

45. mother's ... that loatheth her husband--that is, God ("haters of God," Ro 1:30); therefore the knowledge of the true God had originally been in Canaan, handed down from Noah (hence we find Melchisedek, king of Salem, in Canaan, "priest of the most high God," Ge 14:18), but Canaan apostatized from it; this was what constituted the blackness of the Canaanites' guilt.

loathed ... children--whom she put to death in honor of Saturn; a practice common among the Phoenicians.

sister of thy sisters--Thou art akin in guilt to Samaria and Sodom, to which thou art akin by birth. Moab and Ammon, the incestuous children of Lot, nephew of Abraham, Israel's progenitor, had their origin from Sodom; so Sodom might be called Judah's sister. Samaria, answering to the ten tribes of Israel, is, of course, sister to Judah.