Idolatry is frequently represented by the prophets under the figure of a wife’s unfaithfulness to her husband. This image is here so portrayed, as to exhibit the aggravation of Israel’s guilt by reason of her origin and early history. The original abode of the progenitors of the race was the land of... [ Continue Reading ]
BIRTH - See the margin; the word represents “origin” under the figure of “cutting out stone from a quarry” (compareIsaiah 51:1). AN AMORITE - the Amorite, a term denoting the whole people. The Amorites, being a principal branch of the Canaanites, are often taken to represent the whole stock Genesis... [ Continue Reading ]
TO SUPPLE THEE - i. e., to cleanse thee.... [ Continue Reading ]
TO THE LOTHING OF THY PERSON - Or, “so abhorred was thy person.”... [ Continue Reading ]
Or, Then I passed by thee ... and I said. POLLUTED - wallowing, “treading upon oneself.” IN THY BLOOD - may be connected either with “I said” or with “Live.” In the latter case, the state of blood and defilement is made the very cause of life, because it called forth the pity of Him who gave life.... [ Continue Reading ]
I caused “thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou” didst increase “and” wax “great, and thou” didst come “to excellent” beauty; “thy breasts” were “fashioned and thine hair” was grown, yet wast “thou naked and bare.” The prophet has arrived at the time at which the child grew up to maturi... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW WHEN ... - Or, Then I passed by thee ... and behold. The espousal of the damsel represents God’s entering into covenant with the people in the wilderness at Mt. Sinai Exodus 34:27.... [ Continue Reading ]
The usual purifications for marriage.... [ Continue Reading ]
BADGERS’ SKIN - Probably the skin of the dolphin or dugong (Exodus 25:5 note). SILK - For a robe, a turban, or (as gauze) for a transparent veil; the derivation of the word in the original is much disputed.... [ Continue Reading ]
A JEWEL ON THY FOREHEAD - literally, “a nose-ring on thy nostril” (Genesis 24:22 note).... [ Continue Reading ]
FINE FLOUR, AND HONEY, AND OIL - These were the choicest kinds of food. INTO A KINGDOM - This part of the description refers to the reigns of David and Solomon, when the kingdom of Israel (still undivided) attained its highest pitch of grandeur.... [ Continue Reading ]
PERFECT ... MY COMELINESS - The comeliness was not natural, but the gift of God.... [ Continue Reading ]
The prophet now describes the idolatries of the time of the Kings. The earlier offences in the time of the Judges are not noticed, that being an unsettled time. The conduct of the people after they had “prospered into a kingdom” is to be described. BECAUSE OF THY RENOWN - The marriages of Solomon w... [ Continue Reading ]
Compare 2 Kings 23:7. Such decoration of idol-temples in the holy land showed how the ungrateful people were devoting the wealth and energies which Yahweh had given them to the service of those false gods, in whose worship He was especially dishonored. THE LIKE THINGS SHALL NOT COME ... - The abomi... [ Continue Reading ]
Possibly an allusion to the custom of bearing about shrines. Compare Amos 5:26; Acts 7:43.... [ Continue Reading ]
MINE OIL AND MINE INCENSE - The oil was the produce of the land, the incense received in exchange for such produce. Both were the gifts of Yahweh and belonged to Him; yet the oil Exodus 25:6; Exodus 29:40 and the incense Exodus 30:34, prepared for the service of God, were used in idol-worship. In na... [ Continue Reading ]
Allusion is here made to some rite like the Roman “Lectisternia,” in which public tables were set forth for feasts in honor of idols.... [ Continue Reading ]
BORNE UNTO ME - me is emphatic. The children of Yahweh have been devoted to Moloch. The rites of Moloch were twofold; (1) The actual sacrifice of men and children as expiatory sacrifices to, false gods. (2) The passing of them through the fire by way of purification and dedication. Probably the f... [ Continue Reading ]
AFTER ALL ... - Besides these things, there was the introduction of other idolatrous rites from the nations with whom Israel had contact.... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THOU ... - Render it: after that thou didst build “unto thee an eminent place,” and didst make “thee an high place in every street” - after that thou didst build “thy high place at the head of every way and” didst make ...”it came to pass, that thou” didst “also” commit “fornication” etc. AN E... [ Continue Reading ]
Egyptian idolatry, a worship of the powers of nature, was eminently sensual. The idolatry here spoken of is not so much that which Israel brought with them from Egypt, as the idolatry introduced in the time of Solomon and Rehoboam.... [ Continue Reading ]
HAVE DIMINISHED THINE ORDINARY FOOD - As a husband lessens the things which minister to the luxury of an unfaithful wife, so did the Lord cut Israel short in consequence of her unfaithfulness. DAUGHTERS - The small cities. The Philistines have left a permanent record of their supremacy in the name... [ Continue Reading ]
Compare the marginal reference. Idolatry, spiritual adultery, invariably accompanied these unholy alliances, and brought with it disaster and ruin.... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE LAND ... - Probably used in the restricted sense of the low lands on the coast of the western sea; occupied by Phoenician colonies. The children of Israel were brought into contact at first with pagans residing within their own borders. Then they extended their contact to foreign nations, tra... [ Continue Reading ]
Rather, didst build - didst make - wast not - scornest. In the marginal rendering, “thy daughters” must mean “thy smaller cities or villages.”... [ Continue Reading ]
The picture is heightened by the contrast between one who as a prostitute receives hire for her shame, and one who as a wife is so utterly abandoned as to bestow her husband’s goods to purchase her own dishonor. Compare 2 Kings 16:8.... [ Continue Reading ]
Judah is now represented as undergoing the punishment adjudged to an adulteress and murderess. Only in her utter destruction shall the wrath of the Lord, the jealous God, cease. Ezekiel 16:36 FILTHINESS - Or, brass, i. e., money, is lavished. The Hebrews generally speak of money as gold Isaiah 46:6... [ Continue Reading ]
The Jews prided themselves on being under the special protection of Yahweh. In the downfall of their neighbors, they found only additional grounds for confidence in their own security. Ezekiel now in severe rebuke places them on an equality with Sodom and Samaria. Alike have been their sins, except... [ Continue Reading ]
The temple looked to the east. Samaria was on its left, and Sodom on its right hand.... [ Continue Reading ]
AS I SAW GOOD - Or, “as soon as I saw it.” Omit “good.” God saw and punished. Compare Genesis 18:21.... [ Continue Reading ]
JUSTIFIED THY SISTERS - Made them appear just in comparison with thee.... [ Continue Reading ]
A denunciation of hopeless ruin. When Sodom shall be rebuilt and shall flourish, when Samaria shall be again a mighty people, then, but not until then, shall Jerusalem be restored.... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU ART A COMFORT UNTO THEM - The degradation of Judah would be a kind of consolation to others. Compare Isaiah 14.... [ Continue Reading ]
WAS NOT MENTIONED BY THY MOUTH - Was held in utter contempt.... [ Continue Reading ]
THY REPROACH - Rather, the “reproach.” In his march toward Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar attacked and overthrew Damascus and other Syrian towns. The Jews exulted, not foreseeing that this was but a precursor of that ruin which should discover their own wickedness.... [ Continue Reading ]
The promise of restoration must almost have sounded as strangely as the threat of punishment, including as it did those whom Judah hated and despised Ezekiel 16:61. The covenant of restoration was not to be like the old covenant. Not “by thy covenant,” but “by My covenant.” The people’s covenant was... [ Continue Reading ]