CHAPTER XVI _In this chapter the mercy of God to Jerusalem, (or the Jewish_ _Church and nation,) is set forth by the emblem of a person that_ _should take up an exposed infant, bring her up with great_ _tenderness, and afterwards marry her_, 1-14. _She is then upbraided with her monstrous ingra... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 16:2. _CAUSE JERUSALEM TO KNOW HER ABOMINATIONS_] And such a revelation of impurity never was seen before or since. Surely the state of the Jews, before the Babylonish captivity, was the most profligate and corrupt of all the nations of the earth. This chapter contains God's _manifest... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 16:3. _THY BIRTH AND THY NATIVITY_ IS _OF THE LAND OF CANAAN_] It would dishonour Abraham to say that you sprung from _him_: ye are rather _Canaanites_ than _Israelites_. The Canaanites were accursed; so are ye. _THY FATHER_ WAS _AN AMORITE, AND THY MOTHER A HITTITE._] These tribes w... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 16:4. AS FOR _THY NATIVITY, C._] This verse refers to what is ordinarily done for every infant on its birth. The _umbilical cord_, by which it received all its nourishment while in the womb, being no longer necessary, is cut at a certain distance from the abdomen: on this part a knot... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 16:5. _THOU WAST CAST OUT IN THE OPEN FIELD_] This is an allusion to the custom of some heathen and barbarous nations, who exposed those children in the open fields to be devoured by wild beasts who had any kind of deformity, or whom they could not support.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 16:6. _I SAID - LIVE_] I received the exposed child from the death that awaited it, while in such a state as rendered it at once an object of horror, and also of compassion. _________________ Modo primos Edere vagitus, et adhuc a matre rubentem.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 16:8. WAS _THE TIME OF LOVE_] Thou wast marriageable. _I SPREAD MY SKIRT OVER THEE_] I _espoused_ thee. This was one of their initiatory marriage ceremonies. See Ruth 3:9. _I-ENTERED INTO A COVENANT WITH THEE_] Married thee. _Espousing_ preceded _marriage_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 16:10. _I CLOTHED THEE ALSO WITH BROIDERED WORK_] Cloth on which various _figures_, in various _colours_, were wrought by the needle. _WITH BADGERS' SKIN_] See Exodus 25:5. The same kind of skin with which the tabernacle was covered. _FINE LINEN_] בשש _beshesh, with cotton_. I have s... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 16:12. _I PUT A JEWEL ON THY FOREHEAD_] על אפך _al appech_, upon thy _nose_. This is one of the most common ornaments among ladies in the east. European translators, not knowing what to make of _a ring in the nose_, have rendered it, _a jewel on thy forehead_ or _mouth_, (though they... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 16:13. _THUS WAST THOU DECKED, C._] The _Targum_ understands all this of the _tabernacle service_, the _book of the law_, the _sacerdotal vestments_, c. _THOU DIDST PROSPER INTO A KINGDOM._] Here the figure explains itself: by this _wretched infant_, the low estate of the Jewish nati... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 16:15. _THOU DIDST TRUST IN THINE OWN BEAUTY_] Riches, strength, alliances, c. never considering that all they possessed came from God; therefore _it was his comeliness which he_ _had put upon them_. Witness their _original abject state_, and the degree of _eminence_ to which they had... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 16:17. _AND MADEST TO THYSELF IMAGES OF MEN_] צלמי זכר _tsalmey_ _zachar, male images_. _Priapi_ are here meant, which were carried about in the ceremonies of Osiris, Bacchus, and Adonis; and were something like the _lingam_ among the Hindoos. _Herodotus_, lib. ii, c. 48, 49, gives us... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 16:18. _HAST SET MINE OIL AND MINE INCENSE BEFORE THEM._] It appears that they had made use of the holy vestments, and the different kinds of offerings which belonged to the Lord, to honour their idols.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 16:21. _TO CAUSE THEM TO PASS THROUGH THE FIRE_] Bp. _Newcome_ quotes a very apposite passage from _Dionysius Halicarnass_. Ant. Rom. lib. i., s. 88, p. 72, and marg. p. 75, Edit. Hudson: Μετα δε τουτο, πυρκαΐας προ των σκηνων γενεσθαι κελευσας, εξαγει τον λεων τας φλογας ὑπερθρωσκον... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 16:24. _THOU HAST ALSO BUILT UNTO THEE AN EMINENT PLACE_] גב _gab_, a _stew_ or _brothel_; Vulg. _lupanar_; Septuag. οικημα πορνικον. So my old MS. Bible, _a bordel house_. "Thou hast builded thy stewes and bordell houses in every place." - _Coverdale's_ Bible, 1535. _Bordel_ is an _It... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 16:26. _GREAT OF FLESH_] The most extensive idolaters. Bene vasatis-longa mensura incognita nervy - Juv. _Sat_. ix. 34. This is the allusion.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 16:27. _HAVE DIMINISHED THINE ORDINARY_] חקך _chukkech_ means here the household provision made for a wife-food, clothing, and money.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 16:36. _THY FILTHINESS WAS POURED OUT_] נחשתך _nechushtech_. As this word signifies a sort of _metal_, (brass,) it is generally supposed to mean _money_. They had given _money_ literally to these heathen nations to procure their friendship and assistance; but the word also means _verdi... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 16:39. _THEY SHALL STRIP THEE ALSO OF THY CLOTHES - THY FAIR_ _JEWELS_] Alluding to a lot common enough to prostitutes, their maintainers in the end stripping them of all they had given them.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 16:42. _I WILL BE QUIET AND WILL BE NO MORE ANGRY._] I will completely abandon thee; have nothing more to do with thee; think no more of thee. When God in judgment ceases to reprehend, this is the severest judgment.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 16:43. _THOU HAST NOT REMEMBERED THE DAYS OF THY YOUTH_] Thy former low beginning, when God made thee a people, who wast no people. He who maintains not a proper recollection of past mercies is not likely to abide steadfast in the faith. Ingratitude to God is the commencement, if not t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 16:44. _AS_ IS _THE MOTHER_, SO IS _HER DAUGHTER._] כאמה בתה _keimmah bittah_, "As the mother, her daughter." As is the _cause_, so is the _effect_. As is the _breeding_, so is the _practice_. A _silken purse_ cannot be made out of a _swine's ear_. What is bred in the _bone_ seldom com... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 16:46. _THINE ELDER SISTER_ IS _SAMARIA, SHE AND HER DAUGHTERS_ _THAT DWELL AT THY LEFT_] It is supposed that the prophet by _Sodom_ in this place means the Israelites that dwelt beyond Jordan, in the land of the _Moabites_ and _Ammonites_; or rather of the _Moabites_ and _Ammonites_ t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 49. _THIS WAS THE INIQUITY OF THY SISTER SODOM_] If we are to take this place literally, _Sodom_ was guilty of other crimes besides that for which she appears to have been especially punished; in addition to her unnatural crime, She is charged with _pride, luxury, idleness_, and _uncharitablen... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 52. _THEY ARE MORE RIGHTEOUS THAN THOU_] תצדקנה ממך _tetsuddaknah mimmech_, "They shall be justified more than thou." They are less guilty in the sight of God, for their crimes were not accompanied with so many _aggravations_. This phrase casts light on Luke 18:14: "This man went down to his h... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 16:60. _I WILL REMEMBER MY COVENANT_] That is, the covenant I made with Abraham _in the day of thy youth_, when in _him_ thou didst _begin_ to be a nation.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 16:61. _THY SISTERS, THINE ELDER AND THY YOUNGER_] The _Gentiles_, who were _before_ the Jews were called, and _after_ the Jews were cast off, are here termed the _elder_ and _younger sister_. These were to be given to Jerusalem for _daughters_; the latter should be converted to God by... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Ezekiel 16:63. _WHEN I AM PACIFIED TOWARD THEE_] This intimates that the Jews shall certainly share in the blessings of the Gospel covenant, and that they shall be restored to the favour and image of God. And _when_ shall this be? Whenever _they_ please. They might have enjoyed them _eighteen... [ Continue Reading ]