Ezekiel 16:14

And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD. THY RENOWN WENT FORTH AMONG THE HEATHEN. The theocracy reached its highest point under Solomon, when distant potentates heard of his "fame" (, etc.), e. g., the queen of Sheba, Hiram, etc. (.) PERFECT THROUGH MY COMELINESS - it was not thine own, but imparted by me; it was that "which I had put upon thee....

Here the Prophet still continues to recite those blessings of God by which he had bound the people to himself. As to his saying, _that its name had gone forth_, it cannot be restricted to a short period; but it embraces a continued series of God’s favors until the people reached the highest point of happiness; and this happened under David. There is no doubt that God here means that he was so continually liberal towards the people that their fame became celebrated, for the name of the Israelites were spread far and wide; and God deservedly recounts their nobility or celebrity of fame among his benefits: hence he adds, _on account of the beauty or elegance which I have placed upon thee_, says he; _because you was perfect through the ornament which I had placed upon thee_. Here, therefore, God signifies that the people had not earned their fame by their own virtue, nor were they noble thro...

1-58 In this chapter God's dealings with the Jewish nation, and their conduct towards him, are described, and their punishment through the surrounding nations, even those they most trusted in. This is done under the parable of an exposed infant rescued from death, educated, espoused, and richly provided for, but afterwards guilty of the most abandoned conduct, and punished for it; yet at last received into favour, and ashamed of her base conduct. We are not to judge of these expressions by modern ideas, but by those of the times and places in which they were used, where many of them would not sound as they do to us. The design was to raise hatred to idolatry, and such a parable was well suited for that purpose....

PERFECT ... MY COMELINESS - The comeliness was not natural, but the gift of God....

EXPOSITION The section on which we now enter, with its companion picture in Ezekiel 23:1; forms the most terrible, one might almost say the most repellent, part of Ezekiel's prophetic utterances. We have, as it were, his story of the harlot's progress, his biography of the Messalina of the nations. We shudder as we read it, just as we shudder in reading the sixth satire of Juvenal. The prophet speaks, like the satirist, of things which we have learnt, mainly under the teaching of Christian purity, to veil in a reticent reserve, with a Lucretian and Dante-like vividness. The nearest parallel, indeed, which literature presents to it is found in the 'Epistola ad Florentinos' of the latter poet. We need to remember, as we read it, that his standard was not ours, that those for whom he wrote had done or witnessed the things which he describes, that there was in them no nerve of

AND THY RENOWN WENT FORTH AMONG THE HEATHEN FOR THY BEAUTY,.... Which consisted of the above things: with this compare Deuteronomy 6:4 Psalms 48:2; the church's beauty lies in the righteousness of Christ imputed, to her; in the holiness of Christ reckoned unto her; in the blood of Christ being upon her, by which she is washed and cleansed, justified and pardoned; and in the graces of the Spirit of Christ implanted in her; and in the salvation of Christ she is interested in; and in the presence of Christ, which is the beauty of the Lord upon her; and in being in Gospel order, and having Gospel ordinances; see Psalms 45:11; FOR IT [WAS] PERFECT THROUGH MY COMELINESS, WHICH I HAD PUT UPON THEE

In this very remarkable chapter, God describes his ancient people Israel under the figure of an infant which had been cast away, but which he had cared for and tended, and upon which he had lavished much love, making it the object of his choice, on which his very heart was set. Yet this specially-favored one had gone astray, and committed all manner of wickedness; but for all that, the love of God had not been withdrawn. The whole chapter is a graphic picture of the way in which Israel and Judah went after false gods, and forsook the only living and true God. Ezekiel 16:1. _Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,_ This is a very necessary command, for unless men know their disease they will not apply to the great Physician. Only he who knows that he is poor will be willing to accept of alms. It is, there

Ezekiel 16:1. This chapter consists of four sections: 1. The parable of the abandoned child. 2. Jerusalem's idolatries and moral degradation (Ezekiel 16:15). 3. The doom of Jerusalem and the promise of restoration (Ezekiel 16:35). 4. The covenant remembered (Ezekiel 16:60). The parable of the abandoned child, and what the gracious Lord did for the little one is a most beautiful demonstration of what He had done in His sovereign love and grace for Jerusalem. It must be read first with this in mind. But this sweet parable illustrates also, as few other portions in the Old Testament do, the grace which the Lord bestows upon t

EZEKIEL 16. JERUSALEM THE UNGRATEFUL, THE UNFAITHFUL. Again Ezekiel returns to the indictment which justifies the doom. This time it takes the form of a merciless exposure, in allegorical form, of her sins, which, from the beginning to the end of her history, constitute one unbroken record of black apostasy. Jerusalem (or Israel) is compared to an infant girl, abandoned immediately after birth, but saved, brought up, and married by Yahweh, whose care and love she rewarded with infidelities gross and innumerable. The idea is elaborated with a detail often offensive to modern taste, but the whole passage palpitates with moral indignation and religious passion, and is not seldom dashed with the bitterest irony. EZEKIEL 16:1. Yahweh's Kindness. Jerusalem (_i.e._ Israel), Ezekiel fiercely begins, was heathen from the first, child of Amorite and Hittite parents (names intended

HEATHEN. nations....