Ezekiel 16:19

My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savour: and thus it was, saith the Lord GOD. MY MEAT ... WHICH I GAVE THEE - (Hosea 2:8). THOU HAST EVEN SET IT BEFORE THEM - as a minchaah (H4503) or "meat offering" of fine flour with oil and frankincense (Leviticus 2:1). THOU HAST EVEN SET IT BEFORE THEM FOR A SWEET SAVOUR - literally, 'a savour of rest,' i:e., 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, because I sa...

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....

Allusion is here made to some rite like the Roman “Lectisternia,” in which public tables were set forth for feasts in honor of idols....

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

MY MEAT ALSO WHICH I GAVE THEE,.... Or "my bread" i; a general name for all eatables. The Targum renders it, "my good things.'' The Jews apply it to the manna, which, they say, descended the same day the molten calf was made, and they set it before it. This interpretation Jarchi and Kimchi make mention of; it includes what follows: FINE FLOUR, AND OIL, AND HONEY, [WHEREWITH] I FED THEE; for the land of Canaan was a land of wheat, of which fine flour was made; and of olives, from whence was the best oil; and a land flowing with milk and honey; and which was given by the Lord, and so he might be said to feed them with them: and instead of glorifying him, and being thankful for them, and using them in the manner they ought, THOU HAST EVEN SET IT BEFORE THEM FOR A SWEET SAVOUR; that is, they made a meat offering of their fine flour, oil, and honey, and set it before their idols; to gain...

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

MEAT. Put by Figure of speech _Synecdoche_ (of the Part), App-6, for all kinds of food. FOR. SWEET SAVOUR. Reference to Pentateuch.. legal phrase, found only in Ezekiel outside the Pentateuch. But in Ezekiel four times: via Ezekiel 6:13; Ezekiel 16:19; Ezekiel 20:28; Ezekiel 20:41. See notes on Genesis 8:21.Leviticus 1:9. App-92. THUS IT WAS. [so] it became....

All the gifts of Jehovah to her she took and bestowed on idols: her raiment (Ezekiel 16:16_; Ezekiel 16:18_), her gold and silver (Ezekiel 16:17), and her delicate fare (Ezekiel 16:19). And as if this were a small matter, she sacrificed also the children which were Jehovah's to her idols (Ezekiel 16:20)....

AND THUS IT WAS, &C.— Houbigant begins the next verse with this clause, which he reads thus; _Nay, moreover, saith the Lord God;_ and he ends the 20th verse with the word _devoured,_ and begins the 21st verse thus, _Was it a small matter for thee to have played the harlot, that thou must also slay my children, and deliver them to be consecrated unto them?_ The allusion here seems to be to the horrid sacrifices of Moloch....