Ezekiel 16:37

Behold, therefore I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness. BEHOLD, THEREFORE I WILL GATHER ALL 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). WITH ALL THEM THAT THOU HAST HATED - the Edomites and Philistines; also Moab and Ammon especially ...

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....

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, but brass coins were not unknown in the time of the Maccabees. Compare Matthew 10:9; Mark 12:41. Ezekiel may here have put brass for gold contemptuously. Compare Isaiah 1:22;...

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

BEHOLD, THEREFORE I WILL GATHER ALL THY LOVERS, WITH WHOM THOU HAST TAKEN PLEASURE,.... Or, "with whom thou hast mixed" r; in unlawful embraces, joined in sinful alliances, or in idolatrous practices: AND ALL [THEM] THAT THOU HAST LOVED; the Egyptians and Assyrians, whose friendship and idolatrous customs they were fond of: WITH ALL [THEM] THAT THOU HAST HATED; as the Philistines, Moabites, and Ammonites: I WILL EVEN GATHER THEM ROUND ABOUT AGAINST THEE; as they were in the Chaldean army, which consisted of many nations: AND WILL DISCOVER THY NAKEDNESS UNTO THEM, THAT THEY MAY SEE ALL THY NAKEDNESS; as a just retaliation for discovering it herself, as in Ezekiel 16:36; than which nothing can be more disagreeable to the sex. The Milesian virgins were restrained from suicide by a law, which ordered t

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

GATHER. gather out....

Punishment of the adulterous wife, and child-murderer This punishment is described in somewhat mixed figures: first, Ezekiel 16:36, in a figure which tends to pass into a literal account of the destruction of Jerusalem; and secondly, Ezekiel 16:40, in a figure suggested by the punishment of the ordinary adulteress....

D. The Punishment of the Harlot 16:35-43 TRANSLATION (35) Therefore, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD! (36) Thus says the Lord GOD: Because your filthiness was poured out, and your nakedness revealed through your harlotry with your lovers; and because of all the idols of your abominations, and for the blood of your sons which you gave to them, (37) therefore, behold I am about to gather your lovers unto whom You have been pleasant, and all whom you have loved, along with all whom you hate; I will gather them against you round about, and I will reveal your nakedness unto them, that they may see all your nakedness. (38) And I will judge you with the judgments accorded adulteresses and those who shed blood; and I will bring upon you the blood of fury and jealousy. (39) And I will give you into their hand; and they shall throw down your eminent places, and break down your lofty places; a...