Ezekiel 16:52

Thou also, which hast judged thy sisters, bear thine own shame for thy sins that thou hast committed more abominable than they: they are more righteous than thou: yea, be thou confounded also, and bear thy shame, in that thou hast justified thy sisters. THOU ALSO, WHICH HAST JUDGED THY SISTERS, BEAR THINE OWN SHAME - (Matthew 7:1; Romans 2:17) Judah THOU ALSO, WHICH HAST JUDGED THY SISTERS, BEAR THINE OWN SHAME - (Matthew 7:1; ; Romans 2:17). Judah had judged Sodom (representing the pagan nations) and Samaria (Isra...

Here at length God announces that he would punish the Jews according to their deserts. Hitherto he has recounted their crimes, as judges are accustomed, when they condemn criminals, to state the reasons which induce them to pass sentence: thus God shortly shows how wicked the Jews were. He now adds, that he would avenge them according to the magnitude of their crimes. For they would easily have swallowed all reproaches if the fear of punishment had not been infused into them. This second head, then, was necessary, lest they should Judea off with impunity, since they had surpassed both Sodom and Samaria. _Do thou also bear thy disgrace who has judged thy sisters. _Here Ezekiel seems to be at variance with himself, for he said just now and will repeat again shortly, that Jerusalem had justified her sisters; and this is contrary to judging. But he says that Samaria was condemned by the Jews...

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....

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 house justified rather than the other." Less blame in the sight of God was attached to him. He always had fewer advantages, and now he was a true _penitent_; while the other was boasting of what he _had done_, and what he had _not done_....

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

THOU ALSO WHICH HAST JUDGED THY SISTERS,.... Sodom and Samaria, by censuring and condemning them for their sins; see 2 Chronicles 13:8; in which sense Jarchi and Kimchi interpret the word; or by defending and patronizing them, acquitting and absolving them, by committing the same sins, and more heinous ones: BEAR THINE OWN SHAME FOR THY SINS THAT THOU HAST COMMITTED MORE ABOMINABLE THAN THEY; look upon thy sins, and blush at them; confess them with shame and confusion of face; take shame to thyself for them, in that thou hast censured and condemned these sins in others thou hast been guilty of thyself; and the rather, since thy sins are greater, and attended with more aggravating circumstances, than those thou hast blamed in others; or this is a prophecy of their punishment for their sins, when they should be carried captive, and be put to shame befo

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

ARE. will prove. MORE RIGHTEOUS. See note on Ezekiel 16:49. SISTERS. Samaria and Sodom....

Point thus: "and thou also, which hast (in that thou hast) given judgment for (in behalf of) thy sisters, bear thy shame; through thy sins which thou hast committed more abominable than they, they are more righteous than thou." Jerusalem has "given judgment" or interposed (1 Samuel 2:25) in behalf of her sisters in being more wicked than they she has made them comparatively righteous. The phrase "bear thy shame" might mean "suffer in destruction the consequences of thy wickedness;" Ezekiel 16:54_; Ezekiel 16:61; Ezekiel 16:63_, however, shew that the ref. is to the feeling of shame due to the fact that by the grossness of her abominat