Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 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.

37. all thy lovers ] The heathen nations whose alliance she sought, Hos 2:10.

taken pleasure ] Lit. to whom thou hast been pleasing or sweet with a sensual reference.

that thou hast hated ] The nations with whom no alliances were formed, such as the Philistines.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Behold: God calls her to consider what heavy judgment he pronounceth and will execute.

Gather whole herds and droves, for the word implieth such a gathering together.

All thy lovers; Chaldeans, Assyrians, Egyptians. Pleasure; unlawful pleasures of body, commerce, and idolatrous feasts in their idolatrous sacrifices. Old pretended friends, now turned into vehement enemies; and old enemies, who have earnestly longed for such an opportunity to vent their malice; their hatred will heap on thee mischiefs, under which real friendship might somewhat relieve, but counterfeited friendship never will; thou shalt not have a friend to pity or help thee.

Them that thou hast hated; so shall my threats be fulfilled, Lev 26:17, when I give thee up into their hands, who remember thy hatred against them, and renew the old hatred they had against thee.

I will even gather them; it shall be very certain, and my hand, saith God, shall be seen doing it, I will do this. Round about; all the nations that are on every side, that there may be numbers enough to do this, and that there may be no escape for thee, when, which way soever thou fleest, still thou fleest into the mouth of thy enemies, and who hate thee.

Discover thy nakedness; lay open to view all thy shameless doings; thou didst discover thy nakedness to allure, and then to satisfy thy prodigious lust; now it shall be discovered to nauseate them, and to provoke them to contemn thee, and to use thee as so vile a person deserveth. So God retaliateth, and punisheth sinners, that their sin may be seen in the punishment.

May see, with upbraiding, scorning, and hating of it and them.

All thy nakedness; the odiousness of thy sinful courses, and the weakness of thy state.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

37. thy loversthe Chaldeansand the Assyrians. The law of retribution is the more signallyexemplified by God employing, as His instruments of judgment onIsrael, those very nations whose alliance and idols Israel had soeagerly sought, besides giving her up to those who had been alwaysher enemies. “God will make him, who leaves God for the world,disgraced even in the eyes of the world, and indeed the more so thenearer he formerly stood to Himself” [HENGSTENBERG],(Isa 47:3; Jer 13:26;Hos 2:12; Nah 3:5).

all . . . thou hast hatedtheEdomites and Philistines; also Moab and Ammon especially (De23:3).

I . . . will discover thynakednesspunishment in kind, as she had “discovered hernakedness through whoredoms” (Eze16:36); the sin and its penalty corresponded. I will expose theeto public infamy.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

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

Eze 16:36; than which nothing can be more disagreeable to the sex. The Milesian virgins were restrained from suicide by a law, which ordered that such should be drawn naked through the market place. This is to be understood of the spoiling of the city and temple.

r “quibus commixtuisti cum illis”, Starckius.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(37) Thou hast loved . . . hast hated.Not only those with whom Israel had sought alliances, but those who had been her hereditary foes, like the Philistines and Edomites, shared in the spoil of her land. Much of this had been already accomplished (see 2Ki. 16:6; 2Ch. 28:17-18, &c). Israels weakness and wickedness should be fully exposed to all her enemies.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

37. With whom thou hast taken pleasure Or, unto whom thou hast been pleasant.

I will discover thy nakedness unto them Her judges shall be her lovers, whom she, like Ishtar, has welcomed and discarded one by one. She has succeeded in making religious and political alliances first with one power and then with another; but presently the nations will see how untrustworthy and feeble she is and will scorn her.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

“Therefore behold I will gather all your lovers, with whom you have taken pleasure, and all those you have loved, with all those you have hated, I will even gather them against you on every side, and will reveal your nakedness to them that they may see all your nakedness.”

Prostitutes who offer themselves in public gathering places where drinking also goes on, which would be the case with cult prostitutes, are often subjected to degrading treatment by those who have previously made use of their services, in a state of drunkenness. It was probably a familiar sight in Jerusalem. That is what is in mind here. A prostitute subjected to humiliation and degradation by her drunken and debased former ‘lovers’.

I remember having a case described to me which took place in a Cyprus bar, where the prostitute, whom many of them had previously ‘used’, was seized by a gang of drunken soldiers, who used a bottle neck to perform degrading acts on her. It had even disgusted the far from puritanical (non-Christian) soldier who told me of it.

Thus would Israel suffer from those all around her, both her ‘allies’ (those whom she loved) and her enemies who were waiting to pounce (those whom she hated). They would surround her, gaze on her abject state, and abuse her, a vivid picture of the coming destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon and subsequent devastation of the land by Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites and Philistines (Ezekiel 25).

Note the ‘you have taken pleasure’. It is a rare prostitute who takes pleasure in what she does. They usually despise their clients, although they are sensible enough to hide it. But Israel was so licentious that she had actually taken pleasure in her disgraceful behaviour.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Eze 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.

Ver. 37. With whom thou hast taken pleasure. ] Or, With whom thou hast been commingled. Iocundata es.

And will discover thy nakedness unto them. ] This is by modest women taken for a very great punishment. Polyxena, when she was sacrificed, took great care to fall handsomely. The Milesian maids would not be kept from killing themselves till there was a law made that such as so did should be drawn naked through the market. Till the days of Theodosius senior, if a woman were taken in adultery, they shut her up in a stews, and compelled her beastly, and without all shame, to play the harlot, ringing a bell while the deed was doing, that all the neighbours might be made privy to it. This evil custom that good emperor took away, making other laws for the punishment of adultery.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

gather = gather out.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Eze 23:9, Eze 23:10, Eze 23:22-30, Jer 4:30, Jer 13:22, Jer 13:26, Jer 22:20, Lam 1:8, Lam 1:19, Hos 2:3, Hos 2:10, Hos 8:10, Nah 3:5, Nah 3:6, Rev 17:16

Reciprocal: Isa 3:17 – discover Isa 47:2 – make bare Jer 12:9 – the birds Jer 21:4 – and I Lam 1:2 – among Eze 16:15 – and pouredst Eze 16:27 – delivered Eze 16:57 – thy wickedness Eze 23:5 – doted Eze 23:17 – and her Eze 23:26 – strip Eze 23:28 – whom thou Eze 23:29 – the nakedness Eze 24:8 – I have set Hos 10:10 – and the Amo 5:2 – none Mic 1:11 – thou inhabitant of Saphir Rev 2:22 – and them Rev 16:15 – lest

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Eze 16:37-39. Behold, I will gather all thy lovers Those allies, whose friendship thou hast courted, by complying with their idolatries; with all them that thou hast hated As Edom, Moab, and Ammon: who were always of an envious and hostile disposition toward the Jews, and insulted over their calamities. And I will discover thy nakedness to them They shall see thee carried away captive, stripped, and bare, without any covering to thy nakedness, according to the barbarous custom of conquerors in those times. The words allude to the punishment that used to be inflicted on common harlots and adulteresses, which was to strip them naked and expose them. And I will judge thee as women that break wedlock, and shed blood I will inflict upon thee the punishment of adultery and murder: that is, some of thy people shall be stoned, and some killed by the sword: for these were the punishments of adultery and murder. Jerusalem might be properly said to be stoned when the Chaldeans, from their slings and engines, flung large stones into the city; for this was usual in the besieging of places in those days. And I will give thee blood in fury and in jealousy I will punish thee with severity, as a jealous and provoked husband does a wife that has wronged him. Or, I will pour out the blood of thy slain like water: I will make an utter destruction of thine inhabitants. They shall throw down thine eminent place

Probably the temple is here meant, called their eminent place, because they had filled it with idols; and shall break down thy high places Dedicated to idolatrous worship. They shall strip thee also of thy clothes They shall take away thy walls: or they shall plunder thee of every thing before they carry thee away captive. And shall take thy fair jewels Hebrew, , the vessels of thy ornament, or glory. The vessels of the temple seem to be here intended.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

16:37 Behold, therefore I will gather all {r} 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 on every side against thee, and will uncover thy nakedness to them, that they may see all thy nakedness.

(r) Egyptians, Assyrians and Chaldeans whom you took to be your lovers will come and destroy you, Eze 23:9 .

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes