Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 16:44
Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use [this] proverb against thee, saying, As [is] the mother, [so is] her daughter.
44. A taunting proverb in regard to Jerusalem, the adulteress and child-murderer: she is the true daughter of her mother the Canaanite. The proverb or saying is probably to be restricted to the words: “As is her mother, so is her daughter.” In Eze 16:45 seq. the prophet speaks and addresses Jerusalem.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The Jews prided themselves on being under the special protection of Yahweh. In the downfall of their neighbors, they found only additional grounds for confidence in their own security. Ezekiel now in severe rebuke places them on an equality with Sodom and Samaria. Alike have been their sins, except that Judah has had the preeminence in guilt. Alike shall be their punishment.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 44. As is the mother, so is her daughter.] keimmah bittah, “As the mother, her daughter.” As is the cause, so is the effect. As is the breeding, so is the practice. A silken purse cannot be made out of a swine’s ear. What is bred in the bone seldom comes out of the flesh. All such proverbs show the necessity of early holy precepts, supported by suitable example.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
That useth proverbs; that delights to make parables, and useth to taunt at the vices of notorious sinners.
Shall use this proverb against thee: this might be read with the former phrase, and render us this sense, Every one that would speak against thee, O Jerusalem, and tartly upbraid thee, shall use this proverb.
The mother; old Jerusalem, when the seat of the Jebusites; or the land of Canaan, when full of the idolatrous, bloody, barbarous nations.
Her daughter; Jerusalem, or synagogue of the Jews, which is more like in the wickednesses of those accursed nations, than near them in places of abode. See more Eze 16:3.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
44. As . . . mother . . . herdaughter“Is,” and “so is,“are not in the original; the ellipsis gives the proverb (but twowords in the Hebrew) epigrammatic brevity. Jerusalem provedherself a true daughter of the Hittite mother in sin (Eze16:3).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Behold, everyone that useth proverbs,…. That affects a proverbial way of sneaking that is witty and facetious, and has a talent at satirizing and scoffing, as some have had; such were Lucian and others:
shall use [this] proverb against thee; signifying that the sins of the Jews should be well known and exposed, and they should become the subject of the gibes and jeers of men:
saying, as [is] the mother, [so is] her daughter; an ancient and common proverb, used to express a likeness and agreement between persons their nature and disposition, in their behaviour, conduct, and conversation. So the Targum,
“as are the works of the mother, so those of the daughter;”
the mother is the land of Canaan, and the daughter the congregation of Israel, as Kimchi. The Jews were the successors of the old Canaanites, and they imitated them in their practices; and, because both of their succession and imitation, they are called the daughter of them; a bad daughter of a bad mother.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The Wickedness of Jerusalem; Punishment of Jerusalem. | B. C. 593. |
44 Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter. 45 Thou art thy mother’s daughter, that loatheth her husband and her children; and thou art the sister of thy sisters, which loathed their husbands and their children: your mother was an Hittite, and your father an Amorite. 46 And thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters. 47 Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: but, as if that were a very little thing, thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways. 48 As I live, saith the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters. 49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 50 And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good. 51 Neither hath Samaria committed half of thy sins; but thou hast multiplied thine abominations more than they, and hast justified thy sisters in all thine abominations which thou hast done. 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. 53 When I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them: 54 That thou mayest bear thine own shame, and mayest be confounded in all that thou hast done, in that thou art a comfort unto them. 55 When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate. 56 For thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth in the day of thy pride, 57 Before thy wickedness was discovered, as at the time of thy reproach of the daughters of Syria, and all that are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, which despise thee round about. 58 Thou hast borne thy lewdness and thine abominations, saith the LORD. 59 For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, which hast despised the oath in breaking the covenant.
The prophet here further shows Jerusalem her abominations, by comparing her with those places that had gone before her, and showing that she was worse than any of them, and therefore should, like them, be utterly and irreparably ruined. We are all apt to judge of ourselves by comparison, and to imagine that we are sufficiently good if we are but as good as such and such, who are thought passable; or that we are not dangerously bad if we are no worse than such and such, who, though bad, are not of the worst. Now God by the prophet shows Jerusalem,
I. That she was as bad as her mother, that is, as the accursed devoted Canaanites that were the possessors of this land before her. Those that use proverbs, as most people do, shall apply that proverb to Jerusalem, As is the mother, so is her daughter, v. 44. She is her mother’s own child. The Jews are as like the Canaanites in temper and inclination as if they had been their own children. The character of the mother was that she loathed her husband and her children, she had all the marks of an adulteress; and that is the character of the daughter: she forsakes the guide of her youth, and is barbarous to the children of her own bowels. When God brought Israel into Canaan he particularly warned them not to do according to the abominations of the men of that land, who went before them (for which it had spued them out,Lev 18:27; Lev 18:28), the monuments of whose idolatry, with the remains of the idolaters themselves, would be a continual temptation to them; but they learned their way, and trod in their steps, and were as well affected to the idols of Canaan as ever they were (Ps. cvi. 38), and thus, in respect of imitation, it might truly be said that their mother was a Hittite and their father an Amorite (v. 45), for they resembled them more than Abraham and Sarah.
II. That she was worse than her sisters Sodom and Samaria, that were adulteresses too, that loathed their husbands and their children, that were weary of the gods of their fathers, and were for introducing new gods, a-la-mode–quite in style, that came newly up, and new fashions in religion, and were given to change. On this comparison between Jerusalem and her sisters the prophet here enlarges, that he might either shame them into repentance or justify God in their ruin. Observe,
1. Who Jerusalem’s sisters were, v. 45. Samaria and Sodom. Samaria is called the elder sister, or rather the greater, because it was a much larger city and kingdom, richer and more considerable, and more nearly allied to Israel. If Jerusalem look northward, this is partly on her left hand. This city of Samaria, and the towns and villages, that were as daughters to that mother-city, these had been lately destroyed for their spiritual whoredom. Sodom, and the adjacent towns and villages that were her daughters, dwelt at Jerusalem’s right hand, and was her less sister, less than Jerusalem, less than Samaria, and these were of old destroyed for their corporeal whoredom, Jude 7.
2. Wherein Jerusalem’s sins resembled her sisters’, particularly Sodom’s (v. 49): This was the iniquity of Sodom (it is implied, and this is thy iniquity too), pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness. Their going after strange flesh, which was Sodom’s most flagrant wickedness, is not mentioned, because notoriously known, but those sins which did not look so black, but opened the door and led the way to these more enormous crimes, and began to fill that measure of her sins, which was filled up at length by their unnatural filthiness. Now these initiating sins were, (1.) Pride, in which the heart lifts up itself above and against both God and man. Pride was the first sin that turned angels into devils, and the garden of the Lord into a hell upon earth. It was the pride of the Sodomites that they despised righteous Lot, and would not bear to be reproved by him; and this ripened them for ruin. (2.) Gluttony, here called fulness of bread. It was God’s great mercy that they had plenty, but their great sin that they abused it, glutted themselves with it, ate to excess and drank to excess, and made that the gratification of their lusts which was given them to be the support of their lives. (3.) Idleness, abundance of idleness, a dread of labour and a love of ease. Their country was fruitful, and the abundance they had they came easily by, which was a temptation to them to indulge themselves in sloth, which disposed them to all that abominable filthiness which kindled their flames. Note, Idleness is an inlet to much sin. The men of Sodom, who were idle, were wicked, and sinners before the Lord exceedingly, Gen. xiii. 13. The standing waters gather filth and the sitting bird is the fowler’s mark. When David arose from off his bed at evening he saw Bathsheba. Quritur, gisthus quare sit factus adulter? In promptu causa est; desidiosus erat–What made gisthus an adulterer? Indolence. (4.) Oppression: Neither did she strengthen the hands of the poor and needy; probably it is implied that she weakened their hands and broke their arms; however, it was bad enough that, when she had so much wealth, and consequently power and interest and leisure, she did nothing for the relief of the poor, in providing for whose wants those that themselves are full of bread may employ their time well; they need not be so abundantly idle as too often they are. These were the sins of the Sodomites, and these were Jerusalem’s sins. Their pride, the cause of their sins, is mentioned again (v. 50): They were haughty, with the horrid effects of their sins, their abominations which they committed before God. Men arrive gradually at the height of impiety and wickedness. Nemo repente fit turpissimus–No man reaches the height of vice at once. But, where pride has got the ascendant in a man, he is in the high road to all abominations.
3. How much the sins of Jerusalem exceeded those of Sodom and Samaria; they were more heinous in the sight of God, either in themselves or by reason of several aggravations: “Thou hast not only walked after their ways, and trod in their steps, but hast quite outdone them in wickedness, v. 47. Thou thoughtest it a very little thing to do as they did; didst laugh at them as sneaking sinners and silly ones; thou wouldst be more cunning, more daring, in wickedness, wouldst triumph more boldly over thy convictions, and bid more open defiance to God and religion: ‘if a man will break, let him break for something.’ Thus thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways.” Jerusalem was more polite, and therefore sinned with more wit, more art and ingenuity, than Sodom and Samaria could. Jerusalem had more wealth and power, and its government was more absolute and arbitrary, and therefore had the more opportunity of oppressing the poor, and shedding malignant influences around her, than Sodom and Samaria had. Jerusalem had the temple, and the ark, and the priesthood, and kings of the house of David; and therefore the wickedness of that holy city, that was so dignified, so near, so dear to God, was more provoking to him than the wickedness of Sodom and Samaria, that had not Jerusalem’s privileges and means of grace. Sodom has not done as thou hast done, v. 48. This agrees with what Christ says. Matt. xi. 24, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee. The kingdom of the ten tribes had been very wicked; and yet Samaria has not committed half thy sins (v. 51), has not worshipped half so many idols, nor slain half so many prophets. It was bad enough that those of Jerusalem were guilty of Sodom’s sins, Sodomy itself not excepted, 1Ki 14:24; 2Ki 23:7. And though the Dead Sea, the standing monument of Sodom’s sin and ruin, bordered upon their country (Num. xxxiv. 12), and that sulphureous lake was always under their nose (God having taken away Sodom and her daughters in such way and manner as he saw good, as he says here, v. 50, so as that one thing should effectually make their overthrow an example to those that afterwards should live ungodly, 2 Pet. ii. 6), yet they did not take warning, but multiplied their abominations more than they; and, (1.) By this they justified Sodom and Samaria, v. 51. They pretended, in their haughtiness and superciliousness, to judge them, and in the days of old, when they retained their integrity, they did judge them, v. 52. But now they justify them comparatively: Sodom and Samaria are more righteous than thou, that is, less wicked. It will look like some extenuation of their sins that, bad as they were, Jerusalem was worse, though it was God’s own city. Not that it will serve for a plea to justify Sodom, but it condemns Jerusalem, against which Sodom and Samaria will rise up in judgment. (2.) For this they ought themselves to be greatly ashamed: “Thou who hast judged thy sisters, and cried out shame on them, now bear thy own shame, for thy sins which thou hast committed, which, though of the same kind with theirs, yet, being committed by thee, are more abominable than theirs,” v. 52. This may be taken either as foretelling their ruin (Thou shalt bear thy shame) or as inviting them to repentance: “Be thou confounded and bear thy shame; take the shame to thyself that is due to thee.” It may be hoped that sinners will forsake their sins when they begin to be heartily ashamed of them. And therefore they shall go into captivity, and there they shall lie, that they may be confounded in all that they have done, because they had been a comfort and encouragement to Sodom and Samaria, v. 54. Note, There is nothing in sin which we have more reason to be ashamed of than this, that by our sin we have encouraged others in sin, and comforted them in that for which they must be grieved or they are undone. Another reason why they must now be ashamed is because in the day of their prosperity they had looked with so much disdain upon their neighbours: Thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thee in the day of they pride, v. 56. They thought Sodom not worthy to be named the same day with Jerusalem, little dreaming that Jerusalem would at length lie under a worse and more scandalous character than Sodom herself. Those that are high may perhaps come to stand upon a level with those they contemn. Or “Sodom was not mentioned, that is, the warning designed to be given to thee by Sodom’s ruin was not regarded.” If the Jews had but talked more frequently and seriously to one another, and to their children, concerning the wrath of God revealed from heaven against Sodom’s ungodliness and unrighteousness, it might have kept them in awe, and prevented their treading in their steps; but they kept the thought of it at a distance, would not bear the mention of it, and (as the ancients say) put Isaiah to death for putting them in mind of it, when he called them rulers of Sodom and people of Gomorrah, Isa. i. 10. Note, Those are but preparing judgments for themselves that will not take notice of God’s judgments upon others.
4. What desolations God had brought and was bringing upon Jerusalem for these wickednesses, wherein they had exceeded Sodom and Samaria. (1.) She has already long ago been disgraced, and has fallen into contempt, among her neighbours (v. 57): Before her wickedness was discovered, before she came to be so grossly and openly flagitious, she bore the just punishment of her secret and more concealed lewdness, when she fell under the reproach of the daughters of Syria, of the Philistines, who were said to despise her and be ashamed of her (v. 27), and under the reproach of all that were round about her, which seems to refer to the descent made upon Judah by the Syrians in the days of Ahaz, and soon after another by the Philistines, 2Ch 28:5; 2Ch 28:18. Note, Those that disgrace themselves by yielding to their lusts will justly be brought into disgrace by being made to yield to their enemies; and it is observable that before God brought potent enemies upon them, for their destruction, he brought enemies upon them that were less formidable, for their reproach. If less judgments would do the work, God would not send greater. In this thou hast borne thy lewdness, v. 58. Those that will not cast off their sins by repentance and reformation shall be made to bear their sins to their confusion. (2.) She is now in captivity, or hastening into captivity, and therein is reckoned with, not only for her lewdness (v. 58), but for her perfidiousness and covenant-breaking (v. 59): “I will deal with thee as thou hast done; I will forsake thee as thou hast forsaken me, and cast thee off as thou hast cast me off, for thou hast despised the oath, in breaking the covenant.” This seems to be meant of the covenant God made with their fathers at Mount Sinai, whereby he took them and theirs to be a peculiar people to himself. They flattered themselves with a conceit that because God had hitherto continued his favour to them, notwithstanding their provocations, he would do so still. “No,” says God, “you have broken covenant with me, have despised both the promises of the covenant and the obligations of it, and therefore I will deal with thee as thou hast done.” Note, Those that will not adhere to God as their God have no reason to expect that he should continue to own them as his people. (3.) The captivity of the wicked Jews, and their ruin, shall be as irrevocable as that of Sodom and Samaria. In this sense, as a threatening, most interpreters take Eze 16:53; Eze 16:55. “When I shall bring again the captivity of Sodom and Samaria, and when they shall return to their former estate, then I will bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them, and as it were for their sakes, and under their shadow and protection, because they are more righteous than thou, and then thou shalt return to thy former estate,” But Sodom and Samaria were never brought back, nor ever returned to their former estate, and therefore let not Jerusalem expect it, that is, those who now remained there, whom God would deliver to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt,Jer 24:9; Jer 24:10. Sooner shall the Sodomites arise out of the salt sea, and the Samaritans return out of the land of Assyria, than they enjoy their peace and prosperity again; for, to their shame be it spoken, it is a comfort to those of the ten tribes, who are dispersed and in captivity, to see those of the two tribes who had been as bad as they, or worse, in like manner dispersed and in captivity; and therefore they shall live and die, shall stand and fall, together. The bad ones of both shall perish together; the good ones of both shall return together. Note, Those who do as the worst of sinners do must expect to fare as they fare. Let my enemy be as the wicked.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Here the Prophet uses another form of speech; for he says that the Jews deserved to be subject to the taunting proverbs of those who delight in wickedness. The sense is, that they were worthy of extreme infamy, so that their disgrace was bandied about in vulgar sayings. This is one point: he now adds, that proverbs of this kind were the Jews’ desert — the daughter is like her mother and sisters Then he says, their mother was a Hittite, and their sisters Samaria and Sodom. We must briefly treat these clauses in order. When the Prophet speaks of proverbs, he doubtless means what I have touched on, namely, that the crimes of the nation deserved that their infamy should fly abroad on the tongues of all; for there are many sins which are hidden, through either their being spared, or their not seeming to be much noticed. If any one surpass all others in cruelty, avarice, lust, and other vices, his disgrace will be notorious, and he will be pointed at by vulgar proverbs. Hence Ezekiel dwells on the people’s wickedness, since they supply material for all men to laugh at their expense; for he alludes to buffoons and wits, and such as are ingenious in fabricating vulgar sayings.
The maker of proverbs shall utter this proverb against thee: like mother like daughter. There is no doubt that they used this saying at that period, and it often happens that daughters’ faults are like their mothers’. Daughters indeed often degenerate from the best mothers, and matrons will be found who excel in the virtues of modesty, chastity, sobriety, and watchfulness, while their daughters are rash and proud, luxurious, lustful, and intemperate; but it usually happens that a mother has wicked daughters like herself: this happens less by nature than by education; for a woman of a perverse inclination will think that a stigma attaches to herself if her daughter is better than she is, and so she will wish to form her after her own morals; hence it happens that few daughters are found modest whose mothers are immodest: few sober who have been brought up by drunkards. Since therefore experience always taught the similarity between mothers and daughters, hence this proverb was in the mouth of every one. Proverbs, however, are not always true, but only on the whole; but God sometimes extends his pity so far that the daughter of a wicked woman is honorable and well conducted. But this is very rare: hence this proverbial saying cannot be rejected, — like mother like daughter. It now follows: thou art the daughter of thy mother; that is, altogether like her: and this phrase is equally common among us, “ Thou art thy father’s son, ” namely, you are like him in thy sins. Thus the Prophet means that the nation was like their mother, since it differed in nothing from the Canaanites and the Hittites. He adds also, sister and their daughters, as if he would collect the whole family. He says that Samaria is their elder sister, and Sodom their younger. I know not whether those who think that Samaria is called older than Jerusalem, through its revolting first from the worship of God, have sufficient grounds for their interpretation: for as we go on we shall see that Samaria is compared with Sodom, and since Sodom is the worst, it is very naturally compared with it. For Jerusalem will afterwards be placed in the highest rank, because it had surpassed them all in enormity. Samaria therefore is one of the sisters, and so is Sodom these towns are called daughters, for we know that Sodom was not the only one destroyed by fire from heaven, since there were five cities. (Gen 10:19, and Gen 19:25.) We see, then, why those smaller cities near at hand were called daughters of Sodom, and as far as Samaria is concerned, it was the head of the kingdom of Israel: hence all the cities of the ten tribes were called its daughters.
With relation to the father, the Prophet says here more than he had ventured before. He says, their father was an, Amorite, as if the Jews had sprung from profane nations, and did not draw their origin from a holy parent; and the Prophet very often makes this objection, not that they were spurious or descended according to the flesh from the uncircumcised Gentiles, but because they were unworthy of their father Abraham, through being degenerate. In fine, God here signifies that the parents of the Jews were not only profane nations but utterly reprobate, and those whom God for very just reasons had ordered to be destroyed, since they had contaminated the earth with their crimes far too long. He says that the Jews were like a daughter sprung from most abandoned parents. As to his saying, that the mother as well as sisters had despised their husbands, this may seem absurd. But we know that in proverbs, parables, examples, and comparisons, all things ought not to be exacted with the utmost nicety. When Christ’s coming is said to be stealthy, (Mat 24:43,) if any one here desires to be cunning and inquires how Christ is like a thief, that will be absurd. And also in this place when it is said, thy mother has abandoned her husband and her sons, and thy sisters have done the same. God simply means that both the mother and sisters of Jerusalem were impure and perfidious women; and cruel also, since they not only had violated the marriage pledge and had thus broken through all chastity, but were like ferocious beasts against their own sons. (Luk 12:39; 1Th 5:2.) He reproves the crime which we yesterday exposed, that of the Jews burning their own sons. In fine, he means to compare the Jews with the Canaanites, the Samaritans, and the Sodomites, in both perfidy and cruelty. Hence they are first condemned for throwing away all modesty and conjugal fidelity, and next for forgetting all humanity. It now follows —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
III. JUDAH: THE FALLEN SISTER 16:4463
TRANSLATION
(44) Behold every one who employs proverbs shall use this proverb against you, saying, As the mother, so the daughter. (45) You are the daughter of your mother who loathes her husband and her sons; and you are the sister of your sisters who loathe their husbands and their children; your mother was a Hittite, and your father was an Amorite. (46) And your older sister is Samaria she and her daughters who dwell on your left hand; and your younger sister on your right side is Sodom and her daughters. (47) Yet you have not walked in their ways, and you have not done after their abominations, but in a very little while you acted more corruptly than they in all your ways. (48) As I live (oracle of the Lord GOD) Sodom your sister she and her daughters has not done as You have done, You and your daughters. (49) Behold this was the iniquity of Sodom your sister; pride, fullness of bread and careless ease was in her and in her daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and the needy. (50) And they became haughty, and committed abomination before Me; therefore I removed them when I saw it. (51) And as for Samaria, she did not sin half as much as you; but you increased your abominations more than they while You vindicated your sisters in all the abominations which You did. (52) You also, bear your own shame in which YOU have judged your sister; through your sins in which you have been more abominable than they, they have been more righteous than YOU; yes, you be ashamed and bear your guilt in your vindication of your sisters. (53) And I will turn their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and the captivity of your captives in the midst of them; (54) in order that you may bear your own shame, and may be ashamed because of all which you have done in comforting them. (55) And your sisters Sodom and her daughters shall return to their former state, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former state, and you and your daughters shall return to your former slate. (56) For Sodom your sister was not mentioned by your mouth in the day of your pride; (57) before your wickedness was uncovered, as at the time of the reproach of the daughters of Aram and all that are round about her, the daughters of the Philistine who despise you round about. (58) You have borne your lewdness and your abominations (oracles of the LORD). (59) For thus says the Lord GOD: I will deal with you as you have done, who has despised the oath to break the covenant. (60) Nevertheless, I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish for you an everlasting covenant. (61) And you will remember your ways and you will be ashamed when you receive your sisters, the older and the younger; and I will give them to you for daughters, but not because of your covenant. (62) And I will establish My covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the LORD; (63) in order that you might remember, and be ashamed, and never again open your mouth because of your shame when I have forgiven you of all which you have done (oracle of the Lord GOD).
COMMENTS
When the judgment has fallen no one will be able to say that it was unjust. In years to come those who specialized in proverbs would say concerning sinful Israel, As the mother, as the daughter (Eze. 16:44). Like her mother, the Hittite, (and her sisters Samaria and Sodom) she was unfaithful in marriage and as a mother. The point here is that Judah was as sinful as the original inhabitants of Canaan (Eze. 16:44). Samaria is Judahs elder sister because she was larger in size and more numerous in population. She is on the left, i.e., north of Judah. The younger sister on the right side (south) of Judah is Sodom. The daughters of Samaria and Sodom are subordinate towns (Eze. 16:46). For only a very little while after the fall of Samaria during the reign of Hezekiah Judah did not walk in the abominations of Samaria and Sodom. But after that short pause in her ugly history Judah acted more corruptly than either of her sinful sisters (Eze. 16:47).
In Eze. 16:48-51 the comparison between the sins of the three sisters Sodom, Samaria and Judah continues. Even sinful Sodom had not surpassed the sin of Judah (Eze. 16:48). The root of Sodoms sin was pride which grew out of her security and prosperity. The pride manifested itself in heartless neglect of the poor and needy (Eze. 16:49) as well as other abominations. Therefore God removed them after their sins came under His judicial inspection (Eze. 16:50). Samaria had not committed even half the sins committed by Judah. In fact, in comparison to Judahs guilt, Sodom and Samaria appeared almost righteous (Eze. 16:51). How ashamed Judah ought to be of her gross sin which would cause men to render a favorable judgment with regard to Samaria and Sodom (Eze. 16:52).
Sodom and Samaria have a future. God would turn their captivity (i.e., restore their fortunes) and that of Judah as well (Eze. 16:53). Judah would actually be a comfort to Sodom and Samaria because of her greater guilt (Eze. 16:54). If God restores Judah, He must also restore the two sisters for they had sinned less (Eze. 16:55). In hypocritical self-righteousness Judah in former days would not so much as mention the name of Sodom (Eze. 16:56). But that was before Judahs own wickedness was made public through divine judgment. Humbled Judah became the object of disdain by the singers in Aram and Philistia. The particular occasion here mentioned is probably the humiliating and devastating Syro-Ephraimitic invasion of Judah in the days of Ahaz[323] (Eze. 16:57). Judah already had suffered and would yet suffer for her infidelity (Eze. 16:58).
[323] See 2Ch. 28:5; 2Ch. 28:18
Words of comfort follow the condemnation and threat of the preceding verses. God could not ignore the adulterous behavior of His national wife. She had broken the marriage covenant and must suffer the consequences (Eze. 16:59). But God would remember that covenant which He had made with Israel so many years before in the youth of the nation the period of the Exodus and wanderings (cf. Jer. 2:2). After judgment, God would enter into a new covenant an everlasting covenant with His people.[324]
[324] Cf. Eze. 37:26; Jer. 31:30 ff.
How ashamed Israel would be of her sordid and checkered past in that new day. Gods grace in overlooking past sin, making a new covenant with His people, and even bestowing upon them Sodom and Samaria, would arouse in them a deep sense of remorse. This reinstatement of Judah (Jews) as Gods people would have nothing to do with the old Sinai covenant. That covenant had been broken and disannulled. But the new covenant would be with converted sinners whether they were Jew, Samaritan or Gentile (Sodom).
The establishment of a new covenant is a sovereign act of God. This is emphasized by the pronoun I in Eze. 16:62 which is emphatic in the Hebrew. Through this gracious reinstatement of His people, as well as in the punishment previously threatened, men would learn about the nature of the God of the Bible (Eze. 16:62). The unfathomable grace of God in forgiving past sin would forever silence any self-justification (Eze. 16:63).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(44) As is the mother.The sin of the people had become so notorious as to attract general attention, and lead to the application of this proverb. The nativity of Israel described in Eze. 16:3 is here in mind, and the proverb becomes equivalent to saying, these sins belong to every people living in Canaan; once practised by the Amorites and Hittites, they are now continued by the Israelites.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
THE LOATHSOMENESS OF JERUSALEM, THE SPIRITUAL SISTER OF SODOM AND SAMARIA, DESCRIBED, Eze 16:44-59.
How brave the prophet who could speak thus! What awful satire, what dreadful execration! No wonder the prophet grew angry and bitter when he saw what burden of denunciation had been laid upon him. To say that his own beloved people are no better than the Hittites and Amorites, whom they abhorred; to say that Sodom and Samaria are their nearest spiritual relatives; to go further, and declare that Jerusalem is incomparably worse than these cities such words could only have been born of great courage and a controlling sense of duty. No wonder that the prophet again and again declares that the hand of the Lord was heavy upon him. (Compare Eze 3:14.)
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
44, 45. See notes Eze 5:3. The use of proverbs is one of Ezekiel’s favorite literary devices.
That loatheth her husband If the allegory is continued here, Ezekiel, like St. Paul, must be teaching that Jehovah is God of the whole earth and that idolatry originated through unfaithfulness to the true God. (See Rom 1:20-24.) It may be, however, that this is a side reference to the actual adultery and child murder which the Jews so abhorred in the Canaanites.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“Behold every one who uses proverbs will use a proverb against you, saying, ‘As is the mother, so is her daughter.’ You are your mother’s daughter, who loathes her husband and her children, and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathe their husband and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite, and your elder sister is Samaria, who dwells at your left hand, she and her daughters, and your younger sister who dwells at your right hand is Sodom and her daughters.”
These verses present a miserable picture of humanity, with its fightings and squabbles, its hatreds and prejudices, its racialism, and its constant enmity of man against man, and nation against nation, each hating the other. And the proverb thus applies, ‘like mother, like daughter’. The ‘mother’ of Jerusalem and Israel was a Hittite, whose husband was an Amorite. But they all hated each other. The relationships must be accepted loosely as representing inter-relationship and connection. We do not need to ask who their husbands were in the other cases for we are not told. It is a parable and no application is made. It simply means anyone associated with them.
All the inhabitants of Canaan had been constantly at war with each other, as the Amarna letters reveal to us. There was no love lost between them. They regularly loathed each other (read the correspondence). Thus the Hittites loathed the Amorites, (their ‘husband’), who had long dwelt alongside them, and they loathed the Israelites, and they loathed the Sodomites. And the Samaritans hated everyone around them, and the Sodomites had originally loathed the Hittites and Amorites, and the pre-Israelites. The point is that everyone hated everyone.
The names were carefully selected. The Amorites and the Hittites were of those Canaanites who were utterly condemned by Yahweh for their evil and licentious ways (the first two names in Deu 20:17, see also Eze 7:1-5; and note 1Ki 9:20; 2Ch 8:7). The people of Samaria were the northern tribes of Israel who demonstrated what they were by being carried off into captivity for their extreme sinfulness (2Ki 17:6-18). The Sodomites were a byword for sin, licentiousness and complacency. Yet all of them were to be seen as better than Jerusalem, (the heart of every Israelite in Jerusalem would be appalled at the thought), as she was revealed by her behaviour.
In view of the stated fact that the husband of the Hittite was an Amorite it is doubtful if we can associate the ‘husbands’ with God (as in the previous parable) as some seek to do. It is indeed very questionable whether Ezekiel would see God as the husband of the wicked Sodomites. The ‘daughters’ would be their related towns and villages. (Such are regularly called ‘daughters’ in Joshua and elsewhere. Eze 16:48 seems to exclude reference to ‘daughters’ as signifying children offered as sacrifices).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eze 16:44. Every one that useth proverbs They who love to apply the memorable sayings of former ages to the present times, shall apply that common proverb to thee, “That the daughter followeth the mother’s steps;” and that Jerusalem is no better than the Amorites, whose land she inhabits, and whose manners she imitates. See Lowth, and the note on Eze 16:3.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 16:44 Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use [this] proverb against thee, saying, As [is] the mother, [so is] her daughter.
Ver. 44. Behold, every one that useth proverbs. ] Omnis paraemiator paraemiabit. That is skilful at, and exercised in gibing and jeering; as was Socrates – called therefore S , the Scoffer – Democritus, Lucian, Sir Thomas Moore, Erasmus, &c.
Shall use this proverb.
As is the mother, so is her daughter. NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Eze 16:44-52
44Behold, everyone who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb concerning you, saying, ‘Like mother, like daughter.’ 45You are the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and children. You are also the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. 46Now your older sister is Samaria, who lives north of you with her daughters; and your younger sister, who lives south of you, is Sodom with her daughters. 47Yet you have not merely walked in their ways or done according to their abominations; but, as if that were too little, you acted more corruptly in all your conduct than they. 48As I live, declares the Lord GOD, Sodom, your sister and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. 49Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. 50Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it. 51Furthermore, Samaria did not commit half of your sins, for you have multiplied your abominations more than they. Thus you have made your sisters appear righteous by all your abominations which you have committed. 52Also bear your disgrace in that you have made judgment favorable for your sisters. Because of your sins in which you acted more abominably than they, they are more in the right than you. Yes, be also ashamed and bear your disgrace, in that you made your sisters appear righteous.
Eze 16:44-59 This is another parable in a series of parables (i.e., Ezekiel 15-18).
Eze 16:44 like mother, like daughter This denotes that the children take on the characteristics of the families in which they are raised (note Deu 5:9).
Eze 16:46 This verse specifies that Ezekiel is talking about three sinful capital cities that experienced the judgment of God.
1. Samaria (i.e., Israel), taken captive for her unfaithfulness by Assyria in 722 B.C.
2. Sodom (and Gomorrah), destroyed for their wickedness in Genesis 18
3. Jerusalem (i.e., Judah), who has been (i.e., 605, 597 B.C.) and would be, taken captive (i.e., 586 B.C.) by Babylon (even another exile in 582 B.C.)
This comparison is very similar to chapter 23 (Oholah/Samaria and Oholibah/Jerusalem). Also note Jer 3:6-11.
and her daughters This phrase (cf. Eze 16:49; Eze 16:55; Eze 16:57; Eze 16:61) refers to the surrounding villages, socially and economically connected to these large walled cities.
Eze 16:49 In Genesis 19 Sodom is described as a city of sexual deviation (i.e., homosexuality) and is destroyed by God. But here, she is later condemned for her lack of care for the poor and needy. She could help, but she would not! YHWH cares for the poor, alien, outcast, orphaned, and socially disenfranchised (cf. Deu 10:18; Deu 14:29; Deu 24:17-22; Deu 26:13; Deu 27:19)!
SPECIAL TOPIC: HOMOSEXUALITY
Eze 16:51-52 Judah’s sins were even more egregious than the other two! Judah should have known better
1. because of the judgments of God that befell the other two (i.e., Sodom and Samaria)
2. because of the presence of the temple in Jerusalem with its leadership
Eze 16:52 There is a series of IMPERATIVES of judgment.
1. bear your disgrace, BDB 669, KB 724, Qal IMPERATIVE
2. be ashamed, BDB 101, KB 116, Qal IMPERATIVE
3. #1 is repeated
Jerusalem’s sins are so base that they make Sodom and Samaria appear righteous (cf. Eze 16:54 b)!
proverb = derisive proverb. Figure of speech Paroemia. App-6.
Eze 16:44-48
Eze 16:44-48
“Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter. Thou art the daughter of thy mother, that loatheth her husband and her children; and thou art the sister of thy sisters that loathed their husbands and their children: your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. And thine elder sister is Samaria, that dwelleth at thy left hand, she and her daughters; and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters. Yet hast thou not walked in their ways, nor done after their abominations; but as if that were a very little thing, thou wast more corrupt than they in all thy ways. As I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters.”
“Hittite … Amorite …” (Eze 16:45). See under Eze 16:3, above, for discussion of this. The designation of these as the parents of Israel must be understood spiritually. As Matthew Henry explained it, “The Jews were as much like the Canaanites as if they had been the literal children of them.
“Left hand … right hand …” (Eze 16:46). In Biblical literature, the perspective for determining which was left or right was that of facing eastward; thus the left hand was north, and the right hand was south, the respective locations, as related to Jerusalem, of Samaria (north), and Sodom (south).
“Elder sister, Samaria … younger sister Sodom …” (Eze 16:46). This has puzzled some writers, because, chronologically, it is contrary to the facts. Sodom was older by more than a thousand years than Samaria. What is indicated is that Samaria had usurped the place of Sodom as the chief sinner of history, represented here as the younger sister supplanting the older. There is another instance of Ezekiel’s reversing the chronology in Eze 14:20, above. Spiritually, Samaria had indeed become the older sinner, that is, the worse sinner. The next verse reveals that Jerusalem had surpassed them all in wickedness.
“Thou wast more corrupt than they …” (Eze 16:47). The “they” here refers to Samaria and Sodom; Jerusalem was more wicked than either of them. This fundamental truth is the foundation of a tremendous moral problem. God had totally destroyed Sodom; how then could it be just for God to spare a remnant of Israel who was more wicked than Sodom? This will be cleared up later in the chapter. As we have often pointed out, the salvation of all men was contingent upon the fulfillment of the promises to Abraham and the patriarchs; and, in a very real sense, God was “stuck with Israel,” until the Messiah should at last be born of Mary and cradled in the manger at Bethlehem. The salvation of all the earth depended upon it.
Beasley-Murray commented on this verse thus, “Jerusalem’s sin was not only as bad as that of her heathen predecessors, and not only as bad as the sins of Samaria nad Sodom, but even worse than they (Eze 16:47).
This paragraph is significant in that the pagan city of Sodom is classified as a “sister” of Israel, both alike being God’s people in the general sense that all nations are God’s, and that God is the God of all nations, and not merely the God of the Jews. This principle is further confirmed in the following paragraph in which restoration is also promised to Sodom.
every: Eze 18:2, Eze 18:3, 1Sa 24:13
As is: Eze 16:3, Eze 16:45, 1Ki 21:16, 2Ki 17:11, 2Ki 17:15, 2Ki 21:9, Ezr 9:1, Psa 106:35-38
Reciprocal: Gen 31:1 – Jacob Pro 30:15 – The horseleach Eze 11:12 – but Eze 23:2 – two Hos 4:5 – thy Mic 2:4 – shall
Eze 16:44. It is a common thing to hear such a comparison made as this. Some may do so merely as a coincidence. while others will think that depravity is inherited. Still others will regard the situation as one where the daughter was influenced by the character and practices of the mother.
Eze 16:44-45. Every one that useth proverbs They who love to apply proverbial sayings, shall apply that common saying to thee, As is the mother, so is her daughter The inhabitants of Jerusalem are just such a people as the Amorites and Hittites were, whose land they inhabit. Thou art thy mothers daughter The Canaanites and other nations, who dwelt in the land before the Israelites, are here called their mother; and in terming the Jews their mothers daughter, the prophet signifies that they walked in the steps of the Canaanites, or imitated their manners. That loatheth her husband and her children Both these qualities belong to harlots, and were verified in the Jews, who hated God, their husband, and offered their children to idols, having cast off all natural affection to them. And thou art the sister of thy sisters Thou art in disposition like to those to whom thou art allied by blood. The sisters here spoken of are Sodom, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and Samaria, the principal city of the ten tribes. Moloch, who was worshipped in general by the ten tribes, and very often by those of Judah, was the ancient god of the Ammonites and Moabites: and the Samaritans also received among them the ancient gods of Chaldea. The inhabitants of Samaria were the kindred of the Jews by Jacob, and the Ammonites and Moabites were also related to them in the female line.
16:44 Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use [this] proverb against thee, saying, As [is] the mother, {x} [so is] her daughter.
(x) As the Canaanites, the Hittites and others were your predecessors, so are you their successors.
The depravity of Jerusalem 16:44-59
Other people would quote the proverb, "Like mother, like daughter," in regard to Jerusalem. She was like her Hittite "mother" who was also idolatrous and selfish. And she was like her older (larger) sister, Samaria, and its dependent villages, and her younger (smaller) sister, Sodom, and its dependent villages, both of which despised their husbands and children. The Hebrew text describes Samaria and Sodom as on Jerusalem’s left (north) and right (south) respectively, reflecting the customary eastern orientation of the Old Testament. However, Jerusalem acted even worse than they. The depraved worship of the Canaanites had affected all three of these cities, but Jerusalem had become the worst of the lot.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)