Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 16:55

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.

55. When thy sisters ] Better: and thy sisters and thou and thy daughters. In this idea of the restoration of Israel’s heathen neighbours to their own land after being plucked up out of it Ezekiel as usual follows Jeremiah; cf. in general, Jer 12:14-17; Moab, ch. Jer 48:47, Ammon, Jer 49:6, and Elam, Jer 49:39.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

This verse is explained in Eze 16:53, and needs not a repeated explication; it threatens a perpetual continuance of their low, abject, and miserable state in their outward concerns.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

55. (See on Eze16:53).

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

When thy sisters, Sodom, and her daughters, shall return to their former estate,…. The Jews, as Jerom says, are of opinion, that in the days of their vainly expected Messiah Sodom will be restored to its ancient state, and be as the garden of God, and as the land of Egypt; and Jarchi interprets the bringing again the captivity of Sodom, in Eze 16:53; by the Lord’s healing the land of brimstone and salt, and placing inhabitants in it; and it is asserted by the Jews f that Sodom and Gomorrah shall be rebuilt in future times, in the times of the Messiah, according to the sense of this passage: but this is not to be understood in a literal sense, of the rebuilding of Sodom and cities adjacent, and of restoring them to their former fruitfulness and fertility, and of the inhabitants to their former prosperity, and much less to their former state of wickedness; but spiritually, of the conversion of Gentile sinners to their ancient and happy estate in Christ:

and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate; to the knowledge of the Messiah, and the pure worship of God:

then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate; the conversion of Judah, and of Israel or the ten tribes, here meant by Samaria, is frequently prophesied of, as what will be at the same time,

Jer 23:6.

f Shemot Rabba, sect. 15. fol. 101. 3.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

A clearer explanation of the former doctrine now follows, that the Jews, should thus feel God merciful when his mercy reached Samaria and Sodom; but that never could be done, and hence the Jews were reduced to despair; for, as I have said, the Prophet argues from what is impossible and almost absurd. Just as Virgil writes —

“

The inhabitants of seas and skies shall change, And fish on shore, and stags in air shall range:” Virgil, Dryden’s, Eclogue 1. V. 60 —

which can never take place: so that it implies the complete denial of what might seem doubtful. This way of speaking is proverbial, when Ezekiel says that the Sodomites and Israelites should return to their ancient state or their former dignity; and that could never be hoped for, as I have said: hence it follows, that the Jews could not be safe when God draws them into the same punishment. Besides, the Prophet speaks as if the city should be cut off and temple overthrown, since the Jews had often been threatened with this, and he had shown them the wrath of God present before their eyes. But, although they had always hoped well, yet he despises their pride by which they were blinded, and utters his prophecies openly as if God had executed whatever he had threatened. For this reason he says, the captivity of thy captivities shall be in the midst of them. But they might object, that they enjoyed their country, that they still cultivated their fields, and had sufficient food for their support although besieged by their enemies. But the Prophet looked down upon it all, because before God the city was as it were taken and all were exiles, since God had not threatened them in vain. Weakness here compels me to break off.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

55. See note on Eze 16:53. The Israelites always thought of Sodom and Samaria as being the superlative sinners. Only the extremest limit of God’s mercy could reach them. A Midrash on Exo 12:12, speaks of ten things which shall be renewed in the far future and the fourth is, “even Sodom and Gomorrah shall be rebuilt.”

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

“And your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, will return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters will return to their former estate, and you and your daughters will return to your former estate.”

Eventually both Palestine and the Jordan valley would be restored to their former state, and the judgment on them will have been lifted Whether in the case of Samaria we are to read into this the return of some of the exiles we are not told. But it was inevitable that once the opportunity arose some would make their way back to the land, whether to Samaria or to Judah and Jerusalem, and meanwhile Samaria would again prosper.

But most astonishing of all, Jerusalem and Judah would also be restored and would once again prosper, having learned well that idolatry must be allowed no more. Of the many lessons that they did not learn, that was one lesson that they learned to the full.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Eze 16:55 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.

Ver. 55. When thy sister Sodom and her daughters. ] See on Eze 16:53 . The Jews still dream that all this shall be done at the coming of their long looked for Messiah, and in his reign on earth for a thousand years. a That then also Jerusalem shall be rebuilt and made up of gold, silver, and precious stones, &c. So apt are they to work themselves into the fool’s paradise of a sublime dotage.

a Jerome in loc.

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