Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 23:14

And [that] she increased her whoredoms: for when she saw men portrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion,

14. and that she increased ] Rather: And she added to her whoredoms, with full stop at Eze 23:13. It was certainly the custom in Babylonia to draw figures of men and the like upon the walls; it is not probable, however, that such figures of Chaldean warriors had actually been seen in Jerusalem. The prophet combines the Babylonian custom with the reports of Chaldean military splendour current in Judah. Even when Babylon was still a vassal state of Assyria Hezekiah entered into intrigues with it, Isaiah 39. In later times it was the rivalry between Babylon and Egypt that drew Judah into the whirl of imperial politics, and left her from the time of the battle of Carchemish and the defeat of Egypt subject to Babylon (b.c. 604).

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

After Israels captivity Judah intrigued first with Assyria, then with Babylon, courting their monarchs, imitating their customs, and learning their idolatries.

Pourtrayed upon the wall – The monuments of Nineveh show how the walls of its palaces were adorned with figures precisely answering to this description. There is evidence that these sculptures were highly colored with vermilion, or rather, red ochre.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 14. Men pourtrayed upon the wall] See on Eze 8:10.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Increased her whoredoms; added to the number of her idolatries.

When she saw men portrayed upon the wall: wherever it was the Jews saw, there it was they doted on their persons and habits: it is probable enough they might see them in the idol temples, or in the house of the king of Judah, or of the great men, who promoted the friendships and leagues with these nations.

The images; the counterfeits of strangers, and such as were far off, as the Chaldeans were.

With vermilion; which, as it is a very glossy and shining colour, so, duly mixed with ceruse, doth lively express the colour of mans flesh.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

14. vermilionthe peculiarcolor of the Chaldeans, as purple was of the Assyrians. In strikingagreement with this verse is the fact that the Assyrian sculptureslately discovered have painted and colored bas-reliefs in red, blue,and black. The Jews (for instance Jehoiakim, Jer22:14) copied these (compare Eze8:10).

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

And that she increased her whoredoms,…. Added to the number of her idols, increased her idols, and even was guilty of more than her sister:

for when she saw men portrayed on the wall; of the temple, as idols were, Eze 8:10 or upon the wall of a private house, where they were worshipped as household gods:

the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion: the images of their heroes, who after death were deified; and these, being drawn upon the wall with vermilion, which, being mixed with ceruse, made a flesh colour, were worshipped; as Bel, Nebo, Merodach, which are names of their idols, Isa 46:1 or these were graven on the walls, or etched out upon them with minium or red lead; or rather were “painted” r, as some render the word, with minium, vermilion, or cinnabar, which are the same; [See comments on Jer 22:14], and it may be observed, that it was usual with the Heathens to paint the images and statues of their gods with these. Thus Virgil s represents Pan, the god of Arcadia, coloured red with minium or vermilion; and Pausanius t speaks of the statue of Bacchus being besmeared with cinnabar: and Pliny u says the face of the image of Jupiter used to be anointed with minium or vermilion on festival days; and observes, that the nobles of Ethiopia used to colour themselves all over with it; this being the colour of the images of their gods, which they reckoned more august, majestic, and sacred. Hence the Romans, in their triumphs, used to paint themselves with vermilion; particularly it is said of Augustus Caesar, that he did this to make himself the more conspicuous and respectable, after the example of the Assyrians and Medes w: and the triumphers chose to be rubbed all over with a red colour, that they might, according to Isidore x, resemble the divine fire.

r “depictas sinopide”, Pagninus; “pictas minio”, Piscator. s “Pan deus Arcadiae venit, quem vidimus ipsi Sanguineis ebuli baccis, minioque rubentern.” Bucolic. Eclog. 10. t Achaica, sive l. 7. p. 452. & Arcadica, sive l. 8. p. 520. u Nat. Hist. l. 33. c. 7. w Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 6. c. 6. p. 332. x Originum, l. 18. c. 2.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(14) Men portrayed upon the wall.Such portraitures, with evidence that they were once executed in brilliant colours, are characteristic both of Egypt and Assyria, where stone for sculpture abounded. From the close connection in race and customs between the Assyrians and Babylonians, it cannot be doubted that the same portraitures were also common upon the more perishable brick of the latter, of whom the prophet is now speaking. The monuments fully concur in representing the warriors of Assyria and Babylonia as delighting in extreme gorgeousness of apparel, but it is difficult to render into English with accuracy each particular of their dress. The exiles, whom Ezekiel immediately addressed, were familiar with these pictures, and his way of speaking of them was important in checking any disposition to fall into idolatries by means of them.

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

14. And that Rather, And yet. Eze 23:13 should close with a period. This verse opens to view Judah’s affiliations with Babylon. Jerusalem early saw that Babylon was to become a great power and courted its favor even while it was yet a vassal of Assyria (Isaiah 39).

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

“And she increased her whoredoms, for she saw men portrayed on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion, belted with belts on their loins, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them officers to look on, after the likeness of the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their birth.”

These gorgeous cultic pictures painted on Babylonian walls had become familiar to Ezekiel since coming to Babylonia, and may possibly have been reproduced in some small way, through Babylonian influence, in Jerusalem. They were a vivid means of portraying the way that Jerusalem had been seduced by Babylonian sophistication and had become wrapped up in Babylon, like young women falling in love with a photograph of a uniformed officer.

‘Vermilion (shashar).’ This refers to a lead or iron oxide yielding a bright red pigment suitable for wall painting.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Eze 23:14. Saw men pourtrayed upon the wall, &c. “Before she had seen the Assyrians, upon the bare relation concerning them, or, upon the painting only which was made of them, her passion was inflamed towards them.” Calmet. Some suppose that this may refer to the mystic cells, on the walls of which the images of their deities were pourtrayed. See on chap. Eze 8:7, &c. Instead of, Exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, in the next verse, Houbigant reads, Having their heads bound with a dyed tiara, or turban. Ovid, speaking of these tiaras, says,

Tempora purpureis tentat velare tiaris.

METAM. lib. 9:*

* She tries to veil her temples with purple tiaras.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Eze 23:14 And [that] she increased her whoredoms: for when she saw men pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion,

Ver. 14. For when she saw men portrayed upon the wall. ] So unbridled was her lust that she fell to doting upon those quos tantum per umbram et imaginem aspexerat, whose pictures only she had beheld. In some Popish churches there are to be seen wanton pictures, such as do rather kindle lust than quicken devotion. An eyewitness a hath told us in print that in some places they will assemble various of the fairest courtezans, when they would draw a picture of the Virgin Mary, to draw the most modest beauty of a virgin out of the flagrancy of harlots.

a Spec. Eur.

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