Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 16:15
But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was.
15. because of thy renown ] In the consciousness of it. The consciousness of her beauty and renown removed from her mind the sense of dependence and responsibility, and she became vain in her own imaginations. Another prophet has expressed the same idea in regard to Babylon: “Thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever, so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst consider the issue of them thou hast said, None seeth me.” (Isa 47:7; Isa 47:10). Hvern. quotes Ovid, Fasti, i. 419, Fastus inest pulchris, sequiturque superbia formam.
every one that passed by ] A figure taken from the habit of harlots sitting by the wayside, Gen 38:14; Jer 3:2, “By the ways thou hast sat for them as an Arab in the desert.”
his it was ] The prostitution was indiscriminate, Jer 3:2; cf. ch. Eze 23:40. The idea expressed is the ineradicable tendency of the people to adopt the religious customs of the nations with which age after age they came into connexion ( Eze 16:23 seq.). The phrase is peculiar and wanting in LXX.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
15 22. All the gifts of Jehovah to her she took and bestowed on idols: her raiment ( Eze 16:16 ; Eze 16:18), her gold and silver ( Eze 16:17), and her delicate fare ( Eze 16:19). And as if this were a small matter, she sacrificed also the children which were Jehovah’s to her idols ( Eze 16:20-21).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
15 34. The wife’s infidelities Israel’s idolatries and idolatrous alliances with foreign nations
The idolatries of Israel are represented figuratively as a wife’s infidelities against her husband, as had been common in the prophets since Hosea, particularly in Jeremiah (in Isaiah only the single passage ch. Eze 1:21). These idolatries seem presented in two stages: Eze 16:15-22, her addicting herself to the worship and religious customs of the Canaanites among whom she dwelt; and Eze 16:23-34, her alliances with foreign peoples and adoption of their religions.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The prophet now describes the idolatries of the time of the Kings. The earlier offences in the time of the Judges are not noticed, that being an unsettled time. The conduct of the people after they had prospered into a kingdom is to be described.
Because of thy renown – The marriages of Solomon with pagan wives, and his consequent idolatries, are a clear instance of such, misuse of glory.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 15. Thou didst trust in thine own beauty] Riches, strength, alliances, c. never considering that all they possessed came from God; therefore it was his comeliness which he had put upon them. Witness their original abject state, and the degree of eminence to which they had arrived afterwards through the protecting power of God.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Hear, O heavens, and be astonished at the complaint God doth make against this unthankful, forgetful, and perfidious woman!
Thou didst trust; grew proud, laid aside humility, which became one raised from a most abject state, cast off the modesty, chastity, and fidelity which became a wife.
Thine own beauty; it was not her own, but put upon her; she owed it to the love, bounty, and care of God; but, forgetting this, she accounts it her own, and then disposeth of it as she lists.
Playedst the harlot; no doubt with the increase of wealth and honour the lewdness of harlots and adulteresses increased too, but here spiritual harlotry, i.e. idolatry, is meant; and to this course did the wanton, unstable, and ungodly Jews betake themselves from the days of the judges, and, especially in the latter days of their kingdom, this people went a whoring after idols.
Because of thy renown; some would read it, against thy renown, to the blasting of thy honour; but rather her renown abroad drew to her idolatrous strangers, who brought their idols with them, and acquainted the Jews with the pomps of their idolatrous worship.
Pouredst out thy fornications; didst readily and profusely lavish thy wealth, and prostitute thyself to them, thy land, thy cities; Jerusalem itself was full of the idols which the nations far and near did worship. Every stranger who passed through thee might find room for his idol and idolatry, and very like it was thou didst infect every one-with somewhat of thine, as well as wast infected with their idolatry.
His it was; thy person, affection, riches, religion, all was at the command and service of every adulterer, so impudently vile and false was she to God.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15. Instead of attributing theglory of her privileges and gifts to God, Israel prided herself onthem as her own (Deu 32:15;Jer 7:4; Mic 3:11),and then wantonly devoted them to her idols (Ho2:8; compare Luk 15:12;Luk 15:13).
playedst . . . harlot becauseof thy renown“didst play the wanton upon thy name”[FAIRBAIRN], namely, byallowing thy renown to lead thee into idolatry and leagues withidolaters (Isa 1:21; Isa 57:8;Jer 3:2; Jer 3:6).English Version is better, “because of thy renown,”that is, relying on it; answering to “thou didst trust inthine own beauty.”
his it wasThy beautywas yielded up to every passer-by. Israel’s zest for the worship offoul idols was but an anxiety to have the approbation of heaven fortheir carnal lusts, of which the idols were the personification;hence, too, their tendency to wander from Jehovah, who was arestraint on corrupt nature.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But thou didst trust in thine own beauty,…. As the Jews did in external gifts bestowed upon them; in their outward prosperity and grandeur; in their riches, wealth, and wisdom; and in the extent of their dominions, as in the days of David and Solomon; and in such things men are apt to; put their trust and confidence, and to be elated with, and grow proud and haughty, as a woman because of her beauty: so some professors of religion trust in a form and profession of it; in speculative knowledge, and in outward duties and services; being unconcerned for inward purity and: holiness; and not trusting in the righteousness of Christ, the real beauty of saints:
and playedst the harlot because of thy renown; or “name” b; which the Jews got among the nations round about them, for their wisdom, riches, and power; which was a snare unto them, as a woman’s beauty is to her; and they were admired and courted, and complimented by their neighbours, and so drawn into idolatrous practices, as women into fornication and adultery by the admirers of them: idolatry, which is here meant, is frequently signified by playing the harlot, or by fornication and adultery: or “thou playedst the harlot in thy name” c; alluding to the custom of harlots, notorious infamous ones, who used to set their names over the apartments, to direct men unto them; and so it may denote how famous and notorious the Jews were for their idolatries, and how impudent in them. Jarchi interprets this of the calf of the wilderness, and other idolatries which the tribe of Dan committed there; but it rather respects the idolatries committed from the times of Solomon to the captivity, which were many, and often repeated; and though sometimes a stop was put to them by pious princes, yet broke out again: so trusting in a man’s own righteousness, or in any outward thing, is idolatry; and also false worship and superstitious observances:
and pouredst out thy fornication on everyone that passed by: which expresses the multitude of their idolatries; the measure of them, which ran over; the fondness they had for every idol of their neighbours; like a common strumpet, that prostitutes herself to everyone, not only to the men of her own place and city, but to all strangers and travellers; so the Jews, not content with the idols they had, embraced all that offered or their neighbours could furnish them with:
his it was; or “to him it was”; her desire, her lust, her fornication; everyone that passed by, that would might enjoy her; so the Jews were reader to fall in with every idol and every idolatrous practice. The Targum renders this clause,
“and it is not right for thee to do so;”
to commit and multiply idolatry.
b “propter nomen tuum”, Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator. c “In nomine tuo”, V. L. Munster, Tigurine version, Grotius; “super nomen tuum”, Starckius; “cum nomine tuo”, Junius & Tremellius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The apostasy of Israel. Its origin and nature, Eze 16:15-22; its magnitude and extent, Eze 16:23-34. In close connection with what precedes, this apostasy is described as whoredom and adultery. – Eze 16:15. But thou didst trust in thy beauty, and didst commit fornication upon thy name, and didst pour out thy fornication over every one who passed by: his it became. Eze 16:16. Thou didst take off thy clothes, and didst make to thyself spotted heights, and didst commit fornication upon them: things which should not come, and that which should not take place. Eze 16:17. And thou didst take jewellery of thine ornament of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and didst make thyself male images, and didst commit fornication with them; Eze 16:18. And thou didst take thy embroidered clothes, and didst cover them therewith: and my oil and my incense thou didst set before them. Eze 16:19. And my bread, which I gave to thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou didst set before them for a pleasant odour: this came to pass, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. Eze 16:20. And thou didst take thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou barest to me, and didst sacrifice them to them to devour. Was thy fornication too little? Eze 16:21. Thou didst slay my sons, and didst give them up, devoting them to them. Eze 16:22. And in all thine abominations and thy fornication thou didst not remember the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and layest stamping in thy blood. – The beauty, i.e., the glory, of Israel led to its fall, because it made it the ground of its confidence; that is to say, it looked upon the gifts and possessions conferred upon it as its desert; and forgetting the giver, began to traffic with the heathen nations, and allowed itself to be seduced to heathen ways. For the fact, compare Deu 32:15 and Hos 13:6. “We are inflamed with pride and arrogance, and consequently profane the gifts of God, in which His glory ought to be resplendent” (Calvin). does not mean either “thou didst commit fornication notwithstanding thy name” (Winer and Ges. Thes. p. 422), or “against thy name” (Hvernick); for connected with has neither of these meanings, even in Jdg 19:2. It means, “thou didst commit fornication upon thy name, i.e., in reliance upon thy name” (Hitzig and Maurer); only we must not understand as referring to the name of the city of God, but must explain it, in accordance with Eze 16:14, as denoting the name, i.e., the renown, which Israel had acquired among the heathen on account of its beauty. In the closing words, , refers to , and stands for , the copula having been dropped from because ought to stand first, and only remaining (compare , Hos 6:1). The subject to is ; the beauty became his (cf. Psa 45:12). This fornication is depicted in concrete terms in Eze 16:16-22; and with the marriage relation described in Eze 16:8-13 still in view, Israel is represented as giving up to idolatry all that it had received from its God. – Eze 16:16. With the clothes it made spotted heights for itself. stands for , temples of heights, small temples erected upon heights by the side of the altars (1Ki 13:32; 2Ki 17:29; for the fact, see the comm. on 1Ki 3:2), which may probably have consisted simply of tents furnished with carpets. Compare 2Ki 23:7, where the women are described as weaving tents for Astarte, also the tent-like temples of the Slavonian tribes in Germany, which consisted of variegated carpets and curtains (see Mohne on Creuzer’s Symbolik, V. p. 176). These bamoth Ezekiel calls , not variegated, but spotted or speckled (cf. Gen 30:32), possibly with the subordinate idea of patched ( , Jos 9:5), because they used for the carpets not merely whole garments, but pieces of cloth as well; the word being introduced here for the purpose of indicating contemptuously the worthlessness of such conduct. “Thou didst commit whoredom upon them,” i.e., upon the carpets in the tent-temples. The words ‘ are no doubt relative clauses; but the usual explanation, “which has not occurred, and will not be,” after Exo 10:14, cannot be vindicated, as it is impossible to prove either the use of in the sense of occurring or happening (= ), or the use of the participle instead of the preterite in connection with the future. The participle in this connection can only supply one of the many senses of the imperfect (Ewald, 168 c), and, like , express that which ought to be. The participial form is evidently chosen for the sake of obtaining a paronomasia with : the heights which should not come (i.e., should not be erected); while points back to : “what should not happen.”
Eze 16:17-22 The jewellery of gold and silver was used by Israel for , idols of the male sex, to commit fornication with them. Ewald thinks that the allusion is to Penates ( teraphim ), which were set up in the house, with ornaments suspended upon them, and worshipped with lectisternia . But there is no more allusion to lectisternia here than in Eze 23:41. And there is still less ground for thinking, as Vatke, Movers, and Hvernick do, of Lingam-or Phallus-worship, of which it is impossible to find the slightest trace among the Israelites. The arguments used by Hvernick have been already proved by Hitzig to have no force whatever. The context does not point to idols of any particular kind, but to the many varieties of Baal-worship; whilst the worship of Moloch is specially mentioned in Eze 16:20. as being the greatest abomination of the whole. The fact that , to set before them (the idols), does not refer to lectisternia , but to sacrifices offered as food for the gods, is indisputably evident from the words , the technical expression for the sacrificial odour ascending to God (cf. Lev 1:9, Lev 1:13, etc.). (Eze 16:19), and it came to pass (sc., this abomination), merely serves to give emphatic expression to the disgust which it occasioned (Hitzig). – Eze 16:20, Eze 16:21. And not even content with this, the adulteress sacrificed the children which God had given her to idols. The revulsion of feeling produced by the abominations of the Moloch-worship is shown in the expression , thou didst sacrifice thy children to idols, that they might devour them; and still more in the reproachful question ‘ , “was there too little in thy whoredom?” before is used in a comparative sense, though not to signify “was this a smaller thing than thy whoredom?” which would mean far too little in this connection. The is rather used, as in Eze 8:17 and Isa 49:6, in the sense of too: was thy whoredom, already described in Eze 16:16-19, too little, that thou didst also slaughter thy children to idols? The Chetib (Eze 16:20 and Eze 16:25) is a singular, as in Eze 16:25 and Eze 16:29; whereas the Keri has treated it as a plural, as in Eze 16:15, Eze 16:22, and Eze 16:33, but without any satisfactory ground. The indignation comes out still more strongly in the description given of these abominations in Eze 16:21: “thou didst slay my sons” (whereas in Eze 16:20 we have simply “thy sons, whom thou hast born to me”), “and didst give them up to them, , by making them pass through,” sc. the fire. is used here not merely or lustration or februation by fire, but for the actual burning of the children slain as sacrifices, so that it is equivalent to (2Ki 23:10). By the process of burning, the sacrifices were given to Moloch to devour. Ezekiel has the Moloch-worship in his eye in the form which it had assumed from the times of Ahaz downwards, when the people began to burn their children to Moloch (cf. 2Ki 16:3; 2Ki 21:6; 2Ki 23:10), whereas all that can be proved to have been practised in earlier times by the Israelites was the passing of children through fire without either slaying or burning; a februation by fire (compare the remarks on this subject in the comm. on Lev 18:21). – Amidst all these abominations Israel did not remember its youth, or how the Lord had adopted it out of the deepest wretchedness to be His people, and had made it glorious through the abundance of His gifts. This base ingratitude shows the depth of its fall, and magnifies its guilt. For Eze 16:22 compare Eze 16:7 and Eze 16:6.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Ingratitude of Israel; Shameful Idolatry of Israel. | B. C. 593. |
15 But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was. 16 And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colours, and playedst the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so. 17 Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them, 18 And tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them. 19 My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savour: and thus it was, saith the Lord GOD. 20 Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter, 21 That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them? 22 And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in thy blood. 23 And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, (woe, woe unto thee! saith the Lord GOD😉 24 That thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, and hast made thee a high place in every street. 25 Thou hast built thy high place at every head of the way, and hast made thy beauty to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied thy whoredoms. 26 Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger. 27 Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over thee, and have diminished thine ordinary food, and delivered thee unto the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of thy lewd way. 28 Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians, because thou wast unsatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet couldest not be satisfied. 29 Thou hast moreover multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea; and yet thou wast not satisfied herewith. 30 How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord GOD, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman; 31 In that thou buildest thine eminent place in the head of every way, and makest thine high place in every street; and hast not been as a harlot, in that thou scornest hire; 32 But as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband! 33 They give gifts to all whores: but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom. 34 And the contrary is in thee from other women in thy whoredoms, whereas none followeth thee to commit whoredoms: and in that thou givest a reward, and no reward is given unto thee, therefore thou art contrary.
In these verses we have an account of the great wickedness of the people of Israel, especially in worshipping idols, notwithstanding the great favours that God had conferred upon them, by which, one would think, they should have been for ever engaged to him. This wickedness of theirs is here represented by the lewd and scandalous conversation of that beautiful maid which was rescued from ruin, brought up and well provided for by a kind friend and benefactor, that had been in all respects as a father and a husband to her. Their idolatry was the great provoking sin that they were guilty of; it began in the latter end of Solomon’s time (for from Samuel’s till then I do not remember that we read any thing of it), and thenceforward continued more or less the crying sin of that nation till the captivity; and, though it now and then met with some check from the reforming kings, yet it was never totally suppressed, and for the most part appeared to a high degree impudent and barefaced. They not only worshipped the true God by images, as the ten tribes by the calves at Dan and Bethel, but they worshipped false gods, Baal and Moloch, and all the senseless rabble of the pagan deities.
This is that which is here all along represented (as often elsewhere) under the similitude of whoredom and adultery, 1. Because it is the violation of a marriage-covenant with God, forsaking him and embracing the bosom of a stranger; it is giving that affection and that service to his rivals which are due to him alone. 2. Because it is the corrupting and defiling of the mind, and the enslaving of the spiritual part of the man, and subjecting it to the power and dominion of sense, as whoredom is. 3. Because it debauches the conscience, sears and hardens it; and those who by their idolatries dishonour the divine nature, and change the truth of God into a lie and his glory into shame, God justly punishes by giving them over to a reprobate mind, to dishonour the human nature with vile affections, Rom. i. 23, c. It is a besotting bewitching sin and, when men are given up to it, they seldom recover themselves out of the snare. 4. Because it is a shameful scandalous sin for those that have joined themselves to the Lord to join themselves to an idol. Now observe here,
I. What were the causes of this sin. How came the people of God to be drawn away to the service of idols? How came a virgin so well taught, so well educated, to be debauched? Who would have thought it? But, 1. They grew proud (v. 15): “Thou trustedst to thy beauty, and didst expect that that should make thee an interest, and didst play the harlot because of thy renown.” They thought, because they were so complimented and admired by their neighbours, that, further to ingratiate themselves with them and return their compliments, they must join with them in their worship and conform to their usages. Solomon admitted idolatry, to gratify his wives and their relations. Note, Abundance of young people are ruined by pride and particularly pride in their beauty. Rara est concordia form atque pudiciti–Beauty and chastity are seldom associated 2. They forgot their beginning (v. 22) “Thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, how poor, and mean, and despicable thou wast, and what great things God did for thee and what lasting obligations he laid upon thee thereby.” Note, It should be an effectual check to our pride and sensuality to consider what we are and how much we are beholden to the free grace of God. 3. They were weak in understanding and in resolution (v. 30): How weak is thy heart, seeing thou dost all these things. Note, The strength of men’s lusts is an evidence of the weakness of their hearts; they have no acquaintance with themselves, nor government of themselves. She is weak, and yet an imperious whorish woman. Note, Those that are most foolish are commonly most imperious, and think themselves fit to manage others when they are far from being able to manage themselves.
II. What were the particulars of it. 1. They worshipped all the idols that came in their way, all that they were ever courted to the worship of; they were at the beck of all their neighbours (v. 15): Thou pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was. They were ready to close with every temptation of this kind, though ever so absurd. No foreign idol could be imported, no new god invented, but they were ready to catch at it, as a common trumpet that prostitutes herself to all comers and multiplies her whoredoms, v. 25. Thus some common drunkards will be company for every one that puts up the finger to them; how weak are the hearts of such! 2. They adorned their idol-temples, and groves, and high places, with the fine rich clothing that God had given them (Eze 16:16; Eze 16:18): Thou deckedst thy high places with divers colours, with the coats of divers colours, like Joseph’s, which God had given them as particular marks of his favour, and hast played the harlot (that is, worshipped idols) thereupon. Of this he saith, “The like things shall not come, neither shall it be so; that is, this is a thing by no means to be suffered; I will never endure such practices as these without showing my resentments.” 3. They made images for worship of the jewels which God had given them (v. 17): The jewels of my gold and my silver which I had given thee. Note, It is God that gives us our gold and silver; the products of trade, of art and industry, are the gifts of God’s providence to us, as well as the fruits of the earth. And what God gives us the use of he still retains a property in. “It is my silver and my gold, though I have given it to thee.” It is his still, so that we ought to serve and honour him with it, and are accountable to him for the disposal of it. Every penny has God’s image upon it as well as Csar’s. Should we make our silver and gold, our plate, money, and jewels, the matter of our pride and contention, our covetousness and prodigality, if we duly considered that they were God’s silver and his gold? The Israelites began betimes to turn their jewels into idols, when Aaron made the golden calf of their earrings. 4. They served their idols with the good things which God gave them for their own use and to serve him with (v. 18): “Thou hast set my oil and my incense before the, upon their altars, as perfumes to these dunghill-deities; my meat, and fine flour, and oil, and that honey which Canaan flowed with, and wherewith I fed thee, thou hast regaled them and their hungry priests with, hast made an offering of it to them for a sweet savour, to purify them, and procure acceptance with them: and thus it was, saith the Lord God; it is too plain to be denied, too bad to be excused. These things thou hast done. He that knows all things knows it.” See how fond they were of their idols, that they would part with that which was given them for the necessary subsistence of themselves and their families to honour them with, which may shame our niggardliness and strait-handedness in the service of the true and living God. 5. They had sacrificed their children to their idols. This is insisted upon here, and often elsewhere, as one of the worst instances of their idolatry, as indeed there was none in which the devil triumphed so much over the children of men, both their natural reason and their natural affection, as in this (see Jer 7:31; Jer 19:5; Jer 32:35): Thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, and not only made them to pass through the fire, or between two fires, in token of their being dedicated to Moloch, but thou hast sacrificed them to be devoured, v. 20. Never was there such an instance of the degenerating of the paternal authority into the most barbarous tyranny as this was. Yet that was not the worst of it: it was an irreparable wrong to God himself, who challenged a special property in their children more than in their gold and silver and their meat: They are my children (v. 21), the sons and daughters which thou hast borne unto me, v. 20. He is the Father of spirits, and rational souls are in a particular manner his; and therefore the taking away of life, human life, unjustly, is a high affront to the God of life. But the children of Israelites were his by a further right; they were the children of the covenant, born in God’s house. He had said to Abraham, I will be a God to thee and to thy seed; they had the seal of the covenant in their flesh from eight days old; they were to bear God’s name, and keep up his church; to murder them was in the highest degree inhuman, but to murder them in honour of an idol was in the highest degree impious. One cannot think of it without the utmost indignation: to see the pitiless hands of the parents shedding the guiltless blood of their own children, and by offering those pieces of themselves to the devil for buying sacrifices openly avowing the offering up of themselves to him for living sacrifices! How absurd was this, that the children which were born to God should be sacrificed to devils! Note, The children of parents that are members of the visible church are to be looked upon as born unto God, and his children,; as such, and under that character, we are to love them, and pray for them, bring them up for him, and, if he calls for them, cheerfully part with them to him; for may he not do what he will with his own? Upon this instance of their idolatry, which indeed ought not to pass without a particular brand, this remark is made (v. 20), Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter? which intimates that there were those who made a small matter of it, and turned it into a jest. Note, There is no sin so heinous, so apparently heinous, which men of profligate consciences will not make a mock at. But is whoredom, is spiritual whoredom, a small matter? Is it a small matter for men to make their children brutes and the devil their god? It will be a great matter shortly. 6. They built temples in honour of their idols, that others might be invited to resort thither and join with them in the worship of their idols: “After all thy wickedness of this kind committed in private, for which, woe, woe, unto thee” (that comes in in a sad parenthesis, denoting those to be in a woeful condition who are going on in sin, and giving them warning in time, if they would but take it), “thou hast at length arrived at such a pitch of impudence as to proclaim it; thou hast long had a whore’s heart, but now thou hast come to have a whore’s forehead, and canst not blush,” v. 23-35. Thou hast built there an eminent place, a brothel-house (so the margin reads it), and such their idol temples were. Thou hast made for thyself a high place, for one idol or other, in every street, and at every head of the way; and again v. 31. They did all they could to seduce and debauch others, and to spread the contagion, by making the temptations to idolatry as strong as possibly they could; and hereby the ringleaders in idolatry did but make themselves vile, and even those that had courted them to it, finding themselves outdone by them, began to be surfeited with the abundance and violence of their idolatries: Thou hast made thy beauty to be abhorred, even by those that had admired it. The Jewish nation, by leaving their own God, and doting on the gods of the nations round about them, had made themselves mean and despicable in the eyes even of their heathen neighbours; much more was their beauty abhorred by all that were wise and good, and had any concern for the honour of God and religion. Note, Those shame themselves that bring a reproach on their profession. And justly will that beauty, that excellency, at length be made the object of the loathing of others which men have made the matter of their own pride.
III. What were the aggravations of this sin.
1. They were fond of the idols of those nations which had been their oppressors and persecutors. As, (1.) The Egyptians. They were a people notorious for idolatry, and for the most sottish senseless idolatries; they had of old abused Israel by their barbarous dealings, and of late by their treacherous dealings-were always either cruel or false to them; and yet so infatuated were they that they committed fornication with the Egyptians their neighbours, not only by joining with them in their idolatries, but by entering into leagues and alliances with them, and depending upon them for help in their straits, which was an adulterous departure from God. (2.) The Assyrians. They had also been vexatious to Israel: “And yet thou hast played the whore with them (v. 28); though they lived at a greater distance, yet thou hast entertained their idols and their superstitious usages, and so hast multiplied thy fornications unto Chaldea, hast borrowed images of gods, patterns of altars, rites of sacrificing, and one foolery or other of that kind, from that remote country, that enemy’s country, and hast imported them into the land of Canaan, enfranchised and established them there.” Thus Mr. George Herbert long since foretold, or feared at least,
| That Seine shall swallow Tiber, and the Thames By letting in them both pollute her streams. |
2. They had been under the rebukes of Providence for their sins, and yet they persisted in them (v. 27): I have stretched out my hand over thee, to threaten and frighten thee. So God did before he laid his hand upon them to ruin and destroy them; and that is his usual method, to try to bring men to repentance first by less judgments. He did so here. Before he brought such a famine upon them as broke the staff of bread he diminished their ordinary food, but them short before he cut them off. When the overplus is abused, it is just with God to diminish that which is for necessity. Before he delivered them to the Chaldeans to be destroyed he delivered them to the daughters of the Philistines to be ridiculed for their idolatries; for they hated them, and, though they were idolaters themselves, yet were ashamed of the lewd way of the Israelites, who had grown more profane in their idolatries than any of their neighbours, who changed their gods, whereas other nations did not change theirs, Jer 2:10; Jer 2:11. For this they were justly chastised by the Philistines. Or it may refer to the inroads which the Philistines made upon the south of Judah in the reign of Ahaz, by which it was weakened and impoverished, and which was the beginning of sorrows to them (2 Chron. xxviii. 18); but they did not take warning by those judgments, and therefore were justly abandoned to ruin at last. Note, In the account which impenitent sinners shall be called to they will be told not only of the mercies for which they have been ungrateful, but of the afflictions under which they have been incorrigible, Amos iv. 11.
3. They were insatiable in their spiritual whoredom: Thou couldst not be satisfied,Eze 16:28; Eze 16:29. When they had multiplied their idols and superstitious usages beyond measure, yet still they were enquiring after new gods and new fashions in worship. Those that in sincerity join themselves to the true God find enough in him for their satisfaction; and, though they still desire more of God, yet they never desire more than God. But those that forsake this living fountain for broken cisterns will find themselves soon surfeited, but never satisfied; they have soon enough of the gods they have, and are still enquiring after more.
4. They were at great expense with their idolatry, and laid out a great deal of wealth in purchasing patterns of images and altars, and hiring priests to attend upon them from other countries. Harlots generally had their hire; but this impudent adulteress, instead of being hired to serve idols, hired idols to protect her and accept her homage. This is much insisted on, v. 31-34. “In this respect the contrary is in thee from other women in thy whoredoms: others are courted, but thou makest court to those that do not follow thee, art fond of making leagues and alliances with those heathen nations that despise thee; others have gifts given them, but thou givest thy gifts, the gifts which God had graciously given thee, to thy idols; herein thou art like a wife that commits adultery, not for gain, as harlots do, but entirely for the sin’s sake.” Note, Spiritual lusts, those of the mind, such as theirs after idols were, are often as strong and impetuous as any carnal lusts are. And it is a great aggravation of sin when men are their own tempters, and, instead of proposing to themselves any worldly advantage by their sin, are at great expense with it; such are transgressors without cause (Ps. xxv. 3), wicked transgressors indeed.
And now is not Jerusalem in all this made to know her abominations? For what greater abominations could she be guilty of than these? Here we may see with wonder and horror what the corrupt nature of men is when God leaves them to themselves, yea, though they have the greatest advantages to be better and do better. And the way of sin is down-hill. Nitimur in vetitum–We incline to what is forbidden.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
ISRAEL’S PATH OF APOSTACY FROM GOD
Verses 15-34:
Verse 15 begins a description of the origin and nature of this apostacy while verse 23 later begins a description of its multitude. Israel’s apostacy is described as that of an adulterer who enters whoredom and gives herself to prostitution, an act of infidelity to her husband, Deu 32:15; Jer 7:4; Mic 3:11. She “trusted in her own beauty and played the harlot because of her renown,” Hos 1:2; Hos 2:8; or popularity, physical appearing desirability among the heathen. She poured out her fornication on “every one that passed by; his it was.” It was spiritual adultery as well as physical, as she consorted with idolatry; Deu 32:15; Jer 7:4; Mic 3:11; Eze 23:3; Eze 23:8; Eze 23:11-12; Isa 1:21; Isa 57:8; Jer 2:20; Jer 3:2; Jer 3:6; Jer 3:20.
Verse 16 describes the unparalleled contempt of Israel for her lover as she took her garments He had given her and decked the high places of heathen temples with her royal garments, uncovering her nakedness to the high priests of heathen altars, idols, and temples for their nourishing themselves with her naked, uncovered body, she made available to all men, though He had gravely warned against such, Exo 20:1-5; See also 1Ki 13:32; 2Ki 17:29; 2Ki 23:17 describes how the Jewish women wore hangings to adorn the temple of the heathen god Astarte. It was unparalleled in the past and this verse 16 declares that it “shall not come, neither shall it be so,” in the future.
Verse 17-19 charge that Israel has taken her precious jewels of silver and gold which God had given her and made to herself for worship, images of man, then committed whoredom with them, Hag 2:8. She too took the fine queenly garments He had given her and covered idols. She too had taken His fine flour and anointing oil, and honey that He had given her for her meat (food) and worship, and offered it to and before idol, dumb gods, as described Psa 115:4-9. Such idolatry often concluded special occasion worship with open orgies of licentious, sexual free intercourse, before the idols, Lev 2:1-2; Exo 30:22-25; Exo 30:32-33.
Verse 20-22 asserts that Israel had stooped to offer her sons and daughters as human sacrifices, to be burned alive in the arms of Molech, causing them to pass through the fire, Lev 18:21; 2Ki 17:17; 2Ki 23:10. In all her whoredoms, prostitution, and adultery, Israel, God’s espoused, did not remember her days of youth, when she was naked, bare, and polluted, ready to die in Egypt, had He not rescued her, v. 43, 60; Jer 2:2; Hos 11:1; Mic 6:7; See also Isa 57:5; Jer 7:31; Jer 32:35.
Verse 23 begins a description of the magnitude of Israel’s offense with her accompanying woes, righteously sent upon her, as forewarned, Exo 20:1-5; Deuteronomy ch. 28; Rom 1:18.
Verse 24 charges that Israel in her whoredom had erected for herself “an eminent place,” a fornication chamber, of her own covetous will and accord, in disobedience and rebellion against Him. Her “eminent place” was like a “brothel” or “house of prostitution.” Idolatrous worship, accompanied by the popularly sanctioned practice of sexual orgies of fornication and adultery therewith, became the civil order as well as religious order of the nation of Israel, turned heathen herself. She is charged with having erected for herself, her own use, an high place, elevated place or popular worship and licentious house of prostitution “in every street,” Isa 57:5; Isa 57:7; Jer 2:20; Jer 3:2.
Verse 25, 26 further charge Israel with building an high place (of idol worship) at the head of every way (roadway) or crossing, caused her former beauty to be abhorred, degraded to that of a prostitute, as she opened (parted) her feet or spread her legs, to every one that passed by, saying, “I am available,” “come and have me,” multiplying her whoredoms, Pro 9:14. The picture is that of a prostitute, or soliciting “street walker,” used to describe the base departure of Israel from her covenant God to be joined to idol gods, even of the Egyptians, showing contempt to her covenant husband, Exo 19:1-8.
Verse 27 explains that because of such immoral, unethical, ingratitude to which Israel had stooped He had stretched out His hand over them, diminished their food, delivered them as captive victims to the will of heathen who actually hated them, even the heathen Philistines who were ashamed of their lewd way or behavior, Jg ch. 13; 1Sa ch. 4; Jer 2:10-11; Deu 28:68; 1Ki 3:1; 1Ki 9:16; 1Ki 10:28; 2 Kings 18 ch.; Jer 37:5; Jer 37:7.
Verses 28, 29 charge Israel with having played the whore, with an unsatiable appetite, with the Assyrians, after finding no satisfaction in Africa, yet she could not be satisfied with her newgod relations, Jdg 10:6; 2Ki 10:18; 2Ki 16:7; Job 10:6; Jer 2:18; Hos 5:13; Eze 23:14. She had also increased her fornication in the land of Canaan to Chaldea, embracing more and more gods, yet finding no satisfaction with them as blind, deaf, dumb, and lifeless gods, Psa 115:4-8; Gal 5:20; Col 3:5; 1Jn 5:21.
Verse 30, 31 chide Israel for her weak or anemic heart, which sin had weakened, for doing the work of an impudent, whorish woman, building eminent idols and altars, with fornication chambers, at the head of every street and way (crossroad). Yet though debasing herself, she was more base than a harlot who gave herself for pay or hire, Jdg 16:15-16; Pro 7:11; Pro 13:21; Pro 30:20; Isa 3:9; Jer 3:3; Rev 17:6. But Israel scorned the pay, impudently practicing whoredom, simply because she chose to do it, not even having an excuse such as might be offered by the prostitute, that, she chose the low path for need of pay or hire, for survival, Rom 2:1-2.
Verses 32-34 further describe Israel as similar to a wife who commits adultery with a stranger rather than seeking satisfaction with her own covenant husband, Num 5:19-20; Num 5:29. Normally “they”; strange men, give gifts to whores, as Judah did, Gen 38:1-16. But Israel sought out strange lovers and paid them, to have an affair with her, a debauching thing not even named or approved among the heathen. Therefore Israel acted “contrary” to all heathen’s basest debauchery, giving herself in open shame, even without a whore’s pay. She lived this way of her own covetous will, breaking the three commandments of her own law, regarding idolatry, adultery, and covetousness, Exo 20:1-17.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Here God begins to expostulate with his people; and with this view relates all the benefits which for a long time he had bestowed upon the Israelites, and especially upon the tribe of Judea. The Prophet now addresses them. Nothing was more unworthy or preposterous than for the Jews to be proud through the pretext of God’s gifts. But this vice has always been rife in the world, as it is now too prevalent, and especially among handsome women; for, though beauty is God’s gift, nine women out of ten who possess it are proud, and fond of men, and unite lust with elegance of form. This is quite unworthy of them; but it was customary in all ages, as it is this day: for we recognize the same in men; for as each excels in anything, so he arrogates to himself more than he ought, when he exults against God, and is reproachful towards others. If any one abounds in riches, he immediately gives himself to luxury and empty pomp; and others abuse them to various perverse, and even corrupt uses. If any one is endowed with ability, he turns his acuteness to cunning and fraud; then he plans many devices, as if he wished to mingle earth and heaven. Thus almost all men profane God’s gifts. But here the Prophet shows the fountain of this pride, when he says that the Jews trusted in their own beauty: for if modesty flourished in us, it would certainly suffice for restraining all insolence; but when that restraint has been once thrown off, there is no moderation before either God or man. This passage, then, is worthy of observation, where God reproves his ancient people for trusting in their beauty: because the figure signifies that they drew their material for pride from the gifts which ought rather to lead them to piety; for the gifts which we receive from God’s hand ought to be invitations to gratitude: but we are puffed up by pride; and luxury, so that we profane God’s gifts, in which his glory ought to shine forth. We must also observe that God has thus far recited his benefits, that the people’s ingratitude may appear more detestable: for God gives all things abundantly, and upbraids not, as James says, (Jas 1:5😉 that is, if we acknowledge that we owe all things to him, and thus devote and consecrate ourselves in obedience to his glory, with the blessings which he has bestowed upon us. But when God sees us impiously burying and profaning his gifts, and, through trusting in them, growing insolent, it is not surprising if he reproves us beyond what is customary. Hence we see that God assumes as it were another character, when he expostulates with us concerning our ingratitude; because he willingly acknowledges his gifts in us, and receives them as if they were our own; as we call that bread ours by which he nourishes us, although it is compelled to change its nature as far as we are concerned. It always remains the same in itself; but I speak of external form. God therefore, as it were, transfigures himself, so as to reprove his own gifts, conferred for the purpose of our glorying only in him. (Mat 7:11; Luk 11:13.)
God afterwards says, that the people had played the harlot according to their renown. I have no doubt that the Prophet alludes to famous harlots who excel in beauty, and interpreters have not observed this sufficiently; for they do not explain anything by saying, you have committed fornication in thy name: for as many lovers flow from all sides in troops towards a famous harlot, so the Prophet says the Jews were like her; and since they were universally noted, they were exposed to promiscuous lust, and attracted lovers to themselves. Here the Prophet condemns two kinds of fornication in the Jews; one consisting in superstitions and in the multiplication of idols, — the other in perverse and unlawful treaties: and we know this to be the worst kind of fornication, when God’s worship is vitiated; for this is our spiritual chastity, if we worship God purely according to the prescription of his teaching, if we do not bend to either the right or the left from his commands: so on the other hand, as soon as we pass the goal fixed by him, we wander like impure harlots, and all our superstitions are so many acts of defilement. The Prophet begins with the former kind, when he says that the Jews had committed fornication, namely, with their idols. But before he comes to that, he shows that their lust had been insatiable, since they had so eagerly and ardently approached their various idols, just as a harlot burns with unsatisfied desire, and is carried hither and thither, and must have a number of men; so the Prophet here says that the Jews committed fornication, not with one or two only, but with whomsoever they met; and this was occasioned by that favor of which we formerly spoke. It now follows —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
ISRAELS APOSTACY FROM GOD (Eze. 16:15-34)
EXEGETICAL NOTES. Its origin and nature (Eze. 16:15-22); its magnitude and extent (Eze. 16:23-34).
Eze. 16:15. The apostacy of Israel is described under the image of whoredom and adultery. Thou didst trust in thine own beauty. The gifts of God, when they ceased to be recognised as such, became a snare. Israel prostituted them in the service of idolatry. Because of thy renown. Teaching that the Jews had employed the renown, which through the Divine goodness they had acquired, as a means of seducing neighbouring nations to commit spiritual fornication.(Henderson).
Eze. 16:16. The high places were temples erected, upon heights by the side of altars (1Ki. 13:32; 2Ki. 17:29). In 2Ki. 23:7, the Jewish women are described as wearing hangings to adorn the temples of Astarte. The latter part of the verse expresses the idea that such gross abominations in Israel were altogether unparalleled in the past, as they would be in the future.
Eze. 16:17-19. Images of Men. Heb. Of a male. This may describe idolatry in general, and thus the word male would be used as corresponding with the description of Israel as an adulteress. But some expositors think that a reference is made here to a certain abominable form of idolatry. Scholz and Hvernick understand what were worshipped in the idolatrous service of phallus, or the membrum virile, which the Egyptians regarded as the emblem of fecundity, and which is still licentiously worshipped by the Hindoos under the name of lingam.(Henderson).
Eze. 16:20-22. To cause them to pass through the fire. A clear reference to Moloch-worship in which children were sacrificed to the idol by burning them. The passing through was the mode of slaying, and the devouring was the consequence of it. The idols were thought to be present in the fire.(Hengstenberg.)
Eze. 16:23-27. An eminent place. The Heb may be rendered a brothel, or place of prostitution. The word was so understood by the LXX. Thus figuratively the prophet describes their unholy passion for idol-worship. The natural heights are too far for the people hungering after idols. They wish to plant idolatry in the city thoroughfare, and so build for themselves artificial heights. We must distinguish between the thought and its clothing. The thought is, that the objects of idolatry became the prime impulse of the popular life, by which is to be understood much less religious than political adultery, though both went hand in hand.(Hengstenberg.) And hast made thy beauty to be abhorred. The Heb. verb in the Piel conjugation signifies to abhor, never to cause to be abhorred. To prostitute their beauty was to show their contempt for it. By forsaking God and His Holy worship they showed how little esteem they had for the national honour. And hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by.At an earlier period Israel stood, by the situation of their country, which admitted no isolation, in manifold intercourse with the world; but in the time which the prophet has in view they lay in the middle of the contending world-powersthe Asiatic and the Africanand were thus in their intervening territory tempted by the force of circumstances to adultery with powerful neighbours.(Hengstenberg.) The Egyptians, thy neighbours, great of flesh. Heb. The Sons of Egypt. An euphemism to denote the licentious character of the Egyptian worship. The sons of Egypt are not its gods, and therefore the reference is to political whoredom. Let it be remembered how in express terms intercourse with Egypt was forbidden to Israel, how return thither is threatened them rather as the worst punishment (Deu. 28:68); and let one compare from the days of Solomon onwards (1Ki. 3:1; 1Ki. 9:16; 1Ki. 10:28; 2 Kings 18; Isa. 30:1-33; Isa. 31:1; Isa. 36:6; Jer. 37:5; Jer. 37:7).(Lange). The daughters of the Philistines which are ashamed of thy lewd ways. The daughters of the Philistians are the Philistian states, corresponding to the representation of Israel as an adulterous wife. The Philistians are mentioned as the principal foes, because Israel fell completely into their power at the end of the period of the Judges (Judges 13; 1 Samuel 4); and they are referred to here, for the deeper humiliation of Israel, as having been ashamed of the licentious conduct of the Israelites, because they adhered to their gods, and did not exchange them for others as Israel had done (Jer. 2:10-11).(Keil).
Eze. 16:28-34. Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians, because thou wast unsatiable. Having got no satisfaction in the African, they betake themselves now to the Asiatic world-power. They long after it, and find no satisfaction even when the longing is realized.(Lange). Not satisfied with adopting the idolatories of Egypt, the Jews practised those of the more distant Assyrians and Babylonians. They were perfectly insatiable in their lust. Their idolatry was an amalgamation of all the different forms which obtained in the countries around them.(Henderson). How weak is thine heart. Some render it, Yet how languishing is thine heart. In this sense we are to understand that sickly craving of lustful desire, which had grown into a disease. Ewald designates the expression as a biting sarcasm; how great must be the languishing of love! Others understand it more generally of the tendency of oft-repeated sin to weaken our moral nature. The influence of sin on the soul is to render it morally impotent. Though it may not deprive it of the powers which are requisite to constitute man a responsible agent, it weakens his principle of action, takes possession of those powers, and forms itself into habits which the individual allows to grow upon him, so that he becomes at last insensible to the operation of the strongest moral motives.(Henderson). And the contrary is in thee from other women in thy whoredoms. Israel gave presents to its lovers, contrary to the practice of prostitutes in general. The Jews practised idolatry not from the mere love of gain, but from the gratification they found in that sin. They had arrived at that lowest stage of depravity when sin is loved merely for its own sake. Ezekiel has thus fulfilled the task appointed him in Eze. 16:2, to charge Jerusalem with her abominations. The address now turns to an announcement of the punishment.(Keil).
HOMILETICS
ISRAELS APOSTACY: AN EXAMPLE OF MONSTROUS INIQUITY
I. It was the prostitution of Gods best gifts. Thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown (Eze. 16:15). They ceased to recognise their superior endowments as the free and undeserved gifts of Gods great favour, and therefore these became a snare to them and the occasion of falling. Their iniquity was beyond that of other nations, because theirs was the sin of a people taken into special covenant with God. It is more than common iniquityit is monstrous to turn Gods gifts into the means of sin (Jud. 1:4). The sins against the clearest light are the greatest of all.
II. It took the worst possible forms.
1. They devoted all Gods gifts to idols.
(1.) The common gifts of Providence. Food of various kinds, represented by fine flour, and oil, and honey (Eze. 16:19).
(2.) Luxuries. Jewels of gold and silver. With these they made images to be employed in the most degrading forms of idolatry.
(3.) Even their own children. They gave them up to Moloch-worship, caused them to pass through the fire (Eze. 16:21). Such was their infatuation with this idolatry, that they silenced the common instincts of nature, and gave up their own children to the most cruel forms of death. The prophet speaks of their great sins with the utmost force of language when he calls them abominations.
2. They took special pains to spread idolatry. They built idol temples close to the dwellings of the worshippers, so that they might not have to seek them in distant places. They tempted others with all the wiles and artifices of wickedness, Thou hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by (Eze. 16:25). With a zeal worthy of a better cause they sought out the worst forms of idolatry among the nations of the earthThe Egyptians (Eze. 16:26), the Assyrians (Eze. 16:28), the Chaldeans (Eze. 16:29). They seemed bent not merely upon imitating, but even surpassing the worst abominations of the heathen around them.
3. Their lust of idolatry was insatiable. When they had gained their desire, they refused to be satisfied, and still cried out for more (Eze. 16:28-29). How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord God! (Eze. 16:30). Their lust was glutted until they could feel only the sickly languishing of an imperious whorish woman.
4. They loved the sin of idolatry for its own sake. Not for gain, but because they had a delight in it (Eze. 16:33-34).
5. They sinned thus grievously after due chastisement. God compares himself to a husband who endeavours by means of chastisement to induce his faithless wife to return. The supply of food, clothing, and of all the necessaries and comforts of a wife are diminished. She is even delivered over unto the will of them that hate her (Eze. 16:27). Such was the discipline by which the Lord sought to bring His ancient people to a sense of their folly, and to restore to them the privileges of the faithful. He did not suffer Israel to attain to that glory and power which was their sure portion had they continued to serve the Lord with a perfect heart. He allowed their enemies to triumph over them, so that they had not the undisturbed possession of Canaan. To remain unimproved under the chastisements of God, and not even to feel them, shows a heart in the last stage of hardening. Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved (Jer. 5:3).
(Eze. 16:15-19.)
I. Where God bestows choice mercies upon a people, He looks for answerable returns from them. He gave life to the Israelitish state (Eze. 16:6). He multiplied it as the bud of the field (Eze. 16:7). He loved this people, entered into covenant with them, married them unto Himself (Eze. 16:8). He washed away their blood, and anointed them with oil (Eze. 16:9). He gave them costly apparel, fine flour, honey and oil, royal dignity, special beauty, great fame and glory (Eze. 16:10-14); and now expected that they should have lived to Him, and improved all for the honour of His name. But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, etc. I looked not for this at thy hands; I looked that thou shouldst have been faithful and fruitful in all good works, and been as exemplary for holiness and justice to other nations, as I was exemplary in my mercies towards thee above other nations (Isa. 5:2).
II. Ingratitude in Gods people is a provoking sin, and causes God to upbraid them for it. From the beginning of Eze. 16:6, to the end of Eze. 16:14, which are but nine verses, there is I seventeen times, and every mention of it is a matter for upbraiding unto them. When God had made Adam after His image, planted him in Paradise, given him dominion over all the creatures, for him not to obey one little command was gross ingratitude, provoked the Lord to upbraid him and punish him for it (Genesis 3) Christ upbraids Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum where His mighty works were done, because they brought not forth fruits answerable, but were impenitent and ungrateful (Matthew 11)
III. We are very apt to trust in, and be proud of, the mercies God bestows upon us. Thou didst trust in thine own beauty. Those things that I gave thee to make thee beautiful, thou hast abused and put too much confidence in. The heart of man is ready to idolize every mercy God gives. There are several mercies we are apt to trust in.
1. In riches. The rich man confides in wealth as citizens do in a walled, well fortified, and well built city (Pro. 10:15; Psa. 52:7; 1Ti. 6:17).
2. In princes and great ones (Psa. 146:3; Isa. 2:22; Jer. 17:5; Isa. 30:3).
3. In your own natural excellencies. Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, etc. (Jer. 9:23). He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool (Pro. 28:26); the heart is the most excellent part of man (See also Pro. 3:5).
4. In the ordinances and means of grace (Jer. 7:4; Jer. 7:14-15.
IV. Great renown, through mans corruption, oft proves a snare, occasions great sins. God made this people above all nations, in praise, in name, in honour, that they might be a holy people unto Him (Deu. 26:19). Their renown should have encouraged them unto holiness, and it was an incentive unto looseness. Solomon had great renown abroad in the nations (1Ki. 4:31); that drew the princes to bestow their daughters upon him. His name made way for unlawful marriages, and they made way for unlawful gods.
V. The most beautiful and renowned church may degenerate, apostatise, and become corrupt. This Israelitish woman was the only spouse of God. He entered into covenant with her, she became His; He put more spiritual beauty and comeliness upon her than upon all the nations, and made her renowned throughout all the world; yet she forsook God, played the harlot, prostituted herself to every idol and idolater. And now where was the Church of God? She played the harlot with many lovers (Jer. 3:1). Here was visible apostacy, visible idolatry, but no true visible Church. Neither was God without a true Church at this time. There were some godly ones in secret, who mourned for the abominations done in the city, temple, and everywhere (Eze. 9:4). But these lay hid, and durst not appear in the ways of worship then amongst them. So in Elijahs days. He complained, The children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, etc. (1Ki. 19:10); but God had then seven thousand in secret (Eze. 16:18). The true Church may be brought to such a paucity, such a lowness, that there may be no public meetings, or view thereof. The papists say their Church cannot err, especially in things necessary to salvation; and why? because it is the spouse of Christ. Was not this Israelitish Church the spouse of God? And did it not err in the great and weighty things of salvation? Did it not leave God and fall into idolatry, such practices as exclude the kingdom of heaven? What privilege hath the Roman Church more than this had? Whatever papists say or write, their Church hath trusted in her beauty, been proud of her renown, and played the harlot as notoriously as ever Jerusalem did.(Greenhill.)
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
C. The Infidelity of the Bride 16:1534
TRANSLATION
(15) But you trusted in your beauty, and committed harlotry because of your reputation, and poured out your harlotries upon all who passed by; it belonged to him. (16) And you took from your garments, and made for yourself high places decked with different colors; and you committed harlotry upon them; they are not coming, and it will not lie. (17) And you took your fair jewels of My gold and My silver which I had given to you, and you made for yourself images of men, and committed harlotry with them. (18) And you took your woven garments, and you covered them; and My oil and My incense you placed before them. (19) And My bread which I gave to you, fine flour and oil and honey which I fed you, you set before them for a sweet savor, and thus it was (oracle of the Lord GOD). (20) And you took your sons and your daughters whom you bore unto Me, and you sacrificed them to them to be devoured. Were your harlotries a small matter, (21) that you slaughtered My children, and gave them up, in causing them to pass (through the fire) to them? (22) And in all of your abominations and harlotries you did not remember the days of your youth when you were naked and bare, and you were wallowing in your blood. (23) And it came to pass after all your evil woe, woe to You (oracle of the Lord GOD) (24) that you built for yourself a platform, and you made for yourself a high place in every street. (25) At every head of the way you have built your lofty place, and you have made your beauty an abomination, and have opened your feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied your harlotries. (26) And you committed harlotry with the Egyptians, your neighbors, great of flesh, and you multiplied your harlotry to provoke Me. (27) And behold I have stretched out My hand against you, and I have diminished your allowance, and I have delivered you into the will of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistine who are ashamed of your lewd way. (28) And you committed harlotry with the Assyrians without having enough; you committed harlotry with them, and yet you were not satisfied. (29) And you multiplied your harlotries with the land of merchants, Chaldea, but yet you were not satisfied, (30) How weak is your heart (oracle of the Lord GOD) when you do all these things, the work of a wanton harlot. (31) When you built your platforms at the head of every way, and have made your lofty place in every street, and you were not like the harlot who seeks more pay. (32) O woman that commits adultery, who takes strangers instead of her husband! (33) To all harlots gifts are given; but you have given your gifts to all your lovers, and you have bribed them to come unto you from round about in your harlotries. (34) And you are different from other women, in that you solicited to harlotry, and you were not solicited, and in that you paid the wages of prostitution rather than the wages of prostitution being given to you, and so you were different.
COMMENTS
The beautiful bride proved unfaithful to the marriage covenant with God. Instead of trusting Him she began to trust in her beauty, i.e., her material prosperity. She began to commit harlotry with foreign nations and their gods thus hoping to endear herself to her neighbors. She readily responded to every proffer of love (Eze. 16:15), i.e., she took up with every form of idolatry. The garments given to her by her divine Husband (i.e., material blessings) were used to make and decorate high places where Israel pursued her idolatrous lust. The last expression in Eze. 16:16 is difficult they (feminine) are not coming and it (masculine) will not be. Perhaps these words express disgust at the lewdness of Israel.
The jewelry of gold and silver had been melted down and fashioned into idols (cf. Hos. 2:10) images of men with whom the adulterous wife might commit her harlotry (Eze. 16:17). The images were dressed with the rich garb with which God had bedecked His bride. Oil and incense, gifts which God had given to His people were given as offerings to the lifeless idols (Eze. 16:18). The rich foods God had given His bride were set before these idols in various pagan rituals to serve as a sweet savor, i.e., something to satisfy the appetite of the gods. Thus if was, God says; it cannot be denied (Eze. 16:19).
As Gods wife, Israel had a responsibility to rear her children in the fear of the Lord. But some of these precious little ones had been slaughtered and burned by their parents in the worship of the god Molech.[319] Not satisfied with the lewd rites of Canaanite worship, Israel went the whole way even to this horrible extreme[320] (Eze. 16:20-21). The bride of God had sunk to this extreme because she failed to remember the days of her youth. If from time to time she had called to mind those humble origins she surely would not have been guilty of these abominations (Eze. 16:22).
[319] Warnings against this practice are found in Lev. 18:21; Lev. 18:24 and Deu. 18:9 f. Ahaz of Judah seems to have introduced the practice (2Ki. 16:3) and during the reign of Manasseh the practice was widespread (2Ki. 21:6).
[320] Eze. 16:21 suggests that the children were first slain and then burnt. Pass through the fire appears to be a euphemism for child immolation.
As the prophet contemplates the fate in store for Israel as a result of her wickedness he bursts forth in a lament Woe, Woe unto you! (Eze. 16:23). He then expands upon the theme of the wickedness of Israel. In every street platforms or pedestals for various images could be found (Eze. 16:24). At every head of the way, i.e., crossroad, their idols were conspicuous. The bride of God had put her beauty to an abominable use. She had spread her feet, i.e., committed prostitution, with every one who passed by, i.e., she had taken up with every pagan cult with which she had come in contact (Eze. 16:25). Israel did not even confine her spiritual harlotries to Canaanite worship ways. Through foreign alliances she became involved with the gods of more distant powers. Spiritual harlotry with the sensuous (great of flesh) Egyptians whose worship was characterized by obscene idolatries was perhaps the climax of Israels degeneration. The tendency to worship so many foreign gods was motivated not so much by their lust for forbidden forms of worship as by a subconscious desire to provoke and defy the Lord (Eze. 16:26).
Because of these acts of infidelity, God stretched out His hand over Israel for the purpose of inflicting punishment. As a betrayed husband might withdraw or reduce an unfaithful wifes maintenance (cf. Hos. 2:11), so God reduced the portion He had originally assigned to Israel. The reference here is probably to the territorial incursions by foreign nations against Israel from the days of Solomon to the time of Ezekiel. At the time the prophet spoke these words tiny Judah occupied only a fraction of the territory which God had given to Israel of old. So weak were the people of God that their ancient arch-enemies the Philistine[321] were now able to satisfy their desire for revenge. Sarcastically Ezekiel adds that even the ruthless Philistine were ashamed of the disgraceful conduct of Israel (Eze. 16:27). Assyria and Chaldea, the two great commercial centers, number among Israels lovers; but still the harlotrous wife could not find spiritual satisfaction (Eze. 16:28-29).
[321] It is generally understood that daughters of the Philistine refers to Philistine cities.
How morally weak and degenerate was the heart of Gods once lovely wife! She had become a wanton (lit., domineering) harlot. (Eze. 16:30). Unlike the ordinary harlot, the profit motive did not figure in Israels spiritual liaison. Israel prostituted herself not for gain but to satisfy her unbridled lust (Eze. 16:31). The picture is pathetic. A woman unwilling to be a wife to her husband, but anxious for intimate association with strange gods and foreign lands (Eze. 16:32). Rather than receiving gifts as is common with women of the street, Israel actually bribed lovers, i.e., she solicited alliances with foreign nations (Eze. 16:33-34).
God had a word for His harlotrous wife (Eze. 16:35). Because of all her spiritual adultery with foreign nations, her abominable idols and her revolting sacrifice of little children to those idols, (Eze. 16:36) God would bring judgment upon the land. Israels lovers nations with whom she had a treaty and those other nations with whom treaties had been broken would be gathered against Judah. Those nations would be used of God to bring national humiliation upon the people of God. The land will be stripped bare by these forces and her nakedness thus will be exposed to public view (Eze. 16:37).
Adulteresses and child murderers were judged most harshly under the Law of Moses. That same severe judgment was now about to be brought against Judah. Only the blood of the guilty could assuage the divine fury and jealousy (Eze. 16:38). To accomplish that judgment, God would use foreign nations, those who once were Israels lovers. This ruthless force would destroy the eminent places used in idolatrous rites. Enemy soldiers would strip the adulterous wife of clothing and jewels and leave her naked, i.e., Judah would see her buildings destroyed and her wealth carried away (Eze. 16:39).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(15) Didst trust in thine own beauty.Comp. Deu. 32:15; Hos. 13:6. There can scarcely be a more striking instance of the working of the hand of Providence in history than the story of the kingdom of Israel during and after the reign of Solomon. Raised as a theocracy to great power and wealth by the Divine blessing, it began to trust in its own beauty. Solomons policy was to make it a great and powerful empire among the nations of the earth, losing sight of its true character as the kingdom of God. Consequently the very means he took to aggrandise it became the instruments of its fall. His vast Oriental harem, gathered from all surrounding nations, introduced idolatry into the palace, and fostered it throughout the land. His magnificence was sustained by taxation, which gave the pretext for revolt. The doom was pronounced that the kingdom should be divided, and when this was fulfilled at Solomons death, his empire outside the boundaries of Palestine fell apart like a rope of sand, while within, instead of one compact and united monarchy, were two petty kingdoms often in hostility to one another, and each inviting to its assistance the most powerful neighbouring monarchs, to whose rapacity the whole ultimately fell a prey.
Playedst the harlot . . . his it would be.The political relation of the two parts of Israel just described, placed her at the mercy of every more powerful nation, and gave the impetus to every sort of idolatry which her masters chose to encourage. This apostacy from God, still keeping up the figure of the earlier part of the chapter, is represented as harlotry; and not only so, but as indiscriminate harlotry, for Israel never adopted and clung to any one false God, but worshipped the abominations of every nation which prevailed over her.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
15. Thou playedst the harlot pouredst out thy fornications Jehovah married Israel on the first passover night. Idolatry is a breach of the marriage covenant; for “thy Maker is thine husband” (Isa 54:5). These figures of speech shock us; yet that they do is no sign of our superior chastity. The Jews have always been, and are yet, peerless among the nations for their faithfulness to the marriage vow. In ancient Israel prenuptial unchastity on the part of the women as well as adultery was punished with death (Deu 22:13-18). The fact that the prophet could use such figures of speech in this connection proves Jewish abhorrence of such customs and suggests also how horribly common these iniquities were among the heathen. The fact is that in all Canaan, outside of the Hebrew community, lust and licentiousness were universal. The Canaanitish religions “far from discouraging sensuality made it a part of their holiest rites. Both men and women gave themselves up to natural and unnatural lust in honor of the gods. As a natural result the moral fabric of the nation fell into utter ruin. In private life adultery and the still more degrading sin of Sodom were common.” Andrew Harper, Book of Deuteronomy.
Israel’s Base Response to the Goodness of Yahweh.
“But you trusted in your beauty, and played the prostitute because of your renown, and poured out your whoredoms on all who passed by. His it was.”
The beauty and renown that God had given them proved their downfall. It led to disobedience and idolatry. We only have to think of the effect on Solomon of his foreign wives, all the result of his splendour (1Ki 11:1-3). They inveigled him into idolatry (1Ki 11:4-6). And what the king did the people gladly copied. ‘On all who passed by.’ They had previously been delivered by Yahweh passing by (Eze 16:6; Eze 16:8), but now those who passed by were lovers, and they led her astray. These lovers would once not have looked at her, but because of what God had done for her she had now become desirable. ‘His it was.’ Each one of them could have her, she was free and easy.
The Horrible Unfaithfulness of the Lord’s People
v. 15. But thou, v. 16. And of thy garments, v. 17. Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of My gold and of My silver which I had given thee, v. 18. And tookest thy broidered garments and coveredst them, v. 19. My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour and oil and honey, wherewith I fed thee, v. 20. Moreover, thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto Me, v. 21. That thou hast slain My children and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them? v. 22. And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms, v. 23. And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, v. 24. that thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, v. 25. Thou hast built thy high place at every head of the way, v. 26. Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians, thy neighbors, v. 27. Behold, therefore I have stretched out My hand over thee, v. 28. Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians, v. 29. Thou hast, moreover, multiplied thy fornication, v. 30. How weak is thine heart, v. 31. in that thou buildest thine eminent place, v. 32. but as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband, v. 33. They give gifts to all whores, v. 34. And the contrary is in thee from other women in thy whoredoms, whereas none followeth thee to commit whoredoms, Eze 16:15. But thou didst trust, &c. But thou, trusting on thy beauty, didst play the harlot, degenerating from thy renown. Houbigant. The Hebrews polluted their glory, and profaned the great name of the Lord which was their honour, by their frequent and scandalous idolatries.
We have here, under the same figure, carried on, of the sad departures which, even after grace, is too often discoverable in the Church. Israel, of old, to whom the Prophet is speaking, was remarkable for this apostacy and rebellion through their whole history. And the Church of God now may but too justly be arraigned to the question, What then are we better than they? No in no wise. Rom 3:9 . Reader! let us seek personally for the profiting by this sacred scripture, and leave Israel’s history to look into our own. May not you and I both behold in what is here said, as in a mirror, our own features. If we trace it to the days of our unregeneracy, we shall find the sole cause of our conversion was to the Lord’s passing by, and bidding us live. And may we not equally refer our present state, that we have not totally fallen, and have been cast away, to the same cause? Had the Lord been extreme to mark what hath been amiss since, what would have been our present state? Doth not everything in us and about us say, it is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed? Lam 3:22 . Yea! may we not both frequently hear, as it were with faith, that expostulating voice, Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knowest not; yea, from that time that thine ear was not opened; for I know that thou wouldest deal very treacherously, and was called a transgressor from the womb? Isa 48:8 .
Eze 16:15 But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was.
Ver. 15. But thou didst trust in thine own beauty. ] Thou grewest proud of it, and thoughtest there was none such; whenas thou mightest well have said of it, as he in the holy history did of his hatchet, “Alas, master, it was but borrowed.”
And playedst the harlot. “ Lis est cum forma magna pudicitiae. ”
Because of thy renown.
And pouredst out thy fornications.
His it was. NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Eze 16:15-22
15But you trusted in your beauty and played the harlot because of your fame, and you poured out your harlotries on every passer-by who might be willing. 16You took some of your clothes, made for yourself high places of various colors and played the harlot on them, which should never come about nor happen. 17You also took your beautiful jewels made of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images that you might play the harlot with them. 18Then you took your embroidered cloth and covered them, and offered My oil and My incense before them. 19Also My bread which I gave you, fine flour, oil and honey with which I fed you, you would offer before them for a soothing aroma; so it happened, declares the Lord GOD. 20Moreover, you took your sons and daughters whom you had borne to Me and sacrificed them to idols to be devoured. Were your harlotries so small a matter? 21You slaughtered My children and offered them up to idols by causing them to pass through the fire. 22Besides all your abominations and harlotries you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare and squirming in your blood.
Eze 16:15 you trusted in your beauty This VERB (BDB 105, KB 120, Qal IMPERFECT) basically meant to be extended on the ground. In this context it denotes Judah’s reliance on idolatry (cf. Eze 33:13; Isa 42:17; Jer 13:25).
played the harlot This VERB (BDB 275, KB 275, Qal IMPERFECT) means commit fornication. Idolatry is metaphorically described as sexual unfaithfulness (cf. Eze 16:28; Eze 23:30; Jer 3:1). Israel and Judah were married to YHWH (cf. Eze 16:8), but they pursued other gods of Egypt, Canaan, Assyria, and Babylon. This could have been done in one of two ways.
1. official governmental relations which were done in the name of these national gods (cf. Eze 16:26; Eze 16:28; Eze 23:5; Eze 23:7; Isa 23:17)
2. the worship of these foreign gods (cf. chapter 8; Exo 34:15-16; Lev 20:5; Deu 31:16)
This sexual (marriage, cf. Eph 5:21-31) imagery is used because of the personal nature of faith. Marriage is often used as a way of referring to intimacy (cf. Hosea 1-3). Faith is a spiritual intimacy! YHWH takes human commitment (i.e., free will) seriously.
Eze 16:16-21 The apostasy of Jerusalem took Judah’s beauty and wealth given to her by YHWH (cf. Eze 16:10-14) and turned it into pagan shrines and worship practices.
1. decorated shrines (high places, cf. Eze 16:24; Eze 16:31; Eze 16:39) of multi-colored cloth, given by YHWH, used as a place to commit adultery
2. made idols with ornaments and jewels given by YHWH, Eze 16:17
3. offered YHWH’s oil and incense, Eze 16:18
4. offered YHWH’s food, Eze 16:19
5. offered the fruit of the womb (i.e., children, Eze 16:36), which YHWH had bestowed, Eze 16:20-22 (see Special Topic following)
SPECIAL TOPIC: MOLECH
Eze 16:17 made for yourself male images These could refer to phallic statues (i.e., Ba’al) or jewelry. The gold and silver were YHWH’s gifts to His bride (Israel). They turned these gifts into fertility idols, just as they turned the beautiful clothing given by YHWH into mats and blankets on which to fornicate (cf. Eze 16:16).
They took other clothing (Eze 16:18) and dressed up their images and took YHWH’s oil, incense, and food and offered it to these lifeless fertility idols (cf. Eze 16:18-19).
They were so caught up in their commitment and superstition that they sacrificed their own children to Molech to insure the fertility of land, cattle, and the human population (cf. Eze 16:20-21; Eze 20:26; Eze 20:31; Eze 23:37).
Eze 16:19 a soothing aroma This is an idiomatic way of referring to an accepted sacrifice. Again Ezekiel is influenced by Leviticus 26, where this terminology is used in a threat (cf. Lev 26:30-31). Ezekiel uses this idiom mostly in connection with pagan idolatries (cf. Eze 6:13; Eze 16:19; Eze 20:28), however, Eze 20:41 is a future-oriented exception (i.e., the Messianic temple).
Eze 16:22 you did not remember the days of your youth The VERB remember (BDB 269, KB 219, Qal PERFECT) occurs twice. Jerusalem’s idolatries are more egregious because
1. she was chosen by YHWH
2. she was blessed by YHWH
3. she was married to YHWH
It was a violation of love as well as law!
trust = confide. Hebrew. batah. App-69.
playedst the harlot. All these expressions that follow are to be interpreted of idolatry, and not to sins of the flesh, to which they are likened.
fornications: i.e. idolatrous acts.
Eze 16:15-18
Eze 16:15-18
“But thou didst trust in thy beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and poured out thy whoredoms on every one that passed by; his it was. And thou didst take of thy garments, and madest for thee high places decked with divers colors, and playedst the harlot upon them: like things shall not come, neither shall it be so. Thou didst also take thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest for thee images of men, and didst play the harlot with them; and thou tookest thy broidered garments and coveredst them, and didst set my oil and my incense before them.”
THE SHAMEFUL PROFLIGACY OF ISRAEL
This extensive paragraph encompasses Eze 16:15-34, but we shall subdivide it.
“Playedst the harlot … poured out thy whoredoms …” (Eze 16:15). Although the particular sins of Israel mentioned in this long paragraph are here listed as “whoredoms,” the reference is inclusive of such things as seeking alliances with foreign nations, and the adoption of the religious idols and customs of the pagan world around them. Nevertheless, the allegory is very proper and accurate, because, as May noted, “As in Hosea and other prophets, such terminology here carries with it a connotation of association with the sexual rites of the Canaanite cults. The unbelievable licentiousness which marked the worship of the various fertility gods and goddesses was extremely immoral and depraved.
“God had warned Israel not to forget him when she came into all the benefits that he would give her in the Promised land (Deu 6:10-12); But no sooner had God given them a magnificent and glorious kingdom under Solomon, than the nation, led by the scandalous Solomon, did exactly what is outlined here. “They committed spiritual adultery with every nation on earth Solomon had seven hundred wives, each of them representing an alliance he had made with some foreign state or principality, and three hundred concubines. This was not merely “spiritual adultery.” It was unmitigated, lustful adultery practiced on a Gargantuan scale. There’s no better word for it than the harsh realism of this allegory. All of that reprehensible conduct showed that Israel was no longer trusting God who had so richly blessed them. They were trusting their own ability to take care of themselves by their alliances with other states.
The evil outlined in this long paragraph, “Began when Israel adopted the Canaanite sanctuaries of Palestine (Jer 2:5-7, also 5:28 here)”; but, as noted in the previous paragraph, it was Solomon who brought the whole pantheon of pagan gods into Israel. All of Solomon’s pagan wives brought their own religion, their own pagan priests, and all of the evil practices of their religion. And of course, Solomon built every one of them a temple, or shrine, or high place. There is nothing more scandalous than Solomon’s debauchery of the whole nation.
“And madest for thee images of men …” (Eze 16:17). “There is reference here to a certain form of very abominable idolatry, namely, the worship of the phallus, or the membrum virile, which the Egyptians regarded as the emblem of fecundity, and which is still licentiously worshipped by the Hindus under the name of lingam.
These verses stress the fact that it was the very gifts of God Himself which the Israelites used to construct their pagan shrines and to be wasted in pagan worship. “This was a crowning aggravation of their guilt, that the very valuables designed for God’s worship were prostituted in the worship of his pagan rivals.
trust
(See Scofield “Psa 2:12”).
thou didst: Eze 33:13, Deu 32:15, Isa 48:1, Jer 7:4, Mic 3:11, Zep 3:11, Mat 3:9
and playedst: Eze 20:8, Eze 23:3, Eze 23:8, Eze 23:11, Eze 23:12-21, Exo 32:6-35, Num 25:1, Num 25:2, Jdg 2:12, Jdg 3:6, Jdg 10:6, 1Ki 11:5, 1Ki 12:28, 2Ki 17:7, 2Ki 21:3, Psa 106:35, Isa 1:21, Isa 57:8, Jer 2:20, Jer 3:1, Jer 7:4, Hos 1:2, Hos 4:10, Rev 17:5
because: Raised from the most abject state to dignity and splendour by Jehovah, Israel became proud of her numbers, riches, strength, and reputation, forgetting that it was “through his comeliness which he had put upon them;” and thus departing from God, made alliances with heathen nations, and worshipped their idols.
and pouredst: Eze 16:25, Eze 16:36, Eze 16:37
Reciprocal: Gen 38:24 – played the harlot Deu 31:16 – and go a 2Ki 21:15 – since the day 2Ch 21:11 – fornication Neh 9:26 – they were Psa 78:56 – General Psa 106:36 – And Psa 106:39 – went Pro 11:22 – a jewel Pro 30:9 – I be full Pro 31:30 – Favour Jer 3:13 – and hast scattered Jer 3:20 – so have Jer 13:27 – thine adulteries Jer 32:30 – children Eze 16:13 – and thou wast Eze 16:45 – that loatheth Eze 23:7 – committed her whoredoms with them Eze 28:17 – heart Hos 2:5 – their mother Mat 19:9 – except Rev 14:8 – because
Eze 16:15. The husband continued his traveling to and fro and hence could not always he in the company of his wife. But if she were true to him she would not take advantage of his absence to receive the attentions of Other men; that is where the wife of our story showed her disloyalty. She seemed to forget all of the tokens of love and unselfish service which her husband had shown to her in the first years of her life. It was evident that the favors thus lavished upon her had “spoiled her and turned her head in the direction of unlawful lovers. She even admitted the men passing by to come in to her and commit fornication. Let the reader bear in mind that the idolatry of Judah is what the prophet was really considering, because that abomination is likened in the Bible to moral unfaithfulness.
Eze 16:15-19. But thou didst trust in thine own beauty Houbigant translates this, But thou, trusting in thy beauty, didst play the harlot, degenerating from thy renown: as if he had said, Thou didst abuse those honours, privileges, and advantages which I had bestowed upon thee, and didst make them an occasion of pride, of self-confidence, and of forsaking me thy benefactor, and serving idols. It was chiefly by their frequent and scandalous idolatries that the Jews and Israelites polluted their glory, and profaned the great name of Jehovah. And they presumed upon that very favour which God had showed to Jerusalem, in choosing it for the place of his residence, as if that would secure them from his vengeance, let their idolatries and other wickedness be never so great. And playedst the harlot Idolatry, as has been often observed, is expressed by this metaphor. And of thy garments thou didst take, &c. This was a great aggravation of their ingratitude, that they applied those very blessings which Jehovah, the true God, had given them, to the worship of idols, contrary to his express command. And deckedst thy high places Places of idolatrous worship, commonly built on eminences, with divers colours. Or, as the LXX. interpret it, Thou madest idols, or images, of divers colours. Thou madest little shrines, chapels, or altars for idols, and deckedst them with hangings of divers colours, Eze 16:18, 2Ki 23:7. The like things shall not come, &c. I will utterly destroy those idolatries, and those that commit them. Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels, &c. The wealth I had bestowed upon thee thou hast laid out in doing honour to idols; and particularly in setting up images to deified heroes, and didst pay them religious worship, here signified by committing whoredom with them. And coveredst them Didst clothe with thy broidered garments the images thou hast made. And hast set mine oil, &c., before them Thou offeredst these my creatures as meat-offerings, unto idols. The meat-offering is called an offering of a sweet savour, because of the frankincense which was put upon it, Lev 2:2. The oblation here mentioned differs from those offered to God in one particular, namely, that honey was mixed with it, which God had expressly forbidden to be used in his service, Lev 2:11.
16:15 But thou didst {k} trust in thy own beauty, and didst play the harlot because of thy renown, and didst pour out {l} thy harlotries on every one that passed by; his it was.
(k) In abusing my gifts and in putting your confidence in your own wisdom and dignity, which were the opportunities of your idolatry.
(l) There was no idolatry with which you did not pollute yourself.
The prostitution of Jerusalem 16:15-34
However, Jerusalem became self-centered and unfaithful to the Lord; she forgot Him when she became preoccupied with His blessings (cf. Deu 6:10-12; Deuteronomy 8). She went after every people that passed by rather than remaining faithful to Yahweh. Under King Solomon, Jerusalem became the greatest city of her day, but Solomon led the Jerusalemites into spiritual adultery by making alliances (covenants) with other nations and by establishing idolatry in the land (1Ki 11:1-13; cf. Deu 17:14-20).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
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: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
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)