Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 16:17
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,
17. Cf. Hos 2:8, I multiplied unto her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.
images of men ] Jerusalem being an unfaithful wife the idols are “men.” The images were of gods; and this prophet probably saw little distinction between an image of Jehovah and that of any other deity. It is likely that, apart from the calf-images, the symbols of Jehovah as well as of the other gods were of the human form; cf. as to the Teraphim, 1Sa 19:13. The supposition hazarded by some that the “male images” (marg.) were representations of the Phallus has little to support it. It is true that Jerome considers the “gruesome object” set up by Maacah the mother of Asa to be simulacrum Priapi (2Ch 15:16, cf. 1Ki 15:13), but this is mere conjecture; and the passage Isa 57:8 is too obscure to be depended upon (cf. Prof. W. R. Smith, Rel. of Sem. p. 437).
broidered coveredst them ] Cf. Eze 16:10 ; Eze 16:13. The practice of clothing the idols is illustrated by Jer 10:9, “There is silver beaten into plates blue and purple for their clothing; they are all the work of cunning men.”
hast set mine oil ] didst set. The ref. is to the offerings made to the idols. The Lord calls it “mine” because due to him, or rather because given by him to Israel, Hos 2:8, “she did not know that I gave her corn and wine and oil I will take back my corn in the time thereof.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Possibly an allusion to the custom of bearing about shrines. Compare Amo 5:26; Act 7:43.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Eze 16:17-22
Thou hast also taken thy fair Jewels of My gold.
The degrading nature of sin
Manton says, If you saw a man labouring in filthy ditches, and soiling himself as poor men do, would you believe that he was heir-apparent to a crown, called to inherit a kingdom? Who will believe in your heavenly calling when you stick in the mud of worldly pleasures, and are carried away with carking care for secular interests? Princes should behave as princes. Their haunts should be in palaces, and not amid dung heaps. How, then, is it that some who profess and call themselves Christians are found raking in questionable amusements to discover pleasure, and many others groping amid sordid avarice to find satisfaction in wealth? What are they at to be thus disgracing the blood royal? How dare they drag the name of the Blessed and only Potentate through the mire? A prince of the blood acting as a beggar would dishonour not only himself but all the royal house. Nobility has obligations. Grace, which is the eminent nobility of saints, lays them under heavy bonds to act as the true aristocracy of the universe. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
God ill requited for all His love
I remember William Huntingdon says in his autobiography that one of the sharpest sensations of pain that he felt after he had been quickened by Divine grace was this, He felt such pity for God. I do not know that I ever met with the expression elsewhere, but it is a very expressive one; although I might prefer to say sympathy with God, and grief that He should be so ill-treated. Many a man has been slandered and abused, but never was man abused as God has been. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 17. And madest to thyself images of men] tsalmey zachar, male images. Priapi are here meant, which were carried about in the ceremonies of Osiris, Bacchus, and Adonis; and were something like the lingam among the Hindoos. Herodotus, lib. ii, c. 48, 49, gives us an account of these male images: , , , . This was done at the worship of Bacchus in Egypt: and they who wish to see more may consult Herodotus as above. In this phallic worship the women were principally concerned.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Thy fair jewels; she forgot the property was in God, she reckoned them her own. The word in Hebrew is of larger extent, and includes vessels, instruments, furniture of all sorts, with which, she was abundantly stored, even from their departure out of Egypt, when they spoiled the Egyptians, Exo 11:2, where the selfsame phrase is used, and more since Solomon made gold and silver so common in Jerusalem, with which they made vessels for use, and furniture of all sorts for ornament.
My gold: the greater was the sin of this harlot, her ingratitude, and her injustice, that she robbed God, committed sacrilege, that she might have idols with which to defile herself by her idolatry.
I had given thee: had she received them of any other hand, the wrong had been the less; but she received them, every one of them, of the hand of God: lie gave her what the Egyptians lent, what David won from enemies, and what Solomon brought in by traffic; so Ho 2 aggravates Israels idolatry.
Madest; brutish stupidity! to make an idol, and account it a god!
Images; statues, molten and graven images; not one single image, but many; so idolatry, as adultery, is boundless.
Of men: idolaters had male and female idols; and this idolatress here, as mostly they did, doted on male idols. It is not unlike to that Eze 8:14, which see. And possibly the Egyptian idolatry with Osiris or Adonis may be noted, or some more lewd image or portrait of Priapus, which might be confirmed from Eze 16:26; 23:19,20.
Didst commit whoredom with them; provoked by such representations to speculative uncleanness, and prepared for bodily uncleanness also, and proceeding to spiritual adultery with these shameful images.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. my gold . . . my silver(Hag 2:8).
images of menrather,”of the phallus,” the Hindu lingam, ormembrum virile [HAVERNICK],deified as the emblem of fecundity; man making his lust his god.English Version, however, is appropriate; Israel beingrepresented as a woman playing the harlot with “maleimages,” that is, images of male gods, as distinguished fromfemale deities.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold, and of my silver, which I had given thee,…. Or “thy glorious vessels of gold and silver” h; meaning either the vessels of gold and silver in the temple, as Jerom thinks, which they converted to idolatrous uses; or rather their own household vessels of gold and silver which God had given them, as the bounties of his providence, and he had still a right unto, and which they made use of to the dishonour of his name; which argued great ingratitude in them:
and madest to thyself images of men; images in the shape of men; some were in the shape of women, others in the shape of men; here only male images are mentioned, because the idolatrous Jews are represented by an adulterous woman committing adultery, with men; and these were made by themselves, of their jewels of gold and silver; or of their golden and silver vessels, which they had to eat and drink out of; these, they melted down and made idols of them in the form of men, just as the molten calf was made of the earrings of the women, Ex 32:3; to which some refer this passage: and as it was a piece of egregious folly in themselves to part with their jewels and plate for such purposes, and of great ingratitude to God, their benefactor, so of the grossest stupidity and ignorance to worship images so made; which was equally as stupid, or more so, than if a woman should embrace the image of a man, instead of a man himself, as it follows:
and didst commit whoredom with them: the images: that is, idolatry, which is spiritual adultery.
h “vasa gloriae tuae de auro meo, et de argento meo”, Pagninus, Montanus; “vasa tua insigniora et elegantiora, facta ex auro meo?” Vatablus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Prophet reproves them because they used silver and gold in making idols for themselves. He not only condemns idolatry, but ingratitude, since they turned to God’s dishonor the gifts which he had bestowed. First, the profanation of his gifts was base; besides this, they had rashly and purposely abused his liberality to his dishonor, and that was not to be endured. He reproves at the same time their blind intemperance, since they willingly gave themselves up to licentiousness, and buried themselves in their superstitions. But he does not say that they simply took gold and silver, but vessels of elegance or beauty of gold and silver. Whence it appears that they were blinded by furious lusts, as we have seen. He still pursues the simile of fornication, when he calls these manufactured deities images of males; and it seems obliquely to mark the excess of lust in having to do with shadows; by which he means that they were hurried away about nothing by their unbridled appetites, just as a woman feeds her passion by the mere picture of her paramour. It now follows —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
17. Images of men This does not refer to phallic worship (as Movers), but to images of Baalim (as Hos 2:8; Hos 2:13; compare 1Ki 15:13).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“You took your fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images, and played the prostitute with them.”
The picture is vivid. It was as though they had made the god-images in order to make love to them. But it was of course done with the cult male and female prostitutes. And they had done it with the silver and gold that Yahweh in His goodness and love had given them!!
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eze 16:17. Images of men Idol images, or images for worship.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 16:17 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,
Ver. 17. Images of men. ] To be thy gallants, with whom thou mightest adulterise and idolise. Vah scelus! Surely he is a rare man that hath not some or other idol whereon he bestows pains and cost, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” 1Jn 5:21
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
of men = of the male: i.e. the Phallus, referring to the Asherah. See App-42.
whoredom = idolatry.
them = i.e. these images.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
hast also: Eze 7:19, Eze 23:14-21, Exo 32:1-4, Hos 2:13, Hos 10:1
men: Heb. a male
and didst: Isa 44:19, Isa 44:20, Isa 57:7, Isa 57:8, Jer 2:27, Jer 2:28, Jer 3:9
Reciprocal: Exo 32:2 – General 2Ch 24:7 – did they bestow Eze 23:16 – and sent Rev 13:14 – they
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 16:17, The wife was not satisfied with unlawful intimacy with strange men, but fashioned for herself some images of men that she might admire them in her private life. What added to the greatness of such abomination was the fact that she formed those images out of t.he precious metals that a loving husband had provided for her personal adornment as a wife.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
16:17 Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and hast {n} made to thyself images of men, and hast committed harlotry with them,
(n) You have converted my vessels and instruments which I gave you to serve me with to the use of your idols.