Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 16:43
Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast fretted me in all these [things]; behold, therefore I also will recompense thy way upon [thine] head, saith the Lord GOD: and thou shalt not commit this lewdness above all thine abominations.
43. The verse concludes the whole passage Eze 16:35-43, summing up its meaning compendiously, cf. Eze 16:22.
thou shalt not commit ] The tense is perf., which can hardly be taken as fut. perf., though the prophet does use the perf. in an uncommon way (ch. Eze 13:11, Eze 24:5). The sentence can hardly be read interrogatively, without altering the text. LXX. read and thus for “and not”: and thus hast thou committed lewdness. The term “lewdness” is used by Ezekiel of sexual enormity, applied figuratively to idolatry ( Eze 16:27). “Lewdness” and “abominations” would not differ, except that the former was the quality characterizing the acts called abominations. In this case the clause must read: and thus hast thou committed lewdness in (amidst) all thine abominations; and the words would be a final summary of the preceding verses. “Lewdness,” however, is used literally (ch. Eze 22:9), and Eze 16:45 seems to speak of literal unchastity. The clause might thus be attached to Eze 16:44, and “lewdness” being distinguished from “abominations,” we might read: lewdness in addition to all thine abominations. This distinction, however, is not natural. The proposal to read first person, and put the words into the mouth of Jehovah (Keil): I have not committed wickedness in all thine abominations (i.e. by winking at them and leaving them unpunished, Lev 19:29) is singularly inept.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 43. Thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth] Thy former low beginning, when God made thee a people, who wast no people. He who maintains not a proper recollection of past mercies is not likely to abide steadfast in the faith. Ingratitude to God is the commencement, if not the parent, of many crimes.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This verse recapitulates the causes of Gods great displeasure against Jerusalem.
Thou hast not remembered: see Eze 16:22.
Hast fretted me; a mixed passion, in which is grief as well as anger, such as moves in the heart of a jealous husband, or such as is the passion of one that is grieved and angered at the rebukes of her folly, breaks out into disorderly carriage against the reprover, and tumultuating within her own breast, holds on her course.
All these things, already mentioned and charged against thee.
Behold; lay it now before thine eyes, and consider it. Will recompense; or, have recompensed; for the prophet speaks of the times when all he threatened from God should be executed upon this people.
Thou shalt not commit this lewdness, & c.: this passage is somewhat intricate, and is read by some thus, I have not done according to what all thine abominations deserve, or I have not executed such thoughts as all thy lewdness calls for. Some read, as we, in the second person, Thou hast not, &c., i.e. made account, or thought with thyself what would become of thee, or what thou shouldst do after all thine abominations, therefore these sore judgments have overtaken and ruined thee. As our version renders the words, they seem to be the same with that Eze 16:41. After all Gods judgments poured forth, such should be their condition and state, they should be so poor and despised, they neither should have opportunity nor ability to please their idolatrous and adulterous companions.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
43. (Eze 16:22;Psa 78:42). In gratitude forGod’s favors to her in her early history.
fretted me (Isa 63:10;Eph 4:30).
thou shalt not commit thislewdness above all thine abominationsthat is, this thewickedness (compare Zec 5:8),peculiarly hateful to God, namely, spiritual unchastity or idolatry,over and “above” (that is, besides) all thine otherabominations. I will put it out of thy power to commit it by cuttingthee off. FAIRBAIRNtranslates, “I will not do what is scandalous (namely,encouraging thee in thy sin by letting it pass with impunity) uponall thine abominations”; referring to Le19:29, the conduct of a father who encouraged his daughter inharlotry. English Version is much better.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth,…. The low estate they were once in, and the great favours bestowed upon them, which laid them under great obligation to serve the Lord, and him only; but these they forgot, which highly provoked him, and caused him to do the things he did; see Eze 16:22:
and hast fretted me in all these [things]; irritated, provoked him, moved him to wrath and anger, stirred up in his breast a tumult, speaking after the manner of men; this they did by their ingratitude, idolatry, and other sins:
behold, therefore, I also will recompense thy way upon [thine] head,
saith the Lord God; retaliate their evils, punish them according as their sins deserved, and in a way which they led unto:
and thou shall not commit this lewdness above all thine abominations; or add to all thine abominable idolatries this shocking piece of wickedness, the sacrificing of their children to their idols: or rather the words may be rendered, “for thou hast not taken this thought” (or counsel) “upon” or “concerning all thine abominations” u; to repent of them and turn from them So the Targum,
“and thou hast not taken counsel to thyself, to turn from all thine abominations.”
Or, as Jarchi,
“thou hast hot taken counsel to put the, heart upon thine abominations to turn from them;”
and he observes, that the word here used always signifies counsels either good or evil. There is a double reading of this clause; we follow the “Keri”, or marginal reading; but the “Cetib”, or textual writing or reading, is, “and I have not done according to this lewdness above all thine abominations”; and so expresses the mercy and long suffering of God w.
u “et non fecisti cogitationem super omnibus abominationibus tuis”, Pagninus, Montanus, Calvin; “nec tamen fecisti”, &c. Vatablus, Grotius. w This is followed by the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Luther, Starckius, and others.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
JUSTIFICATION FOR GOD’S JUDGMENT UPON ISRAEL
Verses 43-52:
Verse 43 declares that Israel had not remembered, recalled, or respected the days of her youth, v. 22; Psa 78:42. Instead she had raged, found fault with God for her calamities rather than repenting of her sins. And because of this impenitent attitude God determined to recompense the fruit of her lewd and abominable ways of idolatrous whoredoms upon her head, Eze 9:10-11; Eze 21:22; Eze 21:31. He would not let Israel fix the blame for their suffering on Him, but cause them to know that He would be party to their whoredoms, if He condoned their pursuit of them, without just punishment, Lev 19:29.
Verses 44, 45 set forth a proverb against Israel that stated, “as is (exists) the mother, so is (exists) her daughter;” She is said to be her mother’s daughter that continually loathes both her husband and children. And she is identified as the sister of her sisters who loathed their husbands and their children; Their mother was declared to be an Hittite, a Canaanite, and their father an Amorite, whose immoral nature and idol practices had been adopted by Israel. Her daughter was Jerusalem. All in consort did abominably before God, Rom 1:30.
Verse 46 describes Samaria as an elder sister to Jerusalem and Israel, who with her daughters resided at the left hand, and her younger sister that resided at her right hand, was Sodom and her daughters. All held one thing in common—they were all aligned in idolatrous rebellion against God, Num 21:25. Samaria is called the great sister and Sodom the smaller sister city of Spiritually idolatrous and reprobate Jerusalem.
Verse 47 charges Jerusalem with a more grave sin than either of her sisters, Samaria to the north, or Sodom to the east. For Jerusalem had greater light from and knowledge of God and His laws. Jerusalem and Israel had: 1) the temple, 2) the sacrifices, 3) the Divinely appointed priests, and 4) the law, advantages over others who had embraced and practiced idolatry with its licentious ways, Rom 3:1-2. She had corrupted morals more than Samaria and Sodom, 1Ki 11:5; 1Ki 11:7; 2Ki 21:9.
Verse 48 further asserts that Sodom, Jerusalem’s sister to the east, and her daughters had not offended God as grievously, or sinned as seriously as Jerusalem and her daughters, those areas immediately about her, who had more light, See Mat 10:15; Mat 11:24; See also Mar 6:11; Luk 10:12; Act 7:52.
Verses 49, 50 describe the sins of Jerusalem’s sister to the east, Sodom. Her sins were: 1) pride, 2) fullness or plenty of bread, 3) an abundance of idleness in both her and her daughters, and 4) she did not help or strengthen the hand (give support to) the poor and needy, Gen 13:10. Moses had forewarned them of prosperity, that often proves dangerous to virtue, and idleness that leads to temptations and sins and infidelity, Deu 6:11-12; Hos 13:6; Isa 32:9; Isa 32:11; Jer 22:21. Because they were haughty and impudent in these sins, the Lord took them away into judgment, as He saw good, Gen 13:13; Gen 18:20; Gen 19:5; Gen 19:24.
Verse 50 indicts Jerusalem with greater sins than Samaria who had not committed half of Jerusalem’s sins, Jer 3:11. For Jerusalem, knowing the law of the Lord, multiplied her own abominations, making the abominations of Samaria and Sodom appear as meager in comparison with their own, exemplifying the principal set forth Luk 12:47-48; Mat 12:41-42.
Verse 52 concludes that Jerusalem has also judged her sisters unjustly, unfairly, while herself having committed more shameful abominations than they. God added “they were more righteous than thou,” in their behavior. She is called upon to be confounded, bowed down in penitent shame. Because her conduct had justified her heathen sisters of their sins before the masses of the heathen world, Mat 7:1-2; Rom 2:1; Rom 2:17-23; Luk 13:2. Though Judah had exalted herself in her own eyes, in comparison with Samaria and Sodom, she was like the Pharisee who had tried to justify himself, in comparison with the publican, Luk 18:9-14; Rom 2:1.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
He first blames the Jews for not reflecting on the liberality of their treatment. But that ingratitude was too shameful, since God had not omitted any kind of beneficence for their ornament. But since they thought themselves not adorned with sufficient splendor by God, and that he was less munificent than he ought to be, it may here be gathered that they were unworthy of such great and remarkable benefits. Finally, God here shows that how severely soever he punished the Jews, yet they deserved it for their ingratitude in not thinking him sufficiently liberal towards them: for their spirits were utterly broken. If a wife leave her husband, she is either compelled to do so by his perverse conduct, or else she betrays an illiberal disposition if she has been treated honorably. But since the Jews were bound to God so strongly in so many ways, their perfidy and revolt was so much the more detestable; for God does not suffer his blessings to be despised by us: since we must always mark the reason of his omitting nothing which may testify his paternal love towards us, namely, that we may celebrate his goodness. But when we turn his benefits to the profanation of his name, that is like mingling heaven and earth. Hence this passage against ingratitude must be remarked.
He now adds, thou, has been tumultuous against me, or has moved or irritated me. רגן, regen, sometimes signifies to frighten, but it means here to quarrel with, contend, or be in a rage with: for the word may, in my opinion, be taken either actively or passively, and also as a neuter. If we take it in the neuter sense, it will mean that the Jews were tumultuous against God, as if they were seized by a turbulent spirit, so as to neglect and despise him, and to indulge themselves in wickedness. If you prefer the active sense, it means you have irritated me. He adds again, I also will recompense thy way upon thy head, (135) by which words God again affirms that he was not induced to punish the Jews by any rash or inconsiderate zeal, since if any one considered their crimes, he will acknowledge that they had received a just recompense. In fine, the mouth of the Jews is here stopped, lest they should suppose God to act unfairly when they were only reaping the fruit of their deeds. He next adds, and you have not made consideration I have already given two expositions in the note, but neither of them pleases me, for it seems altogether adverse to the Prophet’s context to receive it as if God were the speaker: besides, it is not necessary to change the tense of the verb, and take the past for the future, when the sense tends in another direction. It agrees far better that the Jews did not recall to mind their own abominations so as to be displeased with them. To make consideration, means to reflect upon. זמה, zemeh, is mostly taken in a good sense, and signifies consideration simply; and as this is the word’s proper meaning, we see that the Prophet here accuses the Jews of stupidity, because they did not turn their attention to reconsider their abominations. Those who take it for lewdness distort the sense. The whole meaning is, that the Jews were worthy of the horrible destruction which hung over them, because they were not only obstinate in their ingratitude, but altogether stupid: for their abominations were so foul before the nations, as we have formerly seen, that the daughters of the Philistines were ashamed of the wickedness of the nation, but they did not apply their minds to the consideration of these things. Since, therefore, their abominations were so gross, it was a mark of the greatest indolence not to turn their attention to review them. It now follows —
(135) We must understand the pronoun “thy” before “head.” — Calvin.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(Eze. 16:43-52)
EXEGETICAL NOTES.Eze. 16:43. Hast fretted Me in all these things. Instead of regarding their calamaties as the just punishment of their sin, they raged against the Lord. The judgments that ought to have led them to repentance only served to make them desperate, and to plunge them into still greater depths of apostacy. And thou shalt not commit this lewdness above all thine abominations. Lewdness and abomination are not in themselves different: the thought is, that the measure of the lewdness and abomination is now fullthat it is time for the punishment to enter into the place of sin.(Hengstenberg.) We must explain the words from Lev. 19:29, where the toleration by a father of the whoredom of a daughter is designated as Zimmh. If we adopt this interpretation, Jehovah says that He has punished the spiritual whoredom of Israel, in order that He may not add another act of wrong to the abominations of Israel, by allowing such immorality to go unpunished. If he did not punish, He would commit Zimmh Himself,in other words, would make himself accessory to the sins of Israel.(Keil.)
Eze. 16:44. Behold every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, as is the mother, so is her daughter. Her abominable life is so conspicuous, that it strikes every one, and furnishes occasion for proverbial sayings. The daughter is of course Jerusalem, as the representative of Israel. The mother is the Canaanitish race of Hittites and Amorites, whose immoral nature had been adopted by Israel.(Keil.)
Eze. 16:45. Thou art thy mothers daughter that loveth her husband and her children; and thou art the sister of thy sisters, which loveth their husbands, and their children; your mother was an Hittite, and your father an Amorite. Here Jehovah is represented as the husband, not only of Israel, but also of the other nations. In their case, also, idolatry was apostacy from God who first gave them that knowledge of Himself which they were not willing to retain. Keil notes that Theodoret has explained it correctly in this way: He shows by this, that He is not the God of Jews only, but of Gentiles also; for God once gave oracles to them, before they chose the abominations of idolatry. Therefore he says that they also put away both the husband and the children by denying God, and slaying the children to demons.
Eze. 16:46. Thine elder sister is Samaria thy younger sister is Sodom. Samaria and Sodom are called sisters of Jerusalem, not because both cities belonged to the same mother-land of Canaan, for the origin of the cities does not come into consideration here at all, and the cities represent the kingdoms, as the additional words, her daughters, that is to say, the cities of a land or kingdom dependent upon the capital, clearly prove. Samaria and Sodom, with the daughter cities belonging to them, are sisters of Jerusalem in a spiritual sense, as animated by the same spirit of idolatry. The Heb. ought to be rendered, Thy great sister is Samaria and thy sister, who is smaller than thou, is Sodom. Samaria is called the greater sister of Jerusalem, and Sodom the smaller sister. This is not equivalent to the older and the younger, for Samaria was not more deeply sunk in idolatry than Sodom, nor was her idolatry more ancient than that of Sodom (Keil). The expressions left hand, right hand are employed, because the Orientals regarded the East as the principal point of the heavens. Hence the left would designate the North, and the right the South, the direction in which Sodom had lain.
Eze. 16:47. Thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways. Jerusalem had greater guilt, because she was distinguished by greater religious privileges than these cities. She had the temple, the sacrifices, Divinely appointed priests, and the law. In her midst God was worshipped once in the beauty of holiness.
Eze. 16:48. Sodom, thy sister hath not done as thou hast done. Compare Lam. 4:6; Mat. 11:24.
Eze. 16:49. Pride, fulness of bread and abundance of idleness was in her. Prosperity proves dangerous to virtue, idleness leads to temptation and to every sin. Moses had forwarned Israel against these dangers (Deu. 6:11-12; compare Hos. 13:6). Idleness predisposes men to infidelity (Isa. 32:9; Eze. 32:11; Jer. 22:21). Neither did she strengthen the hands of the poor and needy. The cry of the oppressed in Sodom was the great reason for her destruction. Such a cry had also come forth from Jerusalem.
Eze. 16:50. Therefore I took them away as I saw good. Heb., According to what I saw. This points to Gen. 18:21. God conducts the inspection by His angels.(Hengstenberg.)
Eze. 16:51. And hadst justified thy sisters in all thine abominations. To justify the crimes of others is a Hebrew mode of speech, denoting to make them appear comparatively innocent by the side of others, accompanied with much more aggravating circumstances.(Henderson.) Jerusalem had a longer probation than Samaria, and had been warned by the example of Samarias punishment. Yet she committed worse crimes than those which prevailed in Samaria after Jehu had suppressed Baal-worship.
Eze. 16:52. Be thou confounded also, and bear thy shame, in that thou hast justified thy sisters. Judah had concurred from the heart in the Divine judgment on Sodom and Samaria, and exalted herself above them on this account, as the Pharisee in the Gospel. In the condemnation of her sisters she had condemned herself (Rom. 2:1). Jerusalem has justified her sisters, inasmuch as she has behaved worse than they, and so retributive punishment must overtake her also.(Hengstenberg).
HOMILETICS
GODS JUDGMENTS UPON ISRAEL JUSTIFIED
Gods judgments for sin will at last be acknowledged as just even by sinners themselves. But even in this world we can see enough of Gods righteous dealings to assure us that He will be clear when He judges. The prophets of Israel were concerned that men should know that Gods ways are equalthat His punishments were not arbitrary, but just. His judgments upon Israel could be clearly justified.
I. They sinned against a great and extraordinary grace. The Lord had been with this nation from its youth up. He had adopted this people, had made known Himself to them, had distinguished them above all others by gifts of knowledge and of privilege. The duties and customs of the pure worship of Jehovah were made known to them. They had every reason to worship God alone, for they were in possession of the purest form of religion known to mankind, and they ought to have been superior to every temptation to forsake that religion for the debasing forms of idolatry around them. But they forgot their high calling. Thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth (Eze. 16:43). They had displeased a personal God who could feel the wrongs done to Him by His creatures. Thou hast fretted me in all these things.
II. They surpassed other nations in iniquity. Samaria and Sodom were punished, and they had not sinned against such great light and privilege. Thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways (Eze. 16:47). The people of Israel would reckon themselves as saints when compared with Sodom and Samaria, but how different was Gods judgment! They had been warned against the sins of Sodom; yet they had done worse, for more was given to them and more would be required (Deu. 6:11-12; comp. Hos. 13:6).
III. They are condemned out of their own mouth. Thou also which hast judged thy sisters, bear thine own shame for thy sins that thou hast committed more abominable than they; they are more righteous than thou: yea, be thou confounded also, and bear thy shame, in that thou hast justified thy sisters (Eze. 16:52). In the condemnation of her sisters she had condemned herself. Israel had nothing to answer; for the same judgments upon others, which they regarded as just, were now visited upon themselves with equal justice (Rom. 2:1). Every sinner will be brought, at last, to admit the justice of God in his condemnation. He will be confounded,have literally nothing to answer. When men see the awful reality of things they are forced into the terrible silence of conviction.
(Eze. 16:49.)
I. when a man is said to be idle.
1. When he doth nothing, is unemployed (Mat. 20:3). The Greek word for idle means a man without work. Solomons sluggard would not plough by reason of the cold (Pro. 20:4).
2. When they do not what they should do. He is idle who does not do Gods work. There is a work of Gods appointment for the day, which you ought to take notice of, and do. There are some among you which work not at all, but are busy-bodies (2Th. 3:11), doing no work, yet working about everywhere.
3. When they do not so much as they ought to do, but are lazy in doing little. When men put not forth themselves to do what they ought to do in conscience, and according to right reason, they are justly said to be idle (Rom. 12:11; Ecc. 9:10; Pro. 18:9).
II. The evil of this sin.
1. It is against the end of mans creation. God made man for labour when he was in a state of innocency (Gen. 2:15). He must not be idle there, taking his pleasure in a paradise. And after the Fall, in the sweat of his face he was to eat bread. It is the end of mans creation and birth to be doing.
2. It is a sin against the light of nature, which puts every thing upon motion. The heavens, with the glorious lights thereof, move and are constant in their motions (Psa. 19:5). The ant is a very little creature, but exceedingly laborious. So the bee is little in bulk, but great in employment, and wonderfully busy. These creatures, with many others, confute the sluggard daily, preach down idleness and call for action.
3. It puts Gods family out of order. The world is Gods family, and he hath appointed men unto some employment in it. As a wise artist makes no wheel in a clock, but to move and help on the general work; and if one wheel stands, it is out of order and hinders all the rest. Idle persons are disorderly persons (1Th. 5:14).
4. It sets a man among the dead. An idle man is both unsavoury and inactive. The poorest and meanest man in the world that follows a calling, and is laborious in it, is better than the most eminent that doth nothing. One is living, and the other a dead man.
5. Idleness exposes a man to variety of temptations. It lays him open to Satan, for a man unemployed is like a city without walls and gates whither any enemy may easily have entrance (Eze. 38:11). An idle man is like a vessel which is empty, any one that comes to it may put in what he will; so Satan pours into idle persons what liquor he pleases. Those who are out of Gods work are most exercised with the devils.
6. Idleness is the mother and nurse of our most dangerous enemies, viz.: lusts. Standing waters corrupt soonest. Among the Sodomites was abundance of idleness, and abundance of lusts, which fight and war against the soul. And what madness is it for a man to harbour and feed the enemies that seek his life. In doing nothing men learn to do ill.
7. Poverty and beggary are the issues of idleness. Solomon tells the sluggard that his poverty shall come as one that travelleth, and his want as an armed man (Pro. 6:11). He lieth still, but poverty is up and marching towards him. He is without defence, but that comes armed. The meaning is, poverty will come upon an idle and slothful person suddenly and irresistibly. Drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags (Pro. 23:21).
8. Idleness is such a sin as exempts a man from the protection of the angels. He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways (Psa. 91:11). What ways? Those which are according to His will, which His providence leads unto, not in the ways of sin. A man that is idle is in the devils way, not in Gods way. Idle persons that have no calling go out from God and the guard of His angels. If these feared God, they would walk in a calling, and the angels of God would be about them (Psa. 34:7). Faith is a working grace, witness Hebrews 11.; 1Ti. 5:8.
9. Idle persons are burden-some creatures. The fig-tree was a burden to the ground where it stood (Luk. 13:7). It was a burden to the garden, to the gardener, to the other trees, to the lord and master of all. Why stand ye here all the day idle? You do no good to ourselves, none to your neighbours, none to the public, none to posterity, nor bring any glory to God.
10. It is a wasting of precious time, a hiding of our talent. Time, that is given us to get grace, to work out our salvation, to glorify God. This the idle person squanders away. Such are not minding the apostolical rule, See that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time (Eph. 5:15-16). The man who had one talent would not use it, but hid it in the earth. Thou wicked and slothful servant (Mat. 25:25-26). Thus wickedness and sloth go together. When Josephs brethren came into Egypt, and were before Pharaoh, the first question he asked them was, What is your occupation? (Gen. 47:3). This was a good question of a king, when strangers were to come and dwell in his laud, to know whether they had any calling, could get their livings, and not be burdensome to his kingdom and subjects.(Greenhill.)
But these terrible punishments are not to be the end of the Lord. He will remember His ancient Covenant, and bring His people out of misery, so that they shall attain to the glory which He had promised them. They must however, reach this through humility for the restoration of Sodom and Samaria are also announced. Hence all boasting on the part of Israel is excluded.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(43) Hast fretted me.Better, hast raged against me. This form of the verb does not have a transitive sense. (Comp. Gen. 45:24; Pro. 29:9; and in this particular form, 2Ki. 19:27-28; Isa. 37:28-29, where the same word is used.)
Thou shalt not commit.The English here follows the Masoretic punctuation, putting the verb in the second person. Probably it should be read in the first person (which only changes the Masoretic vowels) and translated that I may not commit wickedness concerning all thine abominations. The word for wickedness is the especial word used for one who tolerates sin in another who is under his control (see Lev. 19:29). God represents that it would be wrong to allow Israels sin to go unpunished.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
43. Because This punishment is not hasty nor arbitrary. It only comes after crimes so long continued that it would be positively wicked to let such lewdness go unpunished any longer.
Thou hast fretted me “The original scarcely bears the transitive sense in this form of the verb.” Cowles. Perhaps “thou hast raged against me.” (Compare 2Ki 19:27-28.)
Thou shalt not commit this lewdness Havernick and Keil would read, “I will not do wickedly because of all thy abominations;” that is, “by permitting Jerusalem to remain unpunished.” By a slight change in the text we could read, “hast thou not committed lewdness above all thine abominations?” “The term ‘lewdness’ is used by Ezekiel of sexual enormity, applied figuratively to idolatry (Eze 16:27). ‘Lewdness’ and ‘abominations’ would not differ except that the former was the quality characterizing the acts called abominations. In this case the clause must read, ‘and thus hast thou committed lewdness in [amidst] all thine abominations;’ and the words would be a final summary of the preceding verses.” Davidson.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
God Compares Jerusalem and Israel With Samaria and Sodom. She Is Worse Than Both.
“Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have fretted me in all these things, therefore, behold, I also will bring your way on your head,” says the Lord Yahweh, “and you will not go on committing lewdness above all your abominations.”
This verse connects what has gone before with what now follows. God remorselessly confirms that there is no alternative to judgment. Israel have forgotten all He has done for them, causing Him great distress because they are only harming themselves, and the world to whom they should have been a witness. Thus they must suffer the consequences, for the sake of others who see what occurs (Eze 16:41), for if they do not they will simply magnify their lewdness and become worse and worse, which is something that God cannot allow.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eze 16:43 Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast fretted me in all these [things]; behold, therefore I also will recompense thy way upon [thine] head, saith the Lord GOD: and thou shalt not commit this lewdness above all thine abominations.
Ver. 43. Because thou hast not remembered, &c. ] Thou hast not cared to converse with thyself, nor to recogitate my goodness, and thine own badness.
But hast fretted me.
I also will recompense thy way upon thy head.
a Herodot.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
fretted Me = chafed at Me: i.e. at my laws. Aramaean, Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate read “enraged Me”. thou shalt not, &c.: i.e. I will not allow this greatest evil by suffering it to go unpunished, and thus conniving at it (referring to Lev 19:29. App-92.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
thou hast: Eze 16:22, Psa 78:42, Psa 106:13, Jer 2:32
but hast: Eze 6:9, Deu 32:21, Psa 78:40, Psa 95:10, Isa 63:10, Amo 2:13, Act 7:51, Eph 4:30
I also: Eze 7:3, Eze 7:4, Eze 7:8, Eze 7:9, Eze 9:10, Eze 11:21, Eze 22:31, Rom 2:8, Rom 2:9
Reciprocal: Isa 43:24 – filled me Isa 54:4 – thou shalt forget Eze 22:9 – they commit Eze 23:49 – they shall Eze 24:14 – according to thy ways Mal 2:17 – wearied
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 16:43. Days of thy youth refers to the early years of the nation, described figuratively in verses 6-14, where Judah is represented as a young girl who had been deserted by her parents and then taken into the care of this wronged husband.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
16:43 Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast provoked me in all these [things]; behold, therefore I also will {u} recompense thy way upon [thy] head, saith the Lord GOD: and thou shalt not commit this lewdness above all thy abominations.
(u) I have punished your faults but you would not repent.