26<\/strong>. Egyptian idolatry.<\/p>\n hast also committed<\/em> ] and<\/strong> thou didst commit.<\/strong> The narrative tense should be used throughout.<\/p>\n great of flesh<\/em> ] In an obscene sense. Cf. ch. Eze 23:20<\/span>. The expression is chosen probably to represent the brutality of the Egyptian idolatries, which in some ways were baser than those of any people.<\/p>\n Egyptian idolatry, a worship of the powers of nature, was eminently sensual. The idolatry here spoken of is not so much that which Israel brought with them from Egypt, as the idolatry introduced in the time of Solomon and Rehoboam.<\/P><\/p>\n Verse 26<\/span>. Great of flesh<\/B><\/I>] The most extensive idolaters. Bene vasatis-longa mensura incognita nervy – Juv. Sat<\/I>. ix. 34. This is the allusion.<\/P> <\/p>\n Committed fornication; <\/B>both figuratively and literally understood; worshipped Egypts gods, made covenants with them, kept up a commerce of trade with them, and prostituted themselves to their lusts too, by cohabitation, while the servitude lasted, and by nearness of place, when in Canaan. The Jewish nation retained too much inclination to those idolatrous and lustful neighbours. <\/P> Great of flesh; <\/B>politically they were great in power, and like to defend and help the Jews; naturally of big make, and men of great stature, and such as insatiable adulteresses would covet; and these considerations induced adulterous and idolatrous Israel to unite with them in leagues and religion. <\/P> To anger; <\/B>to a fierceness of anger for its degree, and to an abhorring and contemning of the person against whom this anger is stirred. <\/P> <\/p>\n 26. fornication with . . .Egyptians<\/B>alliances with Egypt, cemented by sharing theiridolatries. <\/P> great of flesh<\/B>ofpowerful virile parts; figuratively for the gross and lustfulreligion of Egypt (for example, Isis, c.), which alone could satisfythe abominable lust of Israel (Eze 20:7<\/span>Eze 20:8<\/span>; Eze 23:19<\/span>;Eze 23:20<\/span>; Eze 23:21<\/span>).<\/P> to provoke me<\/B>wantonlyand purposely.<\/P><\/p>\n Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians<\/strong>,…. By entering into leagues and alliances with them, and seeking to them for help and assistance against their enemies; from whose bondage they had formerly been delivered, and whose society they were cautioned against; and yet they forsook the Lord, and joined themselves to them by solemn covenant; and not only so, but fell into the worship of their idols, who were a people of all others the most superstitious, and given to idolatry; and many of their idolatrous rites and ceremonies were received and retained by the Jews, as the worshipping of Tammuz, and other idols:<\/p>\n thy neighbours, great of flesh<\/strong>: being their neighbours, and full of power and strength to assist them, they courted their friendship and alliance; and their idolatries being many and monstrous, were the more courted by them: the allusion is to women of shameless impudence and insatiable lust, who covet men, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and their issue as horses, Eze 23:20<\/span>; flesh here signifies the privy parts of men; so Ben Melech;<\/p>\n and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke my anger<\/strong>; multiplied their idolatries, which they learned of the Egyptians, a people much given thereunto; and which were abominable and highly provoking to God, 1Pe 4:3<\/span>. The Targum is,<\/p>\n “thou hast increased thine idols.”<\/p>\n I Mentioned at the beginning of the chapter, that the Prophet blames the Jews not for one single kind of fornication, but for two different kinds. Interpreters do not observe this, but think that the Prophet is always discoursing of idols and superstitions. But if we prudently weigh all the circumstances, what I have said will not appear doubtful, namely, that the Jews were condemned not only for vitiating the worship of God by their perverse fictions, but for flying, now to the Egyptians, now to the Assyrians, and thus involving themselves in unlawful covenants. It is a very common method with the Prophets to call such covenants fornications: for as a wife ought to lie under the shadow of her husband, so God wished the Jews to be content under his protection. But as soon as any danger frightened them, they fled tremblingly to either Egypt, or Assyria, or Chaldea. We see, then, that they had in some sense renounced God’s help, since they could not rest under his protection, but were hurried hither and thither by vague impulse. After the Prophet had inveighed against their superstitions, he now approaches another crime, namely, the Jews implicating themselves in forbidden treaties. He begins with Egypt. God had clearly forbidden the elect people to have any dealings with Egypt. Even if God had not made known the reason, yet they ought to have obeyed his command. But I have already explained the reason why God was unwilling that the Israelites should enter into any covenant with the Egyptians, because he wished to try their faith and patience, and if they would fly to his help when any danger pressed upon them, as the saying is, like a sacred anchor. There was also another reason, because from the time when God drew his people out from thence, he wished them separated from that nation which had raged so cruelly against their miserable guests. As far as the Chaldmans and Assyrians are concerned, the former reason prevailed thus far, that it was not lawful for them to distrust God’s aid in their dangers. <\/p>\n Now, therefore, we understand the Prophet’s meaning when he says, that the Jews had committed fornication with the sons of Egypt He adds, they were gross in flesh. He means that they were foul and immodest, and were inflamed with disgraceful lust. (104) He uses a grosser simile by and by, for the perfidy of this detestable people could not be sufficiently condemned. The Prophet here says reproachfully, you have committed fornication with the Egyptians, as a licentious woman acting most basely. He adds, you have multiplied thy fornications: he speaks to the people under the character of a woman, as we have formerly seen: to irritate me. Here the Prophet takes away all excuse for error from the impious people. He says, therefore, since they so wandered after these impure desires, that they had not fallen through ignorance, since they knew well enough what God had commanded in his law. And there is no doubt that they darkened their own minds, as the impious always dig hiding-places for themselves, and have specious pretexts, by which they not only hide their malice before men, but also deceive themselves. Hence it is probable that the Jews were not free from such pretenses. But, on the other hand, we must remark that they were abundantly instructed by God’s law what was lawful and right. Since, therefore, through neglect of the law they were so ravenous in impious desires, the Prophet says that they had purposely and designedly entered into a contest with God. For if any one raises the question whether it is lawful to enter into an alliance with the impious, the answer is easy, that we must beware of all alliances which may couple us under the same yoke; for we are naturally enough inclined towards all vices: and when we invent fresh occasions for sin we tempt God. And when any one joins himself in too great familiarity with the impious, it is just like using a fan to inflame his corrupt affections, which, as I have said, were already sufficiently flagrant in his mind. We must take care, therefore, as far as we can, not to make agreements with the impious. But, if necessity compels us, this conduct cannot be thought wrong in itself, as we see that Abraham entered into an agreement with his neighbors, though their religion was different. (Gen 21:27<\/span>.) But because he could not otherwise obtain peace, that was a kind of agreement by which Abraham hoped to acquire peace for himself. (Gen 14:13<\/span>; Isa 51:2<\/span>.) Nor did he hesitate to use the assistance of allies when he succored his nephew. But if we seek the principle and the cause which induced Abraham to enter into a treaty with his neighbors, we shall find his intention to be nothing else but to dwell at home in peace, and to be safe from all injury. He was solitary, as Isaiah calls him: he had, indeed, a numerous family, but no offspring; and hence he could not escape making treaties with his neighbors. But when the Lord placed the people in the land of Canaan on the condition of defending them there, of protecting them on all sides, and of opposing all their foes, we see them enclosed, as it were, by his protection, so as to render all treaties useless; since they could not treat with either the Egyptians or the Assyrians without at the same time withdrawing themselves from God’s aid. <\/p>\n As far as we are concerned, I have said that we have more freedom, if we are only careful that the lusts of the flesh do not entice us to seek alliances which may entangle us in the sins of others; for it is difficult to retain the favor of those with whom we associate, unless we entirely agree with them. If they are impious, they will draw us into contempt of God and adulterous rites, and so it will happen that one evil will spring from another. Nothing, therefore, is better than to reef our sails, and to look to God alone, and to have our minds fixed on him, and not to allow any kind of alliance, unless necessity compels us. And though we must prudently take care that no condition be mingled with it which may draw us off from the pure and sincere worship of God, since the devil is always cleverly plotting against the sons of God, and draws them into hidden snares. When, therefore, we are about to contract an alliance, we should always take care lest our liberty be in any degree abridged, and lest we be drawn aside by stealthy and concealed arts from the simple worship of God. It now follows — <\/p>\n (104) Calvin’s Latin adds, “ ut inhiarent longis et crassis mentulis.” The Reformer dwells so minutely on the language of the Prophet, that the refined taste of modern days will not bear a literal translation of some clauses. <\/p>\n (26) The Egyptians . . . great of flesh.<\/strong>The Egyptians are properly named first, because, even in the golden calf of the wilderness, the Israelites turned with avidity to the worship of Egypt. This tendency seems to have been only suppressed, not extinguished, during the subsequent ages, and remained ever ready to develop itself, as in the calves of Jeroboam (1Ki. 12:28-30<\/span>); but it received great accession of strength during the reigns of Solomon and his successors. The Egyptians are called great of flesh from the character of their popular worship, which was a thoroughly sensuous nature worship. The connection of Israel with Egypt in the latter part of the monarchy was not only religious, but political, in bold defiance of the reiterated Divine commands. Especially at this time, a great part of the work of Jeremiah was to oppose the tendency of the successive kings of Judah to alliance with Egypt.<\/p>\n 26<\/strong>. <\/strong> Great of flesh <\/strong> Not obesity, <\/em> but fleshliness. <\/em> The Egyptians were given up to the lusts of the flesh. The animalism of the Egyptian religion which was explained mystically by its most spiritual teachers was taken literally by foreign proselytes, who made this a most coarse and beastly cult.<\/p>\n “You have committed fornication with the Egyptians, your neighbours, great of flesh, and have multiplied your whoredom to provoke me to anger.”<\/p>\n It began when Solomon took Pharaoh’s daughter as his wife to magnify himself and to cement a political alliance with Egypt ( 1Ki 3:1 ; 1Ki 9:16<\/span>; 1Ki 9:24<\/span>; 1Ki 11:1-4<\/span>). Egypt was the major nation to the south of Canaan and a natural ally against any enemies from the north, but friendship with Egypt meant involvement with their gods, which included Pharaoh, manifestation on earth of Osiris, and thus fraternisation with Egypt was forbidden by the prophets (Eze 17:15<\/span>; Eze 20:7<\/span>; Eze 23:3<\/span>; 2Ki 17:4<\/span>; 2Ki 18:21 ; 2Ki 18:24<\/span>; 2Ki 25:26<\/span>; Isa 30:1-5<\/span>; Isa 31:1<\/span>; Isa 36:6<\/span>; Jer 24:8<\/span>; Jer 37:5<\/span>; Jer 41:17<\/span>; Jer 42:4<\/span>; Jer 42:14-19<\/span>; Jer 43:7<\/span>; Jeremiah 44<\/span> all; Lam 5:6<\/span>).<\/p>\n ‘Great of flesh.’ Egypt from a fleshly point of view appeared to be a formidable ally. But Israel should have known that Yahweh was greater and should not have looked to Egypt (Isa 30:2<\/span>).<\/p>\n ‘And have multiplied your whoredom to provoke me to anger.’ This is an indication of Israel’s fascination with the gods of Egypt which resulted in their worshipping them and serving them (Jer 44:8<\/span>; Jer 44:15<\/span>; Jer 44:17<\/span>; Jer 44:25<\/span>).<\/p>\n Eze 16:26<\/span><\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong>Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians<\/em><\/strong><\/strong> The prophet objects to the Jews the three principal superstitions described chap. Eze 8:15<\/span>, &c. Fornication, adultery, and whoredom, are the constant figures under which the Holy Spirit represents the idolatries of the Israelites; consequently, by this character of the Egyptians, being great of flesh, <\/em>we are given to understand that Egypt was the grand origin and incentive to idolatry, and the propagator of it among the rest of mankind. Div. Leg. vol. 3: p. 335. <\/p>\n Eze 16:26 Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger.<\/p>\n Ver. 26. Great of flesh.<\/strong> ] Torosi,<\/em> scil., <\/em> propter potentiam et petulantiam.<\/em> The prophet persisteth in the metaphor, from the manner of shamelessly lascivious women: such as was Messalina, the wife of Claudius the emperor; and she in Apuleius that entertained the ass. See Eze 23:20<\/span> . Flesh is here and elsewhere taken for the privities, quod est membrum prorsus carneum.<\/p>\n with the: Eze 8:10, Eze 8:14, Eze 20:7, Eze 20:8, Eze 23:3, Eze 23:8, Eze 23:19-21, Exo 32:4, Deu 29:16, Deu 29:17, Jos 24:14, Isa 30:21 <\/p>\n Reciprocal: Lev 15:3 – General Jdg 10:6 – the gods of the Philistines Jer 3:1 – but thou hast Eze 23:20 – General<\/p>\n Eze 16:26. Since idolatry was compared to the sin of fornication, we would expect the comparison to be continued by naming some of the guilty partners. Those partners would be the Idolatrous nations with whom Judah committed her spiritual lewdness, and a number of them will be cited; the Egyptians were the ones named here.<\/p>\n 16:26 Thou hast also committed harlotry with the {p} Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast multiplied thy harlotry, to provoke me to anger.<\/p>\n (p) He notes the great impiety of this people, who first falling from God to seek help at strange nations also at length embraced their idolatry thinking by it to make their amity more strong.<\/p>\n She committed adultery with her lustful neighbor, the Egyptians, and multiplied the instances of her harlotry thus angering the Lord further (2Ki 17:4; 2Ki 18:21; Isa 30:7; Isa 36:1). As punishment, the Lord diminished her support. He also gave her into the hands of the Philistines, pagan people who nonetheless were repulsed by her lewd behavior (2Ch 21:16-17; 2Ch 28:16-19; Isa 1:7-8).<\/p>\n Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbors, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger. 26. Egyptian idolatry. hast also committed ] and thou didst commit. The narrative tense should be used throughout. great of flesh ] In an obscene sense. Cf. ch. Eze 23:20. The expression … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 16:26”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20799\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"