Chapter Sixteen

Jerusalem – the Unfaithful Wife

Having shown the necessity of fall for Jerusalem and the Judean kingdom from their present moral condition (Ezek 14:12-27), from the natural lowness of the Hebrew people (chapter Ezek 15), the prophet now gives a vast review of all the history of the people, intended to show that in the destruction of the kingdom there is only the necessary culmination of a long historical chain of impiety and especially idolatry of Israel. The prophet’s view of the past of his own people is the most gloomy. Using a favorite image in the Old Testament of marriage to designate the covenant relationship of Israel to Jehovah, Ezekiel like other prophets represents Israel’s faithlessness to the covenant under the form of adultery, so that this entire great chapter is as it were an endless paraphrase of Isa 1:21: “how she became a harlot, the faithful city.” But according to Isaiah, Jerusalem, before becoming a harlot, was faithful, full of righteousness, God’s mountain, the city of justice (Isa 1:26-27); exactly so for the prophet Amos the wilderness wandering was an ideal time (Amos 5:25); Hosea begins the sinful period with apostasy to Babylon (Hos 9:10) and even Jeremiah knows a time when the people was a bride full of love for Jehovah (Jer 2:2 and following).

On the contrary, Ezekiel traces the sin of Jerusalem to its first sources: the very origin of Jerusalem is heathen; idolatry began from the cradle – from Egyptian slavery. The entire historical review is written under the overwhelming impression of the terrible guilt of the people, which, constantly renewed, was transplanted from generation to generation. The entire past life of the people went from idolatry to idolatry, which in the destruction of Jerusalem was to find its end. When with the Judean kingdom the last remnant of the old Israel disappeared from the earth, it became clear what its past was like, if it led to such an end (Jerusalem here is the same as all Israel). Ezekiel pronounces the same sweeping condemnation of Israel’s past in Ezek 20 and Ezek 23 chapters, very close to the present one (the beginnings of thought in Ezek 6:9). But while depicting so gloomily the past and present of Israel, the prophet paints all the more gladdening a picture for the future (from verse 53), passing as usual at the end of chapters into eschatology (which perhaps may speak in favor of the composition of this discourse after the fall of Jerusalem; but it could have been placed here because of its affinity with Ezek 15 chapter and the whole section. The discourse was scarcely delivered to the people – there is no address to fellow countrymen anywhere; cf. Ezek 12). More specifically, the discourse naturally divides into the following five sections: God’s benefactions (verses 2–14) are contrasted with the guilt of the people (15–34), which must entail the most severe punishment (35–43); the people must be brought to the deepest contrition (44–58), before a better time can come (59–63).

Ezekiel 16:3. and say: Thus says the Lord God to the daughter of Jerusalem: Your roots and your nativity are from the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite; The prophet could say of Jerusalem that it is of Canaanite origin on the ground that it was originally Canaanite, namely Jebusite city; and the tribe of Judah from the beginning took into itself many non-Israelite elements. But the expression has less an ethnographic than a religious meaning and refers to the people as a whole: all religious and moral inclinations in Israel are such as if he were of Canaanite origin; he is the spiritual son of Canaan; cf. Isa 1:10; John 8:44. The prophet Ezekiel here anticipates John the Baptist and the Savior in the struggle with Jewish pride in righteous forefathers, especially Abraham, the traces of which though not so strong as in the time of Christ, he mentions for example Ezek 23:27. Ezekiel himself about these ancestors, as often as there was occasion for it, speaks only quite incidentally: Ezek 28:25, which is entirely natural given the teaching Ezek 18 of the chapter. Of the Canaanite nations the prophet names the principal: the Amorites and Hittites as representatives of all. The Amorites, though living and beyond the Jordan, but chiefly on this side, and specifically in the region of the tribe of Judah (Deut 1:19 and following Josh 10:5); the most powerful and developed of the Canaanite peoples, it was therefore also more corrupted than the others, and probably gave rise to Sodom and Gomorrah, although at the time of Abraham “the measure of his iniquity... was not yet full” (Gen 15:16); their name often designated all Canaanite tribes. The Hittites according to Egyptian and Assyrian sources lived between the Euphrates and the Orontes, but their sphere of influence extended to Canaan, which from the time of Sargon was included by the Assyrians in the concept “Hatti,” “Hittites”; in any case the Hittites lived north of the Amorites and the Jebusite Jerusalem could be on the border of these two tribes; a Hittite woman was the wife of Esau, who caused grief to Rebekah (Gen 27:46). “Your roots” correspond to “your father,” “your nativity” to “your mother.”

Ezekiel 16:4. As for your birth, your navel was not cut, and you were not washed with water for cleansing, and you were not salted, and you were not swaddled in bands. Israel at the beginning of its existence was like a foundling, cast out as it came from the mother’s womb, deprived of the most necessary care for the preservation of life. A child whose “navel is not cut” or improperly cut can die when the decomposition of the afterbirth begins. The LXX instead of this natural and powerful thought have “strange” (Kraetzschmar): “you did not bind your breasts” (is the umbilical cord so named here because of its role in nourishing the fetus?). – “You were not washed for cleansing.” The last word is a conjectural translation of an obscure Hebrew word (“lemishwi”), not conveyed in Greek, but the Slavonic according to Aquila, Theodotion, and the Vulgate: “for salvation,” that is, for preservation of life. – “You were not salted.” “The tender bodies of children, while they retain the warmth of the mother’s womb and respond with their first cries to the beginning of a laborious life, are usually salted by midwives to make drier and tighten” (Blessed Jerome). This custom, mentioned by Galen, is still in use in the East; the fellahin think that through this the child is strengthened and hardened (Nowack. Archaol, I, § 28). Besides the dietetic, it had symbolic significance, serving as an expression of a wish for healthy vigor to the newborn or pointing to his entry into covenant with God, which the Old Covenant is sometimes called the “covenant of salt” (Lev 2:13; Num 18:19; 2 Chr 13:5). As for the sense of this allegory in relation to Israel, it should be noted first of all that in the allegory not every detail should have symbolic significance and contain some thought. So in this depiction of the initial fate of Israel there may be contained only the general thought that Israel at the beginning of its history, for example, during Egyptian slavery, was more helpless than other nations, and if God had not taken him under his care, he would have perished, like a child left to chance. There may also be meant here the time when Israel was still the family of Jacob, barely not destroyed by famine.

Ezekiel 16:5. But no eye pitied you to do any of these things for you out of compassion for you; but you were cast out on the open field, for your person was abhorred, on the day you were born. “You were cast out on the open field, because your life was abhorred.” Newborn girls even now in the East are often abandoned, and among the ancient Arabs they were buried alive: the Koran LXXXVIII, 8.

Ezekiel 16:6. And I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, and I said to you: “Live in your blood!” Yes, I said to you: “Live in your blood! As if by chance and because it happened to pass by that place, God found Israel; this human-like representation contains the thought that God had no need for this people (contrary to the popular opinion that God’s glory is inseparable from Israel’s fate) and no reason to seek him. – “In your blood” – in blood loss from the not cutting of the umbilical cord, destructive to the barely beginning life. – “Live in your blood.” Despite the blood loss, live. The divine “live” stands in sharp contrast to the intent of the parents. The repetition emphasizes the greatness of this deed of God.

Ezekiel 16:7. I made you grow and flourish like a plant of the field. And you grew up and became tall and arrived at perfect beauty; your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown; yet you were naked and bare. “I made you grow.” An allusion to the rapid multiplication of Israel in Egypt, which makes a departure from the allegory strictly maintained so far: about a child one cannot say that it multiplied. – “Like a plant of the field.” A poetic comparison. “Arrived at perfect beauty,” literally “beauty of beauties.” Although this is a conjectural and doubtful meaning of the Hebrew word “adi”; and one would not expect a discourse about natural beauty here (therefore they propose to read “addim,” “menstruation”). The LXX changed daleth to resh and obtained: “you came into the great cities,” that is, a principal settlement – again a direct, non-allegorical reference to Israel’s settling in Egyptian cities. – “And your hair had grown.” Long hair – a sign of mature womanhood. “Naked and bare” (in Hebrew, alliteration: erom – ereyah), as is customary for children of bedouins.

Ezekiel 16:8. And I passed by you and saw you, and behold, you were at the age of love; and I spread my skirt over you, and covered your nakedness; yes, I plighted my troth to you and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord God, – and you became Mine. “And I passed by you” – a second time. As is evident from the following, the depiction begins of a second period in the relationship of God to Israel, when the Sinai covenant was concluded between them. – “At the age of love,” that is, at maturity sufficient for marriage; in relation to Israel – sufficient for the conclusion of a national covenant. Slavonic: “time of companions” – intercourse with men (Blessed Jerome). – “And I spread my skirt over you” – a marriage rite (Ruth 3:9). – “I plighted my troth.” At betrothal an oath was given. – “Entered into a covenant,” Slavonic “covenant,” that is, the Sinai covenant.

Ezekiel 16:9. Then I washed you with water and cleansed you of your blood, and I anointed you with oil. “Your blood” from verse 6, which is thought to have remained permanently as an uncleanness. An unmistakable reference to the cleansing sacrifices of the Sinai legislation. – “I anointed you with oil” – a wedding custom, cf. Ruth 3:3 with Esth 2:12; Jdt 10:3; cf. the entire verse with Eph 5:25-26.

Ezekiel 16:10. I clothed you in embroidered garments and shod you with fine leather; I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. “Embroidered garments,” Slavonic “variegations,” – garments woven in various colors, gold, silver, the kind still in use in Egypt; an expensive fabric (Judg 5:30; Ezek 27:7), worn chiefly by royal persons (Ps 44:15; Ezek 26:16; cf. explanation to Ezek 17:3). – “Fine leather sandals”; Slavonic “in scarlet,” that is, in red footwear. Both are conjectural translations of the Hebrew “tachash,” meaning, as in Exod 25:5 and following (see explanation there) the high quality leather of some animal probably a sea creature (perhaps from the fauna of the Red Sea; scarcely seal or dolphin, because their skin is stiff); the worth of the leather may be judged by its use for the coverings of the tabernacle, to which there may be an allusion here. – “I wrapped you with fine linen.” The Hebrew verb “chavash” suggests not a girdle, but a head covering, fine linen coverings, like the tunics, were priestly garments, and it is not insignificant that the bride of Jehovah is clothed now in royal (“variegations” and silk), now in sacred materials (fine leather and fine linen). – “Silk” – a conjectural (according to Rashi and other rabbis) meaning only here and in verse 13 of the Hebrew word “meshi”; the question whether the Jews in the time of the prophet Ezekiel were acquainted with silk. Slavonic “trichopton,” a word, according to the explanation of Blessed Jerome, composed by the LXX to denote a fabric from threads in fineness not inferior to hair (θριξ, “hair,” and ‘ απτομαι, to touch). With such a covering the bride was covered from head to ground (the same as our veil).

Ezekiel 16:11. And I adorned you with ornaments, and put bracelets on your wrists and a chain upon your neck. Ezekiel 16:12. And I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown upon your head. The description of women’s ornaments, properly precious objects, is taken of course from reality, which is proved by the similarity with Hos 2:13 and Isa 3:16-22. But there the crown is not mentioned; if it does not indicate here the royal dignity of the bride of God, then the present passage may testify that the crown in that time was already an accessory of marriage. “Chain” is named by the same word which denotes the chain placed by Pharaoh on Joseph (“ravid” Gen 41:42); this was probably a chain of double or triple gold thread studded with precious stones and hanging from the neck to the chest. That earrings were worn also in the nose is seen also from Prov 11:22; Isa 3:20. Precious objects mean the prosperity and wealth of the Jews during David and Solomon, when the people became a kingdom (crown and chain).

Ezekiel 16:13. So you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You were fed with fine flour and honey and oil, and you were exceeding beautiful, and you advanced to regal splendor. A brief repetition of the story of the ornaments. – “You were fed with fine flour and honey and oil.” Interesting facts about the customary diet of noble women very simple; meat is not mentioned; perhaps because reference is made to the natural products of Palestine. – “You advanced to regal splendor.” An allusion to the fact that Israel only in course of time passed to royal power; in the LXX it is omitted, but scarcely for political reasons, as some think.

Ezekiel 16:14. And your reputation spread among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor which I had bestowed upon you, says the Lord God. This refers chiefly to the visit of the Queen of Sheba. It is constantly indicated that the Jewish people owes all its glory to Jehovah.

Ezekiel 16:15. But you trusted in your beauty and played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your fornications on every passer-by and gave yourself to him. “Played the harlot.” Thus Hosea first called Israel’s idolatry, appearing as a violation of the covenant with God. Idolatry among the Jews began to spread especially rapidly due to the wide relations with surrounding pagan peoples which arose in the period of Israel’s greatest glory and the fascination with their culture. – “Poured out your fornications on every passer-by.” There is a reference to the custom of harlots of that time to wait for visitors on the streets (Gen 38:14; Jer 3:2). The comparison was all the more applicable to Israel in that Palestine was the principal distribution of trade roads of Western Asia (Kraetzschmar).

Ezekiel 16:16. And you took some of your garments and made for yourself high places, and played the harlot upon them, as has never been, and never shall be. “High places.” High places throughout the Old Testament are called the hills on which idolatry was practiced; but here, it is thought, is called a tent on such hills for idolatry; such tents were probably erected chiefly for the service of Astarte (more precisely: Asherah), which was accompanied by debauchery and revelry; cf. 2 Sam 23:7 per Hebrew text Amos 2:8; see explanation Ezek 23:7; probably they were hung and lined with many-colored carpets or were made of variegated fabrics. It is represented pathetically that these variegated tents are sewn from scraps of the garment in which Jehovah clothed his bride. But it is possible that by “high places” are meant something else: striped altars (Kimchi), idols (Slavonic: “idols hewn”), vestments for idols (cf. 2 Sam 23:7) or some beds for idolatry (Kraetzschmar). – “As has never been, and never shall be.” By all this Israel showed unprecedented unfaithfulness to God not to be repeated in the future; but this is a conjectural translation of an obscure Hebrew expression; Slavonic “and you did not come in and it will not be,” that is, henceforth you will not go to idols for fornication before them and this will not happen: God will put an end to idolatry.

Ezekiel 16:17. And you took your beautiful articles of My gold and My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male figures, and played the harlot with them. “Male figures.” Since Jerusalem is represented in the form of an unfaithful woman, the idols in relation to her are viewed as men, with whom she plays the harlot; but being soulless, idols can only be compared to the images of men. Some find in these words an allusion to phallic worship, which, it is thought, is also understood in Isa 57:8 (“memory” in Hebrew is similar in sound to “man”) and Ezek 8:17.

Ezekiel 16:18. And you took your embroidered garments and covered them with these, and set My oil and My incense before them, Idols were set out clothed, but besides, probably in solemn occasions they were dressed in expensive garments – “purple and blue”: Jer 10:9.

Ezekiel 16:19. and My bread which I gave you, the fine flour, the oil, and the honey, with which I fed you, you set before them for a pleasing aroma; and so it was, says the Lord God. “Bread” – the general name for the three products listed next … “You set before them for a pleasing aroma,” that is, you burned in sacrifice.

Ezekiel 16:20. And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to Me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your acts of harlotry so small a matter The height of Israel’s lawlessness the prophet sees in human sacrifice: not only soulless gifts, which Israel owes to God, he offered to idols, but also living children of God, that is, the young generation (young people full of life and strength were used for human sacrifice, being deemed a more pleasing food for the gods), which could and should have been raised for God and service to Him. Human sacrifices among the Jews acquired wide (Isa 57:5) distribution from the time of Ahaz (2 Sam 16:3), hence with the nearest contact with the Assyrians intensified under Manasseh (2 Sam 21:6); they penetrated Israel from the Canaanites, but were also in use among the Moabites (2 Sam 3:27) and Syrians (2 Sam 17:31); they were performed chiefly in honor of Moloch, but passages such as Mic 6:6; Jer 7:31 cf. Ezek 20:26, seem to show that such sacrifices, contrary to the clear prohibition of the Mosaic law, were also offered to Jehovah, – “To be devoured.” A powerful expression. – “Were your acts of harlotry so small a matter?” Human sacrifice was unexpected on the part of Israel and after all its abominations.

Ezekiel 16:21. And you slaughtered My children and handed them over as an offering by making them pass through fire. A repetition from strong feeling of sorrow and regret. “My children” – in the sense of children generally and because male victims were preferred to female. “Slaughtered.” Sacrifices were killed before being burned. – “Making them pass.” Not added in the original text: “through fire,” because the word became technical.

Ezekiel 16:22. And in all your abominations and acts of harlotry you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare and struggling in your blood. Represents a preliminary conclusion to the enumeration of Jerusalem’s lawlessness through a reminder of Israel’s former condition – not of its former piety, as Hosea and Jeremiah would have done, but of the helplessness from which the love of Jehovah saved him. Israel’s ingratitude increases the gravity of his lawlessness.

Ezekiel 16:23. And after all your abominations – woe, woe to you! says the Lord God, The indicated lawlessness already deserves God’s curse; but their enumeration is far from finished, and what follows is even more serious and worthy of punishment. Indeed in the last times of the Judean kingdom pagan cults began to spread to an unprecedented degree, and it was precisely the sins of Manasseh that, according to Jeremiah, brought about the destruction of Jerusalem. This sufficiently explains the exclamation “woe, woe.”

Ezekiel 16:24. you built yourself brothels and made yourself high places in every street. “Vaulted chamber,” Slavonic more accurately “brothel temple,” that is, temples for religious prostitution; “lofty shrine,” Slavonic “laying,” that is, something like altars on open and high places for the same base purpose, so that they be visible from afar to all (Blessed Jerome). But both words are conjectural translations of Hebrew words, of which the meaning of the first is unknown (gai from the root “raising,” “vault,” as the Latin fornicare from fornix, “cave,” which in antiquity usually served as the ordinary place of prostitution), and the second means “hill,” “raising” for an altar or the altar itself. Therefore if the first word has in its meaning the overtone of “prostitution,” then by “vaulted chamber” one can understand generally pagan temples, named so because in them Israel was unfaithful to the covenant with Jehovah. Such an understanding will be more reliable, and because although dissolute cults (for example, Astarte, perhaps – Isis) found followers in Israel, but from the books of Jeremiah and Kings it is not evident that they reached such development in Judea as the literal meaning of these expressions presupposes. – “In every street.” Urban and even primarily capital idolatry is described, whereas earlier provincial. The expression reminds of the Apostle Paul’s speech in the Areopagus about the multitude of altars in Athens: excessive fascination with foreign cults appears in the epoch of national decay (decadence). The prophet has chiefly in mind the last century of the Judean kingdom (from Ahaz), but the expression can embrace the preceding period as well.

Ezekiel 16:25. at the head of every street you built your lofty shrine and prostituted your beauty, offering yourself to every passer-by and multiplying your acts of harlotry. “At the head of every street” – at the street corners, the more crowded and visible parts of the city; cf. Ezek 11:13. – “Offering yourself.” Realism, for which the simplicity of the ancients with their uncorrupted imagination is rightly not condemned.

Ezekiel 16:26. You engaged in prostitution with the Egyptians, your neighbors, those of great flesh, and multiplied your acts of harlotry, provoking Me. “You engaged in prostitution with the Egyptians.” Having drawn a picture of Israel’s contemporary idolatry, the prophet now gives a brief historical survey of it (verses 26–29), enumerating the cults with which Israel became enamored one after another. First among them is named the Egyptian cult, and as verse 27 shows, the prophet places the beginning of this fascination with the Egyptian cult, or more correctly the beginning of such fascination, even in the period of Egyptian slavery (of which nothing is said in Exodus); but primarily the prophet here has in mind the political inclination toward Egypt which began to appear in the last century of the Judean kingdom and which was so severely condemned by Isaiah (Isa 23:1), Nahum (Nah 3:1); cf. Hos 7:11; this political inclination could not, according to the view of the prophet Ezekiel, not be accompanied by religious sympathies (of which again nothing is positively known from the historical books of Scripture), as it could not fail to have deep roots in the ancient history (Egyptian period) of Israel. Instead of “with the gods of Egypt” here “with the sons of Egypt,” perhaps to show the political foundation of religious enthusiasms. “Those of great flesh,” Slavonic more accurately: “corpulent,” with great corpulence (that is, extreme, as shown by the parallel expression in Ezek 23:20). The sensuality of the Egyptians, to which their monstrous zoolatry was due (Blessed Theodoret), became a proverb (Kraetzschmar).

Ezekiel 16:27. Therefore, behold, I stretched out My hand against you, diminished your allocated portion, and delivered you to the will of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewdness. “Diminished your allocated portion” – the boundaries of the promised land, as a husband apparently had the right to limit an unfaithful wife in means of subsistence (Exod 21:10); Slavonic differently: “and I will reject your laws,” the pagan rites. – “To the daughters of the Philistines.” The 5 cities of the Philistine pentapolis. Philistine oppression at the end of the period of the judges, not individual events like Amos 1:6 and further. Irony: sought men, fell into women’s hands. – “Were ashamed.” True pagans could not understand Israel’s unfaithfulness to Jehovah or pagans in general proved sometimes morally superior and purer than Israel; cf. Ezek 3:7; Ezek 5:6; Amos 3:9.

Ezekiel 16:28. You also engaged in prostitution with the Assyrians, because you were not satisfied; you engaged in harlotry with them but still were not satisfied. Instruction had no effect. The alliance with Assyria, accompanied by fascination with her idolatry, began with Ahaz, and it must have been sympathy for these eastern monarchies that prompted Josiah to unsuccessfully rise against Necho; cf. Jer 2:18. It is insistently pointed out how insatiable Israel’s idolatry was.

Ezekiel 16:29. and you multiplied your acts of harlotry in the land of Canaan to Chaldea, yet you were still not satisfied. «In the land of Canaan up to Chaldea» – more precisely in Slavonic: «to the land of the Canaanites, of the Chaldeans.» Since historical sequence after the reference to Assyrian idolatry does not allow one to expect mention of Canaanite idolatry but only of Chaldean, then «Canaanite» here is an epithet applied to Chaldea, not because of its immorality, as some think, but because of commerce: cf. Ezek 17:4; Zeph 1:11. The reference to Chaldean idolatry in Judea is indicated by Ezek 8:9 (the cult of Tammuz) and apparently Jer 44:11 (the worship of the «queen of heaven» according to Hebrew «melekheth» – Melittha; cf. 2 Sam 23:5); in essence, Chaldean idolatry differs little from Assyrian.

Ezekiel 16:30. How grieved your heart should be, says the Lord God, when you were doing all this, like a shameless harlot! «How grieved your heart should be.» Slavonic: «What shall I do to your heart?» Greek: «How shall I enter into covenant with your daughter?» «Like a shameless harlot.» Slavonic: «of a brazen harlot; and you committed fornication with a threefold shame in your daughters»; the second clause is an alternate translation (a duplicate) of the same Hebrew word that was first rendered as «shameless.»

Ezekiel 16:31. When you built yourself brothels at the beginning of every road and made yourself high places on every square, you were unlike a harlot, because you rejected gifts, In the idolatry (the idolatrous behavior) of Jerusalem, what seemed worst to the prophet was that it was not for the sake of livelihood, and therefore could not be justified by hunger, this sole justification of hired harlots, but was done out of love for the deed, and thus entirely from moral depravity.

Ezekiel 16:32. But like an adulterous wife who takes strangers instead of her own husband. Adultery is a graver sin than harlotry, and even more than prostitution.

Ezekiel 16:33. All harlots are given gifts, but you yourself gave gifts to all your lovers and bribed them so that they came to you from all sides to commit harlotry with you. Under «gifts» (Slavonic «hire,» Hebrew literally: «dowry») are understood both sacrifices to idols and tributes to neighboring nations or gifts to them for appeasement, like the gifts of Ahaz to the king of Damascus. The parable of the prophet is rendered in direct speech at Hos 8:9.

Ezekiel 16:34. In your harlotries you have done the opposite of other women: no one pursued you to commit harlotry, but you gave gifts while gifts were not given to you; thus you acted contrary to others. Here ends the description of Jerusalem’s sins, which exceed the sins of other nations.

Ezekiel 16:35. Therefore, harlot, hear the word of the Lord! The address «harlot» in such a context is stunning.

Ezekiel 16:36. Thus says the Lord God: because you squandered your wealth, and your nakedness was uncovered in your harlotries with your lovers and with all your abominable idols, and because of the blood of your sons whom you gave to them, Before depicting the judgment of God against the harlot, as it were a brief summary of her crimes is given. «Money» literally «copper,» which may witness that the Hebrews had already copper coins at that time; but they are mentioned nowhere else in other places. – «For the blood of your sons.» Among the specific crimes of Jerusalem one is named – human sacrifice to idols, as the most grievous and as justifying the deadly punishment described below for the harlot.

Ezekiel 16:37. Therefore behold, I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure and all those whom you loved along with all those whom you hated, and I will gather them against you from all around, and I will uncover your nakedness before them, and they will see all your shame. «Lovers,» Slavonic «paramours» – the nations whose idolatry Jerusalem was seduced by. Earlier the prophet understood by lovers the idols themselves, so the allegory is not entirely consistent. – «Whom you hated» – perhaps those whom you grew tired of (Kraetzschmar). For the judgment against Jerusalem God gathers not only the later allies – the Assyro-Chaldeans, but also the old enemies, the Philistines, the Edomites, the Moabites, the Ammonites – so that the punishment would be universal and complete – «I will uncover your nakedness» – I will shame and devastate the land. – Cf. Nah 3:5; Hos 2:5.

Ezekiel 16:38. I will judge you with the judgment of adulteresses and murderers, and bring upon you the blood of wrath and jealousy; «With the judgment of adulteresses» – stoning (Deut 22:24) «and of murderers» – also death (Gen 9:6; Exod 21:12). «As a harlot was stoned to death, so Jerusalem was struck by stones from Chaldean catapults» (Grotius). The shedding of blood directly refers to human sacrifice. – «With blood of wrath and jealousy,» Slavonic more precisely: «in blood of wrath and zeal.» God is compared to a husband whose jealousy has reached the degree of requiring bloody satisfaction. Wrath – for murder, jealousy – for infidelity.

Ezekiel 16:39. I will give you into the hands of those, and they shall destroy your brothels and tear down your high places, and strip you of your clothes, and take your fine apparel, and leave you naked and bare. «Brothels» and «high places» see explanation of verse 24. – «They will strip you of your clothes... and leave you naked and bare.» It seems that harlots and adulteresses as punishment were placed naked at an ignominious post; cf. Perhaps Hos 2:3.

Ezekiel 16:40. They shall bring an assembly against you, and they shall stone you with stones, and thrust you through with their swords. «An assembly,» Hebrew «kahal.» The execution was the deed of the people’s assembly because the sin was directed against the existence and spiritual integrity of the nation. – «They shall thrust you through with their swords.» There is meant the practice among the Chaldeans and other eastern peoples of executing by cutting the body in two, dichotomy Dan 2:5; Matt 24:51; Luke 12:46, a punishment probably prescribed for adultery and all violations of sworn obligations, which explains the rite at the making of covenant – the cutting of animals in Gen 15:10; probably they cut the corpse only, not a living human being (Judg 19:29; 1 Sam 11:7 and this passage). The parables point to the invasion of the Chaldeans (cf. Isa 8:7 and others), the breaking of the walls of Jerusalem at the siege and the slaughter of the inhabitants.

Ezekiel 16:41. They shall burn your houses with fire, and execute judgments upon you before the eyes of many women; I will make an end of your harlotry, and you shall no longer give gifts. «They shall burn your houses with fire.» The houses and property of idolaters were ordered to be burned (Deut 13:16); especially serious criminals were also burned – so the one who had committed incest with his mother-in-law (Lev 20:14), a priest’s daughter who played the harlot (Lev 21:9) – all this so that nothing defiling the land, not even a soulless thing, would remain on it; this same meaning has the present punishment, which was fulfilled in the burning of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. – «Before the eyes of many women,» that is, of neighboring nations, as a deterring example; the punishment of a harlot was especially aggravated by the presence of women at it – «You shall no longer give gifts.» With the loss of independence Jerusalem will be unable to maintain ungodly intercourse with heathen nations.

Ezekiel 16:42. Thus I will satisfy My fury against you, and My jealousy shall depart from you; I will be calm and will be angry no more. With the punishment of Judea the wrath of God, as it were, will be exhausted and will abate in general, wholly and absolutely (a profound thought); as for Israel, God will also not be angry at it for its sins, because He will deprive it (at least for a time) of its special election, as a husband cannot be jealous of a divorced wife: «and My jealousy shall depart from you» according to Hebrew «My jealousy.»

Ezekiel 16:43. Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have enraged Me with all these things; therefore, I also will recompense your deeds upon your head, says the Lord God, so that you will not again commit this lewdness with all your abominations. The justification for the punishment just described: Jerusalem’s chief guilt lies in his indifference toward the prior benefits of God, by which he most provoked the Lord. However grievous the punishment, it is just: it is only the conduct of the criminal nation recompensed upon his own head (Ezek 9:10). – «So that you will not again commit this lewdness...» A conjectural translation of an unclear Hebrew expression, rendered by the Seventy: «and thus you did this impiety according to all your iniquities.»

Ezekiel 16:44. Behold, everyone who uses proverbs will say concerning you, «Like mother, like daughter.» A lover of proverbs, the prophet, to present the wickedness of Jerusalem more forcefully and vividly, in verses 44–58, proceeding from the proverb: «like mother, like daughter» (corresponding to our: «the apple does not fall far from the tree»; in Hebrew: «keiimma bitta») brings a comparison between Jerusalem, on the one hand, and Samaria with Sodom, on the other... «Mother» of Jerusalem according to verse 3 – a Hittite.

Ezekiel 16:45. You are the daughter of your mother who loathed her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children. Your mother is a Hittite and your father is an Amorite. «Your mother, who loathed her husband and her children» – according to blessed Theodoret, the Canaanite land, which abandoned its ancient worship of the True God (cf. Rom 6), which is demonstrated by the history of Melchizedek, and offered children to idols in sacrifice. – «Sisters of yours» – Samaria and Sodom according to verses 46 and 48.

Ezekiel 16:46. Your elder sister is Samaria, who dwelt to your left with her daughters; and your younger sister, who dwells to your right, is Sodom with her daughters. Samaria is called the elder sister of Jerusalem and Sodom the younger not because of the antiquity of these cities and kingdoms (it would be the other way around then), but because of the extent of territory and the degree of historical significance. Left – north, right – south, as the directions are reckoned from the east, if one turns to face it. The daughters of Samaria and Sodom – the cities and regions subject to them, and by the daughters of Sodom may be understood also the Ammonite and Moabite cities.

Ezekiel 16:47. Yet you have not walked in their ways and acted according to their abominations; but, as if that were too little, you have become more depraved than they in all your ways. «As if that were too little» – a conjectural translation of an unclear Hebrew expression; more correctly, it seems, according to the Seventy: para mikron, Slavonic «perhaps slightly,» «almost.» Jerusalem acted almost worse than Samaria and Sodom. Indeed, without such a limitation, the accusation could seem exaggerated.

Ezekiel 16:48. As I live, says the Lord God, Sodom, your sister, and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. An oath was necessary because something incredible is being asserted; cf. Matt 11:21 and following. «Your sister» – an addition striking in its very lack of necessity.

Ezekiel 16:49. Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. «Of your sister,» see verse 48, but the addition here is even more unnecessary. «In pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease.» The Greek is more precise: «pride in abundance (Slavonic «in satiety» of bread and in well-being (Slavonic «in abundance of wine») she and her daughters lived luxuriously.» Pride arose precisely from the extraordinary wealth of the land, which produced luxury. The reason for Sodom’s destruction is indicated as not entirely identical with Genesis, but this is because the prophet speaks of it in application to the Hebrews and looks to the root of evil. – «Did not aid the poor and needy.» It is remarkable what significance the prophet attaches to charity.

Ezekiel 16:50. They were haughty and did abominable things before Me; therefore I removed them, as you have seen. «Abominable things.» Probably sodomy is meant. – «Therefore I removed them, as you have seen.» There is meant Gen 18:21 («I will go down and look»). The punishment followed at once, and there was no place for the forbearance which Jerusalem so abused.

Ezekiel 16:51. Samaria has not committed half the sins that you have committed; you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and have made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominations that you have done. Much less is said of Samaria than of Sodom: only 1–2 verses. Indeed, the idolatry in the northern kingdom never reached such development and such extremes (human sacrifice) as in the southern; except during the time of Ahab, there prevailed the worship of Jehovah only under the form of calves. That Samaria was better than Jerusalem was especially painful for the pride of the Jews, who considered the swift fall of the Israelite kingdom as a clear sign of God’s disfavor toward it altogether and to itself. – «Made your sisters appear righteous.» Slavonic more precisely: «you have justified your sisters» – in a relative sense, of course: the sins of Jerusalem allowed one to see the sins of Sodom and Samaria in a milder light.

Ezekiel 16:52. You also, bear your shame, you who have judged your sisters; by your sins in which you acted more abominably than they, they are more righteous than you. So be ashamed and bear your shame, for you have made your sisters appear righteous. «Shame» – captivity and the disgrace connected with it.

Ezekiel 16:53. I will restore the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters, and I will restore your own fortunes in the midst of them, «I will restore the fortunes» – with regard to Sodom can only mean its restoration. Thus this passage contains one of the most comforting prophecies about the times of the kingdom of glory, which should come no earlier than the resurrection of the dead. Then only can buried Sodom be restored, although of course not in its former form but in another, unknown one. Then only, as this passage clearly shows in chapters XXXVII–XLVIII, does the prophet expect also the final return from captivity of Judah and Israel. Cf. Isaiah’s prophecy about the restoration of Egypt (Isa 29:11 and following). Other interpretations of this passage weaken all its force and comfort. But some interpret it as the entry into the church of the heathen, represented by the image of Sodom, while Samaria appears as the image of heretics (Origen, blessed Jerome and others). According to others, by Sodom here are understood the Moabites and Ammonites, to whom Jeremiah promises restoration in Jer 48:47 and Jer 49:30. Modern rationalist interpreters hold that the opinion about the restoration of Sodom was torn from Ezekiel in a moment of polemical interests and remained without influence on his subsequent views of future times (in Ezek 47 and Ezek 48 chapters), that it is only a purely logical consequence of the idea of the restoration of Jerusalem, that the restoration of Sodom became a necessity for Ezekiel only insofar as his territory lay within the bounds of the promised land of the future.

Ezekiel 16:54. So you must bear your shame and be confounded for all that you have done, becoming a comfort to them. «Becoming a comfort to them.» Not that it will be somewhat pleasant for the formerly punished peoples to see that a people was found even worse and punished no less than them, but that the punishment of Jerusalem, which cannot be eternal because of the very nature of the great covenants of God to Israel, will promise restoration also for those peoples; but Slavonic: «in My wrath.»

Ezekiel 16:55. Your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former state; and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former state; and you and your daughters shall return to your former state. «Shall return to their former state» according to the Greek apokatastathēsontai. One of those mysterious prophecies from which the teaching of Origen and others about apokatastasis and chiliasm arose.

Ezekiel 16:57. While your lewdness and your abominations were not yet uncovered, you were despised by the daughters of Aram and all those around her, and by the daughters of the Philistines, those around you who despised you. «By the daughters of Aram... by the daughters of the Philistines.» There are probably meant the humiliating relations of Judah to Aram during the reign of Ahaz (and perhaps also the wars of the Israelite kingdom with Aram) and Philistine servitude at the end of the period of the Judges.

Ezekiel 16:58. You yourself must bear the penalty of your lewdness and your abominations, says the Lord. «You yourself must bear.» Present tense instead of future; but it is appropriate here in its own meaning, since the captivity has already begun; but in Slavonic the past: «you have borne.»

Ezekiel 16:59. For thus says the Lord God: I will deal with you as you have done, you who have despised the oath by breaking the covenant, «By breaking the covenant.» «The unfaithfulness of man cannot change the faithfulness of God, and this is the point of contact between this verse and the promises contained in the following verses» (Keil). The punishment should come first, before mercy appears. First justice must be accomplished.

Ezekiel 16:60. But I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will make with you an everlasting covenant. «But I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth,» that is, the covenant with Abraham and with the people at Moses. Thus the memory of this covenant, and nothing else, not even the nation’s repentance, will be the sole reason for the restoration of Israel. Repentance will come afterward (verse 61) and God will accomplish Israel’s salvation before it. A most important thought from the point of view of dogma. – «An everlasting covenant,» that is, a covenant that will never be broken by Israel, which was also foretold by Isaiah (Isa 55:3) and Jeremiah (Jer 31:31; cf. Ezek 34:25) and which was fulfilled in Christ, but completely and for all Israel will be fulfilled in the times described in Ezek 40 – Ezek 48 chapters. From the former covenant it will differ in that God, for both sides (Himself and the people), will establish such conditions that their violation by the weaker side (the people) would not cause the covenant to cease (the abolition of the law and the establishment of grace in its place), as was the case with the Sinai covenant at the time of Ezekiel (cf. general remarks on chapter I). But this will not be a completely new covenant, but a restoration of the former one (Matt 5:17; Gal 3:17). What Jehovah then began, He now will bring to completion.

Ezekiel 16:61. Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed, when you receive your sisters, those greater and smaller than you, and I will give them to you as daughters, but not on account of the covenant with you. God promises Jerusalem that its spiritual influence will subject various nations (cf. Isa 60:1), greater like Samaria and lesser like Sodom, and only this will shame Israel so that it will begin its reformation. But all this will be done not by virtue of God’s former covenant with Israel («not on account of the covenant with you» – Slavonic: «but not because of your covenant»), the obligations of which did not include such an act of endless mercy on God’s part.

Ezekiel 16:62. I will establish My covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the Lord, «And you shall know that I am the Lord,» but not from God’s punishment, as everywhere before (Ezek 15:7 and others), but from mercy: consequently, Israel will now know God from another side. In such a long chapter this expression, frequent in Ezekiel, appears here only.

Ezekiel 16:63. That you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I forgive you all that you have done, says the Lord God. God’s endless mercy will produce in Israel the most profound repentance and, consequently, also reformation. But one cannot fail to note how different this promise is from the promise given to Christians – the state of the converted Israel foretold here differs from the joyful disposition of the Christian. Thus what God gave turned out to be even more than what He promised. Perhaps the prophetic vision of an Old Testament man was not able to penetrate the bright depth of the reborn Christian soul. However, one must not forget that the prophet has need to describe here only the future repentance of the new Israel.