‏ Ezekiel 16

CHAPTER XVI

In this chapter the mercy of God to Jerusalem, (or the Jewish Church and nation,) is set forth by the emblem of a person that should take up an exposed infant, bring her up with great tenderness, and afterwards marry her, 1-14.

She is then upbraided with her monstrous ingratitude in departing from the worship of God, and polluting herself with the idolatries of the nations around her, under the figure of a woman that proves false to a tender and indulgent husband,

15-52.

But, notwithstanding these her heinous provocations, God promises, after she should suffer due correction, to restore her again to his favour, 53-63.

The mode of describing apostasy from the true religion to the worship of idols under the emblem of adultery, (a figure very frequent in the sacred canon,) is pursued unth great force, and at considerable length, both in this and the twenty-third

chapter; and is excellently calculated to excite in the Church of God the highest detestation of all false worship.

NOTES ON CHAP. XVI

Verse 2. Cause Jerusalem to know her abominations] And such a revelation of impurity never was seen before or since. Surely the state of the Jews, before the Babylonish captivity, was the most profligate and corrupt of all the nations of the earth. This chapter contains God's manifesto against this most abominable people; and although there are many metaphors here, yet all is not metaphorical. Where there was so much idolatry, there must have been adulteries, fornications, prostitutions, and lewdness of every description. The description of the prophet is sufficiently clear, except where there is a reference to ancient and obsolete customs. What a description of crimes! The sixth satire of Juvenal is its counterpart. General remarks are all that a commentator is justified in bestowing on this very long, very circumstantial, and caustic invective. For its key, see on the thirteenth and sixty-third verses. See Clarke on Eze 16:13; "Eze 16:63".

Verse 3. Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan] It would dishonour Abraham to say that you sprung from him: ye are rather Canaanites than Israelites. The Canaanites were accursed; so are ye.

Thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite.] These tribes were the most famous, and probably the most corrupt, of all the Canaanites. So Isaiah calls the princes of Judah rulers of Sodom, Isa 1:10; and John the Baptist calls the Pharisees a generation or brood of vipers, Mt 3:7. There is a fine specimen of this kind of catachresis in Dido's invective against AEneas:-

Nec tibi Diva parens, generis nec Dardanus auctor,

Perflde; sed duris genuit te cautibus horrens

Caucasus, Hyrcanaeque admorunt ubera tigres.

AEn. lib. iv. 365.

"False as thou art, and more than false, forsworn;

Not sprung from noble blood, nor goddess born:

But hewn from hardened entrails of a rock,--

And rough Hyrcanian tigers gave thee suck."

DRYDEN.

This is strong: but the invective of the prophet exceeds it far. It is the essence of degradation to its subject; and shows the Jews to be as base and contemptible as they were abominable and disgusting.

Verse 4. As for thy nativity, &c.] This verse refers to what is ordinarily done for every infant on its birth. The umbilical cord, by which it received all its nourishment while in the womb, being no longer necessary, is cut at a certain distance from the abdomen: on this part a knot is tied, which firmly uniting the sides of the tubes, they coalesce, and incarnate together. The extra part of the cord on the outside of the ligature, being cut off from the circulation by which it was originally fed, soon drops off, and the part where the ligature was is called the navel. In many places, when this was done, the infant was plunged into cold water; in all cases washed, and sometimes with a mixture of salt and water, in order to give a greater firmness to the skin, and constringe the pores. The last process was swathing the body, to support mechanically the tender muscles till they should acquire sufficient strength to support the body. But among savages this latter process is either wholly neglected, or done very slightly: and the less it is done, the better for the infant; as this kind of unnatural compression greatly impedes the circulation of the blood, the pulsation of the heart, and the due inflation of the lungs; respiration, in many cases, being rendered oppressive by the tightness of these bandages.

Verse 5. Thou wast cast out in the open field] This is an allusion to the custom of some heathen and barbarous nations, who exposed those children in the open fields to be devoured by wild beasts who had any kind of deformity, or whom they could not support.

Verse 6. I said-Live] I received the exposed child from the death that awaited it, while in such a state as rendered it at once an object of horror, and also of compassion.

_________________Modo primos

Edere vagitus, et adhuc a matre rubentem.

Verse 8. Was the time of love] Thou wast marriageable.

I spread my skirt over thee] I espoused thee. This was one of their initiatory marriage ceremonies. See Ru 3:9.

I-entered into a covenant with thee] Married thee. Espousing preceded marriage.

Verse 10. I clothed thee also with broidered work] Cloth on which various figures, in various colours, were wrought by the needle.

With badgers' skin] See Ex 25:5. The same kind of skin with which the tabernacle was covered.

Fine linen] beshesh, with cotton. I have seen cloth of this kind enveloping the finest mummies.

I covered thee with silk.] meshi. Very probably the produce of the silk-worm.

Verse 12. I put a jewel on thy forehead] al appech, upon thy nose. This is one of the most common ornaments among ladies in the east. European translators, not knowing what to make of a ring in the nose, have rendered it, a jewel on thy forehead or mouth, (though they have sometimes a piece of gold or jewel fastened to the centre of their forehead.) I have already spoken of this Asiatic custom, so often referred to in the sacred writings: see Ge 24:22, 42; Ex 32:2; Job 42:11; Pr 11:22; Isa 3:21; Ho 2:13.

Verse 13. Thus wast thou decked, &c.] The Targum understands all this of the tabernacle service, the book of the law, the sacerdotal vestments, &c.

Thou didst prosper into a kingdom.] Here the figure explains itself: by this wretched infant, the low estate of the Jewish nation in its origin is pointed out; by the growing up of this child into woman's estate, the increase and multiplication of the people; by her being decked out and ornamented, her tabernacle service, and religious ordinances; by her betrothing and consequent marriage, the covenant which God made with the Jews; by her fornication and adulteries, their apostasy from God, and the establishment of idolatrous worship, with all its abominable rites; by her fornication and whoredoms with the Egyptians and Assyrians, the sinful alliances which the Jews made with those nations, and the incorporation of their idolatrous worship with that of Jehovah; by her lovers being brought against her, and stripping her naked, the delivery of the Jews into the hands of the Egyptians, Assyrians, and Chaldeans, who stripped them of all their excellencies, and at last carried them into captivity.

This is the key to the whole of this long chapter of metaphors; and the reader will do well to forget the figures, and look at the facts. The language and figures may in many places appear to us exceptionable: but these are quite in conformity to those times and places, and to every reader and hearer would appear perfectly appropriate, nor would engender either a thought or passion of an irregular or improper kind. Custom sanctions the mode, and prevents the abuse. Among naked savages irregular passions and propensities are not known to predominate above those in civilized life. And why? Because such sights are customary, and therefore in themselves innocent. And the same may be said of the language by which such states and circumstances of life are described. Had Ezekiel spoken in such language as would have been called chaste and unexceptionable among us, it would have appeared to his auditors as a strange dialect, and would have lost at least one half of its power and effect. Let this be the prophet's apology for the apparent indelicacy of his metaphors; and mine, for not entering into any particular discussion concerning them. See also on Eze 16:63.

Verse 15. Thou didst trust in thine own beauty] Riches, strength, alliances, &c.; never considering that all they possessed came from God; therefore it was his comeliness which he had put upon them. Witness their original abject state, and the degree of eminence to which they had arrived afterwards through the protecting power of God.

Verse 17. And madest to thyself images of men] tsalmey zachar, male images. Priapi are here meant, which were carried about in the ceremonies of Osiris, Bacchus, and Adonis; and were something like the lingam among the Hindoos. Herodotus, lib. ii, c. 48, 49, gives us an account of these male images: πηχυαια αγαλματανευροσπασταταπεριφορεουσικατακωμαςταιγυναικες νευοντοαιδοιονουπολλωτεωελασσονεοντουαλλουσωματος. This was done at the worship of Bacchus in Egypt: and they who wish to see more may consult Herodotus as above. In this phallic worship the women were principally concerned.

Verse 18. Hast set mine oil and mine incense before them.] It appears that they had made use of the holy vestments, and the different kinds of offerings which belonged to the Lord, to honour their idols.

Verse 21. To cause them to pass through the fire] Bp. Newcome quotes a very apposite passage from Dionysius Halicarnass. Ant. Rom. lib. i., s. 88, p. 72, and marg. p. 75, Edit. Hudson: μεταδε τουτοπυρκαιαςπροτωνσκηνωνγενεσθαικελευσαςεξαγειτονλεων ταςφλογαςυπερθρωσκοντατηςοσιωσεωςτωνμιασματωνενεκα. "And after this, having ordered that fires should be made before the tents, he brings out the people to leap over the flames, for the purifying of their pollutions." This example shows that we are not always to take passing through the fire for being entirely consumed by it. Among the Israelites this appears to have been used as a rite of consecration.

Verse 24. Thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place]

gab, a stew or brothel; Vulg. lupanar; Septuag. οικημα πορνικον. So my old MS. Bible, a bordel house. "Thou hast builded thy stewes and bordell houses in every place."-Coverdale's Bible, 1535. Bordel is an Italian word: how it got so early into our language I know not. Our modern word brothel is a corruption of it. Diodati translates, Tu hai edificato un bordello, "Thou hast built a brothel." Houses of this kind were of a very ancient date.

Verse 26. Great of flesh] The most extensive idolaters. Bene vasatis-longa mensura incognita nervy-Juv. Sat. ix. 34. This is the allusion.

Verse 27. Have diminished thine ordinary] chukkech means here the household provision made for a wife-food, clothing, and money.

Verse 36. Thy filthiness was poured out] nechushtech. As this word signifies a sort of metal, (brass,) it is generally supposed to mean money. They had given money literally to these heathen nations to procure their friendship and assistance; but the word also means verdigris, the poisonous rust of copper or brass. It is properly translated in our version filthiness, poisonous filth. Does it not refer to that venereal virus which is engendered by promiscuous connexions?

Verse 39. They shall strip thee also of thy clothes-thy fair jewels] Alluding to a lot common enough to prostitutes, their maintainers in the end stripping them of all they had given them.

Verse 42. I will be quiet and will be no more angry.] I will completely abandon thee; have nothing more to do with thee; think no more of thee. When God in judgment ceases to reprehend, this is the severest judgment.

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.

Verse 44. As is the mother, so is her daughter.]

keimmah bittah, "As the mother, her daughter." As is the cause, so is the effect. As is the breeding, so is the practice. A silken purse cannot be made out of a swine's ear. What is bred in the bone seldom comes out of the flesh. All such proverbs show the necessity of early holy precepts, supported by suitable example.

Verse 46. Thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left] It is supposed that the prophet by Sodom in this place means the Israelites that dwelt beyond Jordan, in the land of the Moabites and Ammonites; or rather of the Moabites and Ammonites themselves. Literally, Sodom could not be called the younger sister of Jerusalem, as it existed before Jerusalem had a name. In looking east from Jerusalem, Samaria was on the left, and Sodom on the right hand; that is, the first was on the north, the second on the south of Jerusalem.

Verse 49. This was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom] If we are to take this place literally, Sodom was guilty of other crimes besides that for which she appears to have been especially punished; in addition to her unnatural crime, She is charged with pride, luxury, idleness, and uncharitableness; and these were sufficient to sink any city to the bottomless pit.

Verse 52. They are more righteous than thou]

tetsuddaknah mimmech, "They shall be justified more than thou." They are less guilty in the sight of God, for their crimes were not accompanied with so many aggravations. This phrase casts light on Lu 18:14: "This man went down to his house justified rather than the other." Less blame in the sight of God was attached to him. He always had fewer advantages, and now he was a true penitent; while the other was boasting of what he had done, and what he had not done.

Verse 60. I will remember my covenant] That is, the covenant I made with Abraham in the day of thy youth, when in him thou didst begin to be a nation.

Verse 61. Thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger] The Gentiles, who were before the Jews were called, and after the Jews were cast off, are here termed the elder and younger sister. These were to be given to Jerusalem for daughters; the latter should be converted to God by the ministry of men who should spring out of the Jewish Church. The former, who were patriarchs, &c., profited by the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world. Among the latter the Gospel was preached, first by Christ and his apostles, and since by persons raised up from among themselves.

But not by thy covenant.] This was the ancient covenant, the conditions of which they broke, and the blessings of which they forfeited; but by that new covenant, or the renewal to the Gentiles of that covenant that was made originally with Abraham while he was a Gentile, promising that in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed; that covenant which respected the incarnation of Christ, and was ratified by the blood of his cross.

Verse 63. When I am pacified toward thee] This intimates that the Jews shall certainly share in the blessings of the Gospel covenant, and that they shall be restored to the favour and image of God. And when shall this be? Whenever they please. They might have enjoyed them eighteen hundred years ago; but they would not come, though all things were then ready. They may enjoy them now; but they still choose to shut their eyes against the light, and contradict and blaspheme. As they do not turn to the Lord, the veil still continues on their hearts. Let their elder brethren pray for them.

For a key to the principal metaphors in this chapter, the reader is referred to the note on the thirteenth verse, which, if he regard not, he will neither do justice to himself nor to the prophet. The whole chapter is a tissue of invective; sharp, cutting, and confounding; every where well sustained, in every respect richly merited; and in no case leaving any room to the delinquent for justification or response.

‏ Ezekiel 23

CHAPTER XXIII

The idolatries of Samaria and Jerusalem are represented in this chapter by the bad practices of two common harlots, for which God denounces severe judgments against them, 1-49.

See the sixteenth chapter, where the same metaphor is enlarged upon as here, it being the prophets view to exude the utmost detestation of the crime against which he inveighs.

NOTES ON CHAP. XXIII

Verse 2. Son of man, there were two women] All the Hebrews were derived from one source, Abraham and Sarah; and, till the schism under Rehoboam, formed but one people: but as these ten tribes and a half separated from Judah and Benjamin, they became two distinct people under different kings; called the kingdom of Judah, and the kingdom of Israel. They are called here, because of their consanguinity, two sisters. The elder, Samaria, (for there was the seat of government for the kingdom of Israel,) was called aholah, "a tent." The younger, Judah, was called aholibah, "my tent is in her," because the temple of God was in Jerusalem, the seat of the government of the kingdom of Judah.

Verse 5. And Aholah played the harlot] Without entering into detail here, or following the figures, they both became idolatrous, and received the impure rites of the Egyptians, Assyrians, and Chaldeans, of which connexion the prophet speaks here as he did in Eze 16:15 &c., which see.

In this chapter there are many of what we would call indelicate expressions, because a parallel is run between idolatry and prostitution, and the circumstances of the latter illustrate the peculiarities of the former. In such cases, perhaps, the matter alone was given to the prophet, and he was left to use his own language, and amplify as he saw good. Ezekiel was among the Jews what Juvenal was among the Romans,-a rough reprover of the most abominable vices. They both spoke of things as they found them; stripped vice naked, and scourged it publicly. The original is still more rough than the translation; and surely there is no need of a comment to explain imagery that is but too generally understood. I have said enough on Eze 16:15 &c,, and to that I must refer the reader. It is true that there are a few things here in the shade that might be illustrated by anatomy; and it would not be difficult to do it: but they are not necessary to salvation, and I shall not take off the covering. They were sufficiently understood by those for whose use they were originally designed.

Verse 6. Clothed with blue] The purple dye was highly valued among the ancients, and at first was only used by kings, at last it was used among the military, particularly by officers of high rank in the country.

Verse 14. Men pourtrayed upon the wall] See on Eze 8:10.

Verse 20. She doted upon their paramours] pillagsheyhem, their harlots or concubines. Anciently harlot meant in our language either the male or female prostitute.

Whose flesh is as the flesh of asses] See on Eze 16:25.

Verse 23. Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa] . These names have been thought to designate certain people bordering on the Chaldeans; but no geographer has ever been able to find them out.

In our old translations these names were considered appellatives-rulers, mighty men, and tyrants. Others, following the literal import of the words, have translated, visiting, shouting, and retreating. Others have applied them to the habits of the Chaldean soldiers. Pekod signifying the muster or review of armies; Shoa, the magnificence of their uniform and arms; and Koa, the marks or embroidery of the clothes of the captains and generals. Grotius thought that they might be names of contiguous nations: Pekod, the Bactrians; Shoa, a people of Armenia; and Boa, the Medes. I have nothing to add that would satisfy myself, or be edifying to my readers.

Verse 25. Shall take away thy nose] A punishment frequent among the Persians and Chaldeans, as ancient authors tell. Adulteries were punished in this way; and to this Martial refers:-

Quis tibi persuasit nares abscindere moecho?

"Who has counselled thee to cut off the adulterer's nose?"

Women were thus treated in Egypt. See Calmet.

Verse 26. They shall also strip thee] See on Eze 16:39.

Verse 32. Thou shalt drink of thy sister's cup] Thou shalt be ruined and desolated as Samaria was.

Verse 34. Thou shalt-pluck off thine own breasts] Thou shalt tear them; a frequent action in extreme sorrow and desolation. Weeping, tearing the bosom, and beating the breasts.

Tunc vero rupique sinus, et pectora planxi.

OVID'S Ep. 5.

Verse 38. They have defiled my sanctuary] By placing idols there.

Verse 40. Thou didst wash thyself, paintedst thy eyes, and deckedst thyself with ornaments.] This is exactly the way in which a loose female in Bengal adorns herself to receive guests. She first bathes, then rubs black paint around her eyes, and then covers her body with ornaments.-WARD'S Customs.

Verse 41. And satest upon a stately bed] Hast raised a stately altar to thy idols; probably alluding to that which Ahaz ordered to be made, after the similitude of that which he saw at Damascus. The bed here is in allusion to the sofas on which the ancients were accustomed to recline at their meals; or to the couches on which they place Asiatic brides, with incense pots and sweetmeats on a table before them.

Verse 42. And a voice of a multitude] This seems to be an account of an idolatrous festival, where a riotous multitude was assembled, and fellows of the baser sort, with bracelets on their arms and chaplets on their heads, performed the religious rites.

Verse 45. And the righteous men] anashim tsaddikim. The Chaldeans, thus called because they are appointed by God to execute judgment on these criminals.

Verse 47. Shall stone them with stones] As they did adulteresses under the law. See Le 20:10; De 22:22, compared with Joh 8:3.

Verse 48. Thus will I cause lewdness to cease] Idolatry; and from that time to the present day the Jews never relapsed into idolatry.

Verse 49. Ye shall bear the sins of your idols] The punishment due to your adultery; your apostasy from God, and setting up idolatry in the land.