Eze 16:15 “‘But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute. You lavished your favors on anyone who passed by and your beauty became his.
Raised to the pinnacle of glory under Solomon’s early beneficent reign, Israel began to trust in her greatness and prosperity. Losing sight of God’s high destiny for the Hebrews, Solomon set to work to make Israel a great and powerful empire among the nations of the earth. To do this he entered into foreign contracts and alliances directly contrary to the express command of God.
Apparently greatly benefited by his treaty with the king of Egypt, which he sealed by his marriage to Pharaoh’s daughter, he entered into other similar agreements with other nations. But the deception was fatal. His multitude of wives introduced idolatry into his realm, until king and subject alike bowed to foreign gods.
Thus the very means Solomon employed to aggrandize his empire were the means of its fall. The enormous taxes levied to sustain the magnificence of the realm became the pretext for revolt. The empire outside of Palestine fell apart and the kingdom itself was divided.
Prostitude.
A metaphor to describe foreign alliances for political advantages, which God had emphatically forbidden (Deut. 7:2; Judges 2:2). Prostitution describe the substitution of any form of worship for that of the true God. The various alliances with the heathen that Solomon initiated and the subsequent adoption of the idolatrous worship of these nations are here referred to.
Eze 16:16 You took some of your garments to make gaudy high places, where you carried on your prostitution. You went to him, and he possessed your beauty.
High places. Heb. bamoth (where the fertility cult was practised.).
“The like has never been, nor ever shall be.”
Eze 16:17 You also took the fine jewelry I gave you, the jewelry made of my gold and silver, and you made for yourself male idols and engaged in prostitution with them.
Verses 17–19 bring the charge against Israel that the people had bestowed upon others the gifts given them by God. Many take the gifts lent them—the gifts of health, of intellect, of wealth, of time—and pervert them to utterly selfish ends! Such are as guilty and as censurable as was idolatrous Israel. Every one ought earnestly to inquire, “Am I doing the work God has assigned me?”
Many hold a distorted view of success. In their thinking, only men of certain ranks and accomplishments have attained success. Such is not Heaven’s definition. In the eyes of God any man is accounted successful only as he adequately fulfills the peculiar office assigned him by Heaven. That office may be very humble and the task menial, but the reward is in no wise diminished.
Eze 16:20 “‘And you took your sons and daughters whom you bore to me and sacrificed them as food to the idols. Was your prostitution not enough?
Eze 16:21 You slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols.
Eze 16:22 In all your detestable practices and your prostitution you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, kicking about in your blood.
A reference to Molech worship, a feature of the later idolatries of Israel (2 Kings 16:3; Ps. 106:37; Isa. 57:5; Jer. 7:31, 32). In this form of worship children were sacrificed as burnt offerings (see p. 391), an unnatural and terrible crime (see on Lev. 18:21; 1 Kings 11:7; 2 Kings 16:3).
Did not remember.
Israel is here charged with the sin of base ingratitude. The nation had enjoyed every privilege and had been exalted to heaven in its advantages. God had overlooked nothing that would help to assure its success. Through an earlier prophet He had declared, “What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?” (Isa. 5:4).
The Bible is replete with other instances of ingratitude. Crowning the list is Adam’s gross example of ungratefulness. He, too, possessed every advantage. How he, a holy being, could become so unappreciative as to transgress against the God who had planned only for his good, will remain forever a mystery.
Human history will close with a record of ingratitude. In the last days men will be “unthankful” (2 Tim. 3:1–5). Christians should beware lest they become too sparing in giving thanks. A far greater proportion of their prayers ought to be devoted to praising Him from whom all blessings flow.
Eze 16:23 “‘Woe! Woe to you, declares the Sovereign LORD. In addition to all your other wickedness,
23. All thy wickedness. Up to this point Ezekiel had dealt with Canaanite forms of idolatry. He begins now to condemn more distant foreign alliances and idolatries.
In many ancient forms of worship prostitution assumed a quasi-religious character.
Eze 16:24 you built a mound for yourself and made a lofty shrine in every public square.
Eze 16:25 At every street corner you built your lofty shrines and degraded your beauty, spreading your legs with increasing promiscuity to anyone who passed by.
Eze 16:26 You also committed harlotry with the Egyptians, your very fleshly neighbors, and increased your acts of harlotry to provoke Me to anger.
At this very time part of the work of Jeremiah was to oppose the tendency to form an alliance with Egypt (see Jer. 37:5, 7). Political and commercial alliances are here represented under the figure of whoredom (see Isa. 23:17; Nahum 3:4).
Eze 16:27 So I stretched out my hand against you and reduced your territory; I gave you over to the greed of your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines, who were shocked by your lewd conduct.
Philistines. From the time of the judges the Philistines had been persistent enemies of Israel. They were subdued by David, but became troublesome again during the period of the later kings (2 Kings 18:8; 2 Chron. 26:7; 28:18). They were frequently the subject of prophetic utterances (Isa. 9:12; Jer. 25:20; 47:1, 4; Eze. 25:15, 16; Amos 1:6–8; 3:9; Obadiah 19; Zeph. 2:5; Zech. 9:6).
Shocked. The figure is probably based on the idea that the Philistines had at least adhered to their gods and had not exchanged them for others as Israel had done (see Jer. 2:10, 11).
Eze 16:28 You also played the harlot with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; indeed you played the harlot with them and still were not satisfied.
28. Assyrians. Overtures to Assyria were made both by Judah (2 Kings 16:7) and by Israel (Hosea 5:13).
Eze 16:29 Moreover you multiplied your acts of harlotry as far as the land of the trader, Chaldea; and even then you were not satisfied.
Babylon closes the list of nations with whom Israel had played the harlot.
Eze 16:30 “How degenerate is your heart!” says the Lord GOD, “seeing you do all these things, the deeds of a brazen harlot.
An exclamation decrying the sickly craving of lustful desire. Oft repeated sins weaken the moral nature until the powers of the will are destroyed. Man is then a slave of his lust. The gospel of Jesus Christ is fully potent to transform such sin-hardened hearts. By man’s permitting divine power to enter the life, the weakened will can once more be strengthened and the moral fiber built up.
Eze 16:31 “You erected your shrine at the head of every road, and built your high place in every street. Yet you were not like a harlot, because you scorned payment.
Usually a harlot receives hire, but Israel gave gifts to her lovers, contrary to the customary procedure (vs. 31–34). Strategically situated on the great highway between the rival nations of Egypt and Assyria, Israel might appropriately have demanded a price for her friendship. Instead, she paid a heavy price for the aid of these nations. She thus purchased her ruin (see 2 Kings 16:8, 9; cf. Hosea 12:1).
Eze 16:35 ‘Now then, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD!
From the task of pointing out the sin of Judah, the prophet now turns to the pronouncement of the punishment. The same figurative language is continued.
Eze 16:36 Thus says the Lord GOD: “Because your filthiness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your harlotry with your lovers, and with all your abominable idols, and because of the blood of your children which you gave to them,
Filthiness. Heb. nechosheth, according to some authorities derived from the Akkadian nuḫshu, “abundance,” in a derogatory sense, “extravagance.” Others derive nechosheth from the Akkadian naḫshatu, “menstruation,” for which “filthiness” is a euphemism.
Eze 16:37 therefore I am going to gather all your lovers, with whom you found pleasure, those you loved as well as those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around and will strip you in front of them, and they will see you stark naked.
That is, the surrounding nations with whom Israel had allied herself.
Eze 16:38 I will sentence you to the punishment of women who commit adultery and who shed blood; I will bring on you the blood vengeance of my wrath and jealous anger.
Under ancient Jewish law the penalty for murder, adultery, and sacrificing to Molech was death (Ex. 21:12; Lev. 20:1–5, 10). Capital punishment was by stoning (see Lev. 20:2; cf. John 8:5). The charge of blood may here extend beyond infanticide in connection with the sacrifices to Molech to include other crimes, assassinations, and judicial murders.
Eze 16:39 Then I will deliver you into the hands of your lovers, and they will tear down your mounds and destroy your lofty shrines. They will strip you of your clothes and take your fine jewelry and leave you stark naked.
Eze 16:40 They will bring a mob against you, who will stone you and hack you to pieces with their swords.
The mode of capital punishment for adultery (see on v. 38). According to the rule the punishment was executed by the congregation (Num. 15:36), or by the men of the city (Lev. 20:2). In this case the “congregation,” or “company,” is the army of the Chaldeans.
Eze 16:41 They will burn down your houses and inflict punishment on you in the sight of many women. I will put a stop to your prostitution, and you will no longer pay your lovers.
There is a blending here of the figurative and the literal; the house of the adulteress shall be destroyed, and the houses of Jerusalem shall be burned.
Eze 16:42 Then my wrath against you will subside and my jealous anger will turn away from you; I will be calm and no longer angry.
The figure is that of a jealous husband completing his punishment of his adulterous wife. The retribution exhausts itself as a fire goes out after it has consumed the fuel. As the sequel indicates (vs. 53, 60–63), the judgments would not be final, but the retribution would prove to be corrective.
Eze 16:43 “‘Because you did not remember the days of your youth but enraged me with all these things, I will surely bring down on your head what you have done, declares the Sovereign LORD. Did you not add lewdness to all your other detestable practices?
Eze 16:44 “‘Everyone who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb about you: “Like mother, like daughter.”
An example of the tendency of the Eastern mind to express experiences of life in the form of short, pithy sayings. Our modern counterpart to the proverb is, “Like father, like son.” The taunt of the proverb is that Israel, despite her boasted pride of superior ancestry, is actually no better than her Hittite predecessors (see on v. 3).
Eze 16:45 You are a true daughter of your mother, who despised her husband and her children; and you are a true sister of your sisters, who despised their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.
God is a God of all the world and not of Israel only. He claims the allegiance of all mankind, first because He created man, and second because He has given to all a measure of revelation sufficient for intelligent worship. Jesus is “the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (John 1:9; cf. Rom. 1:20; Acts 14:17).
Eze 16:46 Your older sister was Samaria, who lived to the north of you with her daughters; and your younger sister, who lived to the south of you with her daughters, was Sodom.
Chronologically Sodom was not younger than Jerusalem, nor was Samaria older. The assignment of the respective ages of the two sisters is probably to be accounted for by the fact that the words for “elder” and “younger” are literally, “greater” and “smaller.” Samaria is called the “elder” because the northern kingdom was larger and stronger; and Sodom, the “younger” because it had a comparatively small population.
Left hand. That is, “north.” The Orientals described geographical positions from the standpoint of facing the east. Hence Samaria, being to the north, was at the left.
Right hand. Sodom to the south was on the right. Poetically, it is represented as still in existence.
Eze 16:47 You not only followed their ways and copied their detestable practices, but in all your ways you soon became more depraved than they.
The greater sin would have to be understood in the sense of greater guilt because of greater opportunity. This was Christ’s thought when He upbraided the faithlessness of the people of His day, declaring, “It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city” (Matt. 10:15). They sin most who sin against the greatest light. The most fearful retribution comes upon those who have had the greatest opportunities but have abused the mercies of God and slighted the divine warnings.
The accumulated light of the ages shines in our day. Men who neglect today’s blessings and opportunities bring upon themselves greater guilt than men in any previous age. The wrath of God in the seven last plagues is reserved for those who decide against Christ in the day of greatest illumination, when the third angel’s message swells into the loud cry and the whole earth is lightened with the glory of God (Rev. 18:1–4). Sinners of earlier ages suffer only the wrath that comes after the millennium.
Eze 16:48 As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, your sister Sodom and her daughters never did what you and your daughters have done.
Eze 16:49 “‘Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.
The prophet does not point out the unnatural crimes that are commonly associated with the name of Sodom. He seems to strike rather at the causes than at outward acts. Prosperity always proves dangerous to virtue, and idleness leads to temptation and to every sin. Moses had forewarned Israel against these dangers (Deut. 6:10–12; cf. Jer. 22:21; Hosea 13:6). The category of sins includes a negative one; “neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.”
Men are usually concerned about sins of commission. But it is as easy to miss heaven by sins of omission. In the parable Jesus bids those on His left hand depart, not because of gross outward sins, but because of the neglect of simple ministrations of love (Matt. 25:41–46). This teaching is in harmony with the statement of the apostle, “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin” (James 4:17).
The sins of Samaria are not mentioned, probably because her abominations were of such recent date as to require no mention, whereas the history of Sodom had closed more than a millennium before.
Eze 16:50 They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.
God first makes an inspection (see Gen. 18:21) and then punishes according to works. This work is analogous to the final judgment, when a careful investigation will be made of the records of all men before the rewards and punishments are assigned (2 Cor. 5:10).
Eze 16:51 Samaria did not commit half the sins you did. You have done more detestable things than they, and have made your sisters seem righteous by all these things you have done.
Compared with Judah, Sodom and Samaria appeared innocent, though they were not, of course, thereby acquitted. Men often seek to justify their own imperfect course by comparing themselves with others who, they assert, are more sinful than they. Such a course leads to ruin. They should compare themselves with only one standard, namely, the spotless character of Christ.
Eze 16:52 Bear your disgrace, for you have furnished some justification for your sisters. Because your sins were more vile than theirs, they appear more righteous than you. So then, be ashamed and bear your disgrace, for you have made your sisters appear righteous.
Eze 16:53 “‘However, I will restore the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters and of Samaria and her daughters, and your fortunes along with them,
This text presents a problem in that Sodom and her daughters (the surrounding cities) had perished with all their inhabitants many ages ago, leaving no descendants (Gen. 19:25; Jude 7). How, then, could a restoration be accomplished?
Possibly Sodom is here used symbolically of the surrounding peoples, such as the Ammonites and Moabites, the descendants of Lot, the survivor of Sodom. God’s plan of salvation embraces all nations. But the language is highly figurative, and the purpose of the comparison is “to provoke them [the Jews] to jealousy” (Rom. 11:11). In the restoration Judah is shown as occupying third place.
Eze 16:54 so that you may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all you have done in giving them comfort.
The fact that these sisters whom Jerusalem had despised were to share in the restoration would be an occasion for further humiliation.
Eze 16:55 And your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters, will return to what they were before; and you and your daughters will return to what you were before.
Eze 16:56 You would not even mention your sister Sodom in the day of your pride,
Eze 16:57 before your wickedness was uncovered. Even so, you are now scorned by the daughters of Edom and all her neighbors and the daughters of the Philistines—all those around you who despise you.
Israel had broken the covenant made at Sinai, in which God offered the people the privilege of being His “peculiar treasure” (Ex. 19:5). They were to be the depositaries of the sacred oracles and were to spread abroad the knowledge of God’s law, first through a demonstration of the truth in their lives, and second through active missionary propaganda. In both of these they hopelessly failed.
Eze 16:58 You will bear the consequences of your lewdness and your detestable practices, declares the LORD.
The Lord’s Everlasting Covenant
Eze 16:59 “‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will deal with you as you deserve, because you have despised my oath by breaking the covenant.
Eze 16:60 Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.
Though Israel had faithlessly broken the covenant, her unfaithfulness could not alter the faithfulness of God. He was willing to enter a new covenant relationship in the day of repentance. Unfortunately, because of the continued faithlessness of the remnant, the fulfillment was delayed until the gospel era, when the permanence of the covenant was assured in that it no longer rested upon a national basis, but upon an individual basis. Nevertheless, the greater permanence offered at the time of the return of the exiles was never accepted.
The Bible presents two basic covenants, the everlasting (which later became known as the new) and the old. A failure properly to define the term “covenant” and correctly to distinguish between the old and the new covenants has given rise to much misunderstanding. The everlasting covenant is simply God’s arrangement for the salvation of humans. The expression is, for practical purposes, synonymous with the term “the plan of redemption.”
This covenant was made with Adam in Eden and later renewed to Abraham (see PP 370). It represented the setting into operation of a plan whereby man might be restored to the position he had lost. Man needed pardon for his transgression.
Forgiveness became possible through the work that the Son of God was to do in His incarnation, life, and death. Man’s character needed to be brought back into harmony with the divine image. Divine power was promised, which, when accepted by man, would expel sin from the life and incorporate the righteous character traits into the soul.
This covenant, or arrangement, for salvation was made with Adam, but it applies equally to men in all ages. In NT times this same covenant became known as the new covenant, simply because its validation by the sacrifice of Christ came after the validation of the old covenant, which occurred at Sinai.
The old covenant was made at Sinai. Why was this covenant necessary when an adequate arrangement for salvation was already in existence? The old covenant was never intended to take the place of the everlasting covenant; neither was it designed to be an alternative means of salvation. An examination of the historical background will help to clarify its objective. In their slavery in Egypt the Israelites had largely lost their knowledge of God and of His requirements.
Their reeducation would require time. Spiritual truth is only gradually comprehended. The acquirement of one truth makes possible the acquisition of another. God began His instruction at Sinai by informing the people that the objective of His plan was to bring their lives into harmony with His character. However, the purpose was stated objectively,
“Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation” (Ex. 19:5, 6). At the time the Israelites understood little of what was involved.
They agreed to the broad statement of the objectives and replied, “All that the Lord hath spoken we will do” (Ex. 19:8). It was God’s plan to go from here and instruct the people as to how these objectives could be achieved. Gradually, as they would be able to comprehend, He would unfold to them all the details of the everlasting covenant (see EGW, Supplementary Material, on Ex. 19:3–8).
Unfortunately the people never seemed to progress beyond the first lesson in their spiritual instruction. They grasped the idea of the necessity of obedience. Such a philosophy they had learned in Egypt. Hence, they sought the favor of God by endeavoring to render an outward obedience to the divine requirements.
All attempts by God to show the necessity of a new heart, and of divine grace to render such obedience possible, met with repeated failure. Save for individual exceptions such an attitude continued throughout the whole OT period, and this despite repeated appeals by the prophets to accept the higher relationship. On the new covenant see Jer. 31:31–34; Heb. 8:8–13; PP 370–373.
Eze 16:61 Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters, both those who are older than you and those who are younger. I will give them to you as daughters, but not on the basis of my covenant with you.
Judah would be humbled and instructed through her misfortunes and be led at last to grasp the purposes of God.
Not only that Samaria and Sodom are meant, but that all nations that would accept the new-covenant relationship are now included.
Probably here Judah’s misinterpretation of God’s original covenant, which the Lord designed should embrace the world, but from whose benefits the Jews excluded all other nations.
Eze 16:62 So I will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the LORD.
Eze 16:63 Then, when I make atonement for you for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your humiliation, declares the Sovereign LORD.'” The pardon that God gives does not blot out the memory of the sinful past. The shame that accompanies such a memory is the necessary safeguard of the new experience. Such knowledge also constantly keeps in mind the magnitude of salvation. Compare PK 78.