Ezekiel 16:30 Komentář

Still God is justifying himself in the desolations he is about to bring upon Jerusalem; and very largely, in this chapter, he shows the prophet, and orders him to show the people, that he did but punish them as their sins deserved. In the foregoing chapter he had compared Jerusalem to an unfruitful vine, that was fit for nothing but the fire; in this chapter he compares it to an adulteress, that, in justice, ought to be abandoned and exposed, and he must therefore show the people their abominations, that they might see how little reason they had to complain of the judgments they were under. In this long discourse are set forth, I. The despicable and deplorable beginnings of that church and nation (Eze 16:3-5). II. The many honours and favours God had bestowed upon them (Eze 16:6-14). III. Their treacherous and ungrateful departures from him to the services and worship of idols, here represented by the most impudent whoredom (v. 15-34). IV. A threatening of terrible destroying judgments, which God would bring upon them for this sin (Eze 16:35-43). V. An aggravation both of their sin and of their punishment, by comparison with Sodom and Samaria (v. 44-59). VI. A promise of mercy in the close, which God would show to a penitent remnant (Eze 16:60-63). And this is designed for admonition to us.

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 16 In this chapter the Jewish nation is represented under the simile of a female infant, whose birth, breeding, marriage, grandeur, and conduct, are described, in order to show the wickedness and ingratitude of, his people; who, on account thereof, are threatened with judgments; though mercy is promised to a remnant that should repent. The prophet is directed to make known to Jerusalem her abominable sins, Eze 16:1; and, in order to this, is bid to take up the following parable of a female infant; whose descent, birth, and wretched condition, at the time of it, are pointed at, Eze 16:3; which are expressive of the low and forlorn estate of the Jews originally; and then follow the benefits and blessings of God bestowed upon them, both in their infant and adult state; the preserving them alive in Egypt, and their multiplication there; and afterwards the covenant made with them, when brought out from thence; and the Lord's espousal of them to himself, as his own people, having a strong affection for them, Eze 16:6; the large provision of good things he made for them, both in the wilderness, and especially in the land of Canaan; the riches he bestowed upon them, and the flourishing and prosperous kingdom he raised them to, which made them famous among all the nations round about them, Eze 16:9; and yet, after all this, such was the ingratitude of this people, as to commit spiritual whoredom, that is, idolatry, to a very great degree, Eze 16:15; which is aggravated by their converting and applying the good things which the Lord gave them to idolatrous uses, Eze 16:16; by sacrificing their sons and daughters to idols, which were the Lord's, Eze 16:20; by not calling to mind the former wretched estate out of which they were brought, Eze 16:22; by building high places in every street and way, and there committing idolatries, Eze 16:23; by the various nations, whose examples they followed, and with whom they joined, as the Egyptians, Assyrians, and Chaldeans, Eze 16:26; and by the great difference between them and all other harlots, whom they exceeded, Eze 16:30; wherefore, on account of all this, they are threatened to be dealt with as an adulterous woman; made a spectacle of; condemned to die, to be stripped, stoned, and burned, Eze 16:35; and, that the Lord might appear to be just in executing such judgments on them, they are declared to be as bad as the Hittites and Amorites their parents; and worse than their sisters Samaria and Sodom; and therefore could expect to fare no better than they; and should become proverb and a byword, and bear their sins, shame, and punishment, in the sight of their neighbours, and be despised by them, Eze 16:44; nevertheless, the covenant of grace made with his chosen people among them should stand firm; which being manifested to them, would be a means of bringing them to a sense of sin, shame for it, and an acknowledgment of the Lord's grace and goodness to them Eze 16:60.

In that thou buildest thine eminent place in the head of every way,.... Or brothel house, as before; See Gill on Eze 16:24; which showed her to be a whore, and an imperious one: and makest thine high place in every street; See Gill on Eze 16:24; and hast not been as an harlot: a common one, or as a harlot usually is: in that thou scornest hire; which they do not; for it is for hire they prostitute themselves; and have their names, both in our language, and in the Latin tongue, from, thence.

As the law is not made for the just but for the lawless and those who are not subjected to God, so the teaching that warns us away from fornication does not become chaste but is for the lawless and the fornicators and the disobedient.

If you understand fornication of the flesh and the soul and the spirit, and if you see someone fornicating in them, you will also see Jerusalem fornicating herself three times.

There is no doubt that the word of the orator provokes the hero to worse things when a heretic builds up his hero in the perversions of heresy by what he says.

Those who have not completely gone away from religion but are conquered by sin and who want their sin to be hidden behave exactly like a prostitute who has been insulted.

(Verse 30, 31.) In what shall I cleanse your heart, says the Lord God, when you do all these works of a promiscuous and shameless woman? For you have made your brothel at the head of every street, and your high place you have made in every square; and you have not acted like a prostitute, increasing your price. LXX: What shall I do to your heart, says the Lord God, when you do all these works of a prostitute and shameless woman? ÷ And you have committed adultery three times with your daughters ** when you built your brothel at the beginning of every street, and you made your platform in every square; and you have not been like a prostitute gathering wages. And what the Seventy said: 'And you have prostituted yourself thrice with your daughters, which is not found in the Hebrew, nor has any other Interpreter put it.' But God speaks all of this contentiously towards Jerusalem, that He may find a remedy by which He can heal the sick and the half-dead; according to that which Isaiah writes: 'What more could I have done for my vineyard, that I have not done for it?' (Isaiah 5:4). And Hosea said: What shall I do with you, Ephraim? what shall I do with you, Judah? Your mercy is like the morning clouds, and like the dew in the morning that passes away (Hosea 6:4). For your idolatry is not hidden, but committed with complete freedom, as you set up altars and high places at the beginning of every street and on every corner, and you make your bed in every square. And you have not imitated the cunning of prostitutes, who often increase the price of desire with difficulty, and from this incite lovers to madness. Or according to the Septuagint: You were not like a prostitute gathering wages, but you gave what you should have received, so that you would not be protected by the help of those with whom you fornicated and followed demons, but rather, oppressed by various captivities, you would feel your calamities. And this can indeed be applied to every Christian soul, which, having abandoned the worship of God, has given itself over to vices and luxury, and pursuing a worldly life, did not even thrive in it, but lost the riches of religion and did not receive the riches of the world. And there was no difficulty at all in prostituting yourself to it, but you yourself embraced your lovers. Moreover, there is another spiritual fornication, when we forsake the Church and join the heretics, and build our brothel at the head of every road, as the divine word commands: Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it (Jeremiah 6:16), namely in the books of Moses, Joshua, Judges, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the other prophets. In the beginnings of all roads, their brothel is constructed, which, to the perversion of doctrine, abuses the testimonies of the Scriptures and says: This is what Isaiah says, this is what Hosea says, this is what Moses said, this is what Daniel said. And he does not place his brothel in the middle of the streets or at the ends of the roads, but at the beginning. For if he comes to knowledge and the depths of divine books, he will not be able to err. He also makes his high place or pedestal in every public square, allowing himself to be corrupted by the depravity and vices of the heathens, even among the heretics when he has been defiled by them, having no grace but exposing himself to contempt, because he easily lost the purity of faith that has passed. But this, which (as we have said above) is not found in Hebrew: Thou art fornicated threefold in thy daughters, or to Jerusalem, according to the letter, that in all kinds in its towns and villages it has fornicated; and there will be no corner or square left, where it has not set up the signs of idolatry: or to the Church and the deceived believers, who have not heard the words of the Apostle: Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you in all things, that your whole spirit, and soul, and body may be preserved blameless in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thess. V, 23); but they have fornicated in every kind, with body, and soul, and spirit. We read in Proverbs: But you write them in three ways, so that you may answer with words of truth that are proposed to you (Prov. XXII, 20, 21). And it is commanded to us that we understand the words of truth, that is, the holy Scriptures, in three ways. First, according to the letter; second, in the middle through tropology; third, in a higher way, so that we may understand mystical things. According to the letter, it is this: Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, and one and twenty thousand fell in one day (I Cor. X, 8). And: Do not murmur, as some of them murmured and were destroyed by the destroyer (1 Corinthians 10:10). But according to the sense and tropology, when we depart from the literal meaning and ascend a little to higher things, as the Apostle says: It is written: You shall not muzzle the ox when it treads out the grain. And immediately follows: Is God concerned with oxen? Or is He speaking because of us? (1 Corinthians 9:9). But the highest and sublime spiritual understanding, according to the same Apostle: Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife. This is a great mystery. But I speak concerning Christ and the Church (Ephes. 5:31-32). The daughters of the Church are those who fornicate, first of the believers, and afterwards of the deceived in the heresy of the soul, whose fault is attributed to the mother.

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, Eze 16:1-14. 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, vv. 15-52. But, notwithstanding these her heinous provocations, God promises, after she should suffer due correction, to restore her again to his favor, Eze 16:53-63. 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 with 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.

DETAILED APPLICATION OF THE PARABOLICAL DELINEATION OF THE FIFTEENTH CHAPTER TO JERUSALEM PERSONIFIED AS A DAUGHTER. (Eze. 16:1-63) cause Jerusalem to know--Men often are so blind as not to perceive their guilt which is patent to all. "Jerusalem" represents the whole kingdom of Judah.

weak . . . heart--Sin weakens the intellect ("heart") as, on the contrary, "the way of the Lord is strength to the upright" (Pro 10:29).