The idolatries of] EZEKIEL. to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 7 And I will set my face against them; they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I set my face against them. 8 And I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass, saith the Lord GOD. (Q) CHAP. XVI. [Omit in Family Reading.] AGAIN the word of the LORD came unto 4 me, saying, 2 Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, 3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite. And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. 5 None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to liave compassion CHAP. XV. [Judah and Samaria. upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born. 6 And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live. 7 I have caused and thou hast increased and waxen great, thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, aud thine bair is grown, whereas thou wast naked aud bare. 8 Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, 1 sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine. 9 Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil. 10 I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. 11 I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck. 12 And I put a EXPOSITION. (2) The Jews compared to a fruitless vine, fit only to be consumed.-In this and other passages of Scripture, the Jews are compared to a barren and unfruitful vine, which is good for nothing but the fire, and therefore a proper emblem of the Jews and of their approaching destruction.The Psalmist Asaph compares Israel to a vine brought out of Egypt, which shortly filled the land with fruitful branches. (Ps. lxxx. 8, &c.) In time, however, this vine degenerated from its noble stock, and either brought forth wild and sour fruit, or none at all, when of course it was delivered to the flames: for what is such a vine fit for, but for fuel? Contrary to nature, however, the God of grace can purify his vine by the fire, as well as the pruning knife; and when all the worthless branches shall be destroyed, a remnant shall be spared to serve him. (See the close of the preceding chapter.) NOTES. Ver. 7. From one fire, &c --- that is, they shall pass through trial after trial, till they shall know, &c. Ver. 8. Committed---Heb." trespassed a trespass." CHAP. XVI. Our readers will, we presume, agree with us, that this chapter is not very suitable to be read in families. Many images employed by the Asiatics appear too bold and indelicate for the European taste; while at the same time many of the manners of Europeans are equally revolting to Asiaties. This arises chiefly from the egraded state of females in the Eastern countries. The sexes seldom or never meeting in conversation, the inguage of men is destitute of refinement, and not guarded against expressions justly offensive to feinale delicacy among us. On the contrary, the Janguage of women is destitute of intelligence, and confined to the frivolities of the Harem. Happily, a revolution is commenced in India, which may spread through all the East. Female education will qualify women for society with the other sex, and an equal interest in the gospel will furnish topics of conversation, to both alike interesting and important. We are all under infinite obligations to Christianity; but those of women are peculiarly conspicuous. In this chapter, the mercy of God to the Jewish church and nation is represented by the state of an exposed and deserted female infant, found by a man who takes pity on her, adopts her into his farail, brings her up with great tenderness, and, finsity, when she has obtained a mature age, marries ber She proves, however, false and ungrateful, and eves commits adultery, which term here intends idolatry, of which the whole Jewish nation had been guilty, to a great excess. Ver. 3. Thy birth --- Heb. "Thy entting out." See Isa. li. 1. Ver. 4. Not salted. --- Galen says, the ancients washed their infants in water, and sprinkled them with salt for perhaps sprinkled salt into the water the same custom still obtains among the Crim Ttars, Orient. Lit. No. 1016. Ver 6. Polluted---Heb. "Kicking in thy blo da." Ver. 7. Caused thee to multiply. Heb. Made thee a great number As the bud of the fields--that is, of the grass.Excellent ornaments---Heb. Ordaments of ornaments." Ver. 8. Spread my skirt.-- See Ruth iii. 21. jewel on thy forehead, and ear-rings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head. 13 Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom. 14 And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God. : 19 My 15 But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was. 16 And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colours, and playedst the harlot thereupon the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so. 17 Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them; 18 And tookedst thy broidered garments, and coveredst them and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them. meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savour and thus it was, saith the Lord God. 20 Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter, 21 That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them? 22 And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in thy blood. 23 And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, (woe, woe unto thee! saith the Lord GOD;) 24 That thou hast also built unto thee au eminent place, and hast made thee an high place in every street. 25 Thou hast built thy high place at every head of the : [Judah and Samaria. 28 way, and hast made thy beauty to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied thy whoredoms. 26 Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast in. creased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger. 27 Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over thee, and have diminished thine ordinary food, and delivered thee unto the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of thy lewd way. Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyriaus, because thou wast unsatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet couldest not be satisfied. 29 Thou hast moreover multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea; and yet thou wast not satisfied herewith. 30 How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord GOD, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman: 31 In that thou buildest thine eminent place in the head of every way, and makest thine high place in every street; and hast not been as an harlot, in that thou scornest hire; 32 But as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband! 33 They give gifts to all whores: but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom. And the contrary is in thee from other women in thy whoredoms, whereas none followeth thee to commit whoredoms: and in that thou givest a reward and no reward is given unto thee, therefore thou art contrary. 34 35 Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD: 36 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou didst give unto them; 37 Behold, therefore I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that NOTES. Ver. 12. Forehead-Heb, "Nose." See Note on Isa. tii. 21.—A beautiful crown — Heb. “A crown of goodliness." Ver. 17. Images of men - Heb. "Of a male." See Note on Numb. xxv. 3. This refers to their idolatry, in which they devoted to their idols the sacrifices appointed to Jehovah. Ver. 19, 20. My meat-Newcome," Food.". For a sweet savour-Heb. "A savour of rest." The LXX and Arabic here place a full point, and begin the next sentence,And thus it was (Newcome and Secker, “And it hath come to pass)....that thou hast taken," &c. Ver. 21. To pass through, &c.—See Note on Levit. xx. 2. In addition to what is there said, we quote, from Newcome, the following passage of Dionysius of Halicarnassis: "After this, having ordered that tires should be made before the tents, he brings out the people to leap over the flames, for the purifying of their pollutions." Ver. 22. Naked and bare-Heb. "Nakedness and bareness " So ver. 39.-Polluted,-See ver. 6. Ver. 24. An eminent place-an "arch." or " arched vanlt," Gesenius. So Newcome. English Marg. Vulgate, and LXX," a brothel," such being employed for that purpose. Ver. 25 At every head of the way-Newcome, "At the head of every way. - Ver 26. The Egyptians Heb. "The sons of Mizraim."-Great of flesh-that is, lusty and lustful. Ver.31. In that thou buildest, &c.-See ver. 24. Ver. 33. Hirest-Heb. "Bribest." Ver. 34. After thy manner-Heb. "According to thee." Ver. 38. As women-Heb." With the judgments of women," &c.—I will give thee blood, &c.This is thought to allude to the water of jealousy, which The idolatries of] EZEKIEL. thou hast loved, with all them that thou 44 Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter. 45 Thou art thy mother's daughter, that lotheth her husband and her children; and thou art the sister of thy sisters, which lothed their husbands and their children: your mother was an Hittite, and your father an Amorite. 46 And thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters. 47 Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: but, as [Judah and Samaria. if that were a very little thing, thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways. 48 As I live, saith the Lord GoD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast doue, thou and thy daughters. 49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 50 And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good. 51 Neither hath Samaria committed half of thy sins; but thou hast multiplied thine abominations more than they, and hast justified thy sisters in all thine abominatious which thou hast done, 52 Thou also, which hast judged thy sisters, bear thine own shame for thy sins that thou hast committed more abominable than they: they are more righteous than thou: yea, be thou confounded also, and bear thy shame, in that thou hast justified thy sisters. 53 When I shall bring again their captivity, the cap; tivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them: That thou mayest bear thine own shame, and mayest be confounded in all that thou bast done, in that thou art a comfort unto them. 55 When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate. 56 For thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth in the day of thy pride, 57. Before thy wickedness was discovered, as at the time of thy reproach of the daughters of Syria, and all that are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, which despise thee round about. 58 Thou hast borne thy lewdness and thine abominations, saith the LORD. 59 For thus saith the NOTES-Chap. XVI. Con. the accused woman might be required to drink. See Ver. 41. Many women-that is, nations. Ver. 43, Fretted-Newcome, "Provoked."-This lewdness above all thy abominations-or, (which is) above all thine (other) abominations," Juolatry is the crime here referred to, which being high treason against their God and King, was the highest crime in the Jewish code: but of this crime they seem long since cured. Ver. 44. As is the mother, &c.- that is, the whole family are idolators. Ver. 46. Her daughters at thy left hand.-The Jews, in reckoning the points of the compass, place their face toward the east, when consequently Samaria, in the north, was on their left hand, and Sodom, in the south, upon their right.-Younger sister-Beb. "Sister less than thou." Ver. 47. But as, &c.-Newconre, a Eng. Marg. 54 "(That was loathed as a small thing) but thou bast been corrupted," &c. Ver. 49. Fuliness of bread, &c.—See Gen. xiii. 10. Abundance of idleness - Heb. "Prosperity of rest." N. B. A superabundance of the blessings of Provi dence often tends to luxury and idleness, which lend to every other vice. Ver. 53. When I shall bring, &c.-Secker, Newcome, and Boothroyd, render this whole passage as a promise; "Yet I will bring again.....and I will bring again thy captivity in the midst of them.” Ver. 54. Thou art a comfort.--See ch. xiv. 22, A Ver. 55. When thy sisters - Newcome, And thy sisters," &c. Then thou - Newcome," And thou." Ver. 56. For thy sister:- Newcome," Although thy sister Sodom was not heard of from thy mouth." Ver. 58. Thou hast borne-Thou hast already began to receive the punishment! See ver. 3. Ver. 61. Not by thy covenant-the old covenant of Sinai, which thou hast broken, but "by the new covenant, under the gospel dispensation." Newcome. The parable] CHAP. XVII. Lord God; I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, which hast despised the oath in breaking the covenant. 60 Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant. 61 Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger: and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant. 62 And I will establish my covenant with hee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD: 63 That thou mayest rememper, and be confounded, and never open hy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all hat thou hast done, saith the Lord Gov. [of two great eagles. thers: and, behold, this vine did bend her roots toward him, and shot forth her branches toward him, that he might water it by the furrows of her plantation. 8 It was planted in a good soil by great waters, that it might bring forth branches, and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a goodly vine. 9 Say thou, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Shall it prosper ? shall he not pull up the roots thereof, and cut off the fruit thereof, that it wither? It shall wither in all the leaves of her spring, even without great power or many people to pluck it up by the roots thereof. 10 Yea, behold, being planted, shall it prosper? shall it not utterly wither, when the east wind toucheth it? It shall wither in the furrows where it grew. 11 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 12 Say now to the rebellious house, Know ye not what these thing's mean? tell them, Behold, the king of Baby lon is come to Jerusalem, and hath taken the king thereof, and the prince thereof, and led them with him to Babylon; 13 And hath taken of the king's seed, and made a covenant with him, and hath taken an oath of him: he hath also taken the mighty of the land: 14 That the kingdom might be base, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping of his covenant it might stand. 15 But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and much people. Shall he prosper? shall he escape that doeth such things? or NOTES. P. XVII. Ver. 2. A riddle.-See Jud. xiv. 12. e renders it "a dark saying," as in Psalm 2. With great wings-Heb. "Great of wings." Ed that they are frequently seven feet in ex- Divers colours-" An allusion to the various which composed the Babylonian empire." is. Came to Lebanon.-A modern travelRoque) found there a large number of eagles' Orient. Lit. No. 1021. Seed of the land.—As the parent verb sig nifies to plant, Newcome thinks the noun here used may signify a scion, or shoot; and by this last word Boothroyd renders it, since the vine is thus propagated, and not by seed. Ver. 13. Taken an outh of him-Heb. "Brought him to an oath." Ver. 14. Base - Newcome, "Low, or humble." -That by keeping of his covenant it might stand. -Newcome," That it might keep his covenant, and might stand." shall he break the covenant, and be delivered? 16 As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely in the place where the king dwelleth that made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he brake, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die. 17 Neither shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company make for him in the war, by casting up mounts, and building forts, to cut off many persons: 18 Seeing he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, when, lo, he had given his hand, and hath done all these things, he shall not escape. 19 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; As I live, surely mine oath that he hath despised, and my covenant that he hath broken, even it will I recompense upon his own head. 20 And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will plead with him there for his trespass that he hath trespassed against me. 21 And all his fugitives with all Lis bands shall fall by the sword, and CHAP. XVII. [and restoration. they that remain shall be scattered toward all winds: and ye shall know that I the LORD have spoken it. 22 Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent: 23 In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell. 24 And all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the LORD have spoken and have done it. (R) EXPOSITION. (R) God's judgments on Judea represented by the parable of two eagles and a vine. In the fable before us Nebuchadnezzar is represented as a great eagle which perched on the highest branch of one of the mighty cedars of Lebanon. This branch represents king Jehoiachim, whom he carried off to Babylon, "a land of traffick;" he took also a young shoot, meaning Zedekiah, and, planting it in a fruitful soil, it flourished and became a spreading tree, like a willow growing by the waters. Another eagle is now introduced, to represent the king of Egypt, and the tree just mentioned (Zedekiah) spreads forth its branches toward this second eagle: yet it prospers not; but, being smitten by an eastern wind, withers in the soil wherein it grew. Such is the outline of this allegory, which is more fully explained in the following part of the chapter. But in the last three verses we read of another branch, which shall be planted in a lofty mountain, and become a lefty cedar, in whose boughs birds of every wing should lodge. Newcome thinks "these verses may have a reference to Zerubbabel, to the Maccabees, to the Messiah, and to the future restoration of the Jews:" but Boothroyd remarks, that to king of the house of David, since the captivity, ever answered this description, or was able to afford that protection to the neighbouring po vers here implied: he therefore refers the whole exclusively to the Messiah. NOTES-Chap. Ver. 17. By casting up mounts, &c.-See ch. iv. 2. Ver. 18. Given his hand.-See Lam. v. 6. Ver. 19. Mine oath.- Zechariah doubtless swore by the name of the God of Israel. My covenant :The Lord regards himself as a party to every covenant made in his name. XVII. Con. Ver. 20. Spread my net.-See chap. xii. 13. Ver. 24. The high tree, &c.-The high tree s the green tree refer to Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 18. 12.) The low tree and the dry tree, to the Jews Newcome.Have done it: What God decreos, may be considered as certain as if done. |
