Ezekiel 16

Verse 3. Cethite, or “Hethite.” These two were probably the most abandoned of Chanaan. Daniel (13:56) give the infamous judges the like appellation; and Isaias (1:10) calls the Jews princes of Sodom. Calmet.—So Dido says to Eneas:

Nec te diva parens, generis nec Dardanus auctor

Perfide sed duris genuit te cautibus, and so forth Æn. iv. Bible.

—But we nowhere find such a vehement and continued reprimand. The prophet seems to quit his proper character to make ( Calmet.) the abominations of the people known and detested. Calmet. 3:8. Bible.

Verse 4. Cut. By this the infant received nourishment in the womb. Now it seems to be exposed by its parents. Calmet.—The Jews in Egypt were abandoned to idolatry and distress. Theod. in Cant.—Health. Many plunged the infant in cold water to brace its nerves, ( Calmet.) or to wash it. Salt was also used to dry up the humidity and stop the pores, (Saint Jerome) or it was mixed with water to harden the skin and navel. Avicen. Gall. San. i. 7.—Clouts, to keep the body straight. The negroes who neglect this are stronger and better proportioned, ( Calmet.) and too much restraint is known to be detrimental to the tender limbs. Bible.

Verse 5. Born, as it were in Egypt. He represents the Jews as a female from her infancy, till she be advanced in years.

Verse 6. Thy blood, unwashed after being born. verse 4. Calmet.—The Jews were solicitous to increase their numbers, and exposed none. Tacit. Hist. v.—But other nations did, if they thought the child would be troublesome, or a disgrace. Calmet.—The prophet sends this admonition from Chaldea, and shews how God had selected his people from among the barbarous nations, and decorated them with many privileges of the law, sacrifices, and so forth Worthington.

Verse 7. Woman’s. Hebrew “the ornament of ornaments;” hadaiim instead of harim in Septuagint “the city of cities,” ( Calmet.) or the highest glory, being arrived at that age when decorations are most sought after.—Fashioned. Lit. “swelling.” Septuagint “erect.” Bible.—Hair, (pilus.) Women are allowed by canon law to marry at twelve. Calmet.

Verse 8. Lovers. Hebrew dodim, “breasts, ( Bible.) or espousals;” (Aq.) “loving.” Sym.—Garment, as a husband. Ruth 3:9. Jeremiah 2:2.

Verse 9. Oil, used after bathing, or with perfume. Calmet.

Verse 10. Embroidery. Lit. “various colours.” Bible.—But this is the import. Psalms 44:10.—Violet, or dark blue, appropriated to princes.—Linen, or cotton. Exodus 25. Proverbs 31:24. Calmet.—Fine. Lit. “thin.” Hebrew Mesi, ( Bible.) “silken.” Jarchi. Pagn. and so forth Silk was used much later at Rome, ( Calmet.) and was reprobated as not covering the body sufficiently.

Cois tibi penè videre est

Ut nudam. Hor. i. Sat. ii.

Sen. Ben. vii. 9.—Septuagint τριχαπτω, according to Hesyc. and so forth denotes “a silk ribbon for the hair;” ( Calmet.) a robe as delicate as hair, (Saint Jerome) or a transparent veil for the head. Theod.—Such are still worn in the East. Hair is used in the veil opposite to the eyes, that the ladies may see without being seen. Calmet.

Verse 12. Forehead. Lit. “mouth.” Hebrew “nose.” Bible.—Women wore rings where spectacles are placed, and had others hung at their noses, so as to touch the mouth. People who are not acquainted with this odd custom, which is still prevalent in Africa and Asia, suppose that the ornament hung upon the forehead, as S. Jerom does. See Genesis 24:22. Calmet.

Verse 13. Linen. Hebrew mossi. verse 11. Bible.—Chal. understands these ornaments to pertain to the tabernacle, which was set up in the wilderness.—Oil, enjoying a most fertile country, ( Calmet.) and the noblest sacrifices. Bible.—And wast, and so forth The kingdom had subsisted 1500 years. Calmet.—Septuagint omit this, for fear of giving umbrage to the Egyptians, according to S. Jerom, as if they could be ignorant of this circumstance. Calmet.—Grabe supplies, “thou wast directed to the kingdom.” Bible.

Verse 15. Renown, or name; thus dishonouring me, thy husband. Isaiah 4:1.

Verse 16. Places: pavilions, (A. Lap. 4 Kennicott. 17:30. Calmet.) or idols stuffed, (Saint Jerome Theod.) and outwardly adorned. Such might easily be procured or removed. 1 Kennicott. 19:13.—Hereafter, with impunity. The Jews were guilty of greater ingratitude than other nations.

Verse 17. My gold, for the temple, or thy most precious ornaments, which were sacrificed to gratify thy lubricity, ( Calmet.) or to form the golden calf, and so forth Exodus 32. Bible.—Obscene representations were also used in the worship of Osiris. Herod. ii. 48.

Verse 18. Oil, or perfume. which no man was allowed to use. Exodus 30:9. 38.

Verse 20. Thy sons: so he calls them to shew his indignation, though he acknowledges them for his, (verse 21) to enhance the crime. Who could have thought that such cruel sacrifices would ever take place! 4 Kennicott. 23. Calmet.—Adulteresses bring in the children of others; but the Jews sacrifice their own to idols. 4 Kennicott. 16. and so forth Worthington.

Verse 25. Sign; altars of idols. Bible.—She makes no secret of her apostacy. The Greeks and Romans marked the houses of prostitutes, that honest men might avoid them. “The deemed the profession of such a crime a sufficient punishment to repress impure women.” Tacit. Annal.

Verse 26. Bodies. Lit. “flesh.” Bible. Juv. ix. 34. Menochius.—The Egyptians are tall, but meagre. Valle. Ep. xi.—They were the most dissolute in their worship, and corrupted most other nations as well as the Jews. Calmet. 20:8 and 23:3.

Verse 27. Justification; law, and so forth Hebrew “thy right,” or allowance. Exodus 21:10.—Hate thee. To be abandoned to the will of a rival, is most dreadful for a woman. The Jews were subjected to the nations which they had despised, as they are still to Christians. Even other less favoured idolaters were astonished ( Calmet.) at their apostacy. Bible.

Verse 28. Assyrians, adoring the sun, Baal, and so forth Calmet.

Verse 31. Price, before she will yield, ( Bible.) or who follow such practices for a livelihood. Calmet.—Hebrew “in that thou scornest hire.” Prot. Septuagint “gathering rewards.” The difference consisted in Jerusalem’s sinning through mere wantonness, and even to her loss.

Verse 34. Fornication unpunished, or comparable with thine. verse 16. Bible.—All such actions are abominable; but still more so, when the woman solicts. Worthington.

Verse 36. Money. Lit. “brass,” ( Bible.) to adorn idols. Calmet.—Prot. “thy filthiness;” ( Bible.) virus. Pagn. and so forth Calmet.

Verse 37. Nakedness. Friends and enemies ( Bible.) saw that idols afforded no protection. Calmet. 6:3. Jeremiah 13:26.

Verse 38. Judge; punish thee by stoning to death. Leviticus 20:10. The walls of the Jews were battered to the ground.

Verse 39. House; the temple, which thou hast profaned, and the high places. The idols shall be plundered, in which thou hast trusted.

Verse 41. Women: nations assembled against Jerusalem.

Verse 42. No more. I will entirely repudiate thee, so as to observe thy conduct no longer, ( Calmet.) with the eyes of an husband. Bible.—This is the most terrible effect of God’s wrath, ( Calmet.) when the sinner is left to himself. Osee 4:14. Saint Jerome

Verse 43. Youth, when thou wast destitute, (verse 4) and more grateful for my favours, Jeremias 2:2.—Head. I have punished thee, yet not as thy deeds require. Bible.

Verse 44. Daughter. They too commonly ( Calmet.) follow bad parents. Juv. vi. 239. and xiv. 25.—Jerusalem is more wicked than the Cethite, ( Bible.) her mother, verse 3. Calmet.—Even this nation had once received the principles of the true religion for the patriarchs, but cast them off to embrace idolatry, and to destroy her children. Bible.—Jerusalem was formerly and is till wicked. Worthington.

Verse 46. Right: southward.—Sodom. The city was more ancient than Jerusalem. Hence it here designates Ruben, ( Bible.) and the Jews east of the Jordan; (Prado) or rather Moab and Ammon, (verse 55. Calmet.) and the rest of the Gentiles. Bible.—Samaria shewed Jerusalem the road to idolatry, and therefore is called her elder sister. The number of the ten tribes was also greater than that of the kingdom of Juda, which became corrupt as Sodom, only by degrees. Theod.

Verse 47. Ways, but hast done even worse.—Almost. He seems to diminish their crimes, ( Calmet.) as if it could hardly be believed that Jerusalem should be more abandoned. Hebrew and Septuagint “that would be but little: yea, thou hast done more,” and so forth Bible.

Verse 49. Sodom, and so forth That is, these were the steps by which the Sodomites came to fall into those abominations for which they were destroyed. For pride, gluttony, and idleness, are the high road to all kinds of lust; especially when they are accompanied with a neglect of the works of mercy. Challoner.—These crimes alone are great enough; (Lu. 16:19) and the prophets never accuse the Jews of unnatural lust. Hence Ezechiel takes no notice of it here, as he probably refers to the manners of the Moabites, and so forth who were then living. Isaiah 16:6. Calmet.—Abundance and idleness produce crimes; temperance and labour bring forth good fruit. Worthington.

Verse 50. Seen. This would seem to allude to the Israelites beyond the Jordan, who had been led away into Assyria. The Moabites, and so forth beheld the downfall of Jerusalem, ( Bible.) and were treated in like manner, only five years later. Jos. Jeremiah 48. and so forth

Verse 51. Justified, as they are comparatively innocent. Saint Augustine c. Faust. xxii. 61.—They had not the like advantages, (Matthew 11:23) nor the example of others’ punishment to open their eyes. Thou hast pleaded for or with them, and hast lost thy cause. Calmet.

Verse 53. Back, and so forth This relates to the conversion of the Gentiles out of all nations, and of many of the Jews, to the Church of Christ. Challoner.—Cyrus also liberated the tribes on the east as well as on the west of the Jordan, ( Bible.) and in general all the captive nations. Calmet.—And restore. Hebrew “the captivity, even the captivity of Sodom.” Septuagint “I will turn away their aversions, the,” and so forth I will give them a more docile spirit.

Verse 54. Them. It affords some consolation to have partners in misery. Calmet.

Verse 55. Ancient state. That is, to their former state of liberty, and their ancient possessions. In the spiritual sense, to the true liberty and the happy inheritance of the children of God, through faith in Christ. Challoner.—All will be treated alike, whether Jew or Gentile. Bible.—When Sodom or the Gentiles shall have embraced the gospel, then also will the Jews. Romans 10. Worthington.

Verse 56. Pride. Thou scornedst to mention her, (Psalms 15:4. Calmet.) or wouldst not take warning. Saint Jerome

Verse 59. Covenant at Sinai, or under Josue. 8. Exodus 19:7.

Verse 60. Covenant. After punishing thee I will fulfill my promises, as we see was done ( Calmet.) after the captivity, and ( Bible.) in the Christian Church. Calmet.—All shall be converted, not by the Jewish but by the evangelical covenant. Worthington.

Verse 61. Daughters. The countries were conquered by the Machabees. All nations embrace the gospel.—Covenant. It is broken. I will, out of pity, re-establish it, or a better, to last for ever under Christ, free from the servitude and fear of the old law. Calmet.