《Lange’s Commentary on the Holy Scriptures – Ezekiel (Vol. 2)》(Johann P. Lange)
16 Chapter 16
Verses 1-63
5. The Story of the Lewd Adulteress ( Ezekiel 16.)
1And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, 2Son of Prayer of Manasseh, cause Jeru salem to know her abominations; 3And say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah unto Jerusalem: Thy origin [extraction] and thy birth is of the land of the Canaanite; 4thy father was the Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite. And [as regards] thy birth, in the day that thou wast born, thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed with water for cleansing; and thou wast not rubbed with salt 5 at all, nor wast thou wrapt in swaddling-bands at all. No eye had pity upon thee [looked upon thee compassionately], to do one of these things for thee, to bend over thee; and thou wast cast out upon the face of the field [upon the open field], 6in contempt of thy soul [life], in the day that thou wast born. And I passed by thee, and I saw thee stamping [or, trampled] in thy blood, and said unto thee, 7In thy blood live! and [yea] said unto thee, In thy blood live! Ten thousand [myriads] like the bud of the field I made thee [to be, to become]; and thou didst increase [didst grow up] and wax great, and camest to most excellent ornament; thy breasts became firm [rose up], and thy hair grew, yet thou wast naked and 8 bare. And I passed by thee, and saw thee, and, behold, [it was] thy time, a time of movements of love, and I spread My wing over thee, and covered thy nakedness; and I swore unto thee, and entered into covenant with thee9—sentence of the Lord Jehovah—and thou becamest Mine. And I washed thee with water, and rinsed thy blood from off thee, and anointed thee with oil. And 10 I clothed thee with broidered work, and shod thee with tachash, and wrapped thee round with byssus, and covered thee with silk. And 11 I decked thee with ornament, and put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain about thy neck 12 And I put a ring in thy nose, and earrings in thine ears, 13and a splendid crown upon thy head. And thou didst adorn thyself with gold and silver, and thy clothing was byssus and silk and broidered work; fine flour, and honey, and oil didst thou eat; and thou wast [becamest] exceedingly beautiful, and didst prosper into [attain unto] a kingdom [kingly authority or 14 dignity]. And thy name went forth among the heathen for thy beauty; for it was perfect through My adornment, which I put upon thee—sentence of 15 the Lord Jehovah.—And [yet] thou didst trust in thy beauty, and didst play the harlot upon thy name, and didst pour out thy fornications upon every 16 one that passed by; his it was. And thou didst take of thy garments, and didst make for thyself high places, spotted [patched] ones, and didst play the harlot 17 upon them: they should not come, neither should it be. And thou didst take articles of thy splendour [thy splendid jewels] of My gold and My silver, which I had given thee, and didst make for thyself images of men, and didst 18 play the harlot with them. And thou didst take thy broidered garments, and didst cover them; and My oil and My incense thou didst set before them 19 And My bread which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey I gave thee to eat, and thou didst set it before them as a sweet savour: and it was so—20sentence of the Lord Jehovah. And thou didst take thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou barest unto Me, and didst sacrifice them to them to devour; 21was it less than thy whoredoms? And thou didst slay My sons, and gavest them up, in causing them to pass through [the fire] for them [i. e. for the idols]. 22And with all thy abominations and thy whoredoms thou didst not remember the days of thy childhood [youth], when thou wast naked and bare, wast stamping [trampled] in thy blood 23 And it came to pass after all thy wickedness—woe, 24woe unto thee! sentence of the Lord Jehovah—That thou didst build for thee a vault, and didst make for thee a high place in every street 25 At every head of a way [crossway, parting-way] thou didst build thy high place, and didst put to shame [didst abhor] thy beauty, and didst spread out thy 26 feet to every passer-by, and didst multiply thy whoredoms. And thou didst whore after the sons of Egypt, thy neighbours, great of flesh, and 27 didst multiply thy whoredoms, to provoke Me to anger. And, behold, I stretched out My hand over thee, and diminished thy allowance, and gave thee to the soul of them that hated thee, the daughters of the Philistines, 28who were ashamed of thy lewd way. And thou didst whore after the sons of Asshur for want of being satisfied; and thou didst whore with 29 them, and still wast not satisfied. And thou didst increase thy whoredom unto the land of Canaan, Chaldea, and even with this wast not satisfied 30 How exhausted [spent with longing] is thy heart—sentence of the Lord Jehovah—when thou doest all this, the doing of an imperious whorish woman 31 When thou didst build thy vault at the head of every way, and madest thy high place in every street, thou wast not like the harlot, to scorn the hire 32 The woman that committeth adultery under her husband receiveth strangers! 33To all harlots they give [are accustomed to give] a present [a gift], and [yet] thou gavest thy presents to all thy lovers, and didst make presents to them, to 34 come to thee on every side for thy whoredoms. And there was in thee the contrary of women; in thy whoredoms they did not follow after thee for whoredom, and in thy giving of hire when no hire was given to thee; and35[so] thou wast the contrary.—Therefore, O harlot, hear the word of Jehovah 36 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because thy brass was poured out [emptied out], and thy nakedness uncovered in thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the filthy idols of thy abominations, and according to the blood of thy sons, 37whom thou hast given unto them; Therefore, behold, I am gathering all thy lovers, to whom thou wast pleasant, and all whom thou hast loved, with all whom thou hast hated; and I gather them against thee from round about, 38and uncover thy nakedness unto them, and they see all thy nakedness. And I judge thee with the judgments of adulteresses and of those who shed blood; 39and I make thee into blood of fury and jealousy. And I give thee into their hand, and they throw down thy vault, and demolish thy high places; and they strip thee of thy clothes, and take the articles of thy splendour [thy splendid 40 jewels], and leave thee naked and bare. And they bring up a company against thee, and cast at thee with stones, and hew thee down with their swords 41 And they burn thy houses with fire, and execute judgments upon thee before the eyes of many women; and I make thee cease from being a harlot, neither 42 shalt thou give hire any more. And I make My fury rest in thee, and My jealousy departs from thee; and I take rest, and I will no more be angry 43 Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy childhood [youth], and didst rage against Me in all this, behold, I also have given thy way upon thy head—sentence of the Lord Jehovah—and hast thou not committed lewdness above all thy abominations?
44Behold, every one that deals in proverbs shall utter a proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter 45 Thou art thy mother’s daughter, that spurneth [casteth off] her husband and her children; and thou art the sister of thy sisters, who spurned their husbands and their 46 children; your mother is a Hittite, and your father an Amorite. And thy great sister is Samaria, she and her daughters, that dwell at thy left; and thy smaller sister than thou, that dwelleth on thy right, is Sodom and 47 her daughters. And [yet] thou didst not walk in their ways, nor didst after their abominations; as only a little, thou wast more corrupt [didst act more corruptly] than they in all thy ways 48 As I live—sentence of the Lord Jehovah—if Sodom thy sister hath done, she and her daughters, as thou hast done and thy daughters! 49Behold, this was the iniquity of Sodom thy sister: pride, fulness of bread, and rest free from care [tranquil security], were to her and her daughters; and the hand of the poor and needy she did not take hold of50[strengthen]. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before Me; 51and I removed them when I saw it. And Samaria hath not committed the half of thy sins; and thou didst multiply thy abominations more than they, 52and didst justify thy sisters by all thy abominations which thou didst. Thou also bear [take upon thee] thy disgrace [shame], which thou didst adjudge to thy sisters; by thy sins, wherein thou hast done more abominably than they, they will be more righteous than thou; and [yea] also be thou ashamed, and bear thy disgrace, because thou didst justify thy sisters.
53And I turn back their misery, the misery of Sodom and her daughters, and the misery of Samaria and her daughters, and the misery of thy miseries in the midst of them 54 That thou mayest bear thy disgrace, and be 55 ashamed of all that thou hast done, in that thou comfortest them. And thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their first estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their first estate, and thou and thy daughters 56 shall return to your first estate. And Sodom thy sister was not for a report in thy mouth in the day of thy haughtinesses, 57Before thy wickedness was discovered, as at the time of the scorn of the daughters of Aram, and of all her [Jerusalem’s] surroundings, the daughters of the Philistines, who despised thee round about. Thy lewdness and thy abominations, 58thou hast borne59[bearest] them—sentence of Jehovah. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: And I did with thee as thou hast done, who didst despise the oath to break the 60 covenant. And [yet] I remember My covenant with thee in the days of thy 61 childhood [youth], and establish unto thee an everlasting covenant. And thou rememberest thy ways, and art ashamed, when thou receivest thy sisters, those greater than thyself along with those smaller than thyself; and I give 62 them to thee for daughters, and not by thy covenant; And I establish My 63 covenant with thee; and thou knowest that I am Jehovah. To the end thou mayest remember, and be ashamed, and there may be no more opening of thy mouth because of thy disgrace, when I cover for thee all that thou hast done: sentence of the Lord Jehovah.
Ezekiel 16:4. Sept.: ... ον̓κἐδησαςτ. μκστονςσον... ον̓κἐλονσθηςτονκριστονμον—Vulg.: non es lota in salutem—Sept, Syr, hex, and Arabic read: שדך, ubera tua.
Eze 16:5. …ὀφθαλμοςμονἐπισοι... τοντων, τονπαθειντιἐπισοι... τησκολιοτητιτηςψνκηςσον—
Ezekiel 16:6. ... πεφνρμενηνἐντωαἱμ.... ἐκτοναἱματοςσονἡζωησον, κ. πληθνγον ( Ezekiel 16:7.)—For חיי, there is a reading חייך, vita tua.
Ezekiel 16:7. ... κ. εἰσηλθεςεἰςπολειςπολεων—Vulg.: Multiplicatam quasi germen … et ingressa es et pervenisti ad mundum muliebrem; … nuda et confusione plena.—For ודים, there is a reading: שדיך.
Ezekiel 16:8. ... ὡςκαιροςκαταλνοντων. Vulg.: tempus tuum, tempus amantium.
Eze 16:12. κ. ἐδωκαἐνωτιονἐπιτονμνκτηρασον... κστεφανονκανχησεως—
Ezekiel 16:13. For ומלבושך, there is a reading: ומלבושיך, et vestimenta tua; Sept, Syr.
Ezekiel 16:15. ... ὁον̓κἐσται—Vulg.: … ut ejus fieres.—Sept. reads: תזנותך, in the sing.
Ezekiel 16:16. ... κ. ον̓μηεἰσελθηςον̓δʼον̓μηγενηται. Vulg.: … sicut non est factum neque futurum est.
Ezekiel 16:19-21. ... κ. ἐγενετομεταταυτα…κ. ἐλαβες…̔Ωςμικραἐξεπορνευσας, κ. ἐσφαξαςτ. τεκνα…ἐντωἀποτροπιαζεσθαισεαὐταἐναὐτοις. (Many Codices and the Complut. have the plural: מתזנותיך; see also Ezekiel 16:25-26.)
Ezekiel 16:27, ʼΕανδεἐκτεινωτην... κ. ἐξαρω... κ. ταραδωσωσεεἰςψνχας... ταςἐκκλινονσαςσεἐχτ. ὁδονσονἡςἠσεβησας. Vulg.: et auferam justificationem tuam—(Another reading: ואנדע.)
Eze 16:28. ...θυγατεραςʼΑσσουρ... χἐξεπορνευσαςκ. οὐχἐνεμπιπλω,
Ezekiel 16:29. κ. ἐπληθυναςτηνδιαθηκηνσουπροςγηνΧαν. κ. Χαλδ.—Vulg.: … in terra Chan. cum Chaldæis—
Ezekiel 16:30. Τιδιαθωτηνθυγατερασου... ἐντωποιησαισε... κ. ἐξεπορνευσαςτρισσωςἐνταιςθυγατρασινσου—Vulg.: In quo mundabo cor tuum … cum facias omnia hæc …?
Ezekiel 16:31. ... κ. ἐγενουὡςπορνησυναγουσαμισθωματα. Vulg,: … nec facta es quasi meretrix fastidio augens pretium, sed ( Ezekiel 16:32) quasi mulier adultera—
Eze 16:32. ‘Ηγυνη... ὁμοιασοι, παρατ. ἀνδροςαὐτηςλαμβανουσαμισθωματαπασιν (Eze 16:33) τ. ἐκπορνευουσιναὐτηνπροσεδιδουμισθωματα. Κ. συδεδωχας...
Ezekiel 16:34. ... ἐξεστραμμενονπαρατ. γυναιχαςἐτ. πορςειασου, κ. μετασουπεπορνευκασινἐντωπροσδιδοναισεμισθωματακ. σοιμισθοὐκἐδοθη—Vulg.: et post te non erit fornicatio—
Ezekiel 16:36. For ובדמי, the Sept, Chald, Arab, Vulg. read: ובדמי.
Eze 16:37. ... κ. ἀποκαλυψωτ, κακιαςσουπροςαὐτους—
Eze 16:40. ... ἀξουσινἐπισεὀχλους—
Eze 16:42. ... κ. οὐμημεριμνησωοὐκετι
Ezekiel 16:43. ... κ. ἐλυπειςμε... κ. οὑτωςἐποιησαςτ. ἀσεβειανσουἐπιπασαιςτ. ἀνομιαιςσου. Vulg.: … provocasti e…et non feci juxta scelera tua in omnibus abominationibus tuis. (For בראש, there is a reading: בראשך, which also that of Syr. and Arab.—Sept, Syr, and Arab, read: עשיתי, without the negation.)
Eze 16:46. ... ἡπρεσβυτερα... ἡνεωτερα—
Ezekiel 16:47. Κ, οὐδʼὡς... οὐδεκατα... παραμικρονκ. ὑπερκειοκι—Vulg.: fecisti pauxillum minus; pene sceleraiora fecisti. (Another reading: מהם.)
Eze 16:49. ... κ. ἐνεὐθηνιαοἰνουἐωπαταλωναὑτη—
Ezekiel 16:50. Vulg.: sicut vidisti. (Another reading: כאשרראית.)
Ezekiel 16:51. Another reading: ממנה, præ illa.
Ezekiel 16:53. Vulg.: Et convertam restituens eas conversione Sodomorum c. filiabus … et conversione Samariæ … et convertam reversionem tuam—
Eze 16:55. ... ἀποκατασταθησονταικαθωςἠσανἀπʼἀρχης—
Eze 16:56. κ. εἰμηἠνΣοδομα—
Ezekiel 16:57. προτου... ὁντροτοννυνὀνειδοςεἰ—Vulg.: Palæstinarum—(Another reading: בנותאדם (Edom), Syr.)
Eze 16:61. κ. δωσωαὐταςσοιεἰςοἰκοδομην—
EXEGETICAL REMARKS
The humbling prophetic discourse passes from the designation of the vine to that other, where Jerusalem specially is spoken of as the “daughter” of Zion. At the basis of such a conception of the people, i.e. of Judah as a woman in their still standing capital city, the leader of fashion, there lies the mystery of Jehovah’s covenant as a marriage. To the course of sinning stretching over centuries, and with special reference to מָעְַלוּמַעַל in Ezekiel 15:8, there corresponds the detailed picture, which borrows its colours and therewith obtains its justification from the thoroughly sensual idolatry into which the people had fallen. It is spoken after the manner of the East, and must be translated into the language of the West,—in other words, traced back to its spirit and the ideas lying underneath. The story which is therein related is in so preponderating a degree a story of sin ( Ezekiel 16:2-34), and the punishment of sin ( Ezekiel 16:35-52), that the glimpse of grace, with which the long chapter concludes, only occupies the verses53–63. (“The whole representation runs on like a progressive drama, which in an earthly picture see forth so vividly the conflict of the holy love of God with man’s unfaithfulness, that many a reader certainly, with feelings of shame, will exclaim: My soul has been the faithless spouse of God!”—Schmieder.)
Ezekiel 16:2-14. The Grace at the Beginning
In this way (comp. Deuteronomy 32) the abominations ( Ezekiel 7:3-4; Ezekiel 7:9) of Jerusalem—representing the people in their own land—are to be the more affectingly brought home to her consciousness, are to be held up before her in so much the more shameful a light (“the abominations of Canaan,” Häv.). “He first loved us,” is the golden background for the dark and gloomy picture which follows, but which even in Ezekiel 16:2 is kept in view, and already in Ezekiel 16:3 hints at Jerusalem’s Canaanitish origin. Of such a nature are those abominations of hers which the prophet is to make known to Jerusalem, that such an inference seems justifiable, and one that may be drawn. (Kimchi, Grotius, have supposed an announcement by means of a letter!)—As in the figurative expression: מְבוּרָה (from בָּרָה, to dig), the reference is to the place where metals are found (comp. Isaiah 51:1), or to the source (Häv. compares Ezekiel 21:32, 30], and understands: “place of generation,” corresponding to the father, just as the place of birth corresponds to the mother), so also מוֹלְדוֹת, which is likewise in the plural, means something belonging to the sphere of nature. The higher divine origin of the people Isaiah, in fact, lost sight of; they are conceived of as regards the land of their natural development, where their capital city is situate. The intermediate thought is the implied accusation, that they have not dealt with the inhabitants of the land in accordance with the promise (comp. Exodus 23:32 sq.; Deuteronomy 7:1 sq.), but have become degenerate like them, and therefore themselves ripe for extermination. Just as in John 8:44, in contrast with Abraham, “the devil” is spoken of as the “father” of the Jews, so here the Amorite ( Genesis 15:16; Joshua 10:5), who by himself, or also along with the Hittite, is elsewhere named instead of the Canaanite in general, either because these two were the most distinguished of the Canaanitish nations, or because with them more than the rest of the Canaanitish the earliest reminiscences of the fathers of the Jewish people were connected ( Genesis 23; Genesis 26:34-35; Genesis 27:46; Genesis 28:1; Genesis 28:6; Genesis 28:8). Where, as here, the reference was to the land, it was the Canaanite (in Greek: the Phœnician) who principally came into consideration with the Jews ( Genesis 38:2). What is implied in the expression Canaanite might be seen already in Genesis 9:25, were not the Hamitic corruption of this people (comp. in what follows the different hints of this) a fact established from profane literature even. The close intercourse with the Semitic tribes, already carried on in earliest times, is reflected especially in the Semitic character of the language of Canaan; it was the overpowering spirit of the Semitic to which almost all the Hamitic dialects have succumbed: so much the more ignominious must the spiritual dependence of the degenerate Jews, with which Ezekiel charges them, appear. (Comp. Zephaniah 1:11.)