Ezekiel 16:46 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters That is, her lesser towns. “Samaria is called the elder, or greater sister, because it was a much larger city and kingdom, greater for power, riches, and numbers of people, and more nearly allied to Judah. And Sodom is called the younger sister, as being a smaller and less populous city, and further removed in blood from Jerusalem and its inhabitants, being only, as it were, a half sister. That dwell at thy left hand That is, toward the north, Samaria lying northward of Jerusalem, as Sodom lay southward of it. For these two quarters of the world are expressed by the right and left in the Hebrew language, being placed in such a position to those that set their faces eastward. The prophet here considers Samaria and Sodom as two cities still subsisting; though Sodom had been long since destroyed, and Samaria had been overthrown one hundred and twenty-seven years before this prophecy of Ezekiel was delivered. Yet thou hast not walked after their ways Thou hast not been content merely to be as bad as they, but hast carried thy wickedness to a much greater height, and committed many more crimes than they: see note on Ezekiel 5:7. “The vices of Sodom and Samaria were not attended with such aggravating circumstances as those of Jerusalem; for they had not been blessed with the same great privileges.”