ISRAEL’S INGRATITUDE, PUNISHMENT, AND, IN THE END, FORGIVENESS. (Chap. 16)
EXEGETICAL NOTES.—The prophet surveys the entire development of the nation, past and future. Their original condition was most wretched, like that of a miserable infant at its birth utterly neglected and deprived of proper attention and care. God had brought them out of this lowly estate, had saved them from destruction, and had fostered them with His constant love and care until they had reached to a maturity of vigour and loveliness. But in their ingratitude they sinned grievously against Him. They might rest in their position as the chosen vine and think themselves secure, but they are here assured that they are no better than other nations, and are liable to be punished and judged as the heathen around them. Yet, in the end, God will be mindful of His covenant, grant them His forgiveness, and restore them to favour.
ISRAEL’S PAST CONDITION, HELPLESS, UNCLEAN, AND ABOUT TO PERISH. (Ezekiel 16:1-2)
Ezekiel 16:1-2. “Cause Jerusalem to know her abominations.” Jerusalem is used as the symbolical representative of the whole Jewish people. Her sins were greater than those of other nations; they were “abominations,” for they were the sins of the covenant people. The main end of this chapter is to declare these abominations.
Ezekiel 16:3. “Thy birth and thy nativity is in the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite.” “Regarded merely as a city, Jerusalem was neither of Amoritish nor Hittite origin, but simply a Jebusite city. And it is too obvious to need any proof that the prophetic word does not refer to the city as a city, but that Jerusalem represents the people of Israel, or the covenant nation. It was not the mass of houses, but the population—which was the foundling—that excited Jehovah’s compassion, and which He multiplied into myriads (Ezekiel 16:7), clothed in splendour, and chose as the bride with whom He concluded a marriage covenant. The descent and birth referred to are not physical, but spiritual descent. Spiritually, Israel sprang from the land of the Canaanites; and its father was an Amorite and its mother a Hittite, in the same sense in which Jesus said to the Jews, ‘Ye are of your father the devil’ (St John 8:44). The iniquity of the Amorites was great even in Abraham’s time, through not yet full or ripe for destruction (Genesis 15:16); and the daughters of Heth, whom Esau married, caused Rebekah great bitterness of spirit (Genesis 27:46)” (Keil).
Ezekiel 16:4. “Thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee.” The cutting of the navel-string is necessary for the independent life of the child, and the washing with water to cleanse it from the impurities attaching to it. If these necessary offices are neglected, the infant must perish.
“Thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all” “After the washing, the body was rubbed with salt, according to a custom very widely spread in ancient times, and still met with here and there in the East; and that not merely for making the skin drier and firmer, or of cleansing it more thoroughly, but probably from regard to the virtue of salt as a protection from putrefaction. And, finally, it was bound with swaddling-clothes. Not one of these things, so indispensable to the preservation and strengthening of the child, was performed in the case of Israel at the time of its birth from any feeling of compassionate love; but it was cast into the field, i.e. exposed, in order that it might perish. The day of the birth of Jerusalem, i.e. of Israel, was the period of its sojourn in Egypt, where Israel as a nation was born, the sons of Jacob who went down to Egypt having multiplied into a nation” (Keil).
Ezekiel 16:5. “None eye pitied thee, to do any of these things unto thee.” “Those who had looked up to Joseph did not even look down with compassion on thee” (Lange). Israel in Egypt was an object of contempt. The neglect into which it had fallen might well be compared to the cruel desertion of an infant; for Moses, the type of his people, was actually exposed, and afterwards delivered from threatened death by God’s providence
HOMILETICS
MORAL CORRUPTION IN THE CHURCH
The prophet is speaking to those who had been brought into covenant with God, and called to serve Him as His people. He is not speaking of the sins of mankind generally, but of those of the Church. Of this moral corruption we are here taught—
I. That it ought to be thoroughly brought home to all concerned. No half measures, or delicate hints, will suffice. Jerusalem must “know her abominations” (Ezekiel 16:2).
1. The knowledge of sin is, before all things, necessary to salvation. It is not sufficient to make a general admission of our heritage in the sin which is natural to our race. There must be a real, heart-felt knowledge of sin as committed by ourselves against God. The sad wounds of our soul must be probed to the very bottom, a painful yet salutary process.
2. The knowledge of sin cannot be arrived at by our own unaided powers. However we may lament the sin that is in the world, we are naturally blind to our own real state. Even the engaging in the outward services of religion may tend still more to blind us, for we are tempted to rest satisfied with them, and, it may be, to regard them as an atonement for our faults and transgressions. And religious people are liable also to the temptation of pleading the motive of a good intention and purpose as a defence for what is clearly wrong. They use the light which is given them, not to shine on the path of duty, but to aid their own wilfulness. The real knowledge of sin must be brought to such from without. It is necessary that the inspired prophet should speak. It is the office of the Holy Spirit to convince of sin.
II. It ought to be revealed in all its enormity.
1. As sin against the light. Those who have church privileges, and yet live ungodly lives, are regarded as the heathen in the sight of God (Matthew 18:17).
2. As sin which brings to a most miserable condition. Such may be compared to an abandoned infant, ready to perish (Ezekiel 16:4-5).
(Ezekiel 16:2.)
1. A people may be guilty of abominations, and not know nor acknowledge them. “They know not to do right” (Amos 3:10). When men know not what is right, how can they know what is wrong? They stored up violence and robbery in their palaces, they got wealth by injustice, oppression, laid it up, and thought it well gotten. They know not God (Jeremiah 9:3). “They know not the way of the Lord” (Jeremiah 5:4); therefore their own ways seem good in their eyes. They were blinded, and as they knew not their abominations, so they acknowledged them not (Hosea 5:15). They are, therefore, urged to lay their sin to heart and confess it.
2. There is an unwillingness in sinners to hear of their sins. “Cause Jerusalem to know,” &c.; she is against it, but make her to know them. This people were always averse to hear of their sins or duty (Zechariah 7:11-12; 2 Chronicles 36:16). When Stephen told them of their practices (Acts 7:51-52) what followed upon it? “They were cut to the heart, and they gnashed upon him with their teeth.” And when Christ told them of their sins they derided Him (Luke 16:14), told Him that He had “a devil” (John 8:48). And not only wicked men are unwilling to hear of their sins, but even good men also. When God reproved Jonah, “Doest thou well to be angry?” his reply was, “I do well to be angry, even to death.” He thought God did evil in reproving him, that he had more cause to be angry than God had to chide him for his anger. Paul was become an enemy to the Galatians, because he told them the truth, he told them of their sins. Good men do not easily endure to hear of their faults.
3. What God commands the prophets and ministers to do, it matters not how it is taken by the people, they are to do it. It was not for Ezekiel to excuse himself from this service, to object against it, to say they will mock me, despise me, misuse me, hate me, seek my hurt. God commanded, and it was his duty to do it carefully, conscientiously, and faithfully. He must make known their sins to themselves, to the world, let the event be what it will (Isaiah 58:1). The prophet must not whisper, but cry, and that aloud; it matters not who hears, he must lift up his voice like a trumpet. When men blow trumpets they do it with all their strength, and the sound of it goeth far; so must the prophets utter the sins of the people, and show them their transgressions.
(1.) That others may take warning, and not do as they have done (1 Timothy 5:20).
(2.) That they may bring the parties to repentance (Jeremiah 33:22). How shall sinners come to repentance if they hear not of their sins, if they be not convinced of the sinfulness of them by the prophets and ministers of God? The false prophets hid their sins from them.
(3.) That they may deliver their own souls (Ezekiel 33:8-9).
4. The sins of people are abominations in God’s account. Sins are works, but works of iniquity, abominable works, and abominable iniquity (Psalms 14:1; Psalms 53:1).—Greenhill.
ISRAEL’S SALVATION FROM HER SHAME AND MISERY IS DUE TO THE LORD ALONE (Ezekiel 16:6-14)
Ezekiel 16:6. “And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood.” Some render, “and saw thee trampled in thy blood.” Israel in Egypt was a people trampled upon, utterly despised. “I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, Live.” It was sad to be despised, but the chief danger was that life was seriously threatened. From the mouth of God, the word “Live” was a word of power, and was visibly fulfilled in the extraordinary multiplication of Israel. “Jehovah here represents Himself as a traveller who, on passing by, discovers the unsightly and pitiable object which had just been described, and interposes for its rescue. Notwithstanding its pollution, He takes compassion upon it, and saves its life. In this miserable and helpless condition Jehovah found the Hebrews in the land of bondage. Extending the principle involved in the figure beyond the direct teaching of the text, it is strikingly descriptive of the condition of sinners previous to conversion.”—(Henderson.)
Ezekiel 16:7. “I have caused thee to multiply as the bird of the field.” According to the promise (Exodus 1:7; Exodus 1:12). “Thou art come to excellent ornaments.” Heb., “Ornament of cheeks,” describing youthful freshness and beauty of face. “Thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown.” The Heb. word when applied to the breasts means to expand, lit. to raise oneself up. “The metaphor is still continued, representing the infant growing up to womanhood, and exhibiting unmistakeable signs of puberty.”—(Henderson.) “Whereas thou wast naked and bare.” “Naked and bare are figurative expressions for still destitute of either clothing or ornaments. This implies something more than the poverty of the people in the wilderness attached to Egypt. Nakedness represents deprivation of all the blessings of salvation with which the Lord endowed Israel and made it glorious, after he had adopted it as the people of his possession in Egypt, Israel was living in a state of nature, destitute of the gracious revelations of God.”—(Keil.)
Ezekiel 16:8. “Behold thy time was the time of love.” This is not intended merely to convey the idea that she had arrived at a marriageable age, but also the further thought that she had become an object of affection. “I spread my skirt over thee and covered thy nakedness.” “The spreading of the corner of the upper garment and the covering of the nakedness symbolize in general, that He took the miserable, helpless one under His protection, interested Himself in her; specially, however, with the thought of conferring the honour of betrothal, marriage (Ruth 3:9). This thought is solemnly carried out in the swearing and entering into covenant, by means of which Israel, grown into a nation, now became the peculiar people of Jehovah (Ezekiel 20:5-6; Exodus 19, Exodus 20:2; Exodus 20:5; Deuteronomy 5:2; Ephesians 5:32.”—(Lange.) “There was nothing in Israel that was lovely. It was all pure affection on the part of Jehovah. The advance in the allegory is now to that of the espousals.”—(Henderson.) “I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee.” “An obvious reference to the solemn transactions at Sinai, when Jehovah entered into covenant with the Hebrews, thereby contracting as it were a conjugal relation, by which He pledged Himself to love, provide for, and protect them; while they came under an obligation to love, worship, and obey Him to the exclusion of every rival god. Hence as it follows in the sequel, and so frequently in the Old Testament, idolatry is represented as spiritual adultery, the nation thereby being guilty of a breach of the marriage covenant.’—(Henderson.)
Ezekiel 16:9. “Then washed I thee with water; yea, I thoroughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I annointed thee with oil.” Preparations for the marriage ceremony, consisting of purification, the putting on of ornaments, and annointing with oil were customary in the East (Esther 2:9-12). Before the Israelites were permitted to enter into covenant with God they had to undergo a thorough purification (Exodus 19:14; Jeremiah 2:2-3). “The anointing with oil indicates the powers of the Spirit of God, which flowed to Israel from the divine covenant of grace.”—(Keil.)
Ezekiel 16:10. “Broidered work.” Rich garments of many colours, adorned with figures wrought in silver and gold. With such costly garments queens were accustomed to clothe themselves (Psalms 45:15). “And shod thee with badger’s skin.” “This was a kind of skin used by the Hebrews to make an over-covering to the tabernacle (Exodus 26:14); and, as appears from the present verse, used also for shoes; but of what particular animal, has been disputed. The most probable opinion is, that the seal is intended.”—(Henderson.) “And I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk.” “The girding with fine linen refers to the head-band (Ezekiel 24:17; Exodus 29:9; Leviticus 8:13), and is applied by the Targum to the headdress of the priests.”—(Henderson.)
Ezekiel 16:12. “And I put a jewel on thy forehead.” The Hebrew word here rendered, “jewel” properly means a “ring,” and the word rendered “forehead” (though sometimes used to denote the countenance or face in general) signifies strictly and properly the nose. “The jewellery included not only armlets, nose-rings, and earrings, which the daughters of Israel were generally accustomed to wear, but also necklaces and a crown, as ornaments worn by princesses and queens.”—(Keil.)
Ezekiel 16:13. “Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver.” This verse sums up the contents of Ezekiel 16:9-12. “Thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil; and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom.” “The food is referred to once more; and the result of the whole is said to have been, that Jerusalem became exceedingly beautiful, and flourished even to royal dignity. The latter cannot be taken as referring simply to the establishment of the monarchy under David, any more than merely to the spiritual sovereignty for which Israel was chosen from the very beginning (Exodus 19:5-6). The expression includes both, viz., the call of Israel to be a kingdom of priests, and the historical realisation of this call through the Davidic sovereignty” (Keil)
Ezekiel 16:14 “And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty.” “As a kingdom theirs was distinguishingly flourishing in the days of David and Solomon, the former of which monarchs greatly extended its boundaries and enriched it with the spoils of his victories. The theocracy then reached its highest point of glory, and was of great celebrity among the surrounding nations (1 Kings 10). Still they are reminded that their prosperity and glory were not owing to any merit of their own. It was a ‘comeliness’ which Jehovah their covenant-God had put upon them. To His unmerited bounty they owed all that they enjoyed” (Henderson).
HOMILETICS
SALVATION IS OF THE LORD
The salvation and advancement of Israel to position and renown among the nations has its parallel in the salvation and exaltation of believers. Consider—
I. The grace of this salvation. Israel is described under the figure of a miserable infant neglected at its birth, and even cast out and left to perish. This people on whom God bestowed His grace, were lying in their own pollutions, and fast sinking into moral death. They were destitute of every ornament and beauty of goodness (Ezekiel 16:6-7). There was nothing in them to win the love of admiration or affection, but everything to excite loathing and disgust. When we consider the condition from which Israel was called, we must feel that the salvation of the people was by grace alone. And what does God see in man as a sinner but all that is abhorrent to His own holy nature! If God comes to the help of such it must be by the impulse of a grace which is all His own.
II. The glory of this salvation. The glory of it lies in the fact that it is grace manifested in the most wonderful and excellent way.
1. It had its source in the love of pity and compassion. There was nothing in the original condition of Israel to win the love of admiration. It was the love of pity and compassion that saved them. Such a love is worthy of the broad free benevolence of God. It is a love which cannot be overtasked by the worst condition of human sin and misery. The grace of God meets the case of the guilty, and His mercy that of the miserable; and the glory of it lies in the fact, that it springs from pure pity without any merit or claim whatever on the part of its object.
2. It was a manifestation of that love which desires to give and bless. These are the essential characteristics of all love which is worthy of that sacred name. “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” and that blessedness first and above all belongs to God. He is the only blessed One, for He alone is ever giving and never receiving. And what is Creation but the love of God expressing itself in manifold gifts; and what is Redemption but the love of God, as it brings the undeserved gifts of salvation to the souls of men? God’s love gave to ancient Israel a restored life; “I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live”—gave them an energy of growth and improvement—invested them with ornaments and beauty (Ezekiel 16:7). They also had bestowed upon them by an extraordinary grace the favours of God’s love, for they were taken into intimate union with Himself (Ezekiel 16:8). And further, God also gave them influence among the nations of the earth (Ezekiel 16:14)—that influence which comes from righteousness. They had thus bestowed upon them that love which both gives and blesses. But in this process by which they were raised from sin to holiness, the order is, first—forgiveness; and then the other gifts and blessings of grace. They are first purified from their pollution, and then are anointed (Ezekiel 16:9). For God must pardon before He can heal; and men must be justified before they can be sanctified. God loves the sinner though vile and miserable but His favour is only reserved for those who are washed and sanctified.
The first lesson of this passage is, that the infinite love and pity of the heart of God is the spring and origin of our salvation. Therefore there is no room for pride or boasting on our part. In this matter of salvation, above all things, we must give the glory to God alone.
(Ezekiel 16:6.)
I. There is nothing in the creature to move God to show mercy. God saw nothing to incline or move Him to do aught, or bestow aught upon this infant. But there are several things which move men.
1. Birth and progeny. Royal and noble births have affected many; David was taken with Saul’s daughter (1 Samuel 18:17-18). This moves not God, He poureth contempt upon princes (Job 12:21). He chooseth the poor to be rich in faith (James 2:5). Believers are said to be “born not of blood” (John 1:13), which some refer to families of noble and royal blood. “Not many noble are called” (1 Corinthians 1:26).
2. Beauty. Jacob was affected with the beauty of Rachel; Ahasuerus with the beauty of Vashti (Esther 1:11). God is not moved with beauty; if we had it, there is nothing in man to affect His eye (Psalms 14:3). We are altogether filthy, and God saw them in their blood.
3. Natural parts prevail with men. Ahithophel’s counsel took much with David and Absalom; Joseph, Daniel, had excellent spirits, great wisdom, and they were advanced thereupon. Learning is persuasive, and conquers many, but parts and learning can do nothing with God (1 Corinthians 1:26; Matthew 11:25).
4. Profitableness, serviceableness. So Paul persuades Philemon to take Onesimus, because he would be profitable unto him. Men are taken with men, because they bring in gain unto them. But the Lord is not profited by the righteousness of men (Job 35:7); He receives nothing at man’s hands, and when we have done all, we are unprofitable servants.
5. Necessity moves men mightily. It caused Abiathar to give the shew-bread to David (1 Samuel 21:6); the necessity of the Church moved the rich to sell their lands and goods to distribute unto every man as they had need (Acts 2:45). This is no motive unto Divine Majesty.
6. Hope of proving well draws forth men to do much. Men do much for others with the hope that they may become instruments of good. But God will give the gifts of Christ for the rebellious, and dwell among them (Psalms 68:18). How rebellious was Manasseh! How did he sin against heaven and earth, yet God had a gift of life for him. To Mary Magdalene and to Zaccheus, Christ said, live, when they were in their blood. He showed mercy to Paul, and bade him live, when he was a persecutor and an injurious person.
7. Nothing in the godly moves God, all they do is debt (Luke 17:10). The will and deed are of the Lord (Philippians 2:13).
II. The Lord shows mercy to men when they are in desperate conditions. When this infant was cast out, and lay bleeding to death, God said “Live.” When Moses, and other Hebrew children were to be drowned, the Lord delivered them. When in Babylon, all the necks of the Jews were upon the block by Haman’s plot and power, the Lord showed them mercy, and said, “Live,” The thief upon the cross met with life in the gates of death.
III. When sinners look not after God, He is pleased to look after and find out them. God found out and sought the Jews, when they neither sought nor called; so it is with the Gentiles (Isaiah 65:1). Both Gentile and Jew had preventing grace, and were sought out of God before ever they sought God. Hence Jerusalem had that promise or title, thou shalt be called, “Sought out” (Isaiah 57:12).
IV. God hath no need of any people. He passed by, like some great man, that riding forth, finds a poor distressed infant, and out of compassion takes it into his family; not because he needs it, but he will show kindness to it of his own good pleasure. If He needed people or nations He could create them, raise them up from the stones. The Samaritan had no need of the wounded man, but he needed the Samaritan’s wine and oil.
V. In bestowing mercies, God is real. This appears from the doubling of the word—“Live,” “Live.” When there is a doubling of the same word, there the intention, reality, and earnestness of the author speaking is held out (Ezekiel 5:8; Ezekiel 37:5-6; Isaiah 40:1).
VI. When God hath done much for a people, and they are degenerate and ungrateful, the Lord’s way of dealing with them is to set before them their original condition and his kindness unto them (Micah 6:2-5: Deuteronomy 32:6). (Greenhill).