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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ezekiel 16:44-59

The prophet here further shows Jerusalem her abominations, by comparing her with those places that had gone before her, and showing that she was worse than any of them, and therefore should, like them, be utterly and irreparably ruined. We are all apt to judge of ourselves by comparison, and to imagine that we are sufficiently good if we are but as good as such and such, who are thought passable; or that we are not dangerously bad if we are no worse than such and such, who, though bad, are not... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 16:45

Thou art thy mother's daughter ,.... Exactly like her; they that have known the one must know the other. The Targum is, "wherefore art thou become the daughter of the land of Canaan, to do according to the works of the people?' that loatheth her husband and her children ; a true character of an adulteress; and which agrees both with the mother the Canaanites, and with the daughter the Jews; who both despised, rejected, and forsook God their husband, Creator, and lawgiver, and... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ezekiel 16:1-63

The thought that underlies Ezekiel's parable, that Israel was the bride of Jehovah, and that her sin was that of the adulterous wife, was sufficiently familiar. Isaiah ( Isaiah 1:21 ) had spoken of the "faithful city that had become a harlot." Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 2:2 ) had represented Jehovah as remembering "the kindness of her youth, the love of her espousals." What is characteristic of Ezekiel's treatment of that image is that he does not recognize any period in which Israel had been... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ezekiel 16:15-59

Inexcusable infidelity. Universal consent accounts that woman vile who, married to a kind and honourable husband, in order to gratify her own unchastened desires, commits adultery with her neighbours and acquaintances, and expends her husband's substance in rewarding her numerous and profligate admirers. The guilt of Jerusalem must indeed have been great if it could only be adequately set forth under the similitude of guilt so flagrant and abominable as that described in this most... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ezekiel 16:44-52

A picture of comparative iniquity. "Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying. As is the mother, so is her daughter," etc. The following observations are suggested by this paragraph. I. THE HEINOUSNESS OF SIN IS PROPORTIONATE TO THE POSITION AND PRIVILEGES OF THE SINNERS . "The more mercies people enjoy, the greater are their sins if they answer not those mercies." It is by the application of this principle that the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ezekiel 16:44-59

Sin seen in the light of comparison. If men are so encased in worldliness that they cannot see their sin in the light of God's perfect righteousness, they may yet discover some features of their sin in the light of others' conduct, in the light of others' doom. God has employed manifold methods for convincing men of sin. I. SIN MAY BE SEEN IN THE LIGHT OF ANOTHER 'S FALL . In the case of Israel it might have been seen in a parent's disaster and doom. For their... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ezekiel 16:45

Ezekiel returns to the thought of the spiritual parentage of Jerusalem and Judah, as in verse 3. Reading between the lines, we find something like an anticipation of St. Paul's thought that Jehovah was the God of the Gentiles as well as of the Jews ( Romans 3:29 ). The Hittites and Sodom and Samaria, to whom she is compared, had all alike been guilty of unfaithfulness to their husbands. Their idolatry was therefore, like hers, an act of apostasy. Jehovah was their husband also, their... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Ezekiel 16:44-45

Ezekiel 16:44-45. Every one that useth proverbs They who love to apply proverbial sayings, shall apply that common saying to thee, As is the mother, so is her daughter The inhabitants of Jerusalem are just such a people as the Amorites and Hittites were, whose land they inhabit. Thou art thy mother’s daughter The Canaanites and other nations, who dwelt in the land before the Israelites, are here called their mother; and in terming the Jews their mother’s daughter, the prophet... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 16:44-63

Worthless sisters (16:44-63)Ezekiel refers back to Israel’s mixed parentage in Canaan to introduce two sisters of the prostitute (who, in Ezekiel’s time was identified with Judah’s capital Jerusalem). The two sisters were the cities Samaria (capital of the former northern kingdom) and Sodom. Both cities were destroyed by God’s judgment, but Jerusalem’s sin was worse than both (44-48). Sodom was well known for its greed and immorality, Samaria for its idolatry, but both cities now appeared... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Ezekiel 16:45

45. mother's . . . that loatheth her husband—that is, God ("haters of God," :-); therefore the knowledge of the true God had originally been in Canaan, handed down from Noah (hence we find Melchisedek, king of Salem, in Canaan, "priest of the most high God," :-), but Canaan apostatized from it; this was what constituted the blackness of the Canaanites' guilt. loathed . . . children—whom she put to death in honor of Saturn; a practice common among the Phoelignicians. sister of thy sisters—Thou... read more

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