Ezekiel 16:2-3

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ezekiel 16:1-5

Ezekiel is now among the captives in Babylon; but, as Jeremiah at Jerusalem wrote for the use of the captives though they had Ezekiel upon the spot with them (Ezek. 29:1-21), so Ezekiel wrote for the use of Jerusalem, though Jeremiah himself was resident there; and yet they were far from looking upon it as an affront to one another's help both by preaching and writing. Jeremiah wrote to the captives for their consolation, which was the thing they needed; Ezekiel here is directed to write to... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 16:2

Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations. That is, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as the Targum; these are mentioned instead of the whole body of the people, because that Jerusalem was the metropolis of the nation, whose sins were very many and heinous: called "abominations", because abominable to God, and rendered them so to him; particularly their idolatries are meant; which, though committed by them, and so must be known to them, yet were not owned, confessed, and repented of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 16:3

And say, thus saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem ,.... To the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as the Targum: thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan ; here the Jewish ancestors for a time dwelt and sojourned, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and so the Targum, Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech, interpret the first word, "thy habitation" or "sojourning" F6 מכריתיך "habitationes tuae", Pagninus, Calvin; "mansiones tuae", Montanus; "habitatio tua", Vatablus, Grotius; so R. Sol. Urbin.... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ezekiel 16:2

Cause Jerusalem to know her abominations - And such a revelation of impurity never was seen before or since. Surely the state of the Jews, before the Babylonish captivity, was the most profligate and corrupt of all the nations of the earth. This chapter contains God's manifesto against this most abominable people; and although there are many metaphors here, yet all is not metaphorical. Where there was so much idolatry, there must have been adulteries, fornications, prostitutions, and... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ezekiel 16:3

Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan - It would dishonor Abraham to say that you sprung from him: ye are rather Canaanites than Israelites. The Canaanites were accursed; so are ye. Thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite - These tribes were the most famous, and probably the most corrupt, of all the Canaanites. So Isaiah calls the princes of Judah rulers of Sodom, Isaiah 1:10 ; and John the Baptist calls the Pharisees a generation or brood of vipers, Matthew... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Ezekiel 16:3

Verse 3 A question arises here — When God had adopted Abraham two hundred years previously, why was not that covenant taken into account? for he here seems not to magnify his own faithfulness and the constancy of his promise when he rejects the Jews as sprung from the Canaanites or Amorites; but this only shows what they were in themselves: for although he never departed from his purpose, and his election was never in vain, yet we must hold, as far as the people were concerned, that they are... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ezekiel 16:1-4

Undeserved and lavish kindness. The Prophet Ezekiel was a prophet of reproach. His ministry largely consisted in rebuke and denunciation. His lot fell upon the time of his country's calamity. Defection and apostasy were punished by national disaster; for whilst the exiles endured the ills of banishment, the remnant in Jerusalem and in Judah endured the horrors of siege. That all the evils inflicted upon. the Hebrew people were of the nature of righteous punishment is apparent from the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ezekiel 16:1-14

Superhuman love. The main difficulty in producing a moral reformation among men is to convince them of their degradation—of the low level to which they have sunk. The first thing to be done is to hold up to their view some bright mirror, in the which they may discern clearly what manner of men they are. Such a mirror is provided in the chapter under consideration. We have pictured here— I. A FORMER LOATHSOME CONDITION . Sin is not merely resistance against proper authority, it is... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ezekiel 16:1-15

A picture of human depravity and destitution, and of Divine condescension and favour. "Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations," etc. "We have here," says Hengstenberg, "one of the grandest prophecies of Ezekiel. The prophet surveys in the Spirit of God the whole of the development of Israel, the past and the future." In this development we have the following stages: The condition in which the Lord found his people; the... 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

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