Ezekiel 16:19

"My bread also, which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou didst even set it before them for a sweet savor; and thus it was, saith the Lord Jehovah. Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters which thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Were thy whoredoms a small matter, that thou hast slain my children, and delivered them up, in causing them to pass through the fire unto them? And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast weltering in thy blood."

"Before them for a sweet savor ..." (Ezekiel 16:19). These were food offerings to idols.

"To pass through the fire to them ..." (Ezekiel 16:20,21). This is a reference to the horrible infanticide identified with the worship of Molech, a pagan practice that continued throughout the greater part of Israel's history, even some of their kings making their sons "pass through the fire to Molech."

"Thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth ..." (Ezekiel 16:22). Matthew Henry has an extensive analysis of this whole long paragraph (Ezekiel 16:15-35).

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I. Causes of Israel's sin.

A. They grew proud (Ezekiel 16:15).

B. They refused to remember (Ezekiel 16:22).

C. They were weak in heart (Ezekiel 16:30).

II. Particulars of their sins.

A. They worshipped every idol they heard of (Ezekiel 16:15).

B. They lavished their God-given wealth on their idols (Ezekiel 16:16,18).

C. They made idols from gold God had given them (Ezekiel 16:17).

D. They served idols with the wealth God gave them (Ezekiel 16:18).

E. They sacrificed their children to Molech (Ezekiel 16:20).

F. They even built shrines for their idols (Ezekiel 16:23-25).

III. Aggravations of their Guilt.

A. They even worshipped the idols of those nations which were their enemies (Ezekiel 16:28).

B. God rebuked them, but still they continued in the same sins (Ezekiel 16:27).

C. They spent much money on their idols (Ezekiel 16:31-34).[26]MONO>

Later in this study of the paragraph, we shall refer to this outline.