mh_parser/vol_split/26 - Ezekiel/Chapter 16.xml

<div2 id="Ez.xvii" n="xvii" next="Ez.xviii" prev="Ez.xvi" progress="55.34%" title="Chapter XVI">
<h2 id="Ez.xvii-p0.1">E Z E K I E L.</h2>
<h3 id="Ez.xvii-p0.2">CHAP. XVI.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Ez.xvii-p1" shownumber="no">Still God is justifying himself in the desolations
he is about to bring upon Jerusalem; and very largely, in this
chapter, he shows the prophet, and orders him to show the people,
that he did but punish them as their sins deserved. In the
foregoing chapter he had compared Jerusalem to an unfruitful vine,
that was fit for nothing but the fire; in this chapter he compares
it to an adulteress, that, in justice, ought to be abandoned and
exposed, and he must therefore show the people their abominations,
that they might see how little reason they had to complain of the
judgments they were under. In this long discourse are set forth, I.
The despicable and deplorable beginnings of that church and nation,
<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.3-Ezek.16.5" parsed="|Ezek|16|3|16|5" passage="Eze 16:3-5">ver. 3-5</scripRef>. II. The many
honours and favours God had bestowed upon them, <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.6-Ezek.16.14" parsed="|Ezek|16|6|16|14" passage="Eze 16:6-14">ver. 6-14</scripRef>. III. Their treacherous and
ungrateful departures from him to the services and worship of
idols, here represented by the most impudent whoredom, <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.15-Ezek.16.34" parsed="|Ezek|16|15|16|34" passage="Eze 16:15-34">ver. 15-34</scripRef>. IV. A threatening of
terrible destroying judgments, which God would bring upon them for
this sin, <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.35-Ezek.16.43" parsed="|Ezek|16|35|16|43" passage="Eze 16:35-43">ver. 35-43</scripRef>.
V. An aggravation both of their sin and of their punishment, by
comparison with Sodom and Samaria, <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.44-Ezek.16.59" parsed="|Ezek|16|44|16|59" passage="Eze 16:44-59">ver. 44-59</scripRef>. VI. A promise of mercy in the
close, which God would show to a penitent remnant, <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.60-Ezek.16.63" parsed="|Ezek|16|60|16|63" passage="Eze 16:60-63">ver. 60-63</scripRef>. And this is designed
for admonition to us.</p>
<scripCom id="Ez.xvii-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16" parsed="|Ezek|16|0|0|0" passage="Eze 16" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Ez.xvii-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.1-Ezek.16.5" parsed="|Ezek|16|1|16|5" passage="Eze 16:1-5" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Ez.xvii-p1.9">
<h4 id="Ez.xvii-p1.10">The Meanness of Judah's
Origin. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.xvii-p1.11">b. c.</span> 593.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ez.xvii-p2" shownumber="no">1 Again the word of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.xvii-p2.1">Lord</span> came unto me, saying,   2 Son of man,
cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,   3 And say, Thus
saith the Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.xvii-p2.2">God</span> unto Jerusalem;
Thy birth and thy nativity <i>is</i> of the land of Canaan; thy
father <i>was</i> an Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite.   4
And <i>as for</i> thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel
was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple
<i>thee;</i> thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.
  5 None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to
have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open
field, to the loathing of thy person, in the day that thou wast
born.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.xvii-p3" shownumber="no">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 (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.29.1-Ezek.29.21" parsed="|Ezek|29|1|29|21" passage="eze 29:1-21"><i>ch.</i> xxix.</scripRef>), 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 the
inhabitants of Jerusalem for their conviction and humiliation,
which was the thing they needed.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.xvii-p4" shownumber="no">I. This is his commission (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.2" parsed="|Ezek|16|2|0|0" passage="Eze 16:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>): "<i>Cause Jerusalem to
know her abominations</i> (that is, her sins); set them in order
before her." Note, 1. Sins are not only <i>provocations</i> which
God is angry at, but <i>abominations</i> which he hates, as
contrary to his nature, and which we ought to hate, <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.4" parsed="|Jer|44|4|0|0" passage="Jer 44:4">Jer. xliv. 4</scripRef>. 2. The sins of
Jerusalem are in a special manner so. The practice of profaneness
appears most odious in those that make a profession of religion. 3.
Though Jerusalem is a place of great knowledge, yet she is loth
<i>to know her abominations;</i> so partial are men in their own
favour that they are hardly made to see and own their own badness,
but deny it, palliate or extenuate it. 4. It is requisite that we
should know our sins, that we may confess them, and may justify God
in what he brings upon us for them. 5. It is the work of ministers
to cause sinners, sinners in Jerusalem, <i>to know their
abominations,</i> to set before them the glass of the law, that in
it they may see their own deformities and defilements, to tell them
plainly of their faults. <i>Thou art the man.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.xvii-p5" shownumber="no">II. That Jerusalem may be made <i>to know
her abominations,</i> and particularly the abominable ingratitude
she had been guilty of, it was requisite that she should be put in
mind of the great things God had done for her, as the aggravations
of her bad conduct towards him; and, to magnify those favours, she
is in <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.1-Ezek.16.5" parsed="|Ezek|16|1|16|5" passage="Eze 16:1-5">these verses</scripRef> made
to know the meanness and baseness of her original, from what poor
beginnings God raised her, and how unworthy she was of his favour
and of the honour he had put upon her. Jerusalem is here put for
the Jewish church and nation, which is here compared to an outcast
child, base-born and abandoned, which the mother herself has no
affection nor concern for. 1. The extraction of the Jewish nation
was mean: "<i>Thy birth is of the land of Canaan</i> (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.3" parsed="|Ezek|16|3|0|0" passage="Eze 16:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>); thou hadst from the
very first the spirit and disposition of a Canaanite." The
patriarchs dwelt in Canaan, and they were there but <i>strangers
and sojourners,</i> had no possession, no power, not one foot of
ground of their own but a burying-place. Abraham and Sarah were
indeed their <i>father and mother,</i> but they were only inmates
with the Amorites and Hittites, who, having the dominion, seemed to
be as parents to the seed of Abraham, witness the court Abraham
made to the <i>children of Seth</i> (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.23.4 Bible:Gen.23.8" parsed="|Gen|23|4|0|0;|Gen|23|8|0|0" passage="Ge 23:4,8">Gen. xxiii. 4, 8</scripRef>), the dependence they had
upon their neighbours the Canaanites, and the fear they were in of
them, <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p5.4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.7 Bible:Gen.34.30" parsed="|Gen|13|7|0|0;|Gen|34|30|0|0" passage="Ge 13:7,34:30">Gen. xiii. 7; xxxiv.
30</scripRef>. If the patriarchs, at their first coming to Canaan,
had conquered it, and made themselves masters of it, this would
have put an honour upon their family and would have looked great in
history; but, instead of that, they <i>went from one nation to
another</i> (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p5.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.105.13" parsed="|Ps|105|13|0|0" passage="Ps 105:13">Ps. cv. 13</scripRef>),
as tenants from one farm to another, almost as beggars from one
door to another, when they <i>were but few in number,</i> yea, very
few. And yet this was not the worst; their fathers had <i>served
other gods in Ur of the Chaldees</i> (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p5.6" osisRef="Bible:Josh.24.2" parsed="|Josh|24|2|0|0" passage="Jos 24:2">Josh. xxiv. 2</scripRef>); even in Jacob's family there
were <i>strange gods,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p5.7" osisRef="Bible:Gen.35.2" parsed="|Gen|35|2|0|0" passage="Ge 35:2">Gen. xxxv.
2</scripRef>. Thus early had they a genius leading them to
idolatry; and upon this account their ancestors were Amorites and
Hittites. 2. When they first began to multiply their condition was
really very deplorable, like that of a new-born child, which must
of necessity die from the womb if the knees prevent it not,
<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p5.8" osisRef="Bible:Job.3.11-Job.3.12" parsed="|Job|3|11|3|12" passage="Job 3:11,12">Job iii. 11, 12</scripRef>. The
children of Israel, when they began to increase into a people and
became considerable, were thrown out from the country that was
intended for them; a famine drove them thence. Egypt was <i>the
open field</i> into which they were cast; there they had no
protection or countenance from the government they were under, but,
on the contrary, were ruled with rigour, and their lives
embittered; they had no encouragement given them to build up their
families, no help to build up their estates, no friends or allies
to strengthen their interests. Joseph, who had been the <i>shepherd
and stone of Israel,</i> was dead; the king of Egypt, who should
have been kind to them for Joseph's sake, set himself to <i>destroy
this man-child as soon as it was born</i> (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p5.9" osisRef="Bible:Rev.12.4" parsed="|Rev|12|4|0|0" passage="Re 12:4">Rev. xii. 4</scripRef>), ordered all the males to be
slain, which, it is likely, occasioned the exposing of many as well
as Moses, to which perhaps the similitude here has reference. The
founders of nations and cities had occasion for all the arts and
arms they were masters of, set their heads on work, by policies and
stratagems, to preserve and nurse up their infant states. <i>Tantæ
molis erat Romanam condere gentem—So vast were the efforts
requisite to the establishment of the Roman name.</i> Virgil. But
the nation of Israel had no such care taken of it, no such pains
taken with it, as Athens, Sparta, Rome, and other commonwealths had
when they were first founded, but, on the contrary, was doomed to
destruction, like an infant new-born, exposed to wind and weather,
<i>the navel-string not cut,</i> the poor babe <i>not washed,</i>
not clothed, <i>no swaddled,</i> because not <i>pitied,</i>
<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p5.10" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.4-Ezek.16.5" parsed="|Ezek|16|4|16|5" passage="Eze 16:4,5"><i>v.</i> 4, 5</scripRef>. Note, We
owe the preservation of our infant lives to the natural pity and
compassion which the God of nature has put into the hearts of
parents and nurses towards new-born children. This infant is said
to be <i>cast out, to the loathing of her person;</i> it was a sign
that she was loathed by those that bore her, and she appeared
loathsome to all that looked upon her. <i>The Israelites were an
abomination to the Egyptians,</i> as we find <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p5.11" osisRef="Bible:Gen.43.32 Bible:Gen.46.34" parsed="|Gen|43|32|0|0;|Gen|46|34|0|0" passage="Ge 43:32,46:34">Gen. xliii. 32; xlvi. 34</scripRef>. Some think
that this refers to the corrupt and vicious disposition of that
people from their beginning: they were not only the weakest and
<i>fewest of all people</i> (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p5.12" osisRef="Bible:Deut.7.7" parsed="|Deut|7|7|0|0" passage="De 7:7">Deut. vii.
7</scripRef>), but the worst and most ill-humoured of all people.
<i>God giveth thee this good land, not for thy righteousness, for
thou art a stiff-necked people,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p5.13" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.6" parsed="|Deut|9|6|0|0" passage="De 9:6">Deut. ix. 6</scripRef>. And Moses tells them there
(<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p5.14" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.24" parsed="|Ezek|16|24|0|0" passage="Eze 16:24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>), <i>You
have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew
you.</i> They were not <i>suppled,</i> nor <i>washed,</i> nor
<i>swaddled;</i> they were not at all tractable or manageable, nor
cast into any good shape. God took them to be his people, not
because he saw any thing in them inviting or promising, but <i>so
it seemed good in his sight.</i> And it is a very apt illustration
of the miserable condition of all the children of men by nature.
<i>As for</i> our <i>nativity, in the day that we were born</i> we
were shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin, our understandings
darkened, our minds alienated from the life of God, polluted with
sin, which rendered us loathsome in the eyes of God. <i>Marvel
not</i> then that we are told, <i>You must be born again.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="Ez.xvii-p5.15" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.6-Ezek.16.14" parsed="|Ezek|16|6|16|14" passage="Eze 16:6-14" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Ez.xvii-p5.16">
<h4 id="Ez.xvii-p5.17">God's Kindness to Israel. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.xvii-p5.18">b. c.</span> 593.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ez.xvii-p6" shownumber="no">6 And when I passed by thee, and saw thee
polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee <i>when thou wast</i>
in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee <i>when thou wast</i> in
thy blood, Live.   7 I have caused thee to multiply as the bud
of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art
come to excellent ornaments: <i>thy</i> breasts are fashioned, and
thine hair is grown, whereas thou <i>wast</i> naked and bare.
  8 Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold,
thy time <i>was</i> the time of love; and I spread my skirt over
thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and
entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.xvii-p6.1">God</span>, and thou becamest mine.   9 Then
washed I thee with water; yea, I thoroughly washed away thy blood
from thee, and I anointed thee with oil.   10 I clothed thee
also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I
girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk.
  11 I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets
upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck.   12 And I put a
jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful
crown upon thine head.   13 Thus wast thou decked with gold
and silver; and thy raiment <i>was of</i> fine linen, and silk, and
broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and
thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a
kingdom.   14 And thy renown went forth among the heathen for
thy beauty: for it <i>was</i> perfect through my comeliness, which
I had put upon thee, saith the Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.xvii-p6.2">God</span>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.xvii-p7" shownumber="no">In there verses we have an account of the
great things which God did for the Jewish nation in raising them up
by degrees to be very considerable. 1. God saved them from the ruin
they were upon the brink of in Egypt (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.6" parsed="|Ezek|16|6|0|0" passage="Eze 16:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>): "<i>When I passed by thee, and
saw thee polluted in thy own blood,</i> loathed and abandoned, and
appointed to die, <i>as sheep for the slaughter,</i> then <i>I said
unto thee, Live.</i> I designed thee for life when thou wast doomed
to destruction, and resolved to save thee from death." Those shall
live to whom God commands life. God looked upon the world of
mankind as thus cast off, thus cast out, thus polluted, thus
weltering in blood, and his thoughts towards it were thoughts of
good, designing it <i>life, and that more abundantly.</i> By
converting grace, he says to the soul, <i>Live.</i> 2. He looked
upon them with kindness and a tender affection, not only pitied
them, but <i>set his love upon them,</i> which was unaccountable,
for there was nothing lovely in them; but <i>I looked upon
thee,</i> and, <i>behold, thy time was the time of love,</i>
<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.8" parsed="|Ezek|16|8|0|0" passage="Eze 16:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. It was <i>the
kindness and love of God our Saviour</i> that sent Christ to redeem
us, that sends the Spirit to sanctify us, that brought us out of a
state of nature into a state of grace. That <i>was a time of
love</i> indeed, distinguishing love, when God manifested his love
to us, and courted our love to him. <i>Then was I in his eyes as
one that found favour,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Song.8.10" parsed="|Song|8|10|0|0" passage="So 8:10">Cant. viii.
10</scripRef>. 3. He took them under his protection: "<i>I spread
my skirt over thee,</i> to shelter thee from wind and weather, and
to <i>cover thy nakedness,</i> that the shame of it might not
appear." Boaz <i>spread his skirt over</i> Ruth, in token of the
special favour he designed her, <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p7.4" osisRef="Bible:Ruth.3.9" parsed="|Ruth|3|9|0|0" passage="Ru 3:9">Ruth
iii. 9</scripRef>. God took them into his care, as an <i>eagle
bears her young ones upon her wings,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p7.5" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.11-Deut.32.12" parsed="|Deut|32|11|32|12" passage="De 32:11,12">Deut. xxxii. 11, 12</scripRef>. When God owned them
for his people, and sent Moses to Egypt to deliver them, which was
an expression of the good-will of him <i>that dwelt in the
bush,</i> then he <i>spread his skirt over them.</i> 4. He cleared
them from the reproachful character which their bondage in Egypt
laid them under (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p7.6" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.9" parsed="|Ezek|16|9|0|0" passage="Eze 16:9"><i>v.</i>
9</scripRef>): "<i>Then washed I thee with water,</i> to make thee
clean, <i>and anointed thee with oil,</i> to make thee sweet and
supple thee." All the disgrace of their slavery was rolled away
when they were brought, <i>with a high hand and a stretched-out
arm, into the glorious liberty of the children of God.</i> When God
said, <i>Israel is my son, my first-born—Let my people go, that
they may serve me,</i> that word, backed as it was with so many
works of wonder, <i>thoroughly washed away their blood;</i> and
when God led them under the convoy of <i>the pillar of cloud and
fire</i> he <i>spread his skirt over them.</i> 5. He multiplied
them and built them up into a people. This is here mentioned
(<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p7.7" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.7" parsed="|Ezek|16|7|0|0" passage="Eze 16:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>) before his
<i>spreading his skirt over them,</i> because <i>their numbers
increased exceedingly</i> while they were yet bond-slaves in Egypt.
They <i>multiplied as the bud of the field</i> in spring time; they
<i>waxed great, exceedingly mighty,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p7.8" osisRef="Bible:Exod.1.7 Bible:Exod.1.20" parsed="|Exod|1|7|0|0;|Exod|1|20|0|0" passage="Ex 1:7,20">Exod. i. 7, 20</scripRef>. Their <i>breasts were
fashioned</i> when they were formed into distinct tribes and had
officers of their own (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p7.9" osisRef="Bible:Exod.5.19" parsed="|Exod|5|19|0|0" passage="Ex 5:19">Exod. v.
19</scripRef>); their <i>hair grew</i> when they grew numerous,
whereas they had been <i>naked and bare,</i> very few and therefore
contemptible. 6. He admitted them into covenant with himself. See
what glorious nuptials this poor forlorn infant is preferred to at
last. How she is dignified who at first had scarcely her life
<i>given her for a prey: I swore unto thee and entered into
covenant with thee.</i> This was done at Mount Sinai: "when the
covenant between God and Israel was sealed and ratified then
<i>thou becamest mine.</i>" God called them his people, and himself
the God of Israel. Note, Those to whom God gives spiritual life he
takes into covenant with himself; by that covenant they become his
subjects and servants, which intimates their duty—his portion, his
treasure, which intimates their privilege; and it is <i>confirmed
with an oath, that we might have strong consolation.</i> 7. He
beautified and adorned them. This maid cannot forget her ornaments,
and she is gratified with abundance of them, <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p7.10" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.10-Ezek.16.13" parsed="|Ezek|16|10|16|13" passage="Eze 16:10-13"><i>v.</i> 10-13</scripRef>. We need not be
particular in the application of these. Her wardrobe was well
furnished with rich apparel; they had <i>embroidered work</i> to
wear, shoes of fine <i>badgers' skins, linen</i> girdles, and
<i>silk</i> veils, <i>bracelets</i> and <i>necklaces, jewels</i>
and <i>ear-rings,</i> and even <i>a beautiful crown,</i> or
coronet. Perhaps this may refer to the jewels and other rich goods
which they took from the Egyptians, which might well be spoken of
thus long after as a merciful circumstance of their deliverance,
when it was spoken of long before, <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p7.11" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.14" parsed="|Gen|15|14|0|0" passage="Ge 15:14">Gen. xv. 14</scripRef>. <i>They shall come out with
great substance.</i> Or it may be taken figuratively for all those
blessings of heaven which adorned both their church and state. In a
little time they came to <i>excellent ornaments,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p7.12" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.7" parsed="|Ezek|16|7|0|0" passage="Eze 16:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. The laws and ordinances
which God gave them were to them as <i>ornaments of grace to the
head and chains about the neck,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p7.13" osisRef="Bible:Prov.1.9" parsed="|Prov|1|9|0|0" passage="Pr 1:9">Prov. i. 9</scripRef>. God's sanctuary, which he set up
among them, was <i>a beautiful crown upon their head;</i> it was
the <i>beauty of holiness.</i> 8. He fed them with abundance, with
plenty, with dainty: <i>Thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and
oil</i>—manna, angels' food—<i>honey out of the rock, oil out of
the flinty rock.</i> In Canaan they did eat bread to the full, the
finest of the wheat, <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p7.14" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.13-Deut.32.14" parsed="|Deut|32|13|32|14" passage="De 32:13,14">Deut. xxxii.
13, 14</scripRef>. Those whom God takes into covenant with himself
are fed with the bread of life, clothed with the robe of
righteousness, adorned with the graces and comforts of the spirit.
The <i>hidden man of the heart is that which is incorruptible.</i>
9. He gave them great reputation among their neighbours, and made
them considerable, acceptable to their friends and allies and
formidable to their adversaries: <i>Thou didst prosper into a
kingdom</i> (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p7.15" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.13" parsed="|Ezek|16|13|0|0" passage="Eze 16:13"><i>v.</i>
13</scripRef>), which speaks both dignity and dominion; and,
<i>They renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty,</i>
<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p7.16" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.14" parsed="|Ezek|16|14|0|0" passage="Eze 16:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. The nations
about had their eye upon them, and admired them for the excellent
laws by which they were governed, the privilege they had of access
to God, <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p7.17" osisRef="Bible:Deut.4.7-Deut.4.8" parsed="|Deut|4|7|4|8" passage="De 4:7,8">Deut. iv. 7, 8</scripRef>.
Solomon's wisdom, and Solomon's temple, were very much <i>the
renown</i> of that nation; and, if we put all the privileges of the
Jewish church and kingdom together, we must own that it was the
most accomplished beauty of all the nations of the earth. The
beauty of it was perfect; you could not name the thing that would
be the honour of a people but it was to be found in Israel, in
David's and Solomon's time, when that kingdom was in its
zenith-piety, learning, wisdom, justice, victory, peace, wealth,
and all sure to continue if they had kept close to God. <i>It was
perfect, saith God, through my comeliness which I had put upon
thee,</i> through the beauty of their holiness, as they were a
people set apart for God, and devoted to him, to be to him <i>for a
name, and for a praise, and for a glory.</i> It was this that put a
lustre upon all their other honours and was indeed the perfection
of their beauty. We may apply this spiritually. Sanctified souls
are truly beautiful; they are so in God's sight, and they
themselves may take the comfort of it. But God must have all the
glory, for they were by nature deformed and polluted, and, whatever
comeliness they have, it is that which God has put upon them and
beautified them with, and he will be well pleased with the work of
his own hands.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Ez.xvii-p7.18" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.15-Ezek.16.34" parsed="|Ezek|16|15|16|34" passage="Eze 16:15-34" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Ez.xvii-p7.19">
<h4 id="Ez.xvii-p7.20">Ingratitude of Israel; Shameful Idolatry of
Israel. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.xvii-p7.21">b. c.</span> 593.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ez.xvii-p8" shownumber="no">15 But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and
playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy
fornications on every one that passed by; his it was.   16 And
of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with
divers colours, and playedst the harlot thereupon: <i>the like
things</i> shall not come, neither shall it be <i>so.</i>   17
Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver,
which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and
didst commit whoredom with them,   18 And tookest thy
broidered garments, and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine oil
and mine incense before them.   19 My meat also which I gave
thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, <i>wherewith</i> I fed thee,
thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savour: and
<i>thus</i> it was, saith the Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.xvii-p8.1">God</span>.   20 Moreover thou hast taken thy sons
and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast
thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. <i>Is this</i> of thy
whoredoms a small matter,   21 That thou hast slain my
children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through <i>the
fire</i> for them?   22 And in all thine abominations and thy
whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou
wast naked and bare, <i>and</i> wast polluted in thy blood.  
23 And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, (woe, woe unto
thee! saith the Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.xvii-p8.2">God</span>;)   24
<i>That</i> thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, and
hast made thee a high place in every street.   25 Thou hast
built thy high place at every head of the way, and hast made thy
beauty to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to every one that
passed by, and multiplied thy whoredoms.   26 Thou hast also
committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of
flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger.
  27 Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over thee,
and have diminished thine ordinary <i>food,</i> and delivered thee
unto the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the
Philistines, which are ashamed of thy lewd way.   28 Thou hast
played the whore also with the Assyrians, because thou wast
unsatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet
couldest not be satisfied.   29 Thou hast moreover multiplied
thy fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea; and yet thou
wast not satisfied herewith.   30 How weak is thine heart,
saith the Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.xvii-p8.3">God</span>, seeing thou
doest all these <i>things,</i> the work of an imperious whorish
woman;   31 In that thou buildest thine eminent place in the
head of every way, and makest thine high place in every street; and
hast not been as a harlot, in that thou scornest hire;   32
<i>But as</i> a wife that committeth adultery, <i>which</i> taketh
strangers instead of her husband!   33 They give gifts to all
whores: but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest
them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom.
  34 And the contrary is in thee from <i>other</i> women in
thy whoredoms, whereas none followeth thee to commit whoredoms: and
in that thou givest a reward, and no reward is given unto thee,
therefore thou art contrary.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.xvii-p9" shownumber="no">In these verses we have an account of the
great wickedness of the people of Israel, especially in worshipping
idols, notwithstanding the great favours that God had conferred
upon them, by which, one would think, they should have been for
ever engaged to him. This wickedness of theirs is here represented
by the lewd and scandalous conversation of that beautiful maid
which was rescued from ruin, brought up and well provided for by a
kind friend and benefactor, that had been in all respects as a
father and a husband to her. Their idolatry was the great provoking
sin that they were guilty of; it began in the latter end of
Solomon's time (for from Samuel's till then I do not remember that
we read any thing of it), and thenceforward continued more or less
the crying sin of that nation till the captivity; and, though it
now and then met with some check from the reforming kings, yet it
was never totally suppressed, and for the most part appeared to a
high degree impudent and barefaced. They not only worshipped the
true God by images, as the ten tribes by the calves at Dan and
Bethel, but they worshipped false gods, Baal and Moloch, and all
the senseless rabble of the pagan deities.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.xvii-p10" shownumber="no">This is that which is here all along
represented (as often elsewhere) under the similitude of whoredom
and adultery, 1. Because it is the violation of a marriage-covenant
with God, forsaking him and embracing the bosom of a stranger; it
is giving that affection and that service to his rivals which are
due to him alone. 2. Because it is the corrupting and defiling of
the mind, and the enslaving of the spiritual part of the man, and
subjecting it to the power and dominion of sense, as whoredom is.
3. Because it debauches the conscience, sears and hardens it; and
those who by their idolatries dishonour the divine nature, and
change the truth of God into a lie and his glory into shame, God
justly punishes by giving them over to a reprobate mind, to
dishonour the human nature with vile affections, <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.1.23" parsed="|Rom|1|23|0|0" passage="Ro 1:23">Rom. i. 23</scripRef>, &amp;c. It is a besotting
bewitching sin; and, when men are given up to it, they seldom
recover themselves out of the snare. 4. Because it is a shameful
scandalous sin for those that have joined themselves to the Lord to
join themselves to an idol. Now observe here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.xvii-p11" shownumber="no">I. What were the causes of this sin. How
came the people of God to be drawn away to the service of idols?
How came a virgin so well taught, so well educated, to be
debauched? Who would have thought it? But, 1. They grew proud
(<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.15" parsed="|Ezek|16|15|0|0" passage="Eze 16:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>): "<i>Thou
trustedst to thy beauty,</i> and didst expect that that should make
thee an interest, and didst <i>play the harlot because of thy
renown.</i>" They thought, because they were so complimented and
admired by their neighbours, that, further to ingratiate themselves
with them and return their compliments, they must join with them in
their worship and conform to their usages. Solomon admitted
idolatry, to gratify his wives and their relations. Note, Abundance
of young people are ruined by pride and particularly pride in their
beauty. <i>Rara est concordia formæ atque pudicitiæ—Beauty and
chastity are seldom associated</i> 2. They forgot their beginning
(<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.22" parsed="|Ezek|16|22|0|0" passage="Eze 16:22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>) "<i>Thou
hast not remembered the days of thy youth,</i> how poor, and mean,
and despicable thou wast, and what great things God did for thee
and what lasting obligations he laid upon thee thereby." Note, It
should be an effectual check to our pride and sensuality to
consider what we are and how much we are beholden to the free grace
of God. 3. They were weak in understanding and in resolution
(<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p11.3" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.30" parsed="|Ezek|16|30|0|0" passage="Eze 16:30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>): <i>How
weak is thy heart, seeing thou dost all these things.</i> Note, The
strength of men's lusts is an evidence of the weakness of their
hearts; they have no acquaintance with themselves, nor government
of themselves. She is weak, and yet an imperious whorish woman.
Note, Those that are most foolish are commonly most imperious, and
think themselves fit to manage others when they are far from being
able to manage themselves.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.xvii-p12" shownumber="no">II. What were the particulars of it. 1.
They worshipped all the idols that came in their way, all that they
were ever courted to the worship of; they were at the beck of all
their neighbours (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.15" parsed="|Ezek|16|15|0|0" passage="Eze 16:15"><i>v.</i>
15</scripRef>): <i>Thou pouredst out thy fornications on every one
that passed by; his it was.</i> They were ready to close with every
temptation of this kind, though ever so absurd. No foreign idol
could be imported, no new god invented, but they were ready to
catch at it, as a common trumpet that prostitutes herself to all
comers and <i>multiplies her whoredoms,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.25" parsed="|Ezek|16|25|0|0" passage="Eze 16:25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>. Thus some common drunkards
will be company for every one that puts up the finger to them; how
weak are the hearts of such! 2. They adorned their idol-temples,
and groves, and high places, with the fine rich clothing that God
had given them (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.16 Bible:Ezek.16.18" parsed="|Ezek|16|16|0|0;|Ezek|16|18|0|0" passage="Eze 16:16,18"><i>v.</i> 16,
18</scripRef>): <i>Thou deckedst thy high places with divers
colours,</i> with the coats of divers colours, like Joseph's, which
God had given them as particular marks of his favour, <i>and hast
played the harlot</i> (that is, worshipped idols) <i>thereupon.</i>
Of this he saith, "<i>The like things shall not come, neither shall
it be so;</i> that is, this is a thing by no means to be suffered;
I will never endure such practices as these without showing my
resentments." 3. They made images for worship of the jewels which
God had given them (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p12.4" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.17" parsed="|Ezek|16|17|0|0" passage="Eze 16:17"><i>v.</i>
17</scripRef>): <i>The jewels of my gold and my silver which I had
given thee.</i> Note, It is God that gives us our gold and silver;
the products of trade, of art and industry, are the gifts of God's
providence to us, as well as the fruits of the earth. And what God
gives us the use of he still retains a property in. "It is <i>my
silver</i> and <i>my gold,</i> though I have <i>given it to
thee.</i>" It is his still, so that we ought to serve and honour
him with it, and are accountable to him for the disposal of it.
Every penny has God's image upon it as well as Cæsar's. Should we
make our silver and gold, our plate, money, and jewels, the matter
of our pride and contention, our covetousness and prodigality, if
we duly considered that they were God's silver and his gold? The
Israelites began betimes to turn their jewels into idols, when
Aaron made the golden calf of their earrings. 4. They served their
idols with the good things which God gave them for their own use
and to serve him with (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p12.5" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.18" parsed="|Ezek|16|18|0|0" passage="Eze 16:18"><i>v.</i>
18</scripRef>): "<i>Thou hast set my oil and my incense before
the,</i> upon their altars, as perfumes to these dunghill-deities;
<i>my meat, and fine flour, and oil,</i> and that honey which
Canaan flowed with, and <i>wherewith I fed thee,</i> thou hast
regaled them and their hungry priests with, hast made an offering
of it to them for <i>a sweet savour,</i> to purify them, and
procure acceptance with them: and <i>thus it was, saith the Lord
God;</i> it is too plain to be denied, too bad to be excused.
<i>These things thou hast done.</i> He that knows all things knows
it." See how fond they were of their idols, that they would part
with that which was given them for the necessary subsistence of
themselves and their families to honour them with, which may shame
our niggardliness and strait-handedness in the service of the true
and living God. 5. They had sacrificed their children to their
idols. This is insisted upon here, and often elsewhere, as one of
the worst instances of their idolatry, as indeed there was none in
which the devil triumphed so much over the children of men, both
their natural reason and their natural affection, as in this (see
<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p12.6" osisRef="Bible:Jer.7.31 Bible:Jer.19.5 Bible:Jer.32.35" parsed="|Jer|7|31|0|0;|Jer|19|5|0|0;|Jer|32|35|0|0" passage="Jer 7:31,19:5,32:35">Jer. vii. 31; xix. 5;
xxxii. 35</scripRef>): <i>Thou hast taken thy sons and thy
daughters,</i> and not only made them to pass through the fire, or
between two fires, in token of their being dedicated to Moloch, but
thou hast <i>sacrificed them to be devoured,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p12.7" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.20" parsed="|Ezek|16|20|0|0" passage="Eze 16:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. Never was there such an
instance of the degenerating of the paternal authority into the
most barbarous tyranny as this was. Yet that was not the worst of
it: it was an irreparable wrong to God himself, who challenged a
special property in their children more than in their gold and
silver and their meat: They are <i>my children</i> (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p12.8" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.21" parsed="|Ezek|16|21|0|0" passage="Eze 16:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>), the <i>sons and
daughters which thou hast borne unto me,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p12.9" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.20" parsed="|Ezek|16|20|0|0" passage="Eze 16:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>. He is the <i>Father of
spirits,</i> and rational souls are in a particular manner his; and
therefore the taking away of life, human life, unjustly, is a high
affront to the <i>God of life.</i> But the children of Israelites
were his by a further right; they were the <i>children of the
covenant,</i> born in God's house. He had said to Abraham, <i>I
will be a God to thee and to thy seed;</i> they had the seal of the
covenant in their flesh from eight days old; they were to bear
God's name, and keep up his church; to murder them was in the
highest degree inhuman, but to murder them in honour of an idol was
in the highest degree impious. One cannot think of it without the
utmost indignation: to see the pitiless hands of the parents
shedding the guiltless blood of their own children, and by offering
those pieces of themselves to the devil for buying sacrifices
openly avowing the offering up of themselves to him for living
sacrifices! How absurd was this, that the children which were born
to God should be <i>sacrificed to devils!</i> Note, The children of
parents that are members of the visible church are to be looked
upon as born unto God, and his children,; as such, and under that
character, we are to love them, and pray for them, bring them up
for him, and, if he calls for them, cheerfully part with them to
him; for <i>may he not do what he will with his own?</i> Upon this
instance of their idolatry, which indeed ought not to pass without
a particular brand, this remark is made (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p12.10" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.20" parsed="|Ezek|16|20|0|0" passage="Eze 16:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>), <i>Is this of thy whoredoms a
small matter?</i> which intimates that there were those who made a
small matter of it, and turned it into a jest. Note, There is no
sin so heinous, so apparently heinous, which men of profligate
consciences will not make a mock at. But is whoredom, is spiritual
whoredom, a small matter? Is it a small matter for men to make
their children brutes and the devil their god? It will be a great
matter shortly. 6. They built temples in honour of their idols,
that others might be invited to resort thither and join with them
in the worship of their idols: "<i>After all thy wickedness</i> of
this kind committed in private, for which, <i>woe, woe, unto
thee</i>" (that comes in in a sad parenthesis, denoting those to be
in a woeful condition who are going on in sin, and giving them
warning in time, if they would but take it), "thou hast at length
arrived at such a pitch of impudence as to proclaim it; thou hast
long had a whore's heart, but now thou hast come to have a whore's
forehead, and canst not blush," <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p12.11" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.23-Ezek.16.35" parsed="|Ezek|16|23|16|35" passage="Eze 16:23-35"><i>v.</i> 23-35</scripRef>. <i>Thou hast built there
an eminent place,</i> a <i>brothel-house</i> (so the margin reads
it), and such their idol temples were. <i>Thou hast made for
thyself a high place,</i> for one idol or other, <i>in every
street,</i> and <i>at every head of the way;</i> and again
<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p12.12" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.31" parsed="|Ezek|16|31|0|0" passage="Eze 16:31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>. They did all
they could to seduce and debauch others, and to spread the
contagion, by making the temptations to idolatry as strong as
possibly they could; and hereby the ringleaders in idolatry did but
<i>make themselves vile,</i> and even those that had courted them
to it, finding themselves outdone by them, began to be surfeited
with the abundance and violence of their idolatries: <i>Thou hast
made thy beauty to be abhorred,</i> even by those that had admired
it. The Jewish nation, by leaving their own God, and doting on the
gods of the nations round about them, had made themselves mean and
despicable in the eyes even of their heathen neighbours; much more
was their <i>beauty abhorred</i> by all that were wise and good,
and had any concern for the honour of God and religion. Note, Those
shame themselves that bring a reproach on their profession. And
justly will that beauty, that excellency, at length be made the
object of the loathing of others which men have made the matter of
their own pride.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.xvii-p13" shownumber="no">III. What were the aggravations of this
sin.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.xvii-p14" shownumber="no">1. They were fond of the idols of those
nations which had been their oppressors and persecutors. As, (1.)
The Egyptians. They were a people notorious for idolatry, and for
the most sottish senseless idolatries; they had of old abused
Israel by their barbarous dealings, and of late by their
treacherous dealings-were always either cruel or false to them; and
yet so infatuated were they that <i>they committed fornication with
the Egyptians their neighbours,</i> not only by joining with them
in their idolatries, but by entering into leagues and alliances
with them, and depending upon them for help in their straits, which
was an adulterous departure from God. (2.) The Assyrians. They had
also been vexatious to Israel: "And <i>yet thou hast played the
whore with them</i> (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.28" parsed="|Ezek|16|28|0|0" passage="Eze 16:28"><i>v.</i>
28</scripRef>); though they lived at a greater distance, yet thou
hast entertained their idols and their superstitious usages, and so
<i>hast multiplied thy fornications unto Chaldea,</i> hast borrowed
images of gods, patterns of altars, rites of sacrificing, and one
foolery or other of that kind, from that remote country, that
enemy's country, and hast imported them <i>into the land of
Canaan,</i> enfranchised and established them there." Thus Mr.
George Herbert long since foretold, or feared at least,</p>
<verse id="Ez.xvii-p14.2" type="stanza">
<l class="t1" id="Ez.xvii-p14.3">That Seine shall swallow Tiber, and the Thames</l>
<l class="t1" id="Ez.xvii-p14.4">By letting in them both pollute her streams.</l>
</verse>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.xvii-p15" shownumber="no">2. They had been under the rebukes of
Providence for their sins, and yet they persisted in them
(<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.27" parsed="|Ezek|16|27|0|0" passage="Eze 16:27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>): <i>I have
stretched out my hand over thee,</i> to threaten and frighten thee.
So God did before he <i>laid his hand upon them</i> to ruin and
destroy them; and that is his usual method, to try to bring men to
repentance first by less judgments. He did so here. Before he
brought such a famine upon them as broke the staff of bread he
<i>diminished their ordinary food,</i> cut them short before he cut
them off. When the overplus is abused, it is just with God to
diminish that which is for necessity. Before he delivered them to
the Chaldeans to be destroyed he delivered them <i>to the daughters
of the Philistines</i> to be ridiculed for their idolatries; for
they hated them, and, though they were idolaters themselves, yet
were ashamed of the lewd way of the Israelites, who had grown more
profane in their idolatries than any of their neighbours, who
changed their gods, whereas other nations did not change theirs,
<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.2.10-Jer.2.11" parsed="|Jer|2|10|2|11" passage="Jer 2:10,11">Jer. ii. 10, 11</scripRef>. For
this they were justly chastised by the Philistines. Or it may refer
to the inroads which the Philistines made upon the south of Judah
in the reign of Ahaz, by which it was weakened and impoverished,
and which was the beginning of sorrows to them (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p15.3" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.28.18" parsed="|2Chr|28|18|0|0" passage="2Ch 28:18">2 Chron. xxviii. 18</scripRef>); but they did not take
warning by those judgments, and therefore were justly abandoned to
ruin at last. Note, In the account which impenitent sinners shall
be called to they will be told not only of the mercies for which
they have been ungrateful, but of the afflictions under which they
have been incorrigible, <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p15.4" osisRef="Bible:Amos.4.11" parsed="|Amos|4|11|0|0" passage="Am 4:11">Amos iv.
11</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.xvii-p16" shownumber="no">3. They were insatiable in their spiritual
whoredom: Thou <i>couldst not be satisfied,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.28-Ezek.16.29" parsed="|Ezek|16|28|16|29" passage="Eze 16:28,29"><i>v.</i> 28 and again <i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>. When
they had multiplied their idols and superstitious usages beyond
measure, yet still they were enquiring after new gods and new
fashions in worship. Those that in sincerity join themselves to the
true God find enough in him for their satisfaction; and, though
they still desire more of God, yet they never desire more than God.
But those that forsake this living fountain for broken cisterns
will find themselves soon surfeited, but never satisfied; they have
soon enough of the gods they have, and are still enquiring after
more.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.xvii-p17" shownumber="no">4. They were at great expense with their
idolatry, and laid out a great deal of wealth in purchasing
patterns of images and altars, and hiring priests to attend upon
them from other countries. Harlots generally had their hire; but
this impudent adulteress, instead of being hired to serve idols,
hired idols to protect her and accept her homage. This is much
insisted on, <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.31-Ezek.16.34" parsed="|Ezek|16|31|16|34" passage="Eze 16:31-34"><i>v.</i>
31-34</scripRef>. "In this respect <i>the contrary is in thee from
other women in thy whoredoms:</i> others are courted, but thou
makest court to those that do not follow thee, art fond of making
leagues and alliances with those heathen nations that despise thee;
others have gifts given them, but thou givest thy gifts, the gifts
which God had graciously given thee, to thy idols; herein thou art
like a wife that commits adultery, not for gain, as harlots do, but
entirely for the sin's sake." Note, Spiritual lusts, those of the
mind, such as theirs after idols were, are often as strong and
impetuous as any carnal lusts are. And it is a great aggravation of
sin when men are their own tempters, and, instead of proposing to
themselves any worldly advantage by their sin, are at great expense
with it; such are <i>transgressors without cause</i> (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.25.3" parsed="|Ps|25|3|0|0" passage="Ps 25:3">Ps. xxv. 3</scripRef>), wicked transgressors
indeed.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.xvii-p18" shownumber="no">And now is not Jerusalem in all this made
to know her abominations? For what greater abominations could she
be guilty of than these? Here we may see with wonder and horror
what the corrupt nature of men is when God leaves them to
themselves, yea, though they have the greatest advantages to be
better and do better. And the way of sin is down-hill. <i>Nitimur
in vetitum—We incline to what is forbidden.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="Ez.xvii-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.35-Ezek.16.43" parsed="|Ezek|16|35|16|43" passage="Eze 16:35-43" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Ez.xvii-p18.2">
<h4 id="Ez.xvii-p18.3">Grievous Punishment of Israel; Punishment
Threatened. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.xvii-p18.4">b. c.</span> 593.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ez.xvii-p19" shownumber="no">35 Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.xvii-p19.1">Lord</span>:   36 Thus saith the Lord
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.xvii-p19.2">God</span>; Because thy filthiness was
poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with
thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the
blood of thy children, which thou didst give unto them;   37
Behold, therefore I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast
taken pleasure, and all <i>them</i> that thou hast loved, with all
<i>them</i> that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round
about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that
they may see all thy nakedness.   38 And I will judge thee, as
women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give
thee blood in fury and jealousy.   39 And I will also give
thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thine eminent
place, and shall break down thy high places: they shall strip thee
also of thy clothes, and shall take thy fair jewels, and leave thee
naked and bare.   40 They shall also bring up a company
against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust
thee through with their swords.   41 And they shall burn thine
houses with fire, and execute judgments upon thee in the sight of
many women: and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot,
and thou also shalt give no hire any more.   42 So will I make
my fury toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from
thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry.   43
Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast
fretted me in all these <i>things;</i> behold, therefore I also
will recompense thy way upon <i>thine</i> head, saith the Lord
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.xvii-p19.3">God</span>: and thou shalt not commit this
lewdness above all thine abominations.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.xvii-p20" shownumber="no">Adultery was by the law of Moses made a
capital crime. This notorious adulteress, the criminal at the bar,
being in the foregoing verses found guilty, here has sentence
passed upon her. It is ushered in with solemnity, <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.35" parsed="|Ezek|16|35|0|0" passage="Eze 16:35"><i>v.</i> 35</scripRef>. The prophet, as the
judge, in God's name calls to her, <i>O harlot! hear the word of
the Lord.</i> Our Saviour preached to harlots, for their
conversion, to bring them into the kingdom of God, not as the
prophet here, to expel them out of it. Note, An apostate church is
a harlot. Jerusalem is so if she become idolatrous. <i>How has the
faithful city become a harlot!</i> Rome is so represented in the
Revelation, when it is marked for ruin, as Jerusalem here.
<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Rev.17.1" parsed="|Rev|17|1|0|0" passage="Re 17:1">Rev. xvii. 1</scripRef>, <i>Come, and I
will show thee the judgments of the great whore.</i> Those who will
not hear the commanding word of the Lord and obey it shall be made
to hear the condemning word of the Lord and shall tremble at it.
Let us attend while judgment is given.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.xvii-p21" shownumber="no">I. The crime is stated and the articles of
the charge are summed up (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.36" parsed="|Ezek|16|36|0|0" passage="Eze 16:36"><i>v.</i>
36</scripRef>) and (as is usual) with the attendant aggravations
(<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.43" parsed="|Ezek|16|43|0|0" passage="Eze 16:43"><i>v.</i> 43</scripRef>); for when
God speaks in wrath he will be justified, and clear when he judges,
clear when he is judged; and sinners, when they are condemned,
shall have their sins so set in order before them that their mouth
shall be stopped and they shall not have a word to object against
the equity of the sentence. The crimes which this harlot stands
convicted of, and is now to be condemned for, are, 1. The violation
of the first two commandments of the first table by idolatry, which
is here called her <i>whoredoms with her lovers</i> (so she called
them, <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p21.3" osisRef="Bible:Hos.2.12" parsed="|Hos|2|12|0|0" passage="Ho 2:12">Hos. ii. 12</scripRef>, because
she loved them as if they had been indeed her benefactors), that
is, with <i>all the idols of her abominations,</i> the abominable
idols which she served and worshipped. This was the sin which
provoked God to jealousy. 2. The violation of the first two
commandments of the second table by the murder of their own
innocent infants: <i>The blood of thy children which thou didst
give unto them.</i> It is not strange if those that have cast off
God and his fear break through the strongest and most sacred bonds
of natural affection. Their sins are aggravated from the
consideration, (1.) Of the dishonour they had thereby done to
themselves: "Hereby <i>thy filthiness was poured out;</i> the
uncleanness that was in thy heart was hereby discovered and brought
to light, and thy nakedness was exposed to view, and thou wast
there by exposed to contempt." God is displeased with his
professing people for shaming themselves by their sins. (2.) Their
base ingratitude is another aggravation of their sins: "<i>Thou
hast not remembered the days of thy youth,</i> and the kindness
that was done thee then, when otherwise thou wouldst have
perished," <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p21.4" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.43" parsed="|Ezek|16|43|0|0" passage="Eze 16:43"><i>v.</i> 43</scripRef>.
And, (3.) The vexation which their sins gave to God, whom they
ought to have pleased: "<i>Thou hast fretted me in all these
things,</i> not only angered me, but grieved me." It is a strange
expression, and, one would think, enough to melt a heart of stone,
that the great God, who cannot admit any uneasiness, is pleased to
speak of the sins and follies of his professing people as
<i>fretting</i> to him. <i>Forty years long was I grieved with this
generation.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.xvii-p22" shownumber="no">II. The sentence is passed in general: <i>I
will judge thee as women that break wedlock and shed blood are
judged</i> (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.38" parsed="|Ezek|16|38|0|0" passage="Eze 16:38"><i>v.</i> 38</scripRef>),
and those two crimes were punished with death, with an ignominious
death. "Thou hast <i>shed blood,</i> and therefore I will <i>give
thee blood;</i> thou hast <i>broken wedlock,</i> and therefore I
will give it thee, not only in justice, but in jealousy, not only
as a righteous Judge, but as an injured and incensed husband, who
<i>will not spare in the day of vengeance,</i>" <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p22.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.6.34-Prov.6.35" parsed="|Prov|6|34|6|35" passage="Pr 6:34,35">Prov. vi. 34, 35</scripRef>. He will <i>recompense
their way upon their head,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p22.3" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.43" parsed="|Ezek|16|43|0|0" passage="Eze 16:43"><i>v.</i> 43</scripRef>. In all the judgments God
executes upon sinners we must see <i>their own way recompensed upon
their head;</i> they are dealt with not only as they deserved, but
as they procured. It is the end which their sin, as a way, had a
direct tendency to. More particularly, 1. This criminal must be (as
is usually done with criminals) exposed to public shame, <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p22.4" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.37" parsed="|Ezek|16|37|0|0" passage="Eze 16:37"><i>v.</i> 37</scripRef>. Malefactors are not
executed privately, but are made a spectacle to the world. Care is
here taken to bring spectators together: "<i>All those whom thou
hast loved, with whom thou hast taken pleasure,</i> shall come to
be witnesses of the execution, that they may take warning and
prevent their own like ruin; and those also <i>whom thou hast
hated,</i> who will insult over thee and triumph in thy fall." Both
ways the calamities of Jerusalem will be aggravated, that they will
be the grief of her friends and the joy of her foes. These shall
not only be gathered <i>around her,</i> but <i>gathered against
her;</i> even those with whom she took unlawful pleasure, with whom
she contracted unlawful leagues, the Egyptians and Assyrians, shall
now contribute to her ruin. As, <i>when a man's ways please the
Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him,</i> so
when a man's ways displease the Lord he makes even his friends to
be at war with him; and justly makes those a scourge and a plague
to sinners, and instruments of their destruction, who were their
tempters, and with whom they were partakers in wickedness. Those
whom they have suffered to strip them of their virtue shall see
them stripped, and perhaps help to strip them, of all their other
ornaments; to <i>see the nakedness of the land</i> will they come.
It is added, to the same purport (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p22.5" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.41" parsed="|Ezek|16|41|0|0" passage="Eze 16:41"><i>v.</i> 41</scripRef>), <i>I will execute judgments
upon thee in the sight of many women;</i> thou shalt be made an
example of <i>in terrorem—that others may see and fear</i> and do
no more presumptuously. 2. The criminal is <i>condemned to die,</i>
for her sins are such as death is the wages of (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p22.6" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.40" parsed="|Ezek|16|40|0|0" passage="Eze 16:40"><i>v.</i> 40</scripRef>): <i>They shall bring up a
company</i> (that is, a company shall be brought up) <i>against
thee,</i> and <i>they shall stone thee with stones,</i> and
<i>thrust thee through with their swords;</i> so great a death, so
many deaths in one, is this adulteress adjudged to. When the walls
of Jerusalem were battered down with stones shot against them, and
the inhabitants of Jerusalem were put to the sword, then this
sentence was executed in the letter of it. 3. The estate of the
criminal is confiscated, and all that belonged to her destroyed
with her (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p22.7" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.39" parsed="|Ezek|16|39|0|0" passage="Eze 16:39"><i>v.</i> 39</scripRef>):
<i>They shall throw down thy eminent place,</i> and (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p22.8" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.41" parsed="|Ezek|16|41|0|0" passage="Eze 16:41"><i>v.</i> 41</scripRef>) they <i>shall burn thy
houses,</i> as the habitations of bad women are destroyed, in
detestation of their lewdness. Their high places, erected in honour
of their idols, by which they thought to ingratiate themselves with
their neighbours, shall be an offence to them, and even <i>they</i>
shall <i>break them down.</i> It was long the complaint, even in
some of the best reigns of the kings of Judah, that <i>the high
places were not taken away;</i> but now the army of the Chaldeans,
when they lay all waste, shall break them down. If iniquity be not
taken away by the justice of the nation, it shall be taken away by
the judgments of God upon the nation. 4. Thus both the sin and the
sinners shall be abolished together, and an end put to both:
<i>Thou shalt cease from playing the harlot;</i> there shall be no
remainders of idolatry in the land, because the inhabitants shall
be wholly extirpated, and they shall <i>give no more hire</i>
because they shall have no more to give. Some that will not leave
their sins live till their sins leave them. When all that with
which they honoured their idols is taken from them they shall not
<i>give hire any more</i> (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p22.9" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.41" parsed="|Ezek|16|41|0|0" passage="Eze 16:41"><i>v.</i>
41</scripRef>): "Then <i>thou shalt not commit this lewdness</i> of
sacrificing thy children, which was a crime provoking <i>above all
thy abominations,</i> for thy children shall all be cut off by the
sword or carried into captivity, so that thou shalt have none to
sacrifice," <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p22.10" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.43" parsed="|Ezek|16|43|0|0" passage="Eze 16:43"><i>v.</i> 43</scripRef>.
Or it may be meant of the reformation of those of them that escape
and survive the punishment; they shall take warning, and shall
<i>do no more presumptuously.</i> The captivity in Babylon made the
people of Israel to cease for ever <i>from playing the harlot;</i>
it effectually cured them of their inclination to idolatry. And
then all shall be well, when this is the fruit, even the <i>taking
away of sin;</i> then (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p22.11" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.42" parsed="|Ezek|16|42|0|0" passage="Eze 16:42"><i>v.</i>
42</scripRef>) <i>my jealousy shall depart. I will be quiet, and no
more angry.</i> When we begin to be at war with sin God will be at
peace with us; for he continues the affliction no longer than till
it has done its work. When sin departs God's jealousy will soon
depart, for he is never jealous but when we give him just cause to
be so. Yet some understand this as a threatening of utter ruin,
that God will <i>make a full end</i> and the fire of his anger
shall burn as long as there is any fuel for it. <i>His fury shall
rest upon them,</i> and not remove. Compare this with that doom of
unbelievers, <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p22.12" osisRef="Bible:John.3.36" parsed="|John|3|36|0|0" passage="Joh 3:36">John iii. 36</scripRef>.
<i>The wrath of God abideth on them.</i> They shall drink the dregs
of the cup, and then God will be <i>no more angry,</i> for he is
<i>eased of his adversaries</i> (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p22.13" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.24" parsed="|Isa|1|24|0|0" passage="Isa 1:24">Isa.
i. 24</scripRef>), is satisfied in the abandoning of them, and
therefore will be <i>no more angry,</i> because there are no more
for his anger to fasten upon. They had fretted him, when judgment
and mercy were contesting; but now <i>he is quiet,</i> as he will
be in the eternal damnation of sinners, wherein he will be
glorified, and therefore he will be satisfied.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Ez.xvii-p22.14" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.44-Ezek.16.59" parsed="|Ezek|16|44|16|59" passage="Eze 16:44-59" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Ez.xvii-p22.15">
<h4 id="Ez.xvii-p22.16">The Wickedness of Jerusalem; Punishment of
Jerusalem. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.xvii-p22.17">b. c.</span> 593.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ez.xvii-p23" shownumber="no">44 Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall
use <i>this</i> proverb against thee, saying, As <i>is</i> the
mother, <i>so is</i> her daughter.   45 Thou <i>art</i> thy
mother's daughter, that loatheth her husband and her children; and
thou <i>art</i> the sister of thy sisters, which loathed their
husbands and their children: your mother <i>was</i> an Hittite, and
your father an Amorite.   46 And thine elder sister <i>is</i>
Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy
younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, <i>is</i> Sodom
and her daughters.   47 Yet hast thou not walked after their
ways, nor done after their abominations: but, as <i>if that
were</i> a very little <i>thing,</i> thou wast corrupted more than
they in all thy ways.   48 <i>As</i> I live, saith the Lord
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.xvii-p23.1">God</span>, Sodom thy sister hath not done,
she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters.
  49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride,
fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her
daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and
needy.   50 And they were haughty, and committed abomination
before me: therefore I took them away as I saw <i>good.</i>  
51 Neither hath Samaria committed half of thy sins; but thou hast
multiplied thine abominations more than they, and hast justified
thy sisters in all thine abominations which thou hast done.  
52 Thou also, which hast judged thy sisters, bear thine own shame
for thy sins that thou hast committed more abominable than they:
they are more righteous than thou: yea, be thou confounded also,
and bear thy shame, in that thou hast justified thy sisters.  
53 When I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom
and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters,
then <i>will I bring again</i> the captivity of thy captives in the
midst of them:   54 That thou mayest bear thine own shame, and
mayest be confounded in all that thou hast done, in that thou art a
comfort unto them.   55 When thy sisters, Sodom and her
daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her
daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy
daughters shall return to your former estate.   56 For thy
sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth in the day of thy
pride,   57 Before thy wickedness was discovered, as at the
time of <i>thy</i> reproach of the daughters of Syria, and all
<i>that are</i> round about her, the daughters of the Philistines,
which despise thee round about.   58 Thou hast borne thy
lewdness and thine abominations, saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.xvii-p23.2">Lord</span>.   59 For thus saith the Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.xvii-p23.3">God</span>; I will even deal with thee as thou
hast done, which hast despised the oath in breaking the
covenant.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.xvii-p24" shownumber="no">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 of
the worst. Now God by the prophet shows Jerusalem,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.xvii-p25" shownumber="no">I. That she was as bad as <i>her
mother,</i> that is, as the accursed devoted Canaanites that were
the possessors of this land before her. Those that use proverbs, as
most people do, shall apply that proverb to Jerusalem, <i>As is the
mother, so is her daughter,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p25.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.44" parsed="|Ezek|16|44|0|0" passage="Eze 16:44"><i>v.</i> 44</scripRef>. She is her <i>mother's own
child.</i> The Jews are as like the Canaanites in temper and
inclination as if they had been their own children. The character
of the mother was that she <i>loathed her husband and her
children,</i> she had all the marks of an adulteress; and that is
the character of the daughter: she <i>forsakes the guide of her
youth,</i> and is barbarous to the children of her own bowels. When
God brought Israel into Canaan he particularly warned them not to
do according to the abominations of <i>the men of that land, who
went before them</i> (for which <i>it had spued them out,</i>
<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p25.2" osisRef="Bible:Lev.18.27-Lev.18.28" parsed="|Lev|18|27|18|28" passage="Le 18:27,28">Lev. xviii. 27, 28</scripRef>), the
monuments of whose idolatry, with the remains of the idolaters
themselves, would be a continual temptation to them; but they
learned their way, and trod in their steps, and were as well
affected to the <i>idols of Canaan</i> as ever they were (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p25.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.106.38" parsed="|Ps|106|38|0|0" passage="Ps 106:38">Ps. cvi. 38</scripRef>), and thus, in respect
of imitation, it might truly be said that <i>their mother</i> was a
<i>Hittite</i> and their <i>father</i> an <i>Amorite</i> (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p25.4" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.45" parsed="|Ezek|16|45|0|0" passage="Eze 16:45"><i>v.</i> 45</scripRef>), for they resembled
them more than Abraham and Sarah.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.xvii-p26" shownumber="no">II. That she was worse than her sisters
Sodom and Samaria, that were adulteresses too, that <i>loathed
their husbands and their children,</i> that were weary of the gods
of their fathers, and were for introducing new gods,
<i>a-la-mode—quite in style,</i> that came newly up, and new
fashions in religion, and were given to change. On this comparison
between Jerusalem and <i>her sisters</i> the prophet here enlarges,
that he might either shame them into repentance or justify God in
their ruin. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.xvii-p27" shownumber="no">1. Who Jerusalem's sisters were, <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p27.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.45" parsed="|Ezek|16|45|0|0" passage="Eze 16:45"><i>v.</i> 45</scripRef>. Samaria and Sodom.
Samaria is called the <i>elder</i> sister, or rather the
<i>greater,</i> because it was a much larger city and kingdom,
richer and more considerable, and more nearly allied to Israel. If
Jerusalem look northward, this is partly <i>on her left hand.</i>
This city of Samaria, and the towns and villages, that were as
<i>daughters</i> to that <i>mother-city,</i> these had been
<i>lately</i> destroyed for their <i>spiritual whoredom.</i> Sodom,
and the adjacent towns and villages that were her daughters, dwelt
at Jerusalem's <i>right hand,</i> and was her <i>less sister,</i>
less than Jerusalem, less than Samaria, and these were of old
destroyed for their corporeal whoredom, <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p27.2" osisRef="Bible:Jude.1.7" parsed="|Jude|1|7|0|0" passage="Jude 1:7">Jude 7</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.xvii-p28" shownumber="no">2. Wherein Jerusalem's sins resembled her
sisters', particularly Sodom's (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p28.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.49" parsed="|Ezek|16|49|0|0" passage="Eze 16:49"><i>v.</i> 49</scripRef>): <i>This was the iniquity of
Sodom</i> (it is implied, and this is <i>thy</i> iniquity too),
<i>pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness.</i> Their
<i>going after strange flesh,</i> which was Sodom's most flagrant
wickedness, is not mentioned, because notoriously known, but those
sins which did not look so black, but opened the door and led the
way to these more enormous crimes, and began to fill that measure
of her sins, which was filled up at length by their unnatural
filthiness. Now these initiating sins were, (1.) Pride, in which
the heart lifts up itself above and against both God and man. Pride
was the first sin that turned angels into devils, and the <i>garden
of the Lord</i> into a <i>hell upon earth.</i> It was the pride of
the Sodomites that they despised <i>righteous Lot,</i> and would
not bear to be reproved by him; and this ripened them for ruin.
(2.) Gluttony, here called <i>fulness of bread.</i> It was God's
great mercy that they had plenty, but their great sin that they
abused it, glutted themselves with it, ate to excess and drank to
excess, and made that the gratification of their lusts which was
given them to be the support of their lives. (3.) Idleness,
<i>abundance of idleness,</i> a dread of labour and a love of ease.
Their country was fruitful, and the abundance they had they came
easily by, which was a temptation to them to indulge themselves in
sloth, which disposed them to all that abominable filthiness which
kindled their flames. Note, Idleness is an inlet to much sin. The
men of Sodom, who were idle, were <i>wicked,</i> and <i>sinners
before the Lord exceedingly,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p28.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.13" parsed="|Gen|13|13|0|0" passage="Ge 13:13">Gen.
xiii. 13</scripRef>. The standing waters gather filth and the
sitting bird is the fowler's mark. When David <i>arose from off his
bed at evening</i> he saw Bathsheba. <i>Quæritur, Ægisthus quare
sit factus adulter? In promptu causa est; desidiosus erat—What
made Ægisthus an adulterer? Indolence.</i> (4.) Oppression: Neither
did she <i>strengthen the hands of the poor and needy;</i> probably
it is implied that she weakened their hands and <i>broke</i> their
arms; however, it was bad enough that, when she had so much wealth,
and consequently power and interest and leisure, she did nothing
for the relief of the poor, in providing for whose wants those that
themselves are <i>full of bread</i> may employ their time well;
they need not be so abundantly idle as too often they are. These
were the sins of the Sodomites, and these were Jerusalem's sins.
Their pride, the cause of their sins, is mentioned again (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p28.3" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.50" parsed="|Ezek|16|50|0|0" passage="Eze 16:50"><i>v.</i> 50</scripRef>): <i>They were
haughty,</i> with the horrid effects of their sins, their
<i>abominations</i> which they <i>committed before God.</i> Men
arrive gradually at the height of impiety and wickedness. <i>Nemo
repente fit turpissimus—No man reaches the height of vice at
once.</i> But, where pride has got the ascendant in a man, he is in
the high road to all abominations.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.xvii-p29" shownumber="no">3. How much the sins of Jerusalem exceeded
those of Sodom and Samaria; they were more heinous in the sight of
God, either in themselves or by reason of several aggravations:
"<i>Thou hast not only walked after their ways,</i> and trod in
their steps, but hast quite outdone them in wickedness, <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p29.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.47" parsed="|Ezek|16|47|0|0" passage="Eze 16:47"><i>v.</i> 47</scripRef>. Thou thoughtest it
<i>a very little thing</i> to do as they did; didst laugh at them
as sneaking sinners and silly ones; thou wouldst be more cunning,
more daring, in wickedness, wouldst triumph more boldly over thy
convictions, and bid more open defiance to God and religion: 'if a
man will break, let him break for <i>something.'</i> Thus <i>thou
wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways.</i>" Jerusalem was
more polite, and therefore sinned with more wit, more art and
ingenuity, than Sodom and Samaria could. Jerusalem had more wealth
and power, and its government was more absolute and arbitrary, and
therefore had the more opportunity of oppressing the poor, and
shedding malignant influences around her, than Sodom and Samaria
had. Jerusalem had the temple, and the ark, and the priesthood, and
kings of the house of David; and therefore the wickedness of that
holy city, that was so dignified, so near, so dear to God, was more
provoking to him than the wickedness of Sodom and Samaria, that had
not Jerusalem's privileges and means of grace. Sodom has <i>not
done as thou hast done,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p29.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.48" parsed="|Ezek|16|48|0|0" passage="Eze 16:48"><i>v.</i>
48</scripRef>. This agrees with what Christ says. <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p29.3" osisRef="Bible:Matt.11.24" parsed="|Matt|11|24|0|0" passage="Mt 11:24">Matt. xi. 24</scripRef>, <i>It shall be more
tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for
thee.</i> The kingdom of the ten tribes had been very wicked; and
yet <i>Samaria has not committed half thy sins</i> (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p29.4" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.51" parsed="|Ezek|16|51|0|0" passage="Eze 16:51"><i>v.</i> 51</scripRef>), has not worshipped
half so many idols, nor slain half so many prophets. It was bad
enough that those of Jerusalem were guilty of Sodom's sins, Sodomy
itself not excepted, <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p29.5" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.14.24 Bible:2Kgs.23.7" parsed="|1Kgs|14|24|0|0;|2Kgs|23|7|0|0" passage="1Ki 14:24,2Ki 23:7">1 Kings
xiv. 24; 2 Kings xxiii. 7</scripRef>. And though the Dead Sea, the
standing monument of Sodom's sin and ruin, bordered upon their
country (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p29.6" osisRef="Bible:Num.34.12" parsed="|Num|34|12|0|0" passage="Nu 34:12">Num. xxxiv. 12</scripRef>),
and that sulphureous lake was always under their nose (God having
<i>taken away Sodom and her daughters</i> in such way and manner as
he <i>saw good,</i> as he says here, <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p29.7" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.50" parsed="|Ezek|16|50|0|0" passage="Eze 16:50"><i>v.</i> 50</scripRef>, so as that one thing should
effectually make their <i>overthrow</i> an <i>example to those that
afterwards should live ungodly,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p29.8" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.2.6" parsed="|2Pet|2|6|0|0" passage="2Pe 2:6">2
Pet. ii. 6</scripRef>), yet they did not take warning, but
<i>multiplied their abominations more than they;</i> and, (1.) By
this they <i>justified Sodom and Samaria,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p29.9" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.51" parsed="|Ezek|16|51|0|0" passage="Eze 16:51"><i>v.</i> 51</scripRef>. They pretended, in their
haughtiness and superciliousness, to <i>judge them,</i> and in the
days of old, when they retained their integrity, they did judge
them, <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p29.10" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.52" parsed="|Ezek|16|52|0|0" passage="Eze 16:52"><i>v.</i> 52</scripRef>. But
now they justify them comparatively: <i>Sodom and Samaria</i> are
<i>more righteous than thou,</i> that is, less wicked. It will look
like some extenuation of their sins that, bad as they were,
Jerusalem was worse, though it was God's own city. Not that it will
serve for a plea to justify Sodom, but it condemns Jerusalem,
against which Sodom and Samaria will <i>rise up in judgment.</i>
(2.) For this they ought themselves to be greatly ashamed: "Thou
who hast <i>judged thy sisters,</i> and cried out shame on them,
now <i>bear thy own shame, for thy sins which thou hast
committed,</i> which, though of the same kind with theirs, yet,
being committed <i>by thee,</i> are <i>more abominable than
theirs,</i>" <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p29.11" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.52" parsed="|Ezek|16|52|0|0" passage="Eze 16:52"><i>v.</i> 52</scripRef>.
This may be taken either as foretelling their ruin (<i>Thou shalt
bear thy shame</i>) or as inviting them to repentance: "<i>Be thou
confounded and bear thy shame;</i> take the shame to thyself that
is due to thee." It may be hoped that sinners will forsake their
sins when they begin to be heartily ashamed of them. And therefore
they shall go into captivity, and there they shall lie, that they
may be <i>confounded in all that they have done,</i> because they
had been a comfort and encouragement to Sodom and Samaria,
<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p29.12" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.54" parsed="|Ezek|16|54|0|0" passage="Eze 16:54"><i>v.</i> 54</scripRef>. Note, There
is nothing in sin which we have more reason to be ashamed of than
this, that by our sin we have encouraged others in sin, and
comforted them in that for which they must be grieved or they are
undone. Another reason why they must now be ashamed is because in
the day of their prosperity they had looked with so much disdain
upon their neighbours: <i>Thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by
thee in the day of they pride,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p29.13" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.56" parsed="|Ezek|16|56|0|0" passage="Eze 16:56"><i>v.</i> 56</scripRef>. They thought Sodom not worthy
to be named the same day with Jerusalem, little dreaming that
Jerusalem would at length lie under a worse and more scandalous
character than Sodom herself. Those that are high may perhaps come
to stand upon a level with those they contemn. Or "Sodom was <i>not
mentioned,</i> that is, the warning designed to be given to thee by
Sodom's ruin was not regarded." If the Jews had but talked more
frequently and seriously to one another, and to their children,
concerning <i>the wrath of God revealed from heaven</i> against
<i>Sodom's ungodliness and unrighteousness,</i> it might have kept
them in awe, and prevented their treading in their steps; but they
kept the thought of it at a distance, would not bear the mention of
it, and (as the ancients say) put Isaiah to death for putting them
in mind of it, when he called them <i>rulers of Sodom</i> and
<i>people of Gomorrah,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p29.14" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.10" parsed="|Isa|1|10|0|0" passage="Isa 1:10">Isa. i.
10</scripRef>. Note, Those are but preparing judgments for
themselves that will not take notice of God's judgments upon
others.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.xvii-p30" shownumber="no">4. What desolations God had brought and was
bringing upon Jerusalem for these wickednesses, wherein they had
exceeded Sodom and Samaria. (1.) She has already long ago been
disgraced, and has fallen into contempt, among her neighbours
(<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p30.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.57" parsed="|Ezek|16|57|0|0" passage="Eze 16:57"><i>v.</i> 57</scripRef>): <i>Before
her wickedness was discovered,</i> before she came to be so grossly
and openly flagitious, she bore the just punishment of her secret
and more concealed lewdness, when she fell under <i>the reproach of
the daughters of Syria, of the Philistines,</i> who were said to
<i>despise her</i> and <i>be ashamed of her</i> (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p30.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.27" parsed="|Ezek|16|27|0|0" passage="Eze 16:27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>), and under the reproach of
<i>all that were round about her,</i> which seems to refer to the
descent made upon Judah by the Syrians in the days of Ahaz, and
soon after another by the Philistines, <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p30.3" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.28.5 Bible:2Chr.28.18" parsed="|2Chr|28|5|0|0;|2Chr|28|18|0|0" passage="2Ch 28:5,18">2 Chron. xxviii. 5, 18</scripRef>. Note, Those that
disgrace themselves by yielding to their lusts will justly be
brought into disgrace by being made to yield to their enemies; and
it is observable that before God brought potent enemies upon them,
for <i>their destruction,</i> he brought enemies upon them that
were less formidable, <i>for their reproach.</i> If less judgments
would do the work, God would not send greater. In this <i>thou hast
borne thy lewdness,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p30.4" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.58" parsed="|Ezek|16|58|0|0" passage="Eze 16:58"><i>v.</i>
58</scripRef>. Those that will not cast off their sins by
repentance and reformation shall be made to bear their sins to
their confusion. (2.) She is now <i>in captivity,</i> or hastening
into captivity, and therein is reckoned with, not only for her
lewdness (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p30.5" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.58" parsed="|Ezek|16|58|0|0" passage="Eze 16:58"><i>v.</i> 58</scripRef>),
but for her perfidiousness and covenant-breaking (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p30.6" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.59" parsed="|Ezek|16|59|0|0" passage="Eze 16:59"><i>v.</i> 59</scripRef>): "<i>I will deal with
thee as thou hast done;</i> I will forsake thee as thou hast
forsaken me, and cast thee off as thou hast cast me off, for thou
hast <i>despised the oath, in breaking the covenant.</i>" This
seems to be meant of the covenant God made with their fathers at
Mount Sinai, whereby he took them and theirs to be a peculiar
people to himself. They flattered themselves with a conceit that
because God had hitherto continued his favour to them,
notwithstanding their provocations, he would do so still. "No,"
says God, "you have <i>broken covenant with me,</i> have despised
both the promises of the covenant and the obligations of it, and
therefore I will <i>deal with thee as thou hast done.</i>" Note,
Those that will not adhere to God as their God have no reason to
expect that he should continue to own them as his people. (3.) The
captivity of the wicked Jews, and their ruin, shall be as
irrevocable as that of Sodom and Samaria. In this sense, as a
threatening, most interpreters take <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p30.7" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.53 Bible:Ezek.16.55" parsed="|Ezek|16|53|0|0;|Ezek|16|55|0|0" passage="Eze 16:53,55"><i>v.</i> 53, 55</scripRef>. "<i>When I shall bring
again the captivity of Sodom and Samaria, and when they shall
return to their former estate, then I will bring again the
captivity of thy captives in the midst of them,</i> and as it were
for their sakes, and under their shadow and protection, because
they are <i>more righteous than thou,</i> and <i>then thou shalt
return to thy former estate,</i>" But Sodom and Samaria were never
brought back, nor ever returned to their former estate, and
therefore let not Jerusalem expect it, that is, those who now
remained there, whom God would <i>deliver to be removed into all
the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p30.8" osisRef="Bible:Jer.24.9-Jer.24.10" parsed="|Jer|24|9|24|10" passage="Jer 24:9,10">Jer. xxiv. 9, 10</scripRef>. Sooner shall the
Sodomites arise out of the salt sea, and the Samaritans return out
of the land of Assyria, than they enjoy their peace and prosperity
again; for, to their shame be it spoken, it is <i>a comfort</i> to
those of the ten tribes, who are dispersed and in captivity, to see
those of the two tribes who had been as bad as they, or worse, in
like manner dispersed and in captivity; and therefore they shall
live and die, shall stand and fall, together. The bad ones of both
shall perish together; the good ones of both shall return together.
Note, Those who do as the worst of sinners do must expect to fare
as they fare. <i>Let my enemy be as the wicked.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="Ez.xvii-p30.9" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.60-Ezek.16.63" parsed="|Ezek|16|60|16|63" passage="Eze 16:60-63" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Ez.xvii-p30.10">
<h4 id="Ez.xvii-p30.11">Mercy in Reserve; Promise of
Mercy. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.xvii-p30.12">b. c.</span> 593.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ez.xvii-p31" shownumber="no">60 Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with
thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an
everlasting covenant.   61 Then thou shalt remember thy ways,
and be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder
and thy younger: and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but
not by thy covenant.   62 And I will establish my covenant
with thee; and thou shalt know that I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.xvii-p31.1">Lord</span>:   63 That thou mayest remember, and
be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy
shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done,
saith the Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.xvii-p31.2">God</span>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.xvii-p32" shownumber="no">Here, in the close of the chapter, after a
most shameful conviction of sin and a most dreadful denunciation of
judgments, mercy is remembered, mercy is reserved, for those who
shall come after. As was when God swore in his wrath concerning
those who came out of Egypt that they should not enter Canaan,
"Yet" (says God) "your little ones shall;" so here. And some think
that what is said of the return of Sodom and Samaria (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p32.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.53 Bible:Ezek.16.55" parsed="|Ezek|16|53|0|0;|Ezek|16|55|0|0" passage="Eze 16:53,55"><i>v.</i> 53, 55</scripRef>), and of
Jerusalem with them, is a promise; it may be understood so, if by
Sodom we understand (as Grotius and some of the Jewish writers do)
the Moabites and Ammonites, the posterity of Lot, who once dwelt in
Sodom; their captivity was returned (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p32.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.48.47 Bible:Jer.49.6" parsed="|Jer|48|47|0|0;|Jer|49|6|0|0" passage="Jer 48:47,49:6">Jer. xlviii. 47; xlix. 6</scripRef>), as was that
of many of the ten tribes, and Judah's with them. But these closing
verses are, without doubt, a previous promise, which was in part
fulfilled at the return of the penitent and reformed Jews out of
Babylon, but was to have its full accomplishment in gospel-times,
and in that <i>repentance and</i> that <i>remission of sins</i>
which should then be <i>preached</i> with success <i>to all
nations, beginning at Jerusalem.</i> Now observe here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.xvii-p33" shownumber="no">I. Whence this mercy should take rise-from
<i>God himself,</i> and his <i>remembering his covenant</i> with
them (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p33.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.60" parsed="|Ezek|16|60|0|0" passage="Eze 16:60"><i>v.</i> 60</scripRef>):
<i>Nevertheless,</i> though they had been so provoking, and God had
been provoked to such a degree that one would think they could
never be reconciled again, yet "<i>I will remember my covenant with
thee,</i> that covenant which I made with thee <i>in the days of
thy youth,</i> and will revive it again. Though thou hast <i>broken
the covenant</i> (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p33.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.59" parsed="|Ezek|16|59|0|0" passage="Eze 16:59"><i>v.</i>
59</scripRef>), I will remember it, and it shall flourish again."
See how much it is our comfort and advantage that God is pleased to
deal with us in a covenant-way, for thus the mercies of it come to
be <i>sure mercies</i> and <i>everlasting</i> (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p33.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.55.3" parsed="|Isa|55|3|0|0" passage="Isa 55:3">Isa. lv. 3</scripRef>); and, while this root stands
firmly in the ground, there is <i>hope of the tree,</i> though it
be <i>cut down,</i> that <i>through the scent of water it will bud
again.</i> We do not find that they put him in mind of the
covenant, but <i>ex mero motu—from his own mere good pleasure,</i>
he <i>remembers</i> it as he had promised. <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p33.4" osisRef="Bible:Lev.26.42" parsed="|Lev|26|42|0|0" passage="Le 26:42">Lev. xxvi. 42</scripRef>, <i>Then will I remember my
covenant, and will remember the land.</i> He that bids us to be
ever mindful of the covenant no doubt will himself be ever mindful
of it, the word <i>which he commanded</i> (and what he commands
stands fast for ever) to <i>a thousand generations.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.xvii-p34" shownumber="no">II. How they should be prepared and
qualified for this mercy (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p34.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.61" parsed="|Ezek|16|61|0|0" passage="Eze 16:61"><i>v.</i>
61</scripRef>): "<i>Thou shalt remember thy ways,</i> thy evil
ways; God will put thee in mind of them, will set them in order
before thee, that thou mayest be <i>ashamed of them.</i>" Note,
God's good work in us commences and keeps pace with his good-will
towards us. When he remembers his covenant for us, that he may not
remember our sins against us, he puts us upon remembering our sins
against ourselves. And if we will but be brought to remember our
ways, how crooked and perverse they have been and how we have
walked contrary to God in them, we cannot but be ashamed; and, when
we are so, we are best prepared to receive the honour and comfort
of a sealed pardon and a settled peace.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.xvii-p35" shownumber="no">III. What the mercy is that God has in
reserve for them. 1. He will take them into covenant with himself
(<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p35.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.60" parsed="|Ezek|16|60|0|0" passage="Eze 16:60"><i>v.</i> 60</scripRef>): <i>I will
establish unto thee an everlasting covenant;</i> and again
(<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p35.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.62" parsed="|Ezek|16|62|0|0" passage="Eze 16:62"><i>v.</i> 62</scripRef>), <i>I will
establish,</i> re-establish, and establish more firmly than ever,
<i>my covenant with thee.</i> Note, It is an unspeakable comfort to
all true penitents that the covenant of grace is so well ordered in
all things that every transgression in the covenant does not throw
us out of the covenant, for that is inviolable. 2. He will bring
the Gentiles into church-communion with them (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p35.3" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.61" parsed="|Ezek|16|61|0|0" passage="Eze 16:61"><i>v.</i> 61</scripRef>): "<i>Thou shalt receive thy
sisters,</i> the Gentile nations that are found about thee, <i>thy
elder and thy younger,</i> greater than thou art and less, ancient
nations and modern, and <i>I will give them unto thee for
daughters;</i> they shall be founded, nursed, taught, and educated,
by that gospel, that <i>word of the Lord,</i> which shall <i>go
forth from</i> Zion and from <i>Jerusalem;</i> so that all the
neighbours shall call Jerusalem <i>mother,</i> while the church
continues there, and shall acknowledge the Jerusalem which is from
above, and <i>which is free,</i> to be <i>the mother of us all,</i>
<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p35.4" osisRef="Bible:Gal.4.26" parsed="|Gal|4|26|0|0" passage="Ga 4:26">Gal. iv. 26</scripRef>. They shall be
thy <i>daughters,</i> but <i>not by thy covenant,</i> not by the
covenant of peculiarity, not as being proselytes to the Jewish
religion and subject to the yoke of the ceremonial law, but as
being converts with thee to the Christian religion." Or <i>not by
thy covenant</i> may mean, "not upon such terms as thou shalt think
fit to impose upon them as conquered nations, as captives and
homagers to whom thou mayest give law at pleasure" (such a dominion
as that the carnal Jews hope to have over the nations); "no, they
shall be thy daughters <i>by my covenant,</i> the covenant of grace
made with thee and them in concert, as in <i>indenture
tripartite.</i> I will be a Father, a common Father, both to Jews
and Gentiles, and so they shall become sisters to one another. And,
when thou <i>shalt receive them,</i> thou shalt be <i>ashamed of
thy own evil ways</i> wherein thou wast conformed to them. Thou
shalt blush to look a Gentile in the face, remembering how much
worse than the Gentiles thou wast in the day of thy apostasy."</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.xvii-p36" shownumber="no">IV. What the fruit and effect of this will
be. 1. God will hereby be glorified (<scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p36.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.62" parsed="|Ezek|16|62|0|0" passage="Eze 16:62"><i>v.</i> 62</scripRef>): "<i>Thou shalt know that I am
the Lord.</i> It shall hereby be known that the God of Israel is
Jehovah, a God of power, and faithful to his covenant; and thou
shalt know it who hast hitherto lived as if thou didst not know or
believe it." It had often been said in wrath, <i>You shall know
that I am the Lord,</i> shall know it to your cost; here it is said
in mercy, You shall know it to your comfort; and it is one of the
most precious promises of the new covenant which God has made with
us that <i>all shall know him from the least to the greatest.</i>
2. They shall hereby be more humbled and abased for sin ( <scripRef id="Ez.xvii-p36.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.63" parsed="|Ezek|16|63|0|0" passage="Eze 16:63"><i>v.</i> 63</scripRef>): "<i>That thou mayest
be</i> the more <i>confounded</i> at the <i>remembrance of all that
thou hast done</i> amiss, mayest reproach thyself for it and call
thyself a thousand times unwise, undutiful, ungrateful, and unlike
what thou wast, and mayest never <i>open thy mouth any more</i> in
contradiction to God, reflection on him, or complaints of him, but
mayest be for ever silent and submissive <i>because of thy
shame.</i>" Note, Those that rightly remember their sins will be
truly ashamed of them; and those that are truly ashamed of their
sins will see great reason to be patient under their afflictions,
to be dumb, and not open their mouths against what God does. But
that which is most observable is, that all this shall be <i>when I
am pacified towards thee, saith the Lord God.</i> Note, It is the
gracious ingenuousness of true penitents that the clearer evidences
and the fuller instances they have of God's being reconciled to
them the more grieved and ashamed they are that ever they have
offended God. God is in Jesus Christ <i>pacified towards us;</i> he
is our peace, and it is by his cross that we are reconciled, and in
his gospel that God is reconciling the world to himself. Now the
consideration of this should be powerful to melt our hearts into a
godly sorrow for sin. This is repenting because <i>the kingdom of
heaven is at hand.</i> The prodigal, after he had received the kiss
which assured him that his father was <i>pacified towards him,</i>
was ashamed and confounded, and said, <i>Father, I have sinned
against heaven and before thee.</i> And the more our shame for sin
is increased by the sense of pardoning mercy the more will our
comfort in God be increased.</p>
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