E
Z E K I E L
CHAP. XVI.
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, ver. 3-5. II. The many honours and
favours God had bestowed upon them, ver. 6-14. III. Their treacherous and
ungrateful departures from him to the services and worship of idols, here
represented by the most impudent whoredom, ver. 15-34. IV. A threatening of
terrible destroying judgments, which God would bring upon them for this sin,
ver. 35-43. V. An aggravation both of their sin and of their punishment, by
comparison with Sodom and Samaria, ver. 44-59. VI. A promise of mercy in the
close, which God would show to a penitent remnant, ver. 60-63. And this is
designed for admonition to us.
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The
Meanness of Judah's Origin.
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B.
C. 593.
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1 Again the word of the LORD
came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her
abominations, 3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD
unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan;
thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite. 4 And as
for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither
wast thou washed in water to supple thee; 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.
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 (ch. xxix.), 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.
I. This is his commission (v. 2): "Cause Jerusalem to know her
abominations (that is, her sins); set them in order before her."
Note, 1. Sins are not only provocations which God is angry at, but abominations
which he hates, as contrary to his nature, and which we ought to hate, Jer.
xliv. 4. 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 to know
her abominations; 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, to know their
abominations, 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. Thou art the man.
II. That Jerusalem may be made to know her abominations, 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 these verses 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: "Thy birth is of
the land of Canaan (v. 3); thou hadst from the very first the
spirit and disposition of a Canaanite." The patriarchs dwelt in Canaan,
and they were there but strangers and sojourners, had no possession, no
power, not one foot of ground of their own but a burying-place. Abraham and
Sarah were indeed their father and mother, 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 children
of Seth (Gen. xxiii. 4, 8), the dependence they had upon their neighbours
the Canaanites, and the fear they were in of them, Gen. xiii. 7; xxxiv. 30. 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 went from
one nation to another (Ps. cv. 13), as tenants from one farm to another,
almost as beggars from one door to another, when they were but few in
number, yea, very few. And yet this was not the worst; their fathers had served
other gods in Ur of the Chaldees (Josh. xxiv. 2); even in Jacob's family
there were strange gods, Gen. xxxv. 2. 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, Job iii. 11, 12. 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 the open field 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 shepherd and stone of Israel, was dead; the king of
Egypt, who should have been kind to them for Joseph's sake, set himself to destroy
this man-child as soon as it was born (Rev. xii. 4), 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. Tantæ molis erat Romanam condere gentem--So vast
were the efforts requisite to the establishment of the Roman name. 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, the navel-string not cut, the
poor babe not washed, not clothed, no swaddled, because not pitied,
v. 4, 5. 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 cast
out, to the loathing of her person; it was a sign that she was loathed by
those that bore her, and she appeared loathsome to all that looked upon her. The
Israelites were an abomination to the Egyptians, as we find Gen. xliii.
32; xlvi. 34. Some think that this refers to the corrupt and vicious
disposition of that people from their beginning: they were not only the
weakest and fewest of all people (Deut. vii. 7), but the worst and most
ill-humoured of all people. God giveth thee this good land, not for thy
righteousness, for thou art a stiff-necked people, Deut. ix. 6. And Moses
tells them there (v. 24), You have been rebellious against the Lord
from the day that I knew you. They were not suppled, nor washed,
nor swaddled; 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 so it seemed good in his sight.
And it is a very apt illustration of the miserable condition of all the
children of men by nature. As for our nativity, in the day that we
were born 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. Marvel not
then that we are told, You must be born again.
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God's
Kindness to Israel.
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B.
C. 593.
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6 And when I passed by thee, and saw thee
polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy
blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast 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: thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas
thou wast naked and bare. 8 Now when I passed by thee, and
looked upon thee, behold, thy time was 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 GOD,
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 was of 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 was perfect through my comeliness,
which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD.
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 (v. 6):
"When I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thy own blood,
loathed and abandoned, and appointed to die, as sheep for the slaughter,
then I said unto thee, Live. 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 life, and that more
abundantly. By converting grace, he says to the soul, Live. 2. He
looked upon them with kindness and a tender affection, not only pitied them,
but set his love upon them, which was unaccountable, for there was
nothing lovely in them; but I looked upon thee, and, behold, thy
time was the time of love, v. 8. It was the kindness and love of
God our Saviour 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 was a time of love indeed, distinguishing love, when God
manifested his love to us, and courted our love to him. Then was I in his
eyes as one that found favour, Cant. viii. 10. 3. He took them under his
protection: "I spread my skirt over thee, to shelter thee from
wind and weather, and to cover thy nakedness, that the shame of it
might not appear." Boaz spread his skirt over Ruth, in token of
the special favour he designed her, Ruth iii. 9. God took them into his care,
as an eagle bears her young ones upon her wings, Deut. xxxii. 11, 12.
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 that dwelt in the bush,
then he spread his skirt over them. 4. He cleared them from the
reproachful character which their bondage in Egypt laid them under (v.
9): "Then washed I thee with water, to make thee clean, and
anointed thee with oil, to make thee sweet and supple thee." All the
disgrace of their slavery was rolled away when they were brought, with a
high hand and a stretched-out arm, into the glorious liberty of the children
of God. When God said, Israel is my son, my first-born--Let my people
go, that they may serve me, that word, backed as it was with so many works
of wonder, thoroughly washed away their blood; and when God led them
under the convoy of the pillar of cloud and fire he spread his skirt
over them. 5. He multiplied them and built them up into a people. This is
here mentioned (v. 7) before his spreading his skirt over them,
because their numbers increased exceedingly while they were yet
bond-slaves in Egypt. They multiplied as the bud of the field in spring
time; they waxed great, exceedingly mighty, Exod. i. 7, 20. Their breasts
were fashioned when they were formed into distinct tribes and had officers
of their own (Exod. v. 19); their hair grew when they grew numerous,
whereas they had been naked and bare, 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 given her for a prey: I swore
unto thee and entered into covenant with thee. This was done at Mount
Sinai: "when the covenant between God and Israel was sealed and ratified
then thou becamest mine." 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 confirmed with an oath, that we might have strong
consolation. 7. He beautified and adorned them. This maid cannot forget
her ornaments, and she is gratified with abundance of them, v. 10-13.
We need not be particular in the application of these. Her wardrobe was well
furnished with rich apparel; they had embroidered work to wear, shoes
of fine badgers' skins, linen girdles, and silk veils, bracelets
and necklaces, jewels and ear-rings, and even a beautiful
crown, 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, Gen. xv. 14. They shall come out with great substance.
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 excellent
ornaments, v. 7. The laws and ordinances which God gave them were
to them as ornaments of grace to the head and chains about the neck,
Prov. i. 9. God's sanctuary, which he set up among them, was a beautiful
crown upon their head; it was the beauty of holiness. 8. He fed
them with abundance, with plenty, with dainty: Thou didst eat fine flour,
and honey, and oil--manna, angels' food--honey out of the rock, oil out
of the flinty rock. In Canaan they did eat bread to the full, the finest
of the wheat, Deut. xxxii. 13, 14. 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 hidden
man of the heart is that which is incorruptible. 9. He gave them great
reputation among their neighbours, and made them considerable, acceptable to
their friends and allies and formidable to their adversaries: Thou didst
prosper into a kingdom (v. 13), which speaks both dignity and
dominion; and, They renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty,
v. 14. 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, Deut. iv. 7, 8. Solomon's wisdom, and Solomon's temple, were
very much the renown 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. It was perfect,
saith God, through my comeliness which I had put upon thee, through the
beauty of their holiness, as they were a people set apart for God, and devoted
to him, to be to him for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory. 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.
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Ingratitude
of Israel; Shameful Idolatry of Israel.
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B.
C. 593.
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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: the like things shall not
come, neither shall it be so. 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, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even
set it before them for a sweet savour: and thus it was, saith the Lord
GOD.
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. Is this
of thy whoredoms a small matter, 21 That thou hast slain my
children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire 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, and
wast polluted in thy blood. 23 And it came to pass after all thy
wickedness, (woe, woe unto thee! saith the Lord GOD;)
24 That 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 food, 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 GOD,
seeing thou doest all these things, 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 But as a wife that
committeth adultery, which 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 other
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.
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.
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, Rom. i. 23, &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,
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
(v. 15): "Thou trustedst to thy beauty, and didst expect
that that should make thee an interest, and didst play the harlot because
of thy renown." 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. Rara est concordia formæ atque
pudicitiæ--Beauty and chastity are seldom associated 2. They forgot their
beginning (v. 22) "Thou hast not remembered the days of thy
youth, 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 (v. 30): How weak is
thy heart, seeing thou dost all these things. 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.
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 (v. 15): Thou pouredst out
thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was. 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 multiplies
her whoredoms, v. 25. 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 (v. 16, 18): Thou
deckedst thy high places with divers colours, with the coats of divers
colours, like Joseph's, which God had given them as particular marks of his
favour, and hast played the harlot (that is, worshipped idols) thereupon.
Of this he saith, "The like things shall not come, neither shall it be
so; 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 (v. 17):
The jewels of my gold and my silver which I had given thee. 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 my silver and my gold, though I have given it to
thee." 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 (v. 18): "Thou hast set my oil and my incense before
the, upon their altars, as perfumes to these dunghill-deities; my meat,
and fine flour, and oil, and that honey which Canaan flowed with, and wherewith
I fed thee, thou hast regaled them and their hungry priests with, hast
made an offering of it to them for a sweet savour, to purify them, and
procure acceptance with them: and thus it was, saith the Lord God; it
is too plain to be denied, too bad to be excused. These things thou hast
done. 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 Jer. vii. 31; xix. 5; xxxii. 35): Thou hast
taken thy sons and thy daughters, 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 sacrificed them to be devoured, v. 20. 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 my
children (v. 21), the sons and daughters which thou hast borne
unto me, v. 20. He is the Father of spirits, 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 God of life. But the
children of Israelites were his by a further right; they were the children
of the covenant, born in God's house. He had said to Abraham, I will be
a God to thee and to thy seed; 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 sacrificed to devils!
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 may he not do
what he will with his own? Upon this instance of their idolatry, which
indeed ought not to pass without a particular brand, this remark is made (v.
20), Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter? 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: "After all
thy wickedness of this kind committed in private, for which, woe, woe,
unto thee" (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," v.
23-35. Thou hast built there an eminent place, a brothel-house
(so the margin reads it), and such their idol temples were. Thou hast made
for thyself a high place, for one idol or other, in every street,
and at every head of the way; and again v. 31. 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 make themselves vile, 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: Thou hast
made thy beauty to be abhorred, 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 beauty abhorred 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.
III. What were the aggravations of this sin.
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 they committed fornication with the Egyptians
their neighbours, 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 yet thou hast
played the whore with them (v. 28); though they lived at a greater
distance, yet thou hast entertained their idols and their superstitious
usages, and so hast multiplied thy fornications unto Chaldea, 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 into the land of Canaan, enfranchised and
established them there." Thus Mr. George Herbert long since foretold, or
feared at least,
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That
Seine shall swallow Tiber, and the Thames
By letting in them both pollute her streams.
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2. They had been under the rebukes of Providence for their sins, and yet they
persisted in them (v. 27): I have stretched out my hand over thee,
to threaten and frighten thee. So God did before he laid his hand upon them
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 diminished their ordinary
food, but 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 to the
daughters of the Philistines 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, Jer. ii. 10, 11. 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 (2
Chron. xxviii. 18); 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, Amos iv. 11.
3. They were insatiable in their spiritual whoredom: Thou couldst not be
satisfied, v. 28 and again v. 29. 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.
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, v.
31-34. "In this respect the contrary is in thee from other women in
thy whoredoms: 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 transgressors without
cause (Ps. xxv. 3), wicked transgressors indeed.
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. Nitimur in vetitum--We incline to
what is forbidden.
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Grievous
Punishment of Israel; Punishment Threatened.
B. C. 593.
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35 Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD: 36 Thus saith
the Lord GOD;
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 them that thou hast loved, with all them 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 things;
behold, therefore I also will recompense thy way upon thine head, saith
the Lord GOD:
and thou shalt not commit this lewdness above all thine abominations.
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, v.
35. The prophet, as the judge, in God's name calls to her, O harlot! hear
the word of the Lord. 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. How has the faithful city become a harlot! Rome
is so represented in the Revelation, when it is marked for ruin, as Jerusalem
here. Rev. xvii. 1, Come, and I will show thee the judgments of the great
whore. 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.
I. The crime is stated and the articles of the charge are summed up (v.
36) and (as is usual) with the attendant aggravations (v. 43); 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 whoredoms with her lovers (so she called them, Hos.
ii. 12, because she loved them as if they had been indeed her benefactors),
that is, with all the idols of her abominations, 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: The blood of thy children
which thou didst give unto them. 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 thy
filthiness was poured out; 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: "Thou hast not
remembered the days of thy youth, and the kindness that was done thee
then, when otherwise thou wouldst have perished," v. 43. And, (3.)
The vexation which their sins gave to God, whom they ought to have pleased:
"Thou hast fretted me in all these things, 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 fretting
to him. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation.
II. The sentence is passed in general: I will judge thee as women that
break wedlock and shed blood are judged (v. 38), and those two
crimes were punished with death, with an ignominious death. "Thou hast shed
blood, and therefore I will give thee blood; thou hast broken
wedlock, 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 will not spare in the day of vengeance," Prov. vi.
34, 35. He will recompense their way upon their head, v. 43. In
all the judgments God executes upon sinners we must see their own way
recompensed upon their head; 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, v. 37. Malefactors are
not executed privately, but are made a spectacle to the world. Care is here
taken to bring spectators together: "All those whom thou hast loved,
with whom thou hast taken pleasure, shall come to be witnesses of the
execution, that they may take warning and prevent their own like ruin; and
those also whom thou hast hated, 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 around her, but gathered against her;
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, when a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to
be at peace with him, 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 see the
nakedness of the land will they come. It is added, to the same purport (v.
41), I will execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women;
thou shalt be made an example of in terrorem--that others may see and fear
and do no more presumptuously. 2. The criminal is condemned to die, for
her sins are such as death is the wages of (v. 40): They shall bring
up a company (that is, a company shall be brought up) against thee,
and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with
their swords; 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 (v.
39): They shall throw down thy eminent place, and (v. 41) they shall
burn thy houses, 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 they shall break them down.
It was long the complaint, even in some of the best reigns of the kings of
Judah, that the high places were not taken away; 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: Thou shalt cease from
playing the harlot; there shall be no remainders of idolatry in the land,
because the inhabitants shall be wholly extirpated, and they shall give no
more hire 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 give hire any
more (v. 41): "Then thou shalt not commit this lewdness
of sacrificing thy children, which was a crime provoking above all thy
abominations, for thy children shall all be cut off by the sword or
carried into captivity, so that thou shalt have none to sacrifice," v.
43. Or it may be meant of the reformation of those of them that escape and
survive the punishment; they shall take warning, and shall do no more
presumptuously. The captivity in Babylon made the people of Israel to
cease for ever from playing the harlot; it effectually cured them of
their inclination to idolatry. And then all shall be well, when this is the
fruit, even the taking away of sin; then (v. 42) my jealousy
shall depart. I will be quiet, and no more angry. 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 make
a full end and the fire of his anger shall burn as long as there is any
fuel for it. His fury shall rest upon them, and not remove. Compare
this with that doom of unbelievers, John iii. 36. The wrath of God abideth
on them. They shall drink the dregs of the cup, and then God will be no
more angry, for he is eased of his adversaries (Isa. i. 24), is
satisfied in the abandoning of them, and therefore will be no more angry,
because there are no more for his anger to fasten upon. They had fretted him,
when judgment and mercy were contesting; but now he is quiet, as he
will be in the eternal damnation of sinners, wherein he will be glorified, and
therefore he will be satisfied.
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The
Wickedness of Jerusalem; Punishment of Jerusalem.
B. C. 593.
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44 Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall
use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so
is her daughter. 45 Thou art thy mother's daughter,
that loatheth her husband and her children; and thou art the sister of
thy sisters, which loathed their husbands and their children: your mother was
an Hittite, and your father an Amorite. 46 And thine elder sister is
Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger
sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her
daughters. 47 Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done
after their abominations: but, as if that were a very little thing,
thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways. 48 As I
live, saith the Lord GOD,
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 good. 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 will I bring again 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 thy reproach of the daughters of Syria, and all that
are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, which despise thee
round about. 58 Thou hast borne thy lewdness and thine
abominations, saith the LORD.
59 For thus saith the Lord GOD;
I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, which hast despised the oath in
breaking the covenant.
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,
I. That she was as bad as her mother, 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, As is
the mother, so is her daughter, v. 44. She is her mother's own
child. 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 loathed
her husband and her children, she had all the marks of an adulteress; and
that is the character of the daughter: she forsakes the guide of her youth,
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 the men of that land, who went before them (for which it
had spued them out, Lev. xviii. 27, 28), 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 idols of Canaan as ever they were (Ps. cvi. 38), and
thus, in respect of imitation, it might truly be said that their mother
was a Hittite and their father an Amorite (v. 45),
for they resembled them more than Abraham and Sarah.
II. That she was worse than her sisters Sodom and Samaria, that were
adulteresses too, that loathed their husbands and their children, that
were weary of the gods of their fathers, and were for introducing new gods, a-la-mode--quite
in style, that came newly up, and new fashions in religion, and were given
to change. On this comparison between Jerusalem and her sisters the
prophet here enlarges, that he might either shame them into repentance or
justify God in their ruin. Observe,
1. Who Jerusalem's sisters were, v. 45. Samaria and Sodom. Samaria is
called the elder sister, or rather the greater, 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 on her left
hand. This city of Samaria, and the towns and villages, that were as daughters
to that mother-city, these had been lately destroyed for their spiritual
whoredom. Sodom, and the adjacent towns and villages that were her
daughters, dwelt at Jerusalem's right hand, and was her less sister,
less than Jerusalem, less than Samaria, and these were of old destroyed for
their corporeal whoredom, Jude 7.
2. Wherein Jerusalem's sins resembled her sisters', particularly Sodom's (v.
49): This was the iniquity of Sodom (it is implied, and this is thy
iniquity too), pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness.
Their going after strange flesh, 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 garden
of the Lord into a hell upon earth. It was the pride of the
Sodomites that they despised righteous Lot, and would not bear to be
reproved by him; and this ripened them for ruin. (2.) Gluttony, here called fulness
of bread. 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, abundance of idleness,
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 wicked, and sinners before the
Lord exceedingly, Gen. xiii. 13. The standing waters gather filth and the
sitting bird is the fowler's mark. When David arose from off his bed at
evening he saw Bathsheba. Quæritur, Ægisthus quare sit factus adulter?
In promptu causa est; desidiosus erat--What made Ægisthus an adulterer?
Indolence. (4.) Oppression: Neither did she strengthen the hands of the
poor and needy; probably it is implied that she weakened their hands and broke
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 full of
bread 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 (v.
50): They were haughty, with the horrid effects of their sins, their abominations
which they committed before God. Men arrive gradually at the height of
impiety and wickedness. Nemo repente fit turpissimus--No man reaches the
height of vice at once. But, where pride has got the ascendant in a man,
he is in the high road to all abominations.
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: "Thou hast not only walked after their ways,
and trod in their steps, but hast quite outdone them in wickedness, v.
47. Thou thoughtest it a very little thing 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 something.' Thus thou wast corrupted more
than they in all thy ways." 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 not done as thou hast done, v. 48. This
agrees with what Christ says. Matt. xi. 24, It shall be more tolerable for
the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee. The kingdom of the
ten tribes had been very wicked; and yet Samaria has not committed half thy
sins (v. 51), 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, 1 Kings xiv. 24; 2 Kings xxiii. 7.
And though the Dead Sea, the standing monument of Sodom's sin and ruin,
bordered upon their country (Num. xxxiv. 12), and that sulphureous lake was
always under their nose (God having taken away Sodom and her daughters
in such way and manner as he saw good, as he says here, v. 50,
so as that one thing should effectually make their overthrow an example
to those that afterwards should live ungodly, 2 Pet. ii. 6), yet they did
not take warning, but multiplied their abominations more than they;
and, (1.) By this they justified Sodom and Samaria, v. 51. They
pretended, in their haughtiness and superciliousness, to judge them,
and in the days of old, when they retained their integrity, they did judge
them, v. 52. But now they justify them comparatively: Sodom and
Samaria are more righteous than thou, 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
rise up in judgment. (2.) For this they ought themselves to be greatly
ashamed: "Thou who hast judged thy sisters, and cried out shame on
them, now bear thy own shame, for thy sins which thou hast committed,
which, though of the same kind with theirs, yet, being committed by thee,
are more abominable than theirs," v. 52. This may be taken
either as foretelling their ruin (Thou shalt bear thy shame) or as
inviting them to repentance: "Be thou confounded and bear thy shame;
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 confounded in all that they have done, because they
had been a comfort and encouragement to Sodom and Samaria, v. 54. 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: Thy sister Sodom was not
mentioned by thee in the day of they pride, v. 56. 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 not mentioned, 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 the wrath of God revealed from heaven
against Sodom's ungodliness and unrighteousness, 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 rulers of Sodom and people of Gomorrah, Isa. i. 10.
Note, Those are but preparing judgments for themselves that will not take
notice of God's judgments upon others.
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 (v. 57): Before her wickedness was discovered, 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 the reproach
of the daughters of Syria, of the Philistines, who were said to despise
her and be ashamed of her (v. 27), and under the reproach of
all that were round about her, 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, 2 Chron. xxviii. 5, 18. 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 their destruction, he brought enemies upon them
that were less formidable, for their reproach. If less judgments would
do the work, God would not send greater. In this thou hast borne thy
lewdness, v. 58. 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 in captivity, or hastening into captivity,
and therein is reckoned with, not only for her lewdness (v. 58), but
for her perfidiousness and covenant-breaking (v. 59): "I will
deal with thee as thou hast done; I will forsake thee as thou hast
forsaken me, and cast thee off as thou hast cast me off, for thou hast despised
the oath, in breaking the covenant." 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 broken covenant with me, have despised both the
promises of the covenant and the obligations of it, and therefore I will deal
with thee as thou hast done." 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 v. 53, 55. "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, and as it were for their sakes, and under their shadow and
protection, because they are more righteous than thou, and then thou
shalt return to thy former estate," 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 deliver
to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, Jer. xxiv.
9, 10. 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 a comfort 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. Let my enemy be as the wicked.
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Mercy
in Reserve; Promise of Mercy.
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B.
C. 593.
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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 am
the LORD:
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 GOD.
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 (v. 53,
55), 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 (Jer. xlviii. 47; xlix. 6), 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 repentance and that remission
of sins which should then be preached with success to all
nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Now observe here,
I. Whence this mercy should take rise-from God himself, and his remembering
his covenant with them (v. 60): Nevertheless, 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 will remember
my covenant with thee, that covenant which I made with thee in the days
of thy youth, and will revive it again. Though thou hast broken the
covenant (v. 59), 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 sure
mercies and everlasting (Isa. lv. 3); and, while this root stands
firmly in the ground, there is hope of the tree, though it be cut
down, that through the scent of water it will bud again. We do not
find that they put him in mind of the covenant, but ex mero motu--from his
own mere good pleasure, he remembers it as he had promised. Lev.
xxvi. 42, Then will I remember my covenant, and will remember the land.
He that bids us to be ever mindful of the covenant no doubt will himself be
ever mindful of it, the word which he commanded (and what he commands
stands fast for ever) to a thousand generations.
II. How they should be prepared and qualified for this mercy (v. 61):
"Thou shalt remember thy ways, thy evil ways; God will put thee in
mind of them, will set them in order before thee, that thou mayest be ashamed
of them." 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.
III. What the mercy is that God has in reserve for them. 1. He will take them
into covenant with himself (v. 60): I will establish unto thee an
everlasting covenant; and again (v. 62), I will establish,
re-establish, and establish more firmly than ever, my covenant with thee.
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 (v. 61): "Thou
shalt receive thy sisters, the Gentile nations that are found about thee, thy
elder and thy younger, greater than thou art and less, ancient nations and
modern, and I will give them unto thee for daughters; they shall be
founded, nursed, taught, and educated, by that gospel, that word of the
Lord, which shall go forth from Zion and from Jerusalem; so
that all the neighbours shall call Jerusalem mother, while the church
continues there, and shall acknowledge the Jerusalem which is from above, and which
is free, to be the mother of us all, Gal. iv. 26. They shall be thy
daughters, but not by thy covenant, 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 not by thy covenant 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 by my covenant, the covenant of grace made
with thee and them in concert, as in indenture tripartite. 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 shalt receive them, thou shalt
be ashamed of thy own evil ways 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."
IV. What the fruit and effect of this will be. 1. God will hereby be glorified
(v. 62): "Thou shalt know that I am the Lord. 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, You
shall know that I am the Lord, 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 all
shall know him from the least to the greatest. 2. They shall hereby be
more humbled and abased for sin ( v. 63): "That thou mayest be
the more confounded at the remembrance of all that thou hast done
amiss, mayest reproach thyself for it and call thyself a thousand times
unwise, undutiful, ungrateful, and unlike what thou wast, and mayest never open
thy mouth any more in contradiction to God, reflection on him, or
complaints of him, but mayest be for ever silent and submissive because of
thy shame." 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 when I am pacified towards thee, saith the Lord God.
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 pacified towards us; 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 the kingdom
of heaven is at hand. The prodigal, after he had received the kiss which
assured him that his father was pacified towards him, was ashamed and
confounded, and said, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee.
And the more our shame for sin is increased by the sense of pardoning mercy
the more will our comfort in God be increased.
Contents
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