CHAPTER 16

(594 B.C.)

THE SIGN OF A CHILD; JERUSALEM, A FOUNDLING

¹Again the Word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

²Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations (Jerusalem is the subject, because she, as the capital and where the Temple was located, answers for the entirety of Judah),

³And say, Thus says the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; Your birth and your nativity is of the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite, and your mother an Hittite. (The phrase, Your birth and your nativity, refers to her origin, which was not heavenly, but earthly. Such is said because religious pride had so filled Jerusalem, as she held herself spiritually far above other cities and nations, that she no longer saw herself for what she really was. With a piercing blow, the Holy Spirit through the Prophet strikes at her pride, saying, Your birth is of the land of Canaan.)

⁴And as for your nativity, in the day you were born your navel was not cut, neither were you washed in water to supple you; you were not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. (The interpretation of this Prophecy belongs to that city and nation, but in application truly describes the moral condition of all men by natural birth; for these Verses give a true picture of mans essential corruption.)

⁵No eye pitied you, to do any of these unto you, to have compassion upon you; but you were cast out in the open field, to the loathing of your person, in the day that you were born. (No eye pitied you, refers to all the surrounding nations, from then until now.)

⁶And when I passed by you, and saw you polluted in your own blood, I said unto you when you were in your blood, Live; yes, I said unto you when you were in your blood, Live. (The Grace of the Redeemer, in loving such a foul being, in making her His Bride, and in giving her such a priceless trousseau, surpasses all human experience.)

⁷I have caused you to multiply as the bud of the field, and you have increased and waxed great, and you are come to excellent ornaments: your breasts are fashioned, and your hair is grown, whereas you were naked and bare. (Israel really never became a nation until the advent of David as king. Under Saul, who was mans choice [as David was Gods choice], Israel little came together as a unified people. Only under David, of which these Passages speak, did Israel become a cohesive unity.

And you are come to excellent ornaments, refers to the Ark of the Covenant, and ultimately the Temple, where God dwelt. No other nation in the world was blessed with such excellent ornaments, which also inspired the enmity of the nations.

Your breasts are fashioned, referred to her spiritual maturity, in that she was to nurture the nations of the world in the knowledge of God. Sadly, in this she failed!)

GOD RESCUES HER

⁸Now when I passed by you, and looked upon you, behold, your time was the time of love; and I spread My skirt over you, and covered your nakedness: yes, I swore unto you, and entered into a Covenant with you, says the Lord GOD, and you became Mine. (And I spread My skirt over you, and covered your nakedness, is illustrated by Ruth lying at the feet of Boaz [Ruth 3:9]. The Covenant into which the Lord entered with Israel was actually the Covenant of Ex. 24:7-8. All of this is also spelled out in Deut., Chpt. 28. There, the positives and negatives of the Covenant are given. The Lord never broke the Covenant, but Israel did, and repeatedly! Gods fidelity to the Covenant is enjoined in the words, I swore unto you, and entered into a Covenant with you.)

⁹Then washed I you with water; ye s, I thoroughly washed away your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil. (The water refers to the Word of God, and the oil refers to the Holy Spirit, which Israel alone of the nations had.)

¹⁰I clothed you also with broidered work, and shod you with badgers skin, and I girded you about with fine linen, and I covered you with silk. (This Passage speaks of the following:

A. I clothed you with broidered work: speaks of the Garment of Praise [Isa. 61:3];

B. I shod you with badgers skin: a type of the Incarnation of Christ;

C. I girded you about with fine linen: speaks of Righteousness;

D. I covered you with silk: prosperity!)

¹¹I decked you also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon your hands, and a chain on your neck. (More gifts:

E. I decked you also with ornaments: this consisted of the holy utensils used in the Temple for the worship of Jehovah;

F. And I put bracelets upon your hands: this speaks of the Blessings of God;

G. And a chain upon your neck: this typifies the umbilical cord to Christ.)

¹²And I put a jewel on your forehead, and earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown upon your head. (Gifts continue:

H. And I put a jewel in your forehead: this speaks of possession, and means that Israel belonged solely to the Lord;

I. And earrings in your ears: this signifies that they were to hear only His Voice;

J. And a beautiful crown upon your head: as such, they were signified as the head of all nations.)

¹³Thus were you decked with gold and silver; and your raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; you did eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and you were exceeding beautiful, and you did prosper into a kingdom. (The blessings continue:

K. Thus were you decked with gold and silver: the gold spoke of Deity, and the silver spoke of Redemption. Jehovah was their Head and He had redeemed them;

L. You did eat fine flour: such portrays the Incarnation of the spotless Son of God;

M. And honey: typified the sweet Word of God [Ps. 119:103];

N. And oil: as would be obvious, typifies the Holy Spirit, which is the second time He is typified, denoting great help [Vs. 9];

O. And you were exceeding beautiful: they were the nation of nations; however, all of their blessing and beauty came totally and solely from the Lord;

P. And you did prosper into a kingdom: under David and Solomon they became the most powerful nation in the world.)

¹⁴And your renown went forth among the heathen for your beauty: for it was perfect through My comeliness, which I had put upon you, says the Lord GOD. (That a mighty Prince should make of an abandoned infant His Queen is amazing. But what adds to the wonder of it all is that this Divine Prince knew beforehand that His Bride would forsake Him and ultimately betray Him and crucify Him.

Such affection is impossible among men, for when a man adopts a child, he hopes for a recompense in the love of the child; but who would adopt a child knowing beforehand that the child would hate and murder its benefactor?

The Love that provided such a marriage, as described in Verses 10 through 14, is a Love that passes knowledge.)

THE FOUNDLING BECOMES A PROSTITUTE: THE SINS OF JUDAH

¹⁵But you did trust in your own beauty, and played the harlot because of your renown, and poured out your fornications on every one who passed by; his it was. (The two especially horrible features of the impure and cruel forms of idolatry to which Jerusalem madly gave herself are described in Verses 15 through 34. They were impure; for in her frenzied rage for idol worship, she especially adopted the idolatries of Egypt and Chaldea, both characterized by obscenity. The cruelty of her favored form of worship was the burning alive of little children in honor of the idol god, Moloch.)

¹⁶And of your garments you did take, and decked your high places with divers colours, and played the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so. (The phrase, The like things shall not come, neither shall it be so, refers to a frenzied fervor of debauchery that has never been witnessed before, at least to this degree, and shall never again be witnessed!)

¹⁷You have also taken your fair jewels of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and made to yourself images of men, and did commit whoredom with them (And made to yourself images of men, and did commit whoredom with them, is thought to intimate phallus worship, i.e., the Asherah the male reproductive organ),

¹⁸And took your broidered garments, and covered them: and you have set My oil and My incense before them. (And you have set My oil and My incense before them, refers to this filthy idol possibly being placed even in the very Holy of Holies beside the Ark of the Covenant, or at least in the Holy Place beside the Altar of Worship. It is thought by some that Manasseh did this [II Chron. 33:3-7].)

¹⁹My meat also which I gave you, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed you, you have even set it before them for a sweet savour: and thus it was, sa ys the Lord GOD. (The phrase, And thus it was, says the Lord GOD, means I saw it; it is really true, says Adonai-Jehovah. The sense here is: How could such a shameful object of worship, made of wood, stone, or metal, give rest to either heart or conscience?)

²⁰Moreover you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne unto Me, and these have you sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of your whoredoms a small matter,

²¹That you have slain My children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them? (The throbbing agony of these two Verses can be felt by the Reader. Divine indignation and anguish combined in crying out to this faithless wife, Bad as was your conduct in forsaking Me for vile and worthless lovers, yet greater is your guilt and cruelty in putting My children to so horrible a death.)

²²And in all your abominations and your whoredoms you have not remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, and were polluted in your blood. (Israel forgot that the Lord raised her up from nothing, and even less than nothing, if possible!)

²³And it came to pass after all your wickedness, (woe, woe unto you! says the LORD GOD [the phrase, Woe, woe unto you! refers to the coming judgment upon Judah and Jerusalem by the Chaldeans: it is because of all your wickedness];)

²⁴That you have also built unto you an eminent place, and have made you an high place in every street. (This high place or eminent place referred to these religious ceremonies of idol worship.)

²⁵You have built your high place at every head of the way, and have made your beauty to be abhorred, and have opened your feet to everyone who passed by, and multiplied your whoredoms. (You have built..., proclaims the industry of Judah and Jerusalem in the increase of their sin.)

²⁶You have also committed fornication with the Egyptians your neighbors, great of flesh; and have increased your whoredoms, to provoke Me to anger. (You have also committed fornication with the Egyptians, points to the political and commercial alliances in themselves as whoredom [Isa. 23:17; Nah. 3:4].

Please note the terms of fornication and whoredoms, which had to do in essence with spiritual adultery. The Apostle Paul used virtually the same terminology concerning Christians, who are married to Christ but yet look to things other than the Cross for victory [Rom. 7:1-4].)

²⁷Behold, therefore I have stretched out My hand over you, and have diminished your ordinary food, and delivered you unto the will of them who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of your lewd way. (The daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of your lewd way, is striking indeed! Israel had sunk lower even than these heathen people. And then the judgment begins, with the Lord trying to bring Israel back to her rightful place.)

²⁸You have played the whore also with the Assyrians, because you were unsatiable; yes, you have played the harlot with them, and yet could not be satisfied. (You have played the whore also with the Assyrians, includes political alliances like that of Ahaz with Tiglath-Pileser [II Ki. 26:7], as well as the adoption of idolatrous worship.

The word unsatiable referred to one being incapable of being satisfied, in this case, desiring to sin more and more!)

²⁹You have moreover multiplied your fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea; and yet you were not satisfied herewith. (The Holy Land became morally the land of Canaan because of its adoption of the foul and ancient religion of Canaan. And yet you were not satisfied herewith, once again reinforces the truth that lust is never satisfied. The more one sins, the more one must sin.)

³⁰How weak is your heart, sa ys the LORD GOD, seeing you do all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman (the phrase, How weak is your heart, refers to Israel, spiritually speaking, giving herself to anyone and everyone);

³¹In that you build your eminent place in the head of every way, and make your high place in every street; and have not been as an harlot, in that you scorn hire (And have not been as an harlot, in that you scorn hire, refers to the fact that a harlot was paid for her services, but Israel was so eager to commit spiritual adultery that she gave herself away to any and all for the asking; if they didnt ask, it was freely offered);

³²But as a wife who commits adultery, which takes strangers instead of her husband! (God considered Israel as His Covenant wife. She was unfaithful to Him, in that she gave worship and adoration to strangers instead of her husband, i.e., Jehovah.)

³³They give gifts to all whores: but you give your gifts to all your lovers, and hire them, that they may come unto you on every side for your whoredom. (That they may come unto you on every side for your whoredom, points to Judah and Jerusalem actively soliciting alliances with the heathen and eagerly desiring to worship their false gods.)

³⁴And the contrary is in you from other women in your whoredoms: whereas none follows you to commit whoredoms: and in that you give a reward, and no reward is given unto you, therefore you are contrary. (And the contrary is in you from other women in your whoredoms, refers to other nations which remained true to their gods, and did not take upon themselves the worship of the gods of other countries. But Judah forsook the worship of Jehovah, engaging in the worship of foreign gods. In this, they were contrary to other nations.

The phrase, Whereas none follows you to commit whoredoms, meant that Judah, at least among the nations, was alone in committing this foul sin.)

JUDGMENT ON JERUSALEM

³⁵Wherefore, O harlot, hear the Word of the LORD (the Holy Spirit through the Prophet addresses Judah as O harlot! Is the Lord saying the same thing about the modern Church? Inasmuch as the modern Church has left Christ, and, in fact, serves another Jesus, which means that its a Jesus without the Cross [II Cor. 11:4], then the modern Church must be judged the same as Judah of old!):

³⁶Thus says the Lord GOD; Because your filthiness was poured out, and your nakedness discovered through your whoredoms with your lovers, and with all the idols of your abominations, and by the blood of your children, which you did give unto them (the word translated filthiness actually should have been translated brass. It probably referred to the money spent by Jerusalem on the establishment and maintenance of idol worship. Silver figured clean money and spoke of Redemption, while brass figured the unclean.

And by the blood of your children, which you did give unto them, refers to Judah going into idol worship to such an extent, and seeking to please these foreign countries, that she actually offered up her own children in sacrifice to heathen gods);

³⁷Behold, therefore I will gather all your lovers, with whom you have taken pleasure, and all them that you have loved, with all them that you have hated; I will even gather them round about against you, and will discover your nakedness unto them, that they may see all your nakedness. (Your lovers, refers to the Assyrians, Egyptians, and the Chaldeans. All them that you have hated, refers to the Moabites, Ammonites, and the Philistines. The phrase, And will discover your nakedness unto them, pertains to her coming defeat which will expose her to those she thought were her friends, but in reality were her enemies. It also refers to those who had always been jealous of her and who would now gloat over her defeat.)

³⁸And I will judge you, as women who break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give you blood in fury and jealousy. (The Holy Spirit, in this Passage, is referring to Lev. 20:10 and Deut. 22:22. Joining Verse 38 with Rom. 7:1-4, we learn that God judges as a spiritual adulterer any person who allows the object of their faith to be other than the Cross of Christ.)

³⁹And I will also give you into their hand, and they shall throw down your eminent place, and shall break down your high places: they shall strip you also of your clothes, and shall take your fair jewels, and leave you naked and bare. (This Verse proclaims the fact that not only would these places of idol worship be destroyed by the coming conquerors, but the true glory of Judah and Jerusalem would also be destroyed.)

⁴⁰They shall also bring up a company against you, and they shall stone you with stones, and thrust you through with their swords. (The phrase, Stone you with stones, probably refers to the great engines of war employed by the Chaldeans, which hurled great stones against the walls of the city, and even into the city.)

⁴¹And they shall burn your houses with fire, and execute judgments upon you in the sight of many women: and I will cause you to cease from playing the harlot, and you also shall give no hire any more. (This refers to the city being sacked and burned and, therefore, no longer able to finance idolatrous worship, or even to engage in it, except in their hearts. In the sight of many women, refers to the surrounding nations, which were also likened by the Holy Spirit to harlots [Vs. 34], which would observe with glee the defeat and destruction of Jerusalem.)

⁴²So will I make My fury toward you to rest, and My jealousy shall depart from you, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry. (From the Word of God, we learn that the Wrath of God is a reality; the language and teaching of Scripture are calculated to impress upon us the severity by which it is characterized.)

⁴³Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have fretted Me in all these things; behold, therefore I also will recompense your way upon your head, says the Lord GOD: and you shall not commit this lewdness above all your abominations. (Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, presents a more tender tone than the previous statements, hence mixing Mercy with Wrath, thus sparing a Remnant.)

⁴⁴Behold, every one who uses proverbs shall use this proverb against you, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter. (Because Jerusalem adopted the loathsome form of idolatry practiced by the Canaanites, she, therefore, morally became their daughter.)

⁴⁵You are your mothers daughter, who loathes her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, which loathed their husbands and their children: your mother was an Hittite, and your father an Amorite. (This Verse proclaims Judah conducting herself not as belonging to the Lord of Glory, but rather belonging to the heathen nations surrounding her, because she had adopted all of their ways.)

⁴⁶And your elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters who dwell at your left hand: and your younger sister, who dwells at your right hand, is Sodom and her daughters. (Historically, Sodom, as the oldest representative of evil, seemed to claim precedence. However, Samaria influenced Judah far more regarding evil, and was, therefore, called the elder sister, primarily because Sodom had been destroyed even before Israel became a nation. Nevertheless, empires which did greatly influence Judah for evil, such as Assyria and the Chaldeans, had been greatly influenced by the evil of Sodom, as had the entire world of that day, hence, the phrase, Sodom and her daughters.)

⁴⁷Yet have you not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: but, as if that were a very little thing, you were corrupted more than they in all your ways. (The idea of this Verse is: Judah was not only as bad as the heathen nations, but actually became much worse!)

⁴⁸As I live, says the Lord GOD, Sodom your sister has not done, she nor her daughters, as you have done, you and your daughters. (When Judah was placed beside Sodom, she was found wanting! Such is almost beyond imagination. And yet Christ would say the same thing concerning the Israel of His day [Mat. 11:24].)

⁴⁹Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. (Four sins, as given here, characterized Sodom, but pride headed the list.)

⁵⁰And they were haughty, and committed abomination before Me: therefore I took them away as I saw good. (The abomination they committed was the sin of homosexuality, i.e., sodomy.)

⁵¹Neither has Samaria committed half of your sins; but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and have justified your sisters in all your abominations which you have done. (The idea is: all the heathen nations, including Sodom, were made to appear innocent by comparison with the guilt of Jerusalem not positively, but relatively [II Ki. 21:9].)

⁵²You also, which have judged your sisters, bear your own shame for your sins that you have committed more abominable than they: they are more righteous than you: yes, be you confounded also, and bear your shame, in that you have justified your sisters. (The Lord called Judah more abominable than they. To make the case even more ironclad, He turned it around and said: they are more righteous than you.)

REGATHERING OF ISRAEL

⁵³When 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 your captives in the midst of them (the future Restoration of Jerusalem together with Samaria and Sodom is predicted in Verses 53 through 63. This will take place in the coming Kingdom Age.

The amazing nature of the Grace that will perform this regeneration is preceded by the argument of Verses 53 through 59, which appears to be that Jerusalem had no more claim to forgiveness and Restoration than either Sodom or Samaria. Therefore, her recovery was as eternally hopeless as theirs.

However, the principle of Grace now appears as Paul outlines in Rom. 11:34. But a Grace rich enough to forgive Jerusalem must, in its nature, be rich enough to forgive her less guilty companions, for there is no difference all have sinned):

⁵⁴That you may bear your own shame, and may be confounded in all that you have done, in that you are a comfort unto them. (The fact of pardon being granted to Jerusalem brings comfort to Samaria and Sodom. As stated, this will take place in the coming Kingdom Age!)

⁵⁵When your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then you and your daughters shall return to your former estate. (It is humbling to religious pride to be compelled to seek Mercy in the company of the most degraded and fallen, and of those formerly despised.)

SINS OF JUDAH

⁵⁶For your sister Sodom was not mentioned by your mouth in the day of your pride (the name of Sodom was not even uttered by Judah in the days of her prosperity. It was too vile for utterance except as a byword of reproach. Isaiah had in vain reminded her that she had made herself like them [Isa. 1:9-10]. Such is self-righteousness!),

⁵⁷Before your wickedness was discovered, as at the time of your reproach of the daughters of Syria, and all that are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, which despise you round about. (Before your wickedness was discovered, refers to Judah being humbled as those she had despised.)

⁵⁸You have borne your lewdness and your abominations, says the LORD. (This Scripture presents the reason that Judah sank to the spiritual level, or even below, of their surrounding heathen neighbors, i.e., lewdness and abominations.)

⁵⁹For thus sa ys the Lord GOD; I will even deal with you as you have done, which have despised the oath in breaking the Covenant. (The Oath and Covenant formed the marriage bond of Sinai, which was the Law. Jerusalem was unfaithful to that bond; but not so her Heavenly Husband, as the next Verse will declare.)

GODS COVENANT: RESTORATION OF ISRAEL

⁶⁰Nevertheless I will remember My Covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish unto you an Everlasting Covenant. (Even though Judah did not keep the Covenant, the Lord did. And as such, He has made an everlasting marriage bond with her. This is yet future, in that she will be fully restored, which will take place at the Second Coming, when Israel will repent and finally accept Christ as her Saviour, Messiah, and Lord.

I will remember My Covenant with you in the days of your youth, refers to the Promises made to Abraham, the Patriarchs, and the Prophets. Despite Israels wickedness, and because of her Repentance, each of these Promises will be kept in full. The Everlasting Covenant refers to the New Covenant of Grace already given, which Israel would not accept, but now shall in totality [Heb. 13:20].)

⁶¹Then you shall remember your ways, and be ashamed, when you shall receive your sisters, your elder and your younger: and I will give them unto you for daughters, but not by your covenant. (At the time this New Covenant is ratified with Israel, and upon her acceptance of Christ as her Lord and Saviour, He will, at the same time, give her, as bridesmaids, so to speak, her sisters, Sodom and Samaria. This will take place shortly after the Second Coming [Zech. 13:1].)

⁶²And I will establish My Covenant with you; and you shall know that I am the LORD (the Covenant of which the Lord now speaks is not the Law of Moses, but rather the New Covenant perfected by Christ by Him giving His Life on the Cross of Calvary, and doing so for the entirety of the world, Israel included!):

⁶³That you may remember, and be confounded, and never open your mouth any more because of your shame, when I am pacified toward you for all that you have done, says the Lord GOD. (When I am pacified toward you, means that Israel is forgiven. The Lord has accepted a propitiation for Israel. This propitiation was consummated at Calvary. It provides the righteous ground upon which God may meet and forgive the vilest sinners without injury to the Righteousness which is the establishment of His Throne. For if God were to forgive sins unrighteously, He would wreck His Throne and cease to be God.)