2 `And thou, son of man, dost thou judge? dost thou judge the city of blood? then thou hast caused it to know all its abominations,
Wo `to' the city of blood, She is all with lies -- burglary -- full, Prey doth not depart.
Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Wo `to' the city of blood, yea, I -- I make great the pile.
Call with the throat, restrain not, As a trumpet lift up thy voice, And declare to My people their transgression, And to the house of Jacob their sins;
Those sinning, reprove before all, that the others also may have fear;
and all the people answering said, `His blood `is' upon us, and upon our children!'
Swearing, and lying, and murdering, And stealing, and committing adultery -- have increased, And blood against blood hath touched.
And also, innocent blood hath Manasseh shed very much, till that he hath filled Jerusalem -- mouth to mouth; apart from his sin that he hath caused Judah to sin, to do the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah.
only, by the command of Jehovah it hath been against Judah to turn `them' aside from His presence, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did, and also the innocent blood that he hath shed, and he filleth Jerusalem with innocent blood, and Jehovah was not willing to forgive.
that on you may come all the righteous blood being poured out on the earth from the blood of Abel the righteous, unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the sanctuary and the altar:
And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying, `Son of man, Two women were daughters of one mother, And they go a-whoring in Egypt, In their youth they have gone a-whoring, There they have bruised their breasts, And there they have dealt with the loves of their virginity. And their names `are' Aholah the elder, And Aholibah her sister, And they are Mine, and bear sons and daughters. As to their names -- Samaria `is' Aholah, And Jerusalem `is' Aholibah. And go a-whoring doth Aholah under Me, And she doteth on her lovers, On the neighbouring Assyrians, Clothed with blue -- governors and prefects, Desirable young men all of them, Horsemen, riding on horses, And she giveth her whoredoms on them, The choice of the sons of Asshur, All of them -- even all on whom she doted, By all their idols she hath been defiled. And her whoredoms out of Egypt she hath not forsaken, For with her they lay in her youth, And they dealt with the loves of her virginity, And they pour out their whoredoms on her. Therefore I have given her into the hand of her lovers, Into the hand of sons of Asshur on whom she doted. They have uncovered her nakedness, Her sons and her daughters they have taken, And her by sword they have slain, And she is a name for women, And judgments they have done with her. And see doth her sister Aholibah, And she maketh her doting love more corrupt than she, And her whoredoms than the whoredoms of her sister. On sons of Asshur she hath doted, Governors and prefects, Neighbouring ones -- clothed in perfection, Horsemen, riding on horses, Desirable young men all of them. And I see that she hath been defiled, One way `is' to them both. And she doth add unto her whoredoms, And she seeth graved men on the wall, Pictures of Chaldeans, graved with red lead, Girded with a girdle on their loins, Dyed attire spread out on their heads, The appearance of rulers -- all of them, The likeness of sons of Babylon, Chaldea is the land of their birth. And she doteth on them at the sight of her eyes, And sendeth messengers to them, to Chaldea. And come in unto her do sons of Babylon, To the bed of loves, And they defile her with their whoredoms, And she is defiled with them, And her soul is alienated from them. And she revealeth her whoredoms, And she revealeth her nakedness, And alienated is My soul from off her, As alienated was My soul from off her sister. And she multiplieth her whoredoms, To remember the days of her youth, When she went a-whoring in the land of Egypt. And she doteth on their paramours, Whose flesh `is' the flesh of asses, And the issue of horses -- their issue. Thou lookest after the wickedness of thy youth, In dealing out of Egypt thy loves, For the sake of the breasts of thy youth. Therefore, O Aholibah, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Lo, I am stirring up thy lovers against thee, From whom thy soul hath been alienated, And have brought them in against thee from round about. Sons of Babylon, and of all Chaldea, Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa, All the sons of Asshur with them, Desirable young men, governors and prefects, All of them -- rulers and proclaimed ones, Riding on horses, all of them. And they have come in against thee, With arms, rider, and wheel, And with an assembly of peoples; Target, and shield, and helmet, They do set against thee round about, And I have set before them judgment, They have judged thee in their Judgments. And I have set My jealousy against thee, And they have dealt with thee in fury, Thy nose and thine ears they turn aside, And thy posterity by sword falleth, They, thy sons and thy daughters do take away, And thy posterity is devoured by fire. And they have stripped thee of thy garments, And have taken thy beauteous jewels. And I have caused thy wickedness to cease from thee, And thy whoredoms out of the land of Egypt, And thou liftest not up thine eyes unto them, And Egypt thou dost not remember again. For thus said the Lord Jehovah: Lo, I am giving thee into a hand that thou hast hated, Into a hand from which thou wast alienated. And they have dealt with thee in hatred, And they have taken all thy labour, And they have left thee naked and bare, And revealed hath been the nakedness of thy whoredoms, And the wickedness of thy whoredoms. To do these things to thee, In thy going a-whoring after nations, Because thou hast been defiled with their idols, In the way of thy sister thou hast walked, And I have given her cup into thy hand. Thus said the Lord Jehovah: The cup of thy sister thou dost drink, The deep and the wide one, (Thou art for laughter and for scorn,) Abundant to contain. With drunkenness and sorrow thou art filled, A cup of astonishment and desolation, The cup of thy sister Samaria. And thou hast drunk it, and hast drained `it', And its earthen ware thou dost gnaw, And thine own breasts thou pluckest off, For I have spoken, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because thou hast forgotten Me, And thou dost cast Me behind thy back, Even thou also bear thy wickedness and thy whoredoms.' And Jehovah saith unto me, `Son of man, Dost thou judge Aholah and Aholibah? Declare then to them their abominations. For they have committed adultery, And blood `is' in their hands, With their idols they committed adultery, And also their sons whom they bore to Me, They caused to pass over to them for food. Again, this they have done to Me, They defiled My sanctuary in that day, And My sabbaths they have polluted. And in their slaughtering their sons to their idols They also come in unto My sanctuary in that day to pollute it, And lo, thus they have done in the midst of My house, And also that they send to men coming from afar, Unto whom a messenger is sent, And lo, they have come in for whom thou hast washed, Painted thine eyes, and put on adornment. And thou hast sat on a couch of honour, And a table arrayed before it, And My perfume and My oil placed on it. And the voice of a multitude at ease `is' with her, And unto men of the common people are brought in Sabeans from the wilderness, And they put bracelets on their hands, And a beauteous crown on their heads. And I say of the worn-out one in adulteries, Now they commit her whoredoms -- she also! And they come in unto her, As the coming in unto a whorish woman, So they have come in unto Aholah, And unto Aholibah -- the wicked women. As to righteous men, they judge them with the judgment of adulteresses, And the judgment of women shedding blood, For they `are' adulteresses, And blood `is' in their hands. For thus said the Lord Jehovah: Bring up against them an assembly, And give them to trembling and to spoiling. And they have cast at them the stone of the assembly, And cut them with their swords, Their sons and their daughters they do slay, And their houses with fire they burn. And I have caused wickedness to cease from the land, And instructed have been all the women, And they do not according to your wickedness. And they have put your wickedness on you, And the sins of your idols ye bear, And ye have known that I `am' the Lord Jehovah!
And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying, `Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, and thou hast said: Thus said the Lord Jehovah to Jerusalem: Thy birth and thy nativity `Are' of the land of the Canaanite, Thy father the Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite. As to thy nativity, in the day thou wast born, Thou -- thy navel hath not been cut, And in water thou wast not washed for ease, And thou hast not been salted at all, And thou hast not been swaddled at all. No eye hath had pity on thee, to do to thee any of these, To have compassion on thee, And thou art cast on the face of the field, With loathing of thy person. In the day thou hast been born -- thou! And I do pass over by thee, And I see thee trodden down in thy blood, And I say to thee in thy blood, Live, And I say to thee in thy blood, Live. A myriad -- as the shoot of the field I have made thee, And thou art multiplied, and art great, And comest in with an excellent adornment, Breasts have been formed, and thy hair hath grown -- And thou, naked and bare! And I pass over by thee, and I see thee, And lo, thy time `is' a time of loves, And I spread My skirt over thee, And I cover thy nakedness, And I swear to thee, and come in to a covenant with thee, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, And thou dost become Mine. And I do wash thee with water, And I wash away thy blood from off thee, And I anoint thee with perfume. And I clothe thee with embroidery, And I shoe thee with badger's skin, And I gird thee with fine linen, And I cover thee with figured silk. And I adorn thee with adornments, And I give bracelets for thy hands, And a chain for thy neck. And I give a ring for thy nose, And rings for thine ears, And a crown of beauty on thy head. And thou dost put on gold and silver, And thy clothing `is' fine linen, And figured silk and embroidery, Fine flour, and honey, and oil thou hast eaten, And thou art very very beautiful, And dost go prosperously to the kingdom. And go forth doth thy name among nations, Because of thy beauty -- for it `is' complete, In My honour that I have set upon thee, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah. And thou dost trust in thy beauty, And goest a-whoring because of thy renown, And dost pour out thy whoredoms On every passer by -- to him it is. And thou dost take of thy garments, And dost make to thee spotted high-places, And dost go a-whoring upon them, They are not coming in -- nor shall it be! And thou dost take thy beauteous vessels Of My gold and My silver that I gave to thee, And dost make to thee images of a male, And dost go a-whoring with them, And dost take the garments of thy embroidery, And thou dost cover them, And My oil and My perfume thou hast set before them. And My bread, that I gave to thee, Fine flour, and oil, and honey, that I caused thee to eat. Thou hast even set it before them, For a sweet fragrance -- thus it is, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah. And thou dost take thy sons and thy daughters Whom thou hast born to Me, And dost sacrifice them to them for food. Is it a little thing because of thy whoredoms, That thou dost slaughter My sons, And dost give them up in causing them to pass over to them? And with all thine abominations and thy whoredoms, Thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, When thou wast naked and bare, Trodden down in thy blood thou wast! And it cometh to pass, after all thy wickedness, (Wo, wo, to thee -- an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah), That thou dost build to thee an arch, And dost make to thee a high place in every broad place. At every head of the way thou hast built thy high place, And thou dost make thy beauty abominable, And dost open wide thy feet to every passer by, And dost multiply thy whoredoms, And dost go a-whoring unto sons of Egypt, Thy neighbours -- great of appetite! And thou dost multiply thy whoredoms, To provoke Me to anger. And lo, I have stretched out My hand against thee, And I diminish thy portion, And give thee to the desire of those hating thee, The daughters of the Philistines, Who are ashamed of thy wicked way. And thou goest a-whoring unto sons of Asshur, Without thy being satisfied, And thou dost go a-whoring with them, And also -- thou hast not been satisfied. And thou dost multiply thy whoredoms On the land of Canaan -- toward Chaldea, And even with this thou hast not been satisfied. How weak `is' thy heart, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, In thy doing all these, The work of a domineering whorish woman. In thy building thine arch at the head of every way, Thy high place thou hast made in every broad place, And -- hast not been as a whore deriding a gift. The wife who committeth adultery -- Under her husband -- doth receive strangers. To all whores they give a gift, And -- thou hast given thy gifts to all thy lovers, And dost bribe them to come in unto thee, From round about -- in thy whoredoms. And the contrary is in thee from women in thy whoredoms, That after thee none doth go a-whoring; And in thy giving a gift, And a gift hath not been given to thee; And thou art become contrary. Therefore, O whore, hear a word of Jehovah, Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because of thy brass being poured forth, And thy nakedness is revealed in thy whoredoms near thy lovers, And near all the idols of thy abominations, And according to the blood of thy sons, Whom thou hast given to them; Therefore, lo, I am assembling all thy lovers, To whom thou hast been sweet, And all whom thou hast loved, Besides all whom thou hast hated; And I have assembled them by thee round about, And have revealed thy nakedness to them, And they have seen all thy nakedness. And I have judged thee -- judgments of adultresses, And of women shedding blood, And have given thee blood, fury, and jealousy. And I have given thee into their hand, And they have thrown down thine arch, And they have broken down thy high places, And they have stript thee of thy garments, And they have taken thy beauteous vessels, And they have left thee naked and bare. And have caused an assembly to come up against thee, And stoned thee with stones, And thrust thee through with their swords, And burnt thy houses with fire, And done in thee judgments before the eyes of many women, And I have caused thee to cease from going a-whoring, And also a gift thou givest no more. And I have caused My fury against thee to rest, And My jealousy hath turned aside from thee, And I have been quiet, and I am not angry any more. Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, And dost give trouble to Me in all these, Lo, even I also thy way at first gave up, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, And I did not this thought for all thine abominations. Lo, every one using a simile, Doth use a simile concerning thee, saying: As the mother -- her daughter! Thy mother's daughter thou `art', Loathing her husband and her sons, And thy sisters' sister thou `art', Who loathed their husbands and their sons, Your mother `is' a Hittite, and your father an Amorite. And thine elder sister `is' Samaria, she and her daughters, Who is dwelling at thy left hand, And thy younger sister, who is dwelling on thy right hand, `is' Sodom and her daughters. And -- in their ways thou hast not walked, And according to their abominations done, As a little thing it hath been loathed, And thou dost more corruptly than they in all thy ways. I live -- an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, Sodom thy sister hath not done -- she and her daughters -- As thou hast done -- thou and thy daughters. Lo, this hath been the iniquity of Sodom thy sister, Arrogancy, fulness of bread, and quiet ease, Have been to her and to her daughters, And the hand of the afflicted and needy She hath not strengthened. And they are haughty and do abomination before Me, And I turn them aside when I have seen. As to Samaria, as the half of thy sins -- she hath not sinned, And thou dost multiply thine abominations more than they, And dost justify thy sisters by all thy abominations that thou hast done. Thou also -- bear thy shame, That thou hast adjudged to thy sisters, Because of thy sins that thou hast done more abominably than they, They are more righteous than thou, And thou, also, be ashamed and bear thy shame, In thy justifying thy sisters. And I have turned back `to' their captivity, The captivity of Sodom and her daughters, And the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, And the captivity of thy captives in their midst, So that thou dost bear thy shame, And hast been ashamed of all that thou hast done, In thy comforting them. And thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, Do turn back to their former state, And Samaria and her daughters Do turn back to their former state, And thou and thy daughters do turn back to your former state. And thy sister Sodom hath not been for a report in thy mouth, In the day of thine arrogancy, Before thy wickedness is revealed, As `at' the time of the reproach of the daughters of Aram, And of all her neighbours, the daughters of the Philistines, Who are despising thee round about. Thy devices and thine abominations, Thou hast borne them, an affirmation of Jehovah. For thus said the Lord Jehovah: I have dealt with thee as thou hast done, In that thou hast despised an oath -- to break covenant. And I -- I have remembered My covenant with thee, In the days of thy youth, And I have established for thee a covenant age-during. And thou hast remembered thy ways, And thou hast been ashamed, In thy receiving thy sisters -- Thine elder with thy younger, And I have given them to thee for daughters, And not by thy covenant. And I -- I have established My covenant with thee, And thou hast known that I `am' Jehovah. So that thou dost remember, And thou hast been ashamed, And there is not to thee any more an opening of the mouth because of thy shame, In My receiving atonement for thee, For all that thou hast done, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah!'
And He saith to me, `Go in, and see the evil abominations that they are doing here.' And I go in, and look, and lo, every form of creeping thing, and detestable beast -- and all the Idols of the house of Israel -- graved on the wall, all round about, and seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel -- and Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing in their midst -- are standing before them, and each his censer in his hand, and the abundance of the cloud of perfume is going up. And He saith unto me, `Hast thou seen, son of man, that which elders of the house of Israel are doing in darkness, each in the inner chambers of his imagery, for they are saying, Jehovah is not seeing us, Jehovah hath forsaken the land?' And He saith unto me, `Again thou dost turn, thou dost see great abominations that they are doing.' And He bringeth me in unto the opening of the gate of the house of Jehovah that `is' at the north, and lo, there the women are sitting weeping for Tammuz. And He saith unto me, `Hast thou seen, son of man? again thou dost turn, thou dost see greater abominations than these.' And He bringeth me in unto the inner court of the house of Jehovah, and lo, at the opening of the temple of Jehovah, between the porch and the altar, about twenty-five men, their backs toward the temple of Jehovah, and their faces eastward, and they are bowing themselves eastward to the sun. And He saith unto me, `Hast thou seen, son of man? hath it been a light thing to the house of Judah to do the abomination that they have done here, that they have filled the land with violence, and turn back to provoke Me to anger? and lo, they are putting forth the branch unto their nose!
Also in thy skirts hath been found the blood of innocent needy souls, Not by digging have I found them, but upon all these.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Ezekiel 22
Commentary on Ezekiel 22 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 22
Eze 22:1-31. God's Judgment on the Sinfulness of Jerusalem.
Repetition of the charges in the twentieth chapter; only that there they were stated in an historical review of the past and present; here the present sins of the nation exclusively are brought forward.
2. See Eze 20:4; that is, "Wilt thou not judge?" &c. (compare Eze 23:36).
the bloody city—literally, "the city of bloods"; so called on account of murders perpetrated in her, and sacrifices of children to Molech (Eze 22:3, 4, 6, 9; 24:6, 9).
3. sheddeth blood … that her time may come—Instead of deriving advantage from her bloody sacrifices to idols, she only thereby brought on herself "the time" of her punishment.
against herself—(Pr 8:36).
4. thy days—the shorter period, namely, that of the siege.
thy years—the longer period of the captivity. The "days" and "years" express that she is ripe for punishment.
5. infamous—They mockingly call thee, "Thou polluted one in name (Margin), and full of confusion" [Fairbairn], (referring to the tumultuous violence prevalent in it). Thus the nations "far and near" mocked her as at once sullied in character and in actual fact lawless. What a sad contrast to the Jerusalem once designated "the holy city!"
6. Rather, "The princes … each according to his power, were in thee, to shed blood" (as if this was the only object of their existence). "Power," literally, "arm"; they, who ought to have been patterns of justice, made their own arm of might their only law.
7. set light by—Children have made light of, disrespected, father … (De 27:16). At Eze 22:7-12 are enumerated the sins committed in violation of Moses' law.
9. men that carry tales—informers, who by misrepresentations cause innocent blood to be shed (Le 19:16). Literally, "one who goes to and fro as a merchant."
10. set apart for pollution—that is, set apart as unclean (Le 18:19).
12. forgotten me—(De 32:18; Jer 2:32; 3:21).
13. smitten mine hand—in token of the indignant vengeance which I will execute on thee (see on Eze 21:17).
14. (Eze 21:7).
15. consume thy filthiness out of thee—the object of God in scattering the Jews.
16. take thine inheritance in thyself—Formerly thou wast Mine inheritance; but now, full of guilt, thou art no longer Mine, but thine own inheritance to thyself; "in the sight of the heathen," that is, even they shall see that, now that thou hast become a captive, thou art no longer owned as Mine [Vatablus]. Fairbairn and others needlessly take the Hebrew from a different root, "thou shalt be polluted by ('in,' [Henderson]) thyself," &c.; the heathen shall regard thee as a polluted thing, who hast brought thine own reproach on thyself.
18. dross … brass—Israel has become a worthless compound of the dross of silver (implying not merely corruption, but degeneracy from good to bad, Isa 1:22, especially offensive) and of the baser metals. Hence the people must be thrown into the furnace of judgment, that the bad may be consumed, and the good separated (Jer 6:29, 30).
23. From this verse to the end he shows the general corruption of all ranks.
24. land … not cleansed—not cleared or cultivated; all a scene of desolation; a fit emblem of the moral wilderness state of the people.
nor rained upon—a mark of divine "indignation"; as the early and latter rain, on which the productiveness of the land depended, was one of the great covenant blessings. Joel (Joe 2:23) promises the return of the former and latter rain, with the restoration of God's favor.
25. conspiracy—The false prophets have conspired both to propagate error and to oppose the messages of God's servants. They are mentioned first, as their bad influence extended the widest.
prey—Their aim was greed of gain, "treasure, and precious things" (Ho 6:9; Zep 3:3, 4; Mt 23:14).
made … many widows—by occasioning, through false prophecies, the war with the Chaldeans in which the husbands fell.
26. Her priests—whose "lips should have kept knowledge" (Mal 2:7).
violated—not simply transgressed; but, have done violence to the law, by wresting it to wrong ends, and putting wrong constructions on it.
put no difference between the holy and profane, &c.—made no distinction between the clean and unclean (Le 10:10), the Sabbath and other days, sanctioning violations of that holy day. "Holy" means, what is dedicated to God; "profane," what is in common use; "unclean," what is forbidden to be eaten; "clean," what is lawful to be eaten.
I am profaned among them—They abuse My name to false or unjust purposes.
27. princes—who should have employed the influence of their position for the people's welfare, made "gain" their sole aim.
wolves—notorious for fierce and ravening cruelty (Mic 3:2, 3, 9-11; Joh 10:12).
28. Referring to the false assurances of peace with which the prophets flattered the people, that they should not submit to the king of Babylon (see on Eze 13:10; Eze 21:29; Jer 6:14; 23:16, 17; 27:9, 10).
29. The people—put last, after the mention of those in office. Corruption had spread downwards through the whole community.
wrongfully—that is, "without cause," gratuitously, without the stranger proselyte giving any just provocation; nay, he of all others being one who ought to have been won to the worship of Jehovah by kindness, instead of being alienated by oppression; especially as the Israelites were commanded to remember that they themselves had been "strangers in Egypt" (Ex 22:21; 23:9).
30. the hedge—the wall (see on Eze 13:5); image for leading the people to repentance.
the gap—the breach (Ps 106:23); image for interceding between the people and God (Ge 20:7; Ex 32:11; Nu 16:48).
I found none—(Jer 5:1)—not that literally there was not a righteous man in the city. For Jeremiah, Baruch, &c., were still there; but Jeremiah had been forbidden to pray for the people (Jer 11:14), as being doomed to wrath. None now, of the godly, knowing the desperate state of the people, and God's purpose as to them, was willing longer to interpose between God's wrath and them. And none "among them," that is, among those just enumerated as guilty of such sins (Eze 22:25-29), was morally able for such an office.
31. their own way … recompensed upon their heads—(Eze 9:10; 11:21; 16:43; Pr 1:31; Isa 3:11; Jer 6:19).