And I passed by thee, and saw thee weltering in thy blood, and I said unto thee, in thy blood, Live! yea, I said unto thee, in thy blood, Live!
Ezekiel 16 is God telling Jerusalem her own life story, and it opens with a newborn thrown out in a field to die. Verse 6 is the turning point of that story: God passes by, sees the child lying in her blood, and speaks one word over her.
First, who is this story about? One writer answers that, and also says what the chapter is not:
When reading Ezekiel 16, remember that Jerusalem is the subject, and not Israel. Also, the subject here is not redemption, but God's dealings. He had given life to the one who was in misery and had no beauty. He had cleansed her, adorned her, and anointed her.
A few verses earlier God names her parents: an Amorite father, a Hittite mother. Israel was meant to drive those peoples out. So the picture is not about ancestry:
God's chosen people were meant, and obliged, to take the place of the nations that the land spat out because of their vile practices. So no picture could cut deeper than the one that gives Jerusalem a Canaanite birth, with the Amorite for a father and the Hittite for a mother. It is of course moral, not historical.
A bad birth is not the end of the story. The child lies in the field, and God speaks — twice:
But Scripture itself shows us that a shameful birth cannot tie anyone to evil, where God is turned to and leaned on even a little. How was it here? A wretched outcast, with none of the ordinary care or pity, left in the field on the day she was born. (v. 4, 5) Then Jehovah passed by, and saw her stained with her own blood. He said to her in her blood, Live; and He said it with great force. (v. 6) He cared for her as she grew up to womanhood, dressed and adorned with the most splendid ornaments. Jehovah entered into covenant with her and took her as His own.
Notice the order in the story. God did not wait for the child to become worth saving:
Jerusalem is looked at in her disgusting, offensive degradation; but when not one eye pitied, the Lord not only took compassion on her, but gave her life, washed, clothed, anointed, beautified, and provided for her, and did not stop until He had taken her to Himself.
The child does nothing at all. One writer applies the scene to every sinner:
Like the child pictured in the parable, we are lost, perishing in the field (the world). What could that perishing child do to save itself? Even so we cannot do anything to save ourselves. The Lord passing by had compassion and spoke His Word of power — Live. He came from heaven to this earth, into the field to seek and save what is lost. He found man in the vile and helpless state pictured by the miserable child. More than that, He died to save man. He gave His life so that we might live. The first thing He does for the believing sinner is to give him life. When the spiritually dead hear His voice they live.
So how does life come — by law or by grace? One writer answers plainly:
Grace, not law, gives life and peace, and produces godly walk and conduct. Grace brings life to the dead in trespasses and sins. "I came," said Jesus, "that they may have life and have it abundantly."… The soul receives life, everlasting life. It comes not by doing, but by believing; not as a future hope, but as a present blessing.
Her condition did not hold God back. One writer ties this to God's word two verses later, which older translations give as "your time was the time of love" (ESV: "you were at the age for love"):
He likens Israel to a newborn, helpless baby "cast out in the field" and left to perish with no eye to pity and no heart to have compassion. Then says Jehovah, "your time was the time of love". Man's time of need was God's time of love (Ezek. 16:1-14). So our time of helplessness and ungodliness was God's time of love.
What did she do with all of it? The rest of the chapter is painful, yet it does not end there:
In Ezekiel 16 Jerusalem is reminded of God's dealings in grace, and that what had been in misery and degradation He had washed, anointed, and beautified. All His favour, however, she had used in the service of idols. … She had played the harlot, and should be dealt with as such. … Despite this, His oath and covenant of promise (see Ezek. 16:8) would still be made good (Ezek. 16:62-63).
- Condition — A newborn cast out in a field, with an Amorite father and a Hittite mother. That is moral character, not ancestry.
- Compassion — No eye pitied her, but God passed by. Her time of need was His time of love.
- Command — "Live" is a word of power spoken over one who could do nothing for herself; life is the first thing He gives.
- Cleansing — The washing, clothing, anointing and beauty all come after life. Grace, not law, gives life, and faith receives it — not doing.
- Covenant — She spent every gift on idols, and God judged her for it. Yet His oath to her still stands, and He will make it good.
I caused thee to multiply, as the bud of the field; and thou didst increase and grow great, and thou camest to fulness of beauty; [thy] breasts were fashioned, and thy hair grew but thou wast naked and bare.
God tells Jerusalem her own life story here. She was a baby left to die in a field. He told her to live, and she grew up under a care she never provided for herself. Then the verse ends on a shock: after all that growth she was still "naked and bare". Commentators use that gap to show what God had done, and what He had not yet done.
Two things need settling first: who the chapter is about, and what it is showing.
When you read Ezekiel 16, remember that the subject is Jerusalem, not Israel. And the subject is not redemption, but God's dealings. He had given life, cleansed, adorned, and anointed something that was in misery and had no beauty.
This growth follows one word from God: "Live." He gave everything that came after it — the growing up, the ornaments, and the covenant.
She was a wretched outcast, without the most ordinary care or pity, left out in the field on the day she was born. Then Jehovah passed by. He saw her polluted with her blood, and said to her in her blood, "Live" — and He said it with great force. Under His nurturing care she grew up to womanhood, dressed and decked with the most splendid ornaments. Jehovah entered into a covenant with her and took her as His own. He cleansed her, made her beautiful and adorned her. She prospered into a kingdom, and her fame spread, because of the splendour Jehovah put on her.
Commentators differ on the scope. One keeps the city Jerusalem in view. Another reads the growth as the nation's years in Egypt, where they multiplied under a decree of death.
Clearly we are not to think of the city Jerusalem only, or in a literal way. We are to think of the nation as we find them in Egypt, under the decree of the persecutor — in their blood, as this passage puts it — and groaning in their slavery... The first sign of their national life, and of the blessing of God, was already showing itself even then. They multiplied under the very decree of death... And, to keep to the picture, the breasts that were to feed her children grew. Yet even then, as far as the blessing God designed for them, they were still "naked and bare."
Size and beauty did not solve the problem the verse ends on. One writer points to the order God keeps with the church and with Israel: love first, fitness afterwards.
Let us remember that He did not first make the church worthy to be loved, then love it and give Himself for it. He loved it as it was, then gave Himself for it, and now works to make it suitable to Himself. God acted in the same blessed way with Israel... Israel's time of need was God's time of love.
The abandoned child is not only a picture of Jerusalem. One writer applies each stage of it to anyone who believes.
Like the child pictured in the parable, we are lost, perishing in the field (the world). What could that perishing child do to save itself? In the same way, we can do nothing to save ourselves. The Lord passed by, had compassion, and spoke His word of power — Live... Then came the washing with water, the anointing with oil (a picture of the Holy Spirit), and the announcement "you became Mine". Then the clothing, the beautifying and the crowning. All of it shows what His marvellous grace does for the trusting, believing sinner. It is all grace.
Progress makes it easy to forget where you started. One writer names what to keep in view.
Whatever progress we make, it is always well to remember this — "The days of your youth when you were naked and bare, and were polluted in your blood."
- Live — one word from God started everything here. Before it, she was an outcast in a field with no one to pity her.
- Grown — the growth, the height and the ornaments all came from His care. The child added nothing.
- Naked — growth is not the same as covering. At full size she still lacked what God meant to give her, and only He could give it.
- Loved — He did not wait until she was worth loving. Her time of need was His time of love, and the clothing came after it.
- Remembered — whatever progress we make, keep the early days in view: naked, bare, and polluted in her blood.
And I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, and behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness; and I swore unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord Jehovah, and thou becamest mine.
God tells Ezekiel to confront Jerusalem with her own history. He tells it as the story of an abandoned child, kept alive by one word from God and now grown up. In verse 8 God passes by a second time. He covers her, swears an oath, and claims her as His own. Everything later in the chapter — the judgment and the promised restoration — rests on this pledge.
The chapter speaks about a city. Its theme is not how God saves, but how He dealt with what He had taken up.
When you read Ezekiel 16, remember that Jerusalem is the subject, and not Israel. Also, the theme here is not redemption, but God's dealings. He gave life to what was in misery and had no beauty. He cleansed it, adorned it, and anointed it. But Jerusalem used everything Jehovah had given her in the service of her idols. She also used it to buy the help and favour of the Egyptians and the Assyrians.
The older wording of this verse says her time "was the time of love" (the ESV reads "you were at the age for love"). Writers press the point that the love came first and the beauty came afterwards.
Let us remember that He did not first make the church worthy to be loved, then love it and give Himself for it. He loved it as it was, then gave Himself for it, and now works to make it suitable to Himself. God acted on this same gracious principle with Israel… "I passed by you, and saw you polluted in your own blood… you were naked and bare. Now when I passed by you, and looked upon you, behold, your time was the time of love"… Israel's time of need was God's time of love.
Commentators differ on who the picture describes. One traces this covering back to the nation in Egypt, and to their escape, which came before the law was given at Mount Sinai.
These were a despised people, mere Egyptian slaves. Yet for them came the time of love. In it, as He declares, He spread the corner of His robe over them to cover their nakedness. We cannot help thinking of the covering cloud. They seemed open to their enemies' anger and almost in their grasp. Then the sea made way for them, while the cloud covered them from above. Here, already, they were proclaimed the people of the Lord, although the covenant at Sinai had not yet taken place.
One writer reads "you became mine" as a marriage bond. That bond is why her later unfaithfulness weighed so much.
He was entitled to bring her up for this trial, for He had long ago married her (Jer. 31:32), long ago had spread the corner of His robe over Jerusalem (Ezek. 16:8), and at the time of the marriage had warned her of His holy jealousy (Ex. 20:5). Again and again after the marriage they provoked Him to jealousy. But He held back and was patient, calling over and over for repentance and confession… Israel has been judged as a woman who breaks her marriage vows (Ezek. 16:38).
Ruth asks Boaz to spread his garment over her. One writer sets the two scenes at opposite ends of one story: God covered Israel unasked, and Israel must one day ask.
Unsought He then took Israel for His inheritance, and spread His wings over them. But in the last days they must seek the Lord… Then Israel, like Ruth and Naomi, will take courage in the Lord. They will seek the shelter of His wing again, and the covering of His robe again.
The picture is first about Jerusalem. One writer applies the same steps to anyone who believes.
The parable of the abandoned child, and what the gracious Lord did for the little one, beautifully shows what He had done in His sovereign love and grace for Jerusalem… The Lord passed by, had compassion, and spoke His Word of power — Live… The washing with water, the anointing with oil (a picture of the Holy Spirit), and the announcement "you became Mine" all show what His marvellous grace does for the trusting, believing sinner. So do the clothing, the beautifying and the crowning. It is all grace.
The rest of the chapter tells how she betrayed Him.
Despite this, His oath and covenant of promise (see Ezek. 16:8) would yet be made good (Ezek. 16:62-63).
- Passed by. God moves at the time of her need, not her worth. He came to her while she was still naked and bare.
- Covered. Writers trace the spread garment to the cloud and the sea when Israel left Egypt, before any law was given. Shelter came before demands.
- Sworn. The oath made a marriage bond. "You became mine" is why her later unfaithfulness was so serious, and why He had the right to put her on trial.
- Adorned. He washes, clothes and crowns her after He claims her. The beauty is His gift, not something she earned.
- Remembered. The covenant sworn in verse 8 outlives her ruin. God pledges to make it good, and the account ends in grace.
And I washed thee with water, and thoroughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil;
In Ezekiel 16 God tells Jerusalem her own life story: a newborn thrown out in a field, unwanted and still in her own blood, until He passed by and gave her life. Verse 9 is the next step, and it raises two questions: what do the water and the oil stand for, and why is God telling all this to a city He is about to judge?
The chapter speaks to one city, and it traces a history instead of explaining salvation.
When you read Ezekiel 16, remember that the subject is Jerusalem, not Israel. Also, the subject is not redemption, but God's dealings. He had given life to what was in misery and had no beauty. He had cleansed it, adorned it, and anointed it.
The order matters. Life came first; washing and anointing follow. She was not tidied up so that God could take an interest in her. He took an interest in her while she was still lying there.
The Hebrew verb behind the washing is not a gentle wipe. One writer traces it through its other uses in the law:
Shataph means primarily to "gush," "overflow," and to "rinse," by letting the water flow over, as over the hands. The same word appears in Lev. 15:11-12 and Lev. 6:28. It also occurs in Ezek. 16:9. All of these suggest the thorough removal or sweeping away of defilement, as by a flowing stream.
Nothing of her origin stayed on her.
One writer sets the same pattern beside Christ's love for the church.
Today He is sanctifying and cleansing the church with the washing of water by the word. He is daily occupied with us, separating us from this evil world and cleansing us from the flesh in practice… Let us remember that He did not first make the church worthy to be loved, then love it and give Himself for it. He loved it as it was, then gave Himself for it, and now works to make it suitable to Himself. God acted in the same blessed way with Israel… Israel's time of need was God's time of love. So Christ loved the church in all its deep need, and gave Himself for it; then, having taken it as His own, He cleanses it and makes it suitable to Himself.
Commentators differ over how much this washing carries. One writer answers those who read the picture as outward only:
The aim here is clearly to recount all that God did for them, and to show how His grace and His holiness shone out, despite the conditions of the law… Hengstenberg claims that "We are not to think of spiritual benefits," and that "the prophet keeps to what is plain to see, which even the ungodly, whose consciences he wants to touch, would have to admit." How narrow that idea is, and how little justice it does to what God was doing for His people. The spiritual benefits were, one may say, the whole aim. Without them all the others would have to be empty and pointless… So He could say of them, in contrast with the terrible immoralities of the nations around: "I bathed you with water"; and in the provisions of His law itself, seen in the light of what they picture: "washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil."
So the outward blessings were never the point on their own.
The same writer sets the anointing beside other passages about oil.
There are other words, in both Old and New Testaments, translated "anoint," whose use is also suggestive. We have, for instance, "You anoint my head with oil" (Ps. 23:5)… Ezek. 16:9, where God adorns Israel. Also Isaiah 61:3, where the "oil of joy" is given instead of mourning, reminding us of the oil that makes a man's face shine. All these and many others are most suggestive; adornment, honour, joy are all the results of our having been anointed by the Spirit.
God recalls all this kindness to a city that turned from Him. She used everything He gave her on other things, and even that did not end the story.
In Ezekiel 16 God reminds Jerusalem of His dealings in grace. What had been in misery and degradation He had washed, anointed, and beautified. All His favour, however, she had used in the service of idols, and to gain the support of Egypt and Assyria… Despite this, He would still make good His oath and covenant of promise (see Ezek. 16:8; Ezek. 16:62-63).
- Found — God came to Jerusalem while she was in misery and without beauty. He gave life first, before He gave anything else.
- Washed — the verb means to flood or sluice. It sweeps defilement away and leaves nothing of her past on her.
- Anointed — the oil carries adornment, honour and joy, like "you anoint my head with oil" and the oil of joy given instead of mourning.
- Loved first — He did not make her worthy and then love her. He loved her as she was, took her as His own, then made her suitable to Himself.
- Kept — she spent every gift on idols and foreign alliances. Even so, God will still make good the covenant He swore to her in verse 8.
and I clothed thee with embroidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I bound thee about with byssus, and covered thee with silk.
Ezekiel 16 tells God's dealings with Jerusalem as a story: an abandoned baby girl whom He rescued, raised, and married. Verse 10 is the wardrobe list of that marriage, and every item on it came from Him.
The clothing only makes sense against what came before it. Jerusalem had no natural claim on God at all.
A wretched outcast, without the most ordinary care or pity, thrown out in a field on the day she was born (vv. 4, 5). Then the Lord passed by, and saw her stained with her own blood, and said to her in her blood, Live — and He said it with great emphasis (v. 6). Under His nurturing care she grew up to womanhood, dressed and decked with the most splendid ornaments. The Lord entered into covenant with her and took her as His own. And she whom He had cleansed, beautified and adorned in this way grew into a kingdom, famous abroad for the splendour He had put on her (vv. 7-14).
The whole sequence runs one way — from Him to her.
Jerusalem is seen in her disgusting, offensive degradation; but when not one eye pitied her, the Lord not only took compassion on her, but gave her life, washed her, clothed her, anointed her, beautified her, and endowed her, and did not stop until He had taken her to Himself.
The first garment is woven work of many colours. One writer reads it as the whole worship system God gave Israel.
The clothing with "broidered work" (literally, "variegated work") refers to the elaborate ceremonial system of their religion. In it, though under a veil, all the grace of God was there for them, as far as it could be expressed at that time. What an interweaving of forms and colours we find there when we consider what it pictured! It always invited the thoughtful to meditate. And for those struck in conscience by the law's just claim on them, how it pointed them to God's way of forgiveness!
Where the ESV has "fine leather," older versions read "badgers' skins." The Hebrew word behind it is tachash.
Writers have linked the word tachash to several animals, mainly the seal or dugong… but the badger seems to answer every purpose the skin was used for. We find the tachash used for the outer covering of the tabernacle, and to cover the ark while it travelled. One passage speaks of it as the shoes or sandals of delicate women. Exodus lists it among the costly articles, so it was fairly rare. As a picture, the badgers' skins refer to the holy, separate walk of the Lord Jesus, completely protected from all the world's defilement: He was always morally "separate from sinners."
The same skin had another job in the wilderness.
The shoeing with seal-skin comes next. It makes us think of Kohath's charge in the wilderness. God entrusted him with the most precious things, the object-lessons for approach to God, and everything travelled under the protection of sealskin. Israel was in this way, in a higher sense than the literal, shod for the road. She had to make her journey in peace. So do we, as the apostle tells us, "shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace" — shoes which, like those of Israel in the wilderness, never wear out.
The last two fabrics come from opposite sources — one from a plant, one from a living creature. The linen points to how she was to live.
The "fine linen" speaks of practical righteousness, written as it was on the tablets of the covenant. The priests' clothing and the enclosure of the tabernacle itself were fine linen. To a thoughtful mind it could hardly fail to suggest something of what it pictured. It also comes in its natural place in the list here, after cleansing by the blood and the keeping up of approach to God were cared for — the things all righteousness depends on.
The silk carries a different picture, drawn from how silk is made.
The word used here for "silk" occurs only twice in Scripture. It speaks of something drawn out (meshi, from mashah). It is an animal product, while fine linen is a plant one… According to the figurative idea, the caterpillar produces silk through death to resurrection. The creature leaves it behind, as it were, for man's use. So we see in it the most costly ornament of God's people still — in fact, the "best robe" for the Father's house.
The chapter does not stop at the gift. It goes on to what she spent it on, and to what God still promises.
In Ezekiel 16 God reminds Jerusalem of His dealings in grace. What had been in misery and degradation He had washed, anointed, and beautified. All His favour, however, she used in the service of idols, and to win the support of Egypt and Assyria. She had played the harlot, and He would deal with her as such. Her very lovers became the agents of God's just judgment on her. Despite this, His oath and covenant of promise (see Ezek. 16:8) would yet be made good (Ezek. 16:62-63).
- Given freely. She was an outcast no one pitied. He gave life, washing, clothing, and beauty. The whole list moves from Him to her.
- Given worship. The embroidered cloth stands for the ceremonial system God gave her. Under its veil lay His grace, and it pointed to His way of forgiveness.
- Given shoes. The leather that shielded the tabernacle's holiest things became her shoes — for a journey made in peace, in shoes that never wear out.
- Given beauty. Fine linen speaks of practical righteousness. Silk, drawn through death to resurrection, is the "best robe" for the Father's house.
- Given still. She spent every favour on idols, and judgment followed — yet God's oath and covenant will still be made good.
And I decked thee with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck;
God speaks here as a husband. He is remembering what He once did for a bride who had nothing. The bracelets and the chain are not her purchases but His gifts. The chapter then asks what she will do with beauty she never earned.
The verse belongs to a story that begins with an abandoned newborn. One writer follows the story from that opening to the jewels:
She was a wretched outcast, without the most ordinary care or pity, left in the open field on the day she was born. Then the LORD passed by and saw her lying in her blood, and said to her in her blood, Live; and He said it with all emphasis. Under His care she grew up to womanhood, dressed and decked with the most splendid ornaments. Then the LORD entered into covenant with her and took her as His own. He had made her clean and beautiful and adorned. So she grew into a kingdom, and her fame spread abroad because of the splendour the LORD put on her.
Another writer fixes on the timing, quoting verse 8 in an older translation:
Then the LORD says, "your time was the time of love." Man's time of need was God's time of love.
God gives His people more than they need. One writer takes each ornament in turn and reads the Hebrew word behind it:
Now we come to what is more simply ornament. God is not satisfied with meeting the needs of His people. He must enrich those whom He has delivered. Hands, neck, nose, ears, head are all covered with them. The bracelet (tsamid) speaks of what is "joined together," and tsemed means a "yoke." So the hands that labour in the service of Christ still wear an ornament. The chain for the neck (rabhid, "collar for the throat") points to the throat, through which the high praises of God should sound, as Psalm 149 shows. Both of these last things mark out the activities of the divine life as the true ornament of God's people.
Verse 14 closes the account by naming the source of everything the nations admired:
In Ezekiel 16 the LORD is reasoning with the people about their ingratitude. He likens Israel to an outcast baby which He adopted and cared for with gracious kindness. "And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord GOD" (v. 14).
The adorning of verse 11 makes the fall of verse 15 worse, not lighter. Kelly puts the two side by side:
And what was the return? "But you trusted in your beauty and played the whore because of your renown." It is a sorrowful picture, and no less true for being sad… Her idolatry was marked by this: she squandered all the countless favours of her divine husband — for such her Maker was to her — on the filthy idols of the nations.
The same danger is not confined to ancient Jerusalem:
The heart is so deceitful that we are prone to turn the highest favours God gives us into a reason for self-exaltation… The subtlety is this: we grow proud of some special grace the Lord has given us. Anyone who has never detected it in his own heart has been little exercised in his soul.
The setting aside was not the end. One writer reads this marriage as a story with a further chapter:
In the past the LORD acted as husband to Jerusalem (Ezekiel 16:8-14). Then her unfaithfulness with the nations, her lovers, forced Him to set her aside for a time. She has learned to her sorrow what widowhood and shame are. In time she will enjoy restoration to divine favour. God will openly put her back in her proper relation to Him who is Israel's King and her husband.
- Found — God's love arrived at the point of total helplessness: "Man's time of need was God's time of love."
- Dressed — The bracelets and chain are His gifts, marking hands that serve and a throat that praises Him.
- Owned — Her fame among the nations came from the splendour He gave her, never from anything she made herself.
- Squandered — She trusted the beauty instead of the Giver. She spent His favours on idols. The same instinct still turns God's best gifts into self-exaltation.
- Restored — Set aside for a time, Jerusalem will return openly to her place as the wife of Israel's King.
and I put a ring on thy nose, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thy head.
Ezekiel 16 tells Jerusalem's story as the story of an abandoned newborn, left in a field until God passed by and said, "Live." Verse 12 is the moment rescue turns into royalty: God adds the last ornaments to a girl who owned nothing.
These ornaments only make sense next to where the girl came from. One writer traces that whole movement in a few lines.
A wretched outcast, without the most basic care or pity, left out in the field on the day she was born. Then Jehovah passed by. He saw her stained with her blood, and He said to her in her blood, Live — and He said it with the strongest emphasis. Under His fostering care she grew up to womanhood, dressed and decked with the most splendid ornaments. Jehovah entered into covenant with her and took her as His own. And she, whom He had cleansed and made beautiful and adorned, prospered into a kingdom. Her fame went abroad because of the splendour Jehovah put on her.
Older translations call this first ornament a jewel on the forehead. A closer look at the Hebrew corrects that.
Isaiah 3:21 lists nose jewels among the other ornaments of women, and God's judgements were to take them all away. Ezekiel 16:12 lists the ornaments God used to adorn Jerusalem as a symbol. One of them reads "a jewel on your forehead," which should however read "a ring upon your nose."
Nothing in this verse is necessary. A rescued child needs washing and clothing; she does not need earrings. That excess is the point.
This brings in what is more simply ornament. God is not satisfied with meeting the necessities of His people; He must enrich those whom He has delivered. Ornaments cover the hands, the neck, the nose, the ears and the head… The nose-ring seems to give us the effect for the whole life here. Nezem al appaim means, word for word, "the device for the nostrils." In Scripture the nostrils are tied to the human life, which is like a vapour in the poor, weak creature man is. But by God's "device" — the wonderful plan these things bring before us — He redeems that life from emptiness.
The same writer takes the earrings as the sign of an ear that has already learned its first lesson. That lesson is not a flattering one.
So the ear is truly beautified, and able to hear everything else in the right way, once it has first heard the condemnation on man himself. And when a man accepts that condemnation, it always brings him to the never-failing blessing God has for him.
The order matters. The crown is not where the story starts but where it ends.
After all this comes the beautiful crown. A people of whom the former things were true could not lack it. Israel, when true to her God, had to be a queen among the nations. If she failed, the cause of the failure is obvious. For when Israel acknowledged God even in some measure, she stood unconquerable by all enemies. So the next words picture her in the exaltation God gave her. In Solomon's time we see her truly come to royal estate.
Her renown came from a beauty God had put on her. The tragedy is that she came to treat it as her own.
And what was the return? "But you trusted in your own beauty and played the whore because of your renown." It is a sorrowful picture, and no less true for being sorrowful… She squandered all the countless favours of her divine husband — and such her Maker was to her — on the filthy idols of the nations.
One writer follows that crown to the end of Jerusalem's story. What lies in between is bitter.
Jerusalem was untrue to the Lord and as a result has lost that royal glory. She sank so low that when her Messiah came she cruelly mocked Him, crowned Him with thorns and spat in His face. But the time will come when Jerusalem will repent and rejoice in the Lord's forgiveness. He will lift her again to the head of the nations… What a triumph for His grace, when He will again crown Jerusalem with royal glory, the fruit of His redemption and the work of His Spirit in the heart.
- Rescued first. The girl wearing the ring, the earrings and the crown was an outcast baby left in a field. Every ornament sits on top of that.
- Given, not earned. God does not stop at meeting need; He enriches those He has delivered. The ornaments are surplus, not wages.
- Heard, then adorned. The ear only hears everything else rightly after it accepts God's verdict on man.
- Crowned last. The crown comes after the cleansing, the clothing and the jewels. While Israel stayed true to God, no enemy could conquer her.
- Kept or squandered. She trusted the beauty instead of the Giver and spent His gifts on idols — yet grace will crown that same city again.
Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver, and thy raiment was byssus, and silk, and embroidered work. Thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil; and thou becamest exceedingly beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom.
God found her as a castaway baby. Now she wears a queen's clothes, eats a queen's food and rises to royalty — and none of it is her own.
The chapter tells one story: a baby thrown out in a field, kept alive by God, then raised, clothed and married.
A wretched outcast without the most ordinary care or pity, exposed in the field on the day she was born. Then Jehovah passed by, and saw her polluted with her blood and said to her in her blood, Live — and He said it with great emphasis. Under His fostering care she grew up to womanhood, dressed and decked with the most splendid ornaments. Jehovah entered into covenant with her and took her as His own. Made clean and beautiful and adorned in this way, she prospered into a kingdom. Her fame went abroad because of the splendour Jehovah put on her.
Two words for fabric in this verse are unusual. The first is riqmah, behind "embroidered cloth":
riqmah, made varied by "curious" needlework or by different colours. … The same Hebrew word is translated "divers colours" for the precious stones David had gathered for the temple service (1 Chronicles 29:2).
The word for silk is rarer still. One writer finds meaning in where it comes from:
The word used here for "silk" only occurs twice in Scripture. It speaks of something drawn out (meshi, from mashah); it is an animal product, as the fine linen is a vegetable one… Silk is produced by the caterpillar, according to the figurative idea, through death to resurrection… We see in it the most costly ornament of God's people still — in fact, the "best robe" for the Father's house.
Gold, silver and jewellery keep no one alive.
This introduces what is more simply ornament, for God is not satisfied with meeting the necessities of His people, but must enrich those whom He has delivered. Hands, neck, nose, ears, head, are all covered with them.
The list then moves from clothing to food.
The Lord sums up what He has done for them: "Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth." And then comes what God uses to sustain the creature so dependent on Him: "You ate fine flour and honey and oil." Even in the wilderness He gave them the bread from heaven… How apt we are to think that if we are once Christians, the character of our food is of no vital importance. How little we realise our dependence on the word of God.
The verse ends with royalty. One writer takes the crown as the natural close of everything before it:
After all this comes the beautiful crown. A people of whom the former things were true could not lack it. Israel, when true to her God, could not be anything but a queen among the nations. For when God was owned, even in part, among His people, she stood unconquerable by all her enemies.
God did not wait for Israel to become lovely before He loved her. One writer sees the same order in Christ's love for the church.
Let us remember that He did not first make the church worthy to be loved, then love it and give Himself for it. He loved it as it was, then gave Himself for it, and now works to make it suitable to Himself. God acted very blessedly on the same principle with Israel. Israel's time of need was God's time of love.
The gifts then became the ground of her fall.
The story of Israel's failure comes next; and, sadly, all her privilege, all her wealth of blessing, became for her only the means of a deeper and more fatal downfall. It is traced to its root here — to their self-confidence… And we may build ourselves up just as Israel did, on privileges that only God's grace could have given us, taking the glory that is His due and dressing ourselves with it.
What follows is loss. One commentator sets this verse beside the ruined city:
The gold has become dim, the pure gold changed. Instead of the linen and silk there is sackcloth and ashes; instead of the flour, the honey and the oil, there is want and famine… Sin is a robber; sin brings its wages.
- Found. She began as an outcast baby left in a field; the crown at the end of the verse is the far end of a rescue, not a reward.
- Clothed. Embroidered cloth means coloured needlework. The rare word for silk pointed one writer to death and resurrection, and to "the best robe."
- Enriched. Jewellery meets no need. God "must enrich those whom He has delivered."
- Fed. Fine flour, honey and oil are the diet of the rescued. Christians live the same way, dependent on the word of God.
- Warned. Every gift could feed self-confidence — privilege that only grace gave, worn as if she had earned it.
And thy fame went forth among the nations for thy beauty; for it was perfect through my magnificence, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord Jehovah.
This verse is the high point of a life story God tells back to Jerusalem: a city famous among the nations for a beauty she did not produce. The weight falls on the last words, where God names who gave her that splendour — and the next verse turns on whether she remembers.
The picture begins with an abandoned newborn, not a queen.
A wretched outcast, without the most ordinary care or pity, left in the field on the day she was born (v. 4, 5). Then Jehovah passed by and saw her covered with her own blood. He said to her in her blood, Live — and He said it with great emphasis (v. 6). Under His care she grew up to womanhood, dressed and decked with the most splendid ornaments. Jehovah entered into covenant with her and took her as His own. He made her clean and beautiful and adorned, and she grew into a kingdom. Her fame spread abroad because of the splendour Jehovah put on her (v. 7-14).
The subject here is narrower than it first appears, and the theme is not how a sinner is saved.
When you read Ezekiel 16, remember that Jerusalem is the subject, and not Israel. The subject is also not redemption, but God's dealings. He gave life to what was in misery and had no beauty; He cleansed it, adorned it, and anointed it. But Jerusalem had used all that Jehovah had given her in the service of her idols, and also to buy the help and the favour of the Egyptians and the Assyrians. She had no idea of independence and of standing alone, leaning on Jehovah… Jerusalem is justly condemned and humbled, yet God will still act in full grace toward her and restore her, remembering His love and His covenant. She will never be restored on the old ground… the grace shown toward her is the sovereign grace of redemption and pardon.
The order matters. God did not wait for something attractive to appear. One writer puts this beside Christ and the church.
Let us remember that He did not first make the church worthy to be loved, then love it and give Himself for it. He loved it as it was, then gave Himself for it, and now works to make it suitable to Himself. God acted in the same blessed way with Israel… Israel's time of need was God's time of love. So Christ loved the church in all its deep need, and gave Himself for it. Then, having made it His own, He cleanses it and makes it suitable to Himself.
The very next verse reverses everything.
And what was the return? "But you trusted in your beauty and played the whore because of your renown." It is a sorrowful picture, and as true as it is sad. The beauty of Jerusalem was for every passer-by (v. 15, 16)… Her uncleanness was marked by this. Her divine husband — for that is what her Maker was to her — gave her countless favours, and she squandered them all on the filthy idols of the nations.
One writer turns verses 14 and 15 into a warning for us.
When someone else falls, our natural reaction is to thank God that we are not like other men. It should rather show us that we stand only by faith, and that if we become proud we shall fall. The moment we think we are something, we only deceive ourselves. We forget that grace alone makes us different. Like Jerusalem, instead of valuing the perfect splendour God has put on us, we trust in our own beauty (Ezek. 16:14-15). When this happens, we lose the real dignity of our standing.
The phrase is picked up elsewhere in Scripture as the pattern of how any bride is made fair.
The King, the Bridegroom, speaks of her as "perfect through the splendour" He has put upon her (Ezek. 16:14)… He assures her of His delight in her. It is all His own workmanship; she has not made herself fair and spotless. His grace and power have accomplished it for her. And what is true of the bride-remnant of Israel is also true of the church. In Him we have our completeness and perfection; His own splendour and glory is given to us.
- Given — the beauty was not hers by birth; she began as an outcast, and every ornament came from the One who passed by.
- Perfect — the renown was real, but the splendour was borrowed. She was perfect only through what He put on her.
- Loved first — He did not wait for her to become worthy; her time of need was His time of love.
- Claimed — she took the given beauty as her own, and her renown became the reason she left Him.
- Restored — she is condemned and humbled, yet God will act in full grace toward her. He restores her on sovereign grace, never on the old ground.