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New Defender's Study Bible Notes
16:15 playedst the harlot. In this chapter, Israel is portrayed first as a foundling who was nurtured by the Lord and then taken as His wife. She became utterly unfaithful, however, committing flagrant spiritual adultery with all the gods of the nations around her, so that her divine Husband finally had to forsake her. Essentially the same symbolism is used in Hosea 1 and 2.
16:20 these hast thou sacrificed. The city (that is, “the woman”) which had become exceedingly beautiful (Psalm 48:2) had wasted her beauty and wealth on spiritual adultery, even sacrificing her children to the “images” (Ezekiel 16:17) she had made (Jeremiah 7:31).
16:29 unto Chaldea. The Lord’s “wife” (that is, the apostate nation) had committed spiritual adultery with the gods of the Egyptians, Philistines, Assyrians and Chaldeans (Ezekiel 16:26-29), among others.
16:41 cease from playing the harlot. Israel (note Samaria mentioned in Ezekiel 16:46) and Judah would be so severely judged because of their adulteries that they would finally abandon all their idols. This indeed happened as a result of their final deportation into Babylon.