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New Defender's Study Bible Notes
16:3 Amorite. Both Amorites and Hittites were prominent in Canaan when Abraham arrived there from Ur of the Chaldees. Neither Abraham, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel nor Leah had any Amorite or Hittite blood in their personal heritage, but these pagan influences had infiltrated Jerusalem long before David captured it, and such influences had infected the children of Israel as soon as they returned there from Egypt under Joshua.
16:4 as for thy nativity. God’s description of the birth and early growth of the city of Jerusalem, using the symbol of a woman for the city, makes it clear that her history was completely pagan until God Himself made it His “holy city” under David and Solomon. This fact seems to eliminate the possibility that Jerusalem was originally Salem, the “city of peace,” ruled by Melchizedek (Genesis 14:18; see note on that verse).
16:8 spread my skirt over thee. This phrase was a common metaphor for taking a woman as wife (compare Ruth 3:9). God thenceforth is pictured in the Old Testament as the “husband” of Israel and her capital at Jerusalem (Isaiah 54:5; Hosea 2:19; etc.).
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.
16:49 thy sister Sodom. Judah’s sin—because of greater privilege—was worse than even that of Sodom (also compare Matthew 11:24).
16:60 I will remember my covenant. Despite all her sins, even more blameworthy than even those of Sodom (Ezekiel 16:49-50), a nation that could never be restored after its complete annihilation (Genesis 19:24-25), Israel and Judah must eventually be restored because of God’s “everlasting covenant,” which had been made unconditionally with Abraham “in the days of thy youth.” That covenant was made because of Abraham’s obedience (not the later nation of his descendants) Note Genesis 12:1-7; 15:18-21; 17:1-8.