Ezekiel 16:14

And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

16:1-58 In this chapter God's dealings with the Jewish nation, and their conduct towards him, are described, and their punishment through the surrounding nations, even those they most trusted in. This is done under the parable of an exposed infant rescued from death, educated, espoused, and richly provided for, but afterwards guilty of the most abandoned conduct, and punished for it; yet at last received into favour, and ashamed of her base conduct. We are not to judge of these expressions by modern ideas, but by those of the times and places in which they were used, where many of them would not sound as they do to us. The design was to raise hatred to idolatry, and such a parable was well suited for that purpose.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Perfect ... my comeliness - The comeliness was not natural, but the gift of God.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

14. thy renown … among … heathen—The theocracy reached its highest point under Solomon, when distant potentates heard of his "fame" (1Ki 10:1, &c.), for example, the queen of Sheba, Hiram, &c. (La 2:15).

my comeliness—It was not thine own, but imparted by Me.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Thy renown; thy name was great and honoured.

Among the heathen; not only next neighbours, but the uttermost ends of the earth, as it is said of the queen of Sheba, heard thereof.

For thy beauty; the excellent order of thy government, prosperity of thy country, riches of thy merchants, and abundance of thy peace.

Perfect; the best of any upon earth, no nations had such laws as they had, or God so near them; it was perfect in its kind.

My comeliness which I had put upon thee; the form of the civil government and its laws, the wisdom, justice, and courage of the governors, the due compliance of the governed, and the holiness, purity, and truth of their religion; all which concurred to make up this beauty, and it was that God put upon them, or set before them, Deu 4:7,8. The visible, outward, emblematic part of all was beautiful; the invisible, inward, and spiritual part was much more beautiful, and ought to be duly considered. Thus far what God did for her.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And thy renown went forth among the Heathen for thy beauty,.... Which consisted of the above things: with this compare Deuteronomy 6:4, Psalm 48:2; the church's beauty lies in the righteousness of Christ imputed, to her; in the holiness of Christ reckoned unto her; in the blood of Christ being upon her, by which she is washed and cleansed, justified and pardoned; and in the graces of the Spirit of Christ implanted in her; and in the salvation of Christ she is interested in; and in the presence of Christ, which is the beauty of the Lord upon her; and in being in Gospel order, and having Gospel ordinances; see Psalm 45:11;

for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee,

saith the Lord God; all the outward happiness and prosperity of the Israelites in the days of David and Solomon, or at other times, was not, as Kimchi observes, of themselves, but of the Lord: and so the comeliness of the saints and people of God is not of themselves; they are by nature black and deformed; they are defiled with original and actual sin; they are as an unclean, thing; they are corrupt, abominable, and loathsome; and as they have not their comeliness by nature, so not by art; as it is not native to them, it is not acquired by them; they do not obtain it by their humiliation, repentance, and services; these cannot remove their natural blackness and uncomeliness, or wash away their sins, and render them beautiful in the sight of God, Jeremiah 13:23, Jeremiah 2:22; but they have their comeliness from another, from Christ, who is altogether lovely; and from his righteousness, which is put on them; and so they are in him, and, through that, perfectly comely, a perfection of beauty, all fair, and without spot, even the fairest in the whole creation, complete in Christ, and perfect in him, Psalm 50:2.

Geneva Study Bible

And thy renown went forth among the nations for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my {i} comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD.

(i) He declares where the dignity of Jerusalem stood: that is, in that the Lord gave them of his beauty and excellency.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

14. Her renown spread among the nations because of her beauty. In this is included partly the prosperity and success of the state, not without reference perhaps to the beauty of the city (Lamentations 2:15, the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth, Psalm 50:2), and of the land, which is often celebrated (ch. Ezekiel 20:6; Ezekiel 20:15 the glory of all lands, cf. Daniel 8:9; Daniel 11:16; Daniel 11:41; Zechariah 7:14); and partly also the glory of a higher kind conferred on her by Jehovah and his presence, in the sense of Deuteronomy 4:6-8.

my comeliness] Or, my adornment; that given by me (Ezekiel 16:10-13); hardly in the sense of Isaiah 60:1, that Jerusalem’s beauty was only a reflection of the glory of Jehovah, who was in the midst of her.

These verses allegorically set forth the second period of Israel’s history: her redemption by Jehovah from Egypt, his covenant with her to be her God, his leading her into the promised land, and making her the paramount power there, and loading her with all the riches of that good land. Other prophets with more simplicity have celebrated this early time, “I remember of thee the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals; how thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land not sown” (Jeremiah 2:2); “I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe on the fig tree at her first season” (Hosea 9:10; cf. Deuteronomy 32:10).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 14. - It was perfect, etc. (compare the phrase, "perfection of beauty," in Psalm 1:2; Lamentations 2:15, as applied to Jerusalem). The prophet, in the words, my comeliness - majesty (Revised Version) - lays stress on the fact that that "perfection" was itself the gift of God. Ezekiel 16:14

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The Lord then went past again, and chose for His bride the virgin, who had already grown up to womanhood, and with whom He contracted marriage by the conclusion of the covenant at Sinai. עתּך, thy time, is more precisely defined as עת דּדים, the time of conjugal love. I spread my wing over thee, i.e., the lappet of my garment, which also served as a counterpane; in other words, I married thee (cf. Ruth. EZechariah 3:9), and thereby covered thy nakedness. "I swore to thee," sc. love and fidelity (cf. Hosea 2:21-22), and entered into a covenant with thee, i.e., into that gracious connection formed by the adoption of Israel as the possession of Jehovah, which is represented as a marriage covenant (compare Exodus 24:8 and Exodus 19:5-6, and Deuteronomy 5:2 : - אתך for אתּך). Ezekiel 16:9. describe how Jehovah provided for the purification, clothing, adorning, and maintenance of His wife. As the bride prepares herself for the wedding by washing and anointing, so did the Lord cleanse Israel from the blemishes and impurities which adhered to it from its birth. The rinsing from the blood must not be understood as specially referring either to the laws of purification given to the nation (Hitzig), or as relating solely to the purification effected by the covenant sacrifice (Hvernick). It embraces all that the Lord did for the purifying of the people from the pollution of sin, i.e., for its sanctification. The anointing with oil indicates the powers of the Spirit of God, which flowed to Israel from the divine covenant of grace. The clothing with costly garments, and adorning with all the jewellery of a wealthy lady or princess, points to the equipment of Israel with all the gifts that promote the beauty and glory of life. The clothing is described as made of the costliest materials with which queens were accustomed to clothe themselves. רקמה, embroidered cloth (Psalm 45:15). תּחשׁ, probably the sea-cow, Manati (see the comm. on Exodus 25:5). The word is used here for a fine description of leather of which ornamental sandals were made; a kind of morocco. "I bound thee round with byssus:" this refers to the headband; for חבשׁ is the technical expression for the binding or winding round of the turban-like headdress (cf. Ezekiel 24:17; Exodus 29:9; Leviticus 8:13), and is applied by the Targum to the headdress of the priests. Consequently covering with משׁי, as distinguished from clothing, can only refer to covering with the veil, one of the principal articles of a woman's toilet. The ἁπ. λεγ. משׁי (Ezekiel 16:10 and Ezekiel 16:13) is explained by the Rabbins as signifying silk. The lxx render it τρίχαπτον. According to Jerome, this is a word formed by the lxx: quod tantae subtilitatis fuerit vestimentum, ut pilorum et capillorum tenuitatem habere credatur. The jewellery included not only armlets, nose-rings, and ear-rings, which the daughters of Israel were generally accustomed to wear, but also necklaces and a crown, as ornaments worn by princesses and queens. For רביד, see comm. on Genesis 41:42. Ezekiel 16:13 sums up the contents of Ezekiel 16:9-12. Sheeshiy שׁשׁי is made to conform to משׁי; the food is referred to once more; and the result of the whole is said to have been, that Jerusalem became exceedingly beautiful, and flourished even to royal dignity. The latter cannot be taken as referring simply to the establishment of the monarchy under David, any more than merely to the spiritual sovereignty for which Israel was chosen from the very beginning (Exodus 19:5-6). The expression includes both, viz., the call of Israel to be a kingdom of priests, and the historical realization of this call through the Davidic sovereignty. The beauty, i.e., glory, of Israel became so great, that the name of fame of Israel sounded abroad in consequence among the nations. It was perfect, because the Lord had put His glory upon His Church. This, too, we must not restrict (as Hvernick does) to the far-sounding fame of Israel on its departure from Egypt (Exodus 15:14.); it refers pre-eminently to the glory of the theocracy under David and Solomon, the fame of which spread into all lands. - Thus had Israel been glorified by its God above all the nations, but it did not continue in fellowship with its God.