and committed abominations before Me.
"Abominations" in the biblical sense often refer to actions that are detestable to God, including idolatry, sexual immorality, and other forms of moral corruption. The abominations of Sodom are detailed in Genesis 19, where the city's inhabitants engage in grievous sins. The phrase "before Me" emphasizes that these actions were not just socially unacceptable but were direct offenses against God Himself. This highlights the personal nature of sin against a holy God, who is deeply grieved by such actions (Leviticus 18:22-30).

Therefore I removed them,
The removal of Sodom and Gomorrah is a historical event recorded in Genesis 19:24-25, where God destroys the cities with fire and brimstone. This act of divine judgment serves as a warning to other nations and peoples about the consequences of persistent sin and rebellion against God. It underscores the seriousness with which God views sin and His willingness to act decisively against it. This removal is also a foreshadowing of the final judgment that will come upon the earth (2 Peter 2:6).

as you have seen.
This phrase indicates that the judgment on Sodom was a well-known event, serving as a visible and historical example of God's justice. The audience of Ezekiel, the Israelites in exile, would have been familiar with this story, using it as a point of reflection on their own actions and the consequences of turning away from God. It serves as a reminder that God's judgments are not arbitrary but are based on His righteous standards. The phrase also implies that the evidence of God's past judgments should lead to repentance and a return to faithfulness (Luke 17:28-30).

Pride saturated the people of Sodom. They exalted self and dismissed the God who had created and sustained them.

- “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18).

- Ezekiel had just recorded, “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed, and complacent; they did not help the poor and needy” (Ezekiel 16:49).

- James reinforces the principle: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).

Their self-importance blinded them to their own need and to God’s righteous standards.

The arrogance quickly expressed itself in acts God calls detestable.

- Sexual perversion: “You must not lie with a man as with a woman; that is an abomination” (Leviticus 18:22). Genesis 19:4-5 shows the men of Sodom demanding to violate Lot’s guests.

- Idolatry and violence: “Son of man, do you see what they are doing—the great abominations the house of Israel is committing…” (Ezekiel 8:6). Sodom’s catalog of sins matched this description.

- The LORD hates “hands that shed innocent blood… a heart that devises wicked schemes” (Proverbs 6:17-18).

When pride rules, anything God calls holy becomes expendable.

Judgment is never capricious; it is the just response of a holy God.

- “Then the LORD rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah… Thus He destroyed these cities and the entire plain” (Genesis 19:24-25).

- Peter reminds believers that God “condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, reducing them to ashes as an example of what is coming on the ungodly” (2 Peter 2:6).

- Jude echoes the warning: Sodom and Gomorrah “are displayed as an example of those who sustain the punishment of eternal fire” (Jude 7).

Removal included physical annihilation, erasure of influence, and a lasting testimony of divine justice.

The ruin of Sodom was not hearsay; it was a visible, historical reality.

- Moses anticipated the sight: scorched land “like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah… which the LORD overthrew in His fierce anger” (Deuteronomy 29:23).

- Paul points out that “these things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us” (1 Corinthians 10:11).

- Jesus referred to the event so His listeners would grasp future judgment: “The day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed” (Luke 17:29-30).

Ezekiel’s audience could look south toward the Dead Sea’s bleak landscape and remember that God’s warnings come true.

Ezekiel 16:50 distills a sobering lesson: pride breeds rebellion; rebellion invites acts God calls abominable; unrepentant abomination guarantees removal. Sodom’s fate, preserved in Scripture and geography, urges every generation to humble itself, reject sin, and live in reverent obedience to the Lord who faithfully rewards righteousness and judges wickedness.

Parallel Commentaries ...