Ezekiel 16:4-6 sits inside this longer paragraph.
1Again Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 2“Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations; 3and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says to Jerusalem: “Your origin and your birth is of the land of the Canaanite. An Amorite was your father, and your mother was a Hittite. 4As for your birth, in the day you were born your navel was not cut. You weren’t washed in water to cleanse you. You weren’t salted at all, nor wrapped in blankets at all. 5No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you, to have compassion on you; but you were cast out in the open field, because you were abhorred in the day that you were born.
6“ ‘ “When I passed by you, and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you, ‘Though you are in your blood, live!’ Yes, I said to you, ‘Though you are in your blood, live!’ 7I caused you to multiply as that which grows in the field, and you increased and grew great, and you attained to excellent ornament. Your breasts were formed, and your hair grew; yet you were naked and bare.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv4, 6 Here the Prophet metaphorically describes that most miserable state…
Here the Prophet metaphorically describes that most miserable state in which God found the Jews. For we know that scarcely any nation was ever so cruelly and disgracefully oppressed. For when they were all driven to servile labor without reward, the edict went forth that their males should be cut off. (Exodus 1:16, 22.) No species of disgrace was omitted, and their life was worse than a hundred deaths. This, then, is the reason why God says that the Jews were so cast forth on the face of the earth without any supply of the common necessaries of life. He takes these figures from customary usage; for it is usual to cut the navel-string of infants: for the navel affords them nourishment in their mothers’ womb, and mother and child would both perish unless a separation took place; and if the navel-string were not tied the child would perish; for all the blood flows through that organ, as the child received its sustenance through it: and this is the midwife’s chief care as soon as the child is born, to cut away what must afterwards be restored to its place, and to bind up the part, and to do it, as I have said, with the greatest care, as the infant’s life depends upon it.
But God says, that the navel-string of the Jews is not cut off. Why so? because they were cast, says he, on the surface of the earth; that is, they were deserted and exposed, — using but a single word. He now adds, they were not washed with water: for we know how young infants require ablution; and unless it be performed immediately, they will perish. Hence he says, they were not washed with water. He adds, to soften or refresh, or “fettle” them, as the common phrase is; for water softens and smoothes the skin, though others translate it in the sense of causing it to shine: but we understand the Prophet’s meaning sufficiently. He afterwards adds, they were not rubbed with salt; for salt is sprinkled on the body of an infant to harden the flesh, while care must be taken not to render it too hard; and this moderate hardness is effected by the sprinkling of salt. The full meaning is, that the Jews at their birth were cast out with such contempt, that they were destitute of the necessary care which life requires. He adds, No eye pitied thee, so as to discharge any of these duties, and to show thee pity: and this is sufficiently evident, since the Israelites would have been destroyed had no one taken compassion on them; for they were in some sense buried in the land of Egypt; for we know how cruel was the conspiracy of the whole land against them. No wonder, then, if God here relates that they were cast upon the surface of the land, so that no eye looked upon them and showed them pity. He adds, they were cast to the loathing of their life. He simply means, that they were so despicable that they had no standing among men; for loathing of life means the same as rejection. It now follows —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv4, 6 When I first brought thee out of Egypt, and…
When I first brought thee out of Egypt, and planted thee in this land to be my Church.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv4–6 Eze 16:4 And [as for] thy nativity, in the…
Eze 16:4 And [as for] thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple [thee]; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.
Ver. 4. Thy navel was not cut.] None was so courteous as to do any of these necessary good offices for thee, a poor, forlorn, helpless wretch. No creature is so shiftless as a newly born babe, which, cast out and left to the wide world, must needs perish. {a}
Read full note →
{a} Plut., lib. De Amore Prolis.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv4–6 In the day thou wast born; either in the…
In the day thou wast born; either in the day I called Abraham to leave his idolatry; or when in Egypt you began to multiply into a nation; or when you were brought out of Egyptian bondage. Or whether you fix any other time, it was a helpless and miserable state they were in.
Thy navel was not cut: as the new-born infant cannot do this for its own preservation, and as there is great danger if not carefully and skilfully done, as it is the early care of the hand that delivers the child, so was the care and love of God towards this people when they could not, and others would not, help them, and this will be declared in a continued allegory. The preventing mercy of God was showed in this.
Read full note →
Washed in water. Born in blood, unpleasant to behold, thou must have weltered therein, and perished; none washed thee, that thou mightest be handled, but I; I purged away the blood and uncleanness of thy birth, took thee up, nursed, provided for, and disposed of thee.
Thou wast not salted: salt is of a drying, abstersive, and cleansing nature, and was used to purge, dry, and strengthen the new-born child, to make it the more lovely and lively.
Nor swaddled: this usage for the continued preservation of the infant, for strengthening it, setting its limbs, and keeping them in their right and orderly posture, is most necessary to be observed, and yet there was none that would do this for this infant: so forlorn was the state of the Jews in their birth, without beauty, weltering in blood, without strength, new-born, without friend that might act the mother’s or midwife’s office.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v6 In there verses we have an account of the…
In there verses we have an account of the great things which God did for the Jewish nation in raising them up by degrees to be very considerable. 1. God saved them from the ruin they were upon the brink of in Egypt (Eze 16:6): "When I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thy own blood, loathed and abandoned, and appointed to die, as sheep for the slaughter, then I said unto thee, Live. I designed thee for life when thou wast doomed to destruction, and resolved to save thee from death." Those shall live to whom God commands life. God looked upon the world of mankind as thus cast off, thus cast out, thus polluted, thus weltering in blood, and his thoughts towards it were thoughts of good, designing it life, and that more abundantly. By converting grace, he says to the soul, Live. 2. He looked upon them with kindness and a tender affection, not only pitied them, but set his love upon them, which was unaccountable, for there was nothing lovely in them; but I looked upon thee, and, behold, thy time was the time of love, Eze 16:8. It was the kindness and love of God our Saviour that sent Christ to redeem us, that sends the Spirit to sanctify us, that brought us out of a state of nature into a state of grace. That was a time of love indeed, distinguishing love, when God manifested his love to us, and courted our love to him. Then was I in his eyes as one that found favour, Sol 8:10. 3. He took them under his protection: "I spread my skirt over thee, to shelter thee from wind and weather, and to cover thy nakedness, that the shame of it might not appear." Boaz spread his skirt over Ruth, in token of the special favour he designed her, Rut 3:9. God took them into his care, as an eagle bears her young ones upon her wings, Deu 32:11, Deu 32:12. When God owned them for his people, and sent Moses to Egypt to deliver them, which was an expression of the good-will of him that dwelt in the bush, then he spread his skirt over them. 4. He cleared them from the reproachful character which their bondage in Egypt laid them under (Eze 16:9): "Then washed I thee with water, to make thee clean, and anointed thee with oil, to make thee sweet and supple thee." All the disgrace of their slavery was rolled away when they were brought, with a high hand and a stretched-out arm, into the glorious liberty of the children of God. When God said, Israel is my son, my first-born - Let my people go, that they may serve me, that word, backed as it was with so many works of wonder, thoroughly washed away their blood; and when God led them under the convoy of the pillar of cloud and fire he spread his skirt over them. 5. He multiplied them and built them up into a people. This is here mentioned (Eze 16:7) before his spreading his skirt over them, because their numbers increased exceedingly while they were yet bond-slaves in Egypt. They multiplied as the bud of the field in spring time; they waxed great, exceedingly mighty, Exo 1:7. 20. Their breasts were fashioned when they were formed into distinct tribes and had officers of their own (Exo 5:19); their hair grew when they grew numerous, whereas they had been naked and bare, very few and therefore contemptible. 6. He admitted them into covenant with himself. See what glorious nuptials this poor forlorn infant is preferred to at last. How she is dignified who at first had scarcely her life given her for a prey: I swore unto thee and entered into covenant with thee. This was done at Mount Sinai: "when the covenant between God and Israel was sealed and ratified then thou becamest mine." God called them his people, and himself the God of Israel. Note, Those to whom God gives spiritual life he takes into covenant with himself; by that covenant they become his subjects and servants, which intimates their duty - his portion, his treasure, which intimates their privilege; and it is confirmed with an oath, that we might have strong consolation. 7. He beautified and adorned them. This maid cannot forget her ornaments, and she is gratified with abundance of them, Eze 16:10-13. We need not be particular in the application of these. Her wardrobe was well furnished with rich apparel; they had embroidered work to wear, shoes of fine badgers' skins, linen girdles, and silk veils, bracelets and necklaces, jewels and ear-rings, and even a beautiful crown, or coronet. Perhaps this may refer to the jewels and other rich goods which they took from the Egyptians, which might well be spoken of thus long after as a merciful circumstance of their deliverance, when it was spoken of long before, Gen 15:14. They shall come out with great substance. Or it may be taken figuratively for all those blessings of heaven which adorned both their church and state. In a little time they came to excellent ornaments, Eze 16:7. The laws and ordinances which God gave them were to them as ornaments of grace to the head and chains about the neck, Pro 1:9. God's sanctuary, which he set up among them, was a beautiful crown upon their head; it was the beauty of holiness. 8. He fed them with abundance, with plenty, with dainty: Thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil - manna, angels' food - honey out of the rock, oil out of the flinty rock. In Canaan they did eat bread to the full, the finest of the wheat, Deu 32:13, Deu 32:14. Those whom God takes into covenant with himself are fed with the bread of life, clothed with the robe of righteousness, adorned with the graces and comforts of the spirit. The hidden man of the heart is that which is incorruptible. 9. He gave them great reputation among their neighbours, and made them considerable, acceptable to their friends and allies and formidable to their adversaries: Thou didst prosper into a kingdom (Eze 16:13), which speaks both dignity and dominion; and, They renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty, Eze 16:14. The nations about had their eye upon them, and admired them for the excellent laws by which they were governed, the privilege they had of access to God, Deu 4:7, Deu 4:8. Solomon's wisdom, and Solomon's temple, were very much the renown of that nation; and, if we put all the privileges of the Jewish church and kingdom together, we must own that it was the most accomplished beauty of all the nations of the earth. The beauty of it was perfect; you could not name the thing that would be the honour of a people but it was to be found in Israel, in David's and Solomon's time, when that kingdom was in its zenith-piety, learning, wisdom, justice, victory, peace, wealth, and all sure to continue if they had kept close to God. It was perfect, saith God, through my comeliness which I had put upon thee, through the beauty of their holiness, as they were a people set apart for God, and devoted to him, to be to him for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory. It was this that put a lustre upon all their other honours and was indeed the perfection of their beauty. We may apply this spiritually. Sanctified souls are truly beautiful; they are so in God's sight, and they themselves may take the comfort of it. But God must have all the glory, for they were by nature deformed and polluted, and, whatever comeliness they have, it is that which God has put upon them and beautified them with, and he will be well pleased with the work of his own hands.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv4–6 None eye pitied thee, to do any of these…
None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee,.... Or, "one of these" (k); not so much as one of them: sad must be the case of an infant, when it meets with no tender heart or kind hand from midwife, nurse, or mother, to do these things for it: this is expressive of the helpless, forlorn, and unpitied state of the Israelites in Egypt; who, when their lives were made bitter with hard bondage, had no mercy shown them by Pharaoh and his taskmasters, Exo 1:14. So the Targum,
"the eye of Pharaoh did not spare you to do one good thing for you, to give you rest from your bondage, to have mercy on you:''
Read full note →
but thou wast cast out in the open field; alluding to infants exposed by their unnatural parents, or unkind nurses, and left in an open field, or any desert place, to perish for want, unless some kind providence appears for them: this open field may design the land of Egypt, whither Jacob and his posterity were, being driven out of Canaan by a famine; and where, after the death of Joseph, they were exposed to the hardships and cruelties of the Egyptians; and who, commanding their male children to be slain, doubtless occasioned the exposing of many of them, as well as Moses, to which some reference may be had; and so the Targum paraphrases it,
"and he (Pharaoh) decreed a full decree to cast your male children into the river, to destroy you when you were in Egypt:''
to the loathing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born; the Israelites were loathsome to the Egyptians, as every shepherd was an abomination to them, and such were they, Gen 46:34; and all this may be applied to the state and condition of men by nature, even of God's elect, whose extraction is from fallen man; descend immediately from unclean parents; are conceived in sin, and shapen in iniquity; can have no communication of grace from their parents, or others; by whom they cannot be washed from their sins, or sanctified, or clothed, or made righteous; but are in a hopeless and helpless condition; and are loathsome and abominable to God, and to themselves too, when they come to see the state they are in.
(k) "unum ex istis", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Polanus; "unum ex his", Pagninus, Montanus, Starckius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv4–6 In the day - In the day I called…
In the day - In the day I called Abraham to leave his idolatry. Salted - Salt was used to purge, dry, and strengthen the new-born child. Nor swaddled - So forlorn was the state of the Jews in their birth, without beauty, without strength, without friend.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv4–6 Verse 4. As for thy nativity, c.] This verse…
Verse 4. As for thy nativity, c.] This verse refers to what is ordinarily done for every infant on its birth. The umbilical cord, by which it received all its nourishment while in the womb, being no longer necessary, is cut at a certain distance from the abdomen: on this part a knot is tied, which firmly uniting the sides of the tubes, they coalesce, and incarnate together. The extra part of the cord on the outside of the ligature, being cut off from the circulation by which it was originally fed, soon drops off, and the part where the ligature was is called the navel. In many places, when this was done, the infant was plunged into cold water in all cases washed, and sometimes with a mixture of salt and water, in order to give a greater firmness to the skin, and constringe the pores. The last process was swathing the body, to support mechanically the tender muscles till they should acquire sufficient strength to support the body. But among savages this latter process is either wholly neglected, or done very slightly: and the less it is done, the better for the infant; as this kind of unnatural compression greatly impedes the circulation of the blood, the pulsation of the heart, and the due inflation of the lungs; respiration, in many cases, being rendered oppressive by the tightness of these bandages.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv4–6 Eze 16:4. As for thy nativity, &c. — “Jerusalem…
Eze 16:4. As for thy nativity, &c. — “Jerusalem is here represented under the image of an exposed infant, whom God preserved from destruction, brought up, espoused and exalted in sovereignty. But she proved faithless and abandoned; and therefore God threatens her with severe vengeance, but graciously promises that afterward he would fulfil his early covenant with her. The allegory is easily understood; and has much force, liveliness, and vehemence of eloquent amplification. The images are adapted to a people immersed in sensuality.” — Bishop Newcome. Thy navel was not cut — The navel-string, by which thou wast held to the body of thy mother, none took care to cut. By this and the other metaphorical expressions in this and the next verse, the prophet hints how despised a people Israel was, and in what a forlorn condition when they went first into Egypt. Neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee — Hebrew, למשׁעי, ad aspectum meum, as Buxtorf renders it, that is, when I first beheld thee, or, ut jucunda aspectu esses, that thou mightest be pleasant to behold. Some render it, To make thee shine. The meaning is, to cleanse thee from the pollutions of thy birth. Thou wast not salted at all — It seems it was then customary to rub new-born infants over with salt; probably to dry up the humours of their bodies. All the expressions here used allude to the custom observed by the eastern nations at the birth of their children; and “the design of the prophet is to mark out that state of impurity wherein the Hebrews were found in Egypt, plunged in idolatry and ignorance, and oppressed with cruel servitude.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv4–6 To supple thee - i. e., to cleanse thee.
To supple thee - i. e., to cleanse thee.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv4–6 Cut. By this the infant received nourishment in the…
Cut. By this the infant received nourishment in the womb. Now it seems to be exposed by its parents. (Calmet) --- The Jews in Egypt were abandoned to idolatry and distress. (Theodoret, in Canticle of Canticles) --- Health. Many plunged the infant in cold water to brace its nerves, (Calmet) or to wash it. Salt was also used to dry up the humidity and stop the pores, (St. Jerome) or it was mixed with water to harden the skin and navel. (Avicen. Gall. San. i. 7.) --- Clouts, to keep the body straight. The negroes who neglect this are stronger and better proportioned, (Calmet) and too much restraint is known to be detrimental to the tender limbs. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv4–6 Israel's helplessness in her first struggling into national existence,…
Israel's helplessness in her first struggling into national existence, under the image of an infant (Hos 2:3) cast forth without receiving the commonest acts of parental regard. Its very life was a miracle (Exo 1:15-22).
navel . . . not cut--Without proper attention to the navel cord, the infant just born is liable to die.
Read full note →
neither . . . washed in water to supple thee--that is, to make the skin soft. Rather, "for purification"; from an Arabic root [MAURER]. GESENIUS translates as the Margin, "that thou mightest (be presented to thy parents to) be looked upon," as is customary on the birth of a child.
salted--Anciently they rubbed infants with salt to make the skin firm.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv4–6 4. As for thy nativity — The Hebrew nation,…
4. As for thy nativity — The Hebrew nation, notwithstanding its boastfulness and contempt for the heathen (goyem) is here declared to have come of heathen stock, with no original spiritual beauty or native endowment above other peoples. The ancestors of the Hebrews were idolaters, and in the Hebrew babyhood, first in Ur and then in Canaan, their parents gave them no spiritual culture or cleansing or training above their other children.
To supple — R.V., “to cleanse.”
Read full note →
Not salted at all — It was supposed in ancient times that to rub the newborn babe with salt was a healthful precaution. This is still done in Syria and Palestine. A native mother said of a European child, “Poor thing! It was not salted at all.” Dr. Fradenburgh makes it seem quite probable that this was a symbolic rite intended to consecrate the new life and bring it into visible covenant relationship with the tribe. All similar passages where salt is referred to in the Old Testament (see, for example, Num_18:19) are connected with covenant making, covenant confirming, consecrating, or devoting. (See Fradenburgh, in Methodist Review, November, 1898.)
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv4–6 4. as for thy nativity] The circumstances of thy…
4. as for thy nativity] The circumstances of thy birth were these, as follows. The family of Israel, represented by Jerusalem, is compared to an exposed infant, for whom the things absolutely necessary to preserve its life were not done. The reference is to the history of the family in Canaan, and in its descent to Egypt, when it was feeble, unprotected and in danger of perishing.
to supple thee] The word is otherwise unknown. Targ. “for purification,” probably guessed, but some such sense is required. Fried. Del. refers to an Assyrian root signifying to wash.
Read full note →
wast not salted at all] An ancient custom was to rub the newborn infant with salt—“tenera infantium corpora … solent ab obstetricibus sale contingi ut sicciora sint et restringantur,” Jerome. The ceremony was probably partly religious as well as healthful.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv4, 6 (4) Washed in water to supple thee.—The various particulars…
(4) Washed in water to supple thee.—The various particulars of this and the following verse describe a child cast out into the field immediately upon its birth, unpitied by any one, and in a condition in which it must soon have perished. Neither the text nor the margin seems to have hit upon the sense of the word translated “to supple,” the probable meaning of which is “to cleanse.” The rubbing of the body of the new-born infant with salt, a custom still prevailing in some parts of the east, probably had a symbolical, as well as a supposed physical effect; and is recommended for the latter reason by Galen (De Sanit. i. 7). The wrapping the body tightly in swaddling-bands (Comp. Luk_2:7) is still common, even in Italy. The time here referred to in the life of Israel is that in which it passed from its embryonic state in the family of the patriarchs to a nation in the bondage of Egypt. Despised, oppressed, and enslaved, no other people ever became a nation under such circumstances. Humanly speaking, national life was an impossibility for them.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv4–6 As for thy nativity, etc. We ask, as we…
As for thy nativity, etc. We ask, as we interpret the parable, of what period in the history of Israel Ezekiel speaks. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are ignored by him, and he starts from a time of misery and shame. It is obvious that the only period which corresponds to this is that of the sojourn of Israel as an oppressed and degraded people in the land of Goshen. He paints, with a Dantesque minuteness, the picture of a child just born, abandoned by its mother and neglected by all others from the very moment of its birth. It lies unwashed and foul to look upon. No woman"s care does for it the commonest offices of motherhood. For to supple, read, with the Revised Version, to cleanse. The practice still met with in the East of rubbing the newborn child with salt may have rested partly on sanitary grounds (Jerome, in loc. Galen, "De San.," 1:7), partly on its symbolic meaning. (Num_18:19) When this was done, the child was wrapt in swaddling clothes, (Luk_2:7) but these too were wanting in the picture which Ezekiel draws. The whole scene may have been painted from the life. Such a birth may well have been witnessed during the march of the exiles, when the brutality of their Chaldean drivers allowed no halt, and the child was left to perish of neglect, and the thought may then have flashed across Ezekiel"s mind that the pity which he felt for the deserted infant was a faint shadow of that which Jehovah had felt for Israel in the degradation of their heathen bondage.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v5 None eye pitied thee, to do any of these…
Eze_16:5-6
None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee.
Read full note →
--
Ezekiels deserted infant
I. A survey of the misery of mans estate. The verse presents to us an infant exposed to die. All the common offices that were necessary for its life and health have been forgotten.
1. At the very first glance, we remark, here is an early ruin. It is an infant. A thousand sorrows that one so young should be so deeply taught in miserys school! It is an infant; it has not yet tasted joy, but yet it knoweth pain and sorrow to the full. How early art thou blasted, O sweet flower! From the very birth we go astray, speaking lies, and in the very birth we lie under the condemnation of the law of God.
2. The next very apparent teaching of the text is utter inability. It is an infant--what can it do for itself? Not even clay on the potters wheel is more helpless than this infant as it now lies cast out in the open field. Such is human nature; it can by no means help towards its own restoration. But, mark you, and this is a thought that may crush our boastings and make us hang our head like a bulrush evermore--this inability is our own sin.
3. Apparent, too, is yet a third misfortune--we are utterly friendless. None eye pitied thee, to do any of these things unto thee. We have no friend in heaven or in earth that can do aught for us, unless God shall interpose. Weep and lament your kinsfolk may for you, but no lamentation can make an atonement for your sins, no human tears can cleanse your filthiness, no Christian zeal can clothe you with righteousness, no yearning love can sanctify your nature.
4. Furthermore, our text very clearly reveals to us that we are by nature in a sad state of exposure. Cast out into the open field, left in a wilderness where it is not likely that any should pass by, thrown where the cold can smite by night and the heat can blast by day, left where the wild beast goeth about, seeking whom he may devour--such is the estate of human nature: unclothed, unarmed, helpless, exposed to all manner of ravenous destroyers. O Lord God, Thou alone knowest the awful dangers which prowl around an unregenerate man; what mischiefs waylay him; what crimes beset him; what follies haunt him.
5. It seems that this child, besides being in this exposed state, was loathsome. Thou wast cast out to the loathing of thy person. It was in such a condition that the sight of it was disgusting, and its person was so destitute of all comeliness that it was absolutely loathed. Such is man by nature.
6. We close this fearful description by observing the certain ruin to which this infant was exposed, as setting forth the sure destruction of every man if grace prevent not.
II. We are now to search for motives for Gods grace, and we have a very difficult search before us when we look to this infant which is cast out, because its loathsomeness and its being covered with its own blood, forbid us at once to hope that there can be anything in it which can merit the esteem of the merciful One. Let us think of some of the motives which may urge men to assist the undeserving.
1. One of the first would be, necessity. Not a few are placed in such a position that they could not well refuse to give their help when it is asked of them. But no necessity can ever affect the Most High. The first of all causes must be absolutely independent of every other cause. Who dictateth counsel to the Most High? Who sits at His bar, and giveth Him advice and warning, and maketh Him do according to his pleasure? Nor had God any necessity in order to make Himself happy or to increase His glory.
2. In this case there was nothing in the birth of this child, in its original parentage, that could move the passer-by. You were conceived in sin, and stained in your very birth, and there is, therefore, nothing here that could move the heart of Deity.
3. Nor was there anything in this childs beauty, for it was loathsome. What can there be in a worm to gratify the Almighty?
4. Furthermore, as we have found no motive yet, either in necessity or the childs birth or beauty, so we find none in any entreaties that were uttered by this child. It doth not seem that it pleaded with the passer-by to save it, for it could not as yet speak. So, though sinners do pray, yet when a sinner prays, it is because God has begun to save him.
5. Yet, further, it does not appear that the pity of the passer-by was shown upon this child because of any future service which was expected of it. This child, it seems, was nourished, clothed, luxuriously decorated; and yet, after all that, if you read the chapter through, you will find it went astray from Him who had set His heart upon it. The Lord foresaw this, and yet loved that child notwithstanding.
III. But now consider the mandate of his mercy. I said unto thee, Live.
I. This fiat of God is majestic. He looks, and there lies an infant, loathsome in its blood; He stops, and He pronounces the word, the royal word Live. There speaks a God. Who but He could venture thus to deal with life and dispense it with a single syllable? Tis majestic, tis Divine!
2. This fiat is manifold.
(1) Here is judicial life.
(2) It is, moreover, spiritual life.
3. It is an irresistible voice. When God says to a sinner, Live, all the devils in hell cannot keep him in the grave.
4. It is all-sufficient. Live, dost Thou say, great God? Why, the man is dead! There is life--not in him, but in the voice that bids him live. Live, dost Thou say? By this time he stinketh, for he hath been dead four days! There is power--not in his corruption, but in the voice that crieth, Come forth!
5. It was a mandate of free grace. I want to lay that down again, and again, and again, that there was nothing in this infant, nothing but loathsomeness, nothing therefore to merit esteem; nothing in the infant, but inability, nothing therefore by which it could help itself; nothing in it but infancy, nothing therefore by which it could plead for itself, and yet grace said, Live--freely, without any bribe, without any entreaty, said, Live. And so when sinners are saved, it is only and solely because God will do it, to magnify His free, unpurchased, unsought grace. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The allegory of the foundling child
Though marked by a breadth which offends against modern taste, the allegory of the foundling child which became the faithless wife is powerful, and, when the details are forgotten and only the general idea kept in mind, even beautiful, as well as true. An outcast infant, exposed in the open field and weltering in her blood, was seen by the pitying eye of a passer-by. Rescued and nourished, she grew up to the fairest womanhood, and became the wife of her benefactor, who heaped on her every gift that could please or elevate. But the ways into which he led her were too lofty to be understood, and the atmosphere around too pure for her to breathe; the old inborn nature (her father was an Amorite and her mother a Hittite) was still there beneath all the refinements for which it had no taste, and at last it asserted itself in shameless depravity and insatiable lewdness. (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)
The first step for mans salvation taken by God
I know some think that the sinner takes the first step, but, we know better. If he did, it were like the old Romish miracle of St. Dennis, where we are told that after his head was off, he picked it up and walked two thousand miles with it in his hand. Whereupon, some wit observed that he did not see any wonder in the mans walking two thousand miles, for all the difficulty lay in the first step. Just so, I see no difficulty in a mans getting all the way to heaven if he can but take the first step; for all the miracle lies in that first step--the making the dead soul live, the melting the adamantine heart, the thawing of the northern ice, the bringing down of the proud look--this is the work, this is the difficulty; and if man can do that himself, verily he can do the whole. But when God looketh upon men to save them, it is not because they cry to Him, for they never do and never will cry until the work of salvation is begun. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
I said unto thee,. . .Live.
Spiritual life
I. The miracle of grace performed. As everything in the Bible is a parable to an unregenerate man, so everything in Christian experience is a miracle wrought by the hand of God. What! is it not a miracle, to vanquish Satan and take the prey out of his hands--to take the prey from the mighty and the captive from the terrible? Is it not a miracle to unstop deaf ears? Is it not a miracle to raise the dead, and give them another, a new and deathless life and existence? Jehovah not only speaks into life at first--speaks it into pre-existence, if I may so express it--animating, quickening,--and then causing to grow, that they may have life, and have it more abundantly; but it is His also to speak life to the soul in the most exalted sense, consummating it in the life of glory. Live! I think, strictly speaking, in the literal sense of the word we can hardly be said to live till we get to the world of glory. And what some people call dying, I think is just Jehovah saying to the souls of His people, Live. We have hardly begun to live yet; here we have much to do with the old Adam nature, much to do with corruption, much to do with the things that mar our enjoyment and our life, so that we live at a poor dying rate; but, oh! the blessedness of that moment, when all that is earthly, all that pertains to time, shall be shaken off, and by one sweet sovereign command--one gracious, kind, paternal word--Jehovah shall say, Live; and we shall pass from our deathy clay hut to the world of spirits, and live everlastingly with Himself.
II. An epitome of spiritual experience. You may have a religion of education--and yet none of God; you may have a religion of natural feeling, natural passions--and yet none of God; you may have a religion of alarm, and be terribly frightened about going to hell--but none of God; you may have a religion of supposed joy, natural passions moved and somewhat inflamed, which perhaps may be exhibited in the style of the book you read or the eloquence you listen to--and yet none of God. All these will leave you deficient. Nothing will do but a spiritual existence. The man of the world has a natural existence, a mental existence, a rational existence, which makes him differ from the brute creation; but a real Christian has, in addition to this, spiritual existence, a heavenly life--the persons and perfections of Deity dwelling in His soul--a new creation--another, a holy, a sinless principle--the life of God--called the participation of the Divine nature. A worldling may appear like a Christian among Christians; but let him loose, and his whole heart is in the world immediately. A Christian may have to mix with the men of the world in worldly business; but let him loose, and you see in a moment that his soul has a spiritual being. This spiritual existence is the epitome of godliness. It is communicated by a word from the throne--by a touch of Jehovahs hand, by the voice of Christ, by the whisper of the Spirit. Moreover, it is immortal. I pass on, just to notice that this spiritual existence is known by the spiritual negotiations it keeps up. If I have nothing to do for God, the devil will be sure to find me something to do for him. The very nature of life is to be active. If it be animal life, it must try to move and walk and run; if it be mental life, it must find some object to pursue, something to hear or read, something to call it forth. So with spiritual life; it must have its activity called forth into exercise.
III. The testimony of Divine prerogative. Jehovah says, Live. I hear nothing in this of I will if he will; I see nothing of proposal, nothing of overture, nothing of an offer, nothing of a condition in all this. I know there are not a few who would have us deal with mankind, treat with sinners, as if they had a power--as if they had a capacity for spiritual things--as if they had a spiritual work to perform. I confess I have little heart--I have no heart at all for this, because I never saw an instance of its success. Find me one instance in which a sinner ever began to inquire after Christ, or knew anything about a spiritual emotion, until God had said, Live. I will yield the point. The Son of God took this prerogative upon Himself, when, tabernacling in the likeness of sinful flesh, He went up to the widows son as they carried him out of the city of Nain, touched the bier, and called the young man to life again; to the no small comfort of his mother. He pursued the same course, and assumed the same prerogative, when Lazarus had lain four days in the grave. And to this hour the same prerogative is exercised by the Son of God, as well as by the Father. Moreover, of the Holy Ghost it is said, It is the Spirit that quickeneth. So that Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are concerned in the resurrection of the sinner, as well as (as we showed the other morning) in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. One thing more I just invite your attention to: while our covenant God exercises His sovereignty in calling sinners out of darkness into light and the dead into life, what a revenue of praise belongs to His holy name! (J. Irons.)
The life of souls the ordinance of God
How manifold, how great, are the works of our God! How curious, various, and vast are the forms of dead matter! Think of earths, stones, metals, waters, clouds, and all the same matter combined, modified in endless variety. Ascend one step higher, and think of the organised matter which constitutes the living verdure of our world. Ascend another step, and survey for a moment the countless tribes of beings animate. Who can number the birds that fill the air, to say nothing of insects? Think of the cattle of our home fields, the game of our woods, and the wild beasts of far-off deserts and forests, to say nothing of reptiles. Think too of the vaster seas and of the innumerable fishes, from the whale to animalcule. We lift our eyes to the heavens, and our earth, huge as it is, and much as it contains, is but as a particle of dust, or as a drop filling a bucket. Shoals of planets greater than ours are over our heads, and even suns stand crowded there as thick as forest leaves. What a universe! What a God is ours! But how instructive is the relation between man and the all things of God! Man has an eye to look abroad upon all, and to read all, and he has a spirit to conceive and adore the God who is over all. Indeed, the all things of our God are only the ladder which aids man to climb to the feet of God. When I think that man is not only elevated to bow with the ranks of prostrate angels at the feet of their God, but that he is the immediate minister of the high and lofty One, that the God of eternity is literally achieving His grandest purposes by the agency of man, I am struck dumb with amazement!
I. What, then, is our office? Interesting, most animating, as it would be to be the instrumental cause of awakening nature into new life and beauty, it is less animating than our real work. Sublime as it would be to go forth awakening the dead, it is less sublime than the actual ministry committed to us. But our work is so old that we forget its grandeur. So the grandeur of the universe is slighted because suns and moons and stars are stale things, and, as stale things, are sure to be deserted for the sake of a few fireworks. The greatest change in nature--that from mid-winter to mid-summer, is but a physical change, a change in the mode of matter. Matter is therefore the agent which effects this; sun, rain, and dew are the servants of God in this work. And to call forth the bodies of men from their graves is a work very inferior to that of awakening souls to the life of God. The former work has no glory by reason of the glory which excelleth. If our office is an office in relation to souls, then we have to do with the highest of all forms of existence. The souls of our world are desolate and dead as winter: it is the will of God that a springtime should be brought out in their history, that they should become verdant and flourishing as the garden of the Lord. Piety is ever-living verdure, and the graces of piety are never-withering flowers. Instrumentally to call forth these from human souls is the ministry committed to our hands. In a word, our ministry is a ministry of life to the dead--not to dead matter, nor to dead bodies, but to souls dead in sin.
II. There are souls dead!
1. Men are ignorant of the nature of their souls. Truly they know not what souls are, or they would perceive at once that there is no adaptation between money and souls, between sensual pleasures and souls and they would be at least uneasy that there is nothing in the wide world suited to enrich and bless the soul. Then, if souls know not their own nature, it is not too strong a figure to speak of them as dead.
2. The souls of men are not fulfilling the end of their being. Their affections are not excited; their powers are not developed; their energies are not devoted to truth, to excellence; their thoughts do not soar away in contemplation of the infinite and the eternal; their affections do not embrace the God of love; eternity is before them, but they are making no preparation; they are laying no foundation for the time to come.
3. The souls of men are strangers to the peculiar joys of their being. Every distinct order of creatures has its peculiar pleasures: insects have their pleasures, birds have their pleasures, the cattle of the field have their pleasures, and souls have their pleasures; but of all these creatures the souls of men only are alienated from, and indifferent to, their own peculiar delights. The difference between the joys of angelic minds and those of human minds consists in this, that angels are in the full and constant fruition of the proper bliss of souls; but human souls are cut off from it, if dead to this bliss; so that, without inconsistency or exaggeration, we may speak of the state of human souls under the figure of death, and of their conversion to God as a passing from death unto life. And the peculiar characteristic of the Gospel is, that it is a ministration of life to souls, immortal souls dead in sin.
III. As the servants of the Gospel, the cry of our ministry is, live! O souls! as servants of our God and your God, our business is with you. If you carry on no commerce with your Maker, if your thoughts and affections rise not to contemplate and embrace things hidden and Divine, you are strangers to the high and joyous life of souls. In your bodies there may be life, but in your souls there is death, which will become eternal death unless it be soon plucked out of your spirits. By the will of God the ministry of life is now in exercise in your presence, the design of which is to abolish death, to exterminate deaths empire without you, and to plant in its room the principles of life and immortality. But how are we to exercise this ministry? Our text cries, Live! Are we then to reiterate the cry, Live! Live! to the dying souls who may be within the sound of our voice? No; but we are to employ those means which God has instituted for the very purpose of awakening within you a life unto God. This is our ministry. We are charged by God to call upon you to repent, to sue for mercy, and solemnly declare to you that not to repent is to perish. We are to tell you that He who knew no sin died for your sins, and that, therefore, life, eternal life, is offered to you through His death. (J. Pulsford, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv4, 6 General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh continues to speak about Jerusalem as if the city were an infant. The city represents the people who live there. (See: Metaphor and Metonymy)
Read full note →
your mother did not cut your navel
Here "navel" refers to the umbilical cord that is attached to the navel. AT: "you mother did not cut your umbilical cord" (See: Synecdoche)
No eye had compassion for you
Here the word "eye" represents the person who sees. AT: "Nobody who saw you had compassion for you" (See: Synecdoche)
with loathing for your life
"because your parents hated you"
you were thrown out into the open field
This can be stated in active form. AT: "your parents threw you out into the open field" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
pure
compassion
life
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv4, 6 16:4-5 Jerusalem’s parents were heartless and did not perform…
16:4-5 Jerusalem’s parents were heartless and did not perform the usual obstetrical practices. Ordinarily, someone cut the umbilical cord, washed the infant, smeared salt and oil over her body, and swaddled her tightly in cloth. Instead, as was common with baby girls in the ancient world, Jerusalem was abandoned: dumped in a field and left to die.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.