Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish to you an everlasting covenant. Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed, when you receive your sisters, your elder sisters and your younger; and I will give them to you for daughters, but not by your covenant. I will establish my covenant with you. Then you will know that I am Yahweh; that you may remember, and be confounded, and never open your mouth any more, because of your shame, when I have forgiven you all that you have done,” says the Lord Yahweh.’ ”
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Ezekiel 16:60-63 sits inside this longer paragraph.
“ ‘For the Lord Yahweh says: “I will also deal with you as you have done, who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant. Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish to you an everlasting covenant. Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed, when you receive your sisters, your elder sisters and your younger; and I will give them to you for daughters, but not by your covenant. I will establish my covenant with you. Then you will know that I am Yahweh; that you may remember, and be confounded, and never open your mouth any more, because of your shame, when I have forgiven you all that you have done,” says the Lord Yahweh.’ ”
Parallel Translations
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Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish to you an everlasting covenant.
Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed, when you receive your sisters, your elder sisters and your younger; and I will give them to you for daughters, but not by your covenant.
I will establish my covenant with you. Then you will know that I am Yahweh;
that you may remember, and be confounded, and never open your mouth any more, because of your shame, when I have forgiven you all that you have done,” says the Lord Yahweh.’ ”
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Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant.
Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger: and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant.
And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD:
That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord GOD.
Show all 3 translations
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Nevertheless I will remember My covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant.
Then shalt thou remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder sisters and thy younger; and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not because of thy covenant.
And I will establish My covenant with thee, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD;
that thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more, because of thy shame; when I have forgiven thee all that thou hast done, saith the Lord GOD.'
Cross-references (72)
- Psalms 39:9 (v63) I was mute. I didn’t open my mouth, because you did it.
- Romans 3:19 (v63) Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world…
- Jeremiah 24:7 (v62) I will give them a heart to know me, that I am Yahweh. They will be my people, and I will be their God; for they will return to me with…
- Hosea 2:19-20 (v60) I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in justice, in loving kindness, and in compassion. I will…
- Ezekiel 36:31-32 (vv61, 63) “ ‘ “Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your…
Show all 71 cross-references
- Job 40:4-5 (v63) “Behold, I am of small account. What will I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth. I have spoken once, and I will not answer; Yes, twice,…
- Daniel 9:7-8 (v63) “Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but to us confusion of face, as it is today; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem,…
- Galatians 4:26-31 (v61) But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, “Rejoice, you barren who don’t bear. Break out…
- Titus 3:3-7 (v63) For we were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating…
- Hebrews 8:13 (v61) In that he says, “A new covenant”, he has made the first old. But that which is becoming old and grows aged is near to vanishing away.
- Ezra 9:6 (v63) and I said, “My God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to you, my God; for our iniquities have increased over our head, and our…
- Isaiah 66:7-12 (v61) “Before she travailed, she gave birth. Before her pain came, she delivered a son. Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things?…
- Jeremiah 50:4-5 (v61) “In those days, and in that time,” says Yahweh, “the children of Israel will come, they and the children of Judah together; they will go on…
- Jeremiah 50:5 (v60) They will inquire concerning Zion with their faces turned toward it, saying, ‘Come, and join yourselves to Yahweh in an everlasting…
- Ezekiel 6:7 (v62) The slain will fall among you, and you will know that I am Yahweh.
- Ezekiel 16:8 (v60) “ ‘ “Now when I passed by you, and looked at you, behold, your time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over you, and covered your…
- Ezekiel 16:61 (v63) Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed, when you receive your sisters, your elder sisters and your younger; and I will give them…
- Ezekiel 20:43 (v61) There you will remember your ways, and all your deeds in which you have polluted yourselves. Then you will loathe yourselves in your own…
- Romans 2:1 (v63) Therefore you are without excuse, O man, whoever you are who judge. For in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who…
- Romans 3:27 (v63) Where then is the boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.
- Romans 5:1-2 (v63) Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; through whom we also have our access by faith…
- Romans 9:19-20 (v63) You will say then to me, “Why does he still find fault? For who withstands his will?” But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God?…
- Romans 11:11 (v61) I ask then, did they stumble that they might fall? May it never be! But by their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles, to provoke them…
- Romans 15:16 (v61) that I should be a servant of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, serving as a priest of the Good News of God, that the offering up of the…
- Ephesians 3:6 (v61) that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of his promise in Christ Jesus through the Good…
- Hebrews 8:10 (v60) “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days,” says the Lord; “I will put my laws into their mind,…
- Hebrews 12:24 (v60) to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Abel.
- Leviticus 26:42 (v60) then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham; and I will remember the land.
- Job 42:5-6 (v61) I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
- Psalms 65:3 (v63) Sins overwhelmed me, but you atoned for our transgressions.
- Psalms 79:9 (v63) Help us, God of our salvation, for the glory of your name. Deliver us, and forgive our sins, for your name’s sake.
- Psalms 106:45 (v60) He remembered for them his covenant, and repented according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses.
- Psalms 119:59 (v61) I considered my ways, and turned my steps to your statutes.
- Song of Solomon 8:8-9 (v61) We have a little sister. She has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister in the day when she is to be spoken for? If she is a wall, we…
- Isaiah 2:2-5 (v61) It shall happen in the latter days, that the mountain of Yahweh’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be…
- Isaiah 11:9-10 (v61) They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea.…
- Isaiah 49:18-23 (v61) Lift up your eyes all around, and see: all these gather themselves together, and come to you. As I live,” says Yahweh, “you shall surely…
- Isaiah 54:1-2 (v61) “Sing, barren, you who didn’t give birth; break out into singing, and cry aloud, you who didn’t travail with child: for more are the…
- Isaiah 55:3 (v60) Turn your ear, and come to me. Hear, and your soul will live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
- Isaiah 60:4 (v61) “Lift up your eyes all around, and see: they all gather themselves together. They come to you. Your sons will come from far away, and your…
- Jeremiah 31:18-20 (v61) “I have surely heard Ephraim grieving thus, ‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as an untrained calf. Turn me, and I will be…
- Jeremiah 31:31-34 (v60) “Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according…
- Jeremiah 32:38-41 (v60) Then they will be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their…
- Lamentations 3:39 (v63) Why does a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
- Ezekiel 6:9 (v61) Those of you that escape will remember me among the nations where they are carried captive, how I have been broken with their lewd heart,…
- Ezekiel 16:53-55 (v61) “ ‘ “I will reverse their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and the…
- Ezekiel 16:60 (v62) Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish to you an everlasting covenant.
- Ezekiel 16:63 (v61) that you may remember, and be confounded, and never open your mouth any more, because of your shame, when I have forgiven you all that you…
- Ezekiel 20:37 (v62) “I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.
- Ezekiel 20:43-44 (v62) There you will remember your ways, and all your deeds in which you have polluted yourselves. Then you will loathe yourselves in your own…
- Ezekiel 39:22 (v62) So the house of Israel will know that I am Yahweh their God, from that day and forward.
- Hosea 1:9-11 (v61) He said, “Call his name Lo-Ammi; for you are not my people, and I will not be yours. Yet the number of the children of Israel will be as…
- Hosea 2:18-23 (v62) In that day I will make a covenant for them with the animals of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the creeping things of…
- Joel 3:17 (v62) “So you will know that I am Yahweh, your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain. Then Jerusalem will be holy, and no strangers will pass…
- John 15:16 (v61) You didn’t choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that…
- Romans 15:8-9 (v61) Now I say that Christ has been made a servant of the circumcision for the truth of God, that he might confirm the promises given to the…
- 1 Corinthians 4:7 (v63) For who makes you different? And what do you have that you didn’t receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not…
- Ephesians 2:3-5 (v63) We also all once lived among them in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of…
- Ephesians 2:12-14 (v61) that you were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the…
- Leviticus 26:45 (v60) But I will for their sake remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations,…
- 2 Samuel 23:5 (v60) Isn’t my house so with God? Yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure, for it is all my salvation,…
- Nehemiah 1:5-11 (v60) and said, “I beg you, Yahweh, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with those who love him…
- Psalms 105:8 (v60) He has remembered his covenant forever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations,
- Jeremiah 2:2 (v60) “Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Yahweh says, “I remember for you the kindness of your youth, the love of your weddings;…
- Jeremiah 31:31-40 (v61) “Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according…
- Jeremiah 33:20-26 (v60) “Yahweh says: ‘If you can break my covenant of the day and my covenant of the night, so that there will not be day and night in their time;…
- Ezekiel 37:26-27 (v60) Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them. It will be an everlasting covenant with them. I will place them, multiply them, and…
- Daniel 9:27 (v62) He will make a firm covenant with many for one week. In the middle of the week he will cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease. On…
- Hosea 2:15 (v60) I will give her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she will respond there, as in the days of her youth,…
- Luke 1:72 (v60) to show mercy toward our fathers, to remember his holy covenant,
- Hebrews 13:20 (v60) Now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of an eternal covenant, our Lord…
71 distinct cross-references across this passage (72 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (18 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv60–63 Because God here promises that he would be propitious…
Because God here promises that he would be propitious to the Jews, some translate the former verse as if it had been said, “Shall I do with thee as you have done?” or, I would do as you have done, unless I had been mindful; but that is too forced in my opinion. I have no doubt that the Prophet restrains himself, so to speak, and directs his discourse peculiarly to the elect, of whom we spoke yesterday. Hitherto he had regarded the whole body of the people which was abandoned, and hence he put before them nothing but despair. But he now turns himself to the election of grace, of which Paul speaks, (Romans 11:5;) and for this reason promises them that God would be mindful of his covenant, though he would not restore the whole people promiscuously. For the body on the whole must perish; a small band only was reserved. We know, therefore, that this promise was not common to all the sons of Abraham who were his offspring according to the flesh, but it was peculiar to the elect alone. God therefore pronounces, that he would be mindful of his covenant which he had made with that people in their youth, by which words he signifies, that his pity should not go forth except from the covenant. For God always recalls the faithful, as it were, to the fountain, lest they should claim anything as their right, or imagine this or that to be the cause of God’s being reconciled to them. He shows, therefore, that this pity has no other foundation than the covenant; and this is the reason why he says, that he would be mindful of his covenant. He now adds, and I will establish a perpetual covenant with thee. Here God promises, without obscurity, a better and more excellent covenant than that ancient one already abolished through the people’s fault. This passage, then, cannot be understood except of the new covenant which God has established by the hand of Christ. But these two clauses are so mutually united that they ought to be carefully weighed, namely, that God here gives the hope of a new covenant, and yet teaches us that it originates in the old one already abolished through the people’s fault. Thus we see that the New Testament flows from that covenant which God made with Abraham, and afterwards sanctioned by the hand of Moses. That which is promulgated for us in the Gospel is called the; New Covenant, not because it had no beginning previously, but because it was renewed, and better conditions added; for we know that the Law was abrogated by the New Covenant. Whether it be so or not, the excellence of the New Testament is not injured, because it has its source and occasion in the Old Covenant, and is founded on it. It 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 vv60, 61, 63 That is, of mercy and love I will pity…
That is, of mercy and love I will pity thee, and so stand to my covenant though thou hast deserved the contrary.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv60–63 Eze 16:60 Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with…
Eze 16:60 Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant.
Ver. 60. Nevertheless I will remember my covenant.] Here beginneth the evangelical part of the chapter, which is for the comfort of the elect, who would be frightened to hear those direful threats; like as in a house we cannot beat the dogs but the children will fall to crying.
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 vv60–63 The Lord having denounced a perpetual punishment to the…
The Lord having denounced a perpetual punishment to the stubborn, impenitent body of the Jewish nation, he doth now promise to the remnant that they shall be remembered and obtain covenanted mercy, which makes up the last part of the chapter.
I will remember: properly neither remembering nor forgetting is in God, who is omniscient; but after the manner of man this is spoken of God, who is said to remember when he makes it appear that he hath regard to us, as Psa 20:3, and blesseth us.
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My covenant; in which I promised I would not utterly cast off the seed of Israel, nor fail to send the Messiah, the Redeemer, who Should turn away iniquity from Jacob.
With thee; in the loins of Abraham, and solemnly renewed after their coming out of Egypt, which is the time called the days of thy youth, Isa 44:2; 46:3; Eze 16:43.
Establish; confirm and ratify, it shall be sure and unfailing.
Everlasting, i.e. of a very long continuance, as to that part of the covenant which respecteth their condition in the Land of Promise, or Canaan; but in what is spiritual, and containeth heavenly things, it shall be absolutely everlasting, Jer 31:31-34.
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 v60 Here, in the close of the chapter, after a…
Here, in the close of the chapter, after a most shameful conviction of sin and a most dreadful denunciation of judgments, mercy is remembered, mercy is reserved, for those who shall come after. As was when God swore in his wrath concerning those who came out of Egypt that they should not enter Canaan, "Yet" (says God) "your little ones shall;" so here. And some think that what is said of the return of Sodom and Samaria (Eze 16:53, Eze 16:55), and of Jerusalem with them, is a promise; it may be understood so, if by Sodom we understand (as Grotius and some of the Jewish writers do) the Moabites and Ammonites, the posterity of Lot, who once dwelt in Sodom; their captivity was returned (Jer 48:47; Jer 49:6), as was that of many of the ten tribes, and Judah's with them. But these closing verses are, without doubt, a previous promise, which was in part fulfilled at the return of the penitent and reformed Jews out of Babylon, but was to have its full accomplishment in gospel-times, and in that repentance and that remission of sins which should then be preached with success to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Now observe here,
I. Whence this mercy should take rise-from God himself, and his remembering his covenant with them (Eze 16:60): Nevertheless, though they had been so provoking, and God had been provoked to such a degree that one would think they could never be reconciled again, yet "I will remember my covenant with thee, that covenant which I made with thee in the days of thy youth, and will revive it again. Though thou hast broken the covenant (Eze 16:59), I will remember it, and it shall flourish again." See how much it is our comfort and advantage that God is pleased to deal with us in a covenant-way, for thus the mercies of it come to be sure mercies and everlasting (Isa 55:3); and, while this root stands firmly in the ground, there is hope of the tree, though it be cut down, that through the scent of water it will bud again. We do not find that they put him in mind of the covenant, but ex mero motu - from his own mere good pleasure, he remembers it as he had promised. Lev 26:42, Then will I remember my covenant, and will remember the land. He that bids us to be ever mindful of the covenant no doubt will himself be ever mindful of it, the word which he commanded (and what he commands stands fast for ever) to a thousand generations.
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II. How they should be prepared and qualified for this mercy (Eze 16:61): "Thou shalt remember thy ways, thy evil ways; God will put thee in mind of them, will set them in order before thee, that thou mayest be ashamed of them." Note, God's good work in us commences and keeps pace with his good-will towards us. When he remembers his covenant for us, that he may not remember our sins against us, he puts us upon remembering our sins against ourselves. And if we will but be brought to remember our ways, how crooked and perverse they have been and how we have walked contrary to God in them, we cannot but be ashamed; and, when we are so, we are best prepared to receive the honour and comfort of a sealed pardon and a settled peace.
III. What the mercy is that God has in reserve for them. 1. He will take them into covenant with himself (Eze 16:60): I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant; and again (Eze 16:62), I will establish, re-establish, and establish more firmly than ever, my covenant with thee. Note, It is an unspeakable comfort to all true penitents that the covenant of grace is so well ordered in all things that every transgression in the covenant does not throw us out of the covenant, for that is inviolable. 2. He will bring the Gentiles into church-communion with them (Eze 16:61): "Thou shalt receive thy sisters, the Gentile nations that are found about thee, thy elder and thy younger, greater than thou art and less, ancient nations and modern, and I will give them unto thee for daughters; they shall be founded, nursed, taught, and educated, by that gospel, that word of the Lord, which shall go forth from Zion and from Jerusalem; so that all the neighbours shall call Jerusalem mother, while the church continues there, and shall acknowledge the Jerusalem which is from above, and which is free, to be the mother of us all, Gal 4:26. They shall be thy daughters, but not by thy covenant, not by the covenant of peculiarity, not as being proselytes to the Jewish religion and subject to the yoke of the ceremonial law, but as being converts with thee to the Christian religion." Or not by thy covenant may mean, "not upon such terms as thou shalt think fit to impose upon them as conquered nations, as captives and homagers to whom thou mayest give law at pleasure" (such a dominion as that the carnal Jews hope to have over the nations); "no, they shall be thy daughters by my covenant, the covenant of grace made with thee and them in concert, as in indenture tripartite. I will be a Father, a common Father, both to Jews and Gentiles, and so they shall become sisters to one another. And, when thou shalt receive them, thou shalt be ashamed of thy own evil ways wherein thou wast conformed to them. Thou shalt blush to look a Gentile in the face, remembering how much worse than the Gentiles thou wast in the day of thy apostasy."
IV. What the fruit and effect of this will be. 1. God will hereby be glorified (Eze 16:62): "Thou shalt know that I am the Lord. It shall hereby be known that the God of Israel is Jehovah, a God of power, and faithful to his covenant; and thou shalt know it who hast hitherto lived as if thou didst not know or believe it." It had often been said in wrath, You shall know that I am the Lord, shall know it to your cost; here it is said in mercy, You shall know it to your comfort; and it is one of the most precious promises of the new covenant which God has made with us that all shall know him from the least to the greatest. 2. They shall hereby be more humbled and abased for sin (Eze 16:63): "That thou mayest be the more confounded at the remembrance of all that thou hast done amiss, mayest reproach thyself for it and call thyself a thousand times unwise, undutiful, ungrateful, and unlike what thou wast, and mayest never open thy mouth any more in contradiction to God, reflection on him, or complaints of him, but mayest be for ever silent and submissive because of thy shame." Note, Those that rightly remember their sins will be truly ashamed of them; and those that are truly ashamed of their sins will see great reason to be patient under their afflictions, to be dumb, and not open their mouths against what God does. But that which is most observable is, that all this shall be when I am pacified towards thee, saith the Lord God. Note, It is the gracious ingenuousness of true penitents that the clearer evidences and the fuller instances they have of God's being reconciled to them the more grieved and ashamed they are that ever they have offended God. God is in Jesus Christ pacified towards us; he is our peace, and it is by his cross that we are reconciled, and in his gospel that God is reconciling the world to himself. Now the consideration of this should be powerful to melt our hearts into a godly sorrow for sin. This is repenting because the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The prodigal, after he had received the kiss which assured him that his father was pacified towards him, was ashamed and confounded, and said, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee. And the more our shame for sin is increased by the sense of pardoning mercy the more will our comfort in God be increased.
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 vv60–62 Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed,....…
Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed,.... When covenant grace is manifested and applied, it brings persons to a sense of their sins, and to an ingenuous acknowledgment of them, with shame and blushing; they remember their evil ways in which they have walked, and blush at the thoughts of what they have been guilty of; and how they have sinned against a God of love, grace, and mercy; and what vile ungrateful creatures they have been:
when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger; Samaria and Sodom, Eze 16:46; the ten tribes, or Benjamin and Simeon, whose part was in Judah, as Ben Melech; rather the Gentiles, even of all nations, ancient and modern, great and small, where the Gospel should come, and such of them as are called and converted by it; these, according to this prophecy, should be received into the communion of the church, to participate of all the privileges and ordinances of it, under the Gospel dispensation. The passage respects the calling of the Gentiles, and the incorporating of them into the Gospel church state. The Syriac version renders it, "when I shall receive thy sisters", &c. which the Targum interprets of greater and lesser provinces:
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and I will give them unto thee for daughters; to be nursed up by the church, through the ministry of the word and ordinances, where they have a place, and a name better than that of sons and daughters; become members of the church, and so daughters of Jerusalem, the mother of us all, Gal 4:26; to the laws, rules, and ordinances of which they submit, and yield an obedience, as daughters to their mother. The Targum is,
"I will deliver them unto thee for obedience.''
The Septuagint renders it, "for edification"; to be built up on their, most holy faith:
but not by thy covenant: made with the Israelites at Sinai, which genders to bondage, and under which the Jewish church with her children were in bondage, Gal 4:24; but by virtue of the covenant of grace made with Christ; one article of which is, "I will be their father, and they shall be my sons and daughters", Co2 6:18; or not on condition of observing the rites and ceremonies of the law, under which the former covenant was administered, the Gentiles being freed from that, the ceremonial law being abrogated by Christ; or, not because thou hast kept the covenant made with thee, therefore I give thee those (for that thou hast broken), but of my own mere grace and favour, so Jarchi: or I will give daughters to thee, which are not of thy covenant, of thy law, so Kimchi; who are not of the same religion, meaning the Gentiles; and so the phrase is the same with that in Joh 10:16; "which are not of this fold". There is an ancient exposition of the Jews, mentioned by Jarchi, Kimchi, and Abarbinel, which renders it, "but not of that patrimony"; and explains it of the inheritance which God gave to Abraham between the pieces; as if the persons intended by those who are given for daughters did not belong thereunto.
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 vv60, 61, 63 Nevertheless - The Lord having denounced a perpetual punishment…
Nevertheless - The Lord having denounced a perpetual punishment to the impenitent body of the Jewish nation, doth now promise to the remnant, that they shall be remembered, and obtain covenanted mercy. My covenant - In which I promised I would not utterly cut off the seed of Israel, nor fail to send the redeemer, who should turn away iniquity from Jacob. With thee - In the loins of Abraham, and solemnly renewed after their coming out of Egypt, which is the time, called the days of thy youth, Isaiah xliv, 2. Establish - Confirm and ratify. It shall be sure, and unfailing. An everlasting covenant - Of long continuance, as to their condition in the land of Canaan, and in what is spiritual, it shall be absolutely everlasting.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv60, 61, 63 Verse 60. I will remember my covenant] That is,…
Verse 60. I will remember my covenant] That is, the covenant I made with Abraham in the day of thy youth, when in him thou didst begin to be a nation.
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 v60 Eze 16:60-63. Nevertheless, I will remember my covenant with…
Eze 16:60-63. Nevertheless, I will remember my covenant with thee, in the days of thy youth — I will yet have some regard for you, because you were formerly my people, by virtue of the covenant that I made with you at your coming out of Egypt. And I will establish with you an everlasting covenant — Such a one as shall never be abolished, namely, that of the gospel: see note on Jer 32:40. Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed — Thou shalt be affected with a deep sense of, and contrition for, thy former provocations, as a necessary preparation for thy conversion. When thou shalt receive thy sisters — Converted with thee to Christianity; when the Gentiles, now strangers, but then sisters, shall be admitted with thee into the Christian Church. And I will give them unto thee for daughters — As daughters hearken to, and obey their mothers, so shall the Gentiles, brought into the church of God, hearken to his word, which is there declared, and which first went forth from Jerusalem. “Even in the times of the apostles, there was a particular deference paid to the church of Jerusalem, as the mother church of the Christian world: see Rom 15:26-27. Accordingly, she is styled the mother of all churches, by the second general council in their synodical epistle: see Theod., Hist. Ecclesiastes, lib. 5. c. 9. A title which the Church of Rome now assumes, without any pretence from Scripture or antiquity.” — Lowth. Not by thy covenant — Not by that old covenant, which was violated; not by external ceremonies, which were a great part of the first covenant; but by that covenant which writes the law in the believer’s heart, and puts the fear of God into his inward parts; the covenant which I will make with you, through the mediation of the Messiah; a covenant founded in the divine love, cemented by the blood of Christ, and freed from the yoke of bondage. The first covenant was only for a time, but this shall be for ever. And thou shalt know that I am the Lord — Shalt know to thy comfort, that I am Jehovah, the source of being and of blessedness, the God of almighty power, of infinite love, and of inviolable faithfulness, merciful to thy unrighteousness, and remembering thy sins and iniquities no more, Jer 31:34; as conspicuous in my mercies as I was before in my judgments. That thou mayest remember and be confounded — That thou mayest acknowledge, and be deeply sensible, how many and great thy transgressions have been, and how great my mercy is in pardoning so many and such aggravated iniquities; and never open thy mouth any more — Either to justify thyself, or to condemn others, or to quarrel with thy God; because of thy shame — Because shame and sorrow, for thy past sins, will cover thee with confusion. When I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done — When I have pardoned all thy transgressions, and am reconciled to thee, notwithstanding thy innumerable provocations. Observe, reader, the more sensible we are of God’s love to us, the more ashamed we are that ever we offended him; and the more our shame for sin is increased, the more will our comfort in God be increased also.
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 v60 The promise of restoration must almost have sounded as…
The promise of restoration must almost have sounded as strangely as the threat of punishment, including as it did those whom Judah hated and despised Eze 16:61. The covenant of restoration was not to be like the old covenant. Not “by thy covenant,” but “by My covenant.” The people’s covenant was the pledge of obedience. That had been found ineffectual. But the covenant of God was by “promise” Gal 3:17. See
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 vv60–61 Covenant. After punishing thee I will fulfill my promises,…
Covenant. After punishing thee I will fulfill my promises, as we see was done (Calmet) after the captivity, and (Haydock) in the Christian Church. (Calmet) --- All shall be converted, not by the Jewish but by the evangelical covenant. (Worthington)
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 vv60–63 The promise here bursts forth unexpectedly like the sun…
The promise here bursts forth unexpectedly like the sun from the dark clouds. With all her forgetfulness of God, God still remembers her; showing that her redemption is altogether of grace. Contrast "I will remember," with "thou hast not remembered" (Eze 16:22, Eze 16:43); also "My covenant," with "Thy covenant" (Eze 16:61; Psa 106:45); then the effect produced on her is (Eze 16:63) "that thou mayest remember." God's promise was one of promise and of grace. The law, in its letter, was Israel's (thy) covenant, and in this restricted view was long subsequent (Gal 3:17). Israel interpreted it as a covenant of works, which she while boasting of, failed to fulfil, and so fell under its condemnation (Co2 3:3, Co2 3:6). The law, in its spirit, contains the germ of the Gospel; the New Testament is the full development of the Old, the husk of the outer form being laid aside when the inner spirit was fulfilled in Messiah. God's covenant with Israel, in the person of Abraham, was the reason why, notwithstanding all her guilt, mercy was, and is, in store for her. Therefore the heathen or Gentile nations must come to her for blessings, not she to them.
everlasting covenant-- (Eze 37:26; Sa2 23:5; Isa 55:3). The temporary forms of the law were to be laid aside, that in its permanent and "everlasting" spirit it might be established (Jer 31:31-37; Jer 32:40; Jer 50:4-5; Heb 8:8-13).
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 vv60–63 NEVERTHELESS, THE “EVERLASTING COVENANT” OF JEHOVAH STANDETH SURE,vv. 60-63.
NEVERTHELESS, THE “EVERLASTING COVENANT” OF JEHOVAH STANDETH SURE,vv. 60-63.
60. An everlasting covenant — The old covenant is broken, but Jehovah is ready to make a new and everlasting covenant (Eze_36:26; Eze_37:26; Isa_54:9-10; Isa_55:3; Jer_31:34; Jer_31:36; Jer_32:40; Jer_33:20-22). This covenant will include the despised nations, such as Sodom and Samaria, who in the new spirit of this new testament shall become spiritual (and political?) daughters of Israel (Eze_16:61). What a lofty conception is this which, so many centuries before the breaking down of the wall of partition by the Son of David, could include the Gentile world in God’s best covenant of grace. Surely the prophet to whom Jehovah in such a distant age could reveal such new and splendid truth must have been a mighty spiritual seer!
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 vv60–63 60. The Lord will substitute for the old covenant…
60. The Lord will substitute for the old covenant which was broken an “everlasting” covenant, cf. ch. Eze_37:26; Isa_54:9-10; Isa_55:3; Jer_31:35-36; Jer_32:40; Jer_33:20-22. The covenant will be everlasting because he will forgive their sins (Jer_31:34), and write his law (Jer_31:33), and put his fear (Jer_32:40) in their hearts; giving them a new heart and putting his spirit within them, Eze_36:26. On “days of thy youth” cf. Jer_2:2, and Isa_54:6.
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 vv60–63 (60) I will remember my covenant.—The remembrance of God’s…
(60) I will remember my covenant.—The remembrance of God’s covenant is made the basis of His mercy to His penitent people (Lev_26:42-45) from the beginning, and it is often spoken of as an everlasting covenant. In the New Testament (Luk_1:54-55; Luk_1:72-73, &c.) this covenant is regarded as fulfilled in the Christian dispensation. At the same time, the Christian covenant is described as new in Jer_31:31-34; it was both the continuation and designed fulfilment of the old, and in its superiority and plainer revelation of the Divine will was new. Hence the contrast between My covenant here and Thy covenant in the following verse. The covenant to be afterwards established shall be “an everlasting covenant.”
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 vv60, 61, 63 The everlasting covenant.
The everlasting covenant.
God"s relations with his people are repeatedly described as determined by covenants. Adam, Noah, Abraham, and the nation of Israel, all had their covenants with God, and Christ established a new covenant.
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I THE COVENANT RELATION.
1. It originates in God. The covenant is not an agreement made by two parties who meet on equal terms. It cannot be compared to the bond which seals a bargain after mutual concessions. It is rather an institution of God which man accepts. We cannot determine or in any way modify the conditions of God"s covenant. As the Giver of blessing and the Lord of service, God offers us his settled covenant.
2. It must be accepted by man. The covenant relation has two sides. When we desire to share its privileges we must ourselves enter into it. We must freely accept it.
3. It involves mutual obligations.
(1) God graciously undertakes to do certain things for man, even condescending to bind himself with promises.
(2) We are bound to loyal obedience, and the seal of the covenant ratifies those obligations. Thus it gives man a right to "covenant mercies," and God a right to "covenant service.
II THE OLD COVENANT. God had covenant relations with Israel in ancient days. The sinful people had violated the conditions of the covenant, and so, while excluding themselves from its privileges, they had brought its penalties down upon their heads (ver. 59). God might therefore only remember his covenant in order to carry out its penal clauses. But he is seen to remember it on its gracious side. This could not be because he held himself bound to its promises, for the Jews had forfeit, d all rights in those promises. Therefore God"s remembrance of the covenant is his merciful calling to mind of previous happy relations. God is not ready to forsake his people with whom he made a covenant in the olden times. It may be the same with the individual souls. There are men who followed God in their childhood, perhaps learning to love him from a mother"s teaching, and entering into solemn promises to live for him in the hopeful days of youth. They may have forgotten those fair times of the long deal past. But God remembers them, and in his wonderful, enduring love he delights to revive them, and therefore he calls his erring children back to the forsaken paths.
III THE NEW COVENANT.
1. Its necessity.
(1) On account of the failure of the former covenant. The old covenant being broken and having proved ineffectual, a new one must be instituted.
(2) On account of the new needs of new times. The new wine must not be put into the old bottles. The Jewish Law which suited ancient Israel is not adapted to Christendom.
1. Its origin. It is based on the old covenant. God remembers that old covenant in granting a new one. The New Testament rests on the foundation of the Old Testament. Christ came to fulfil the Law by establishing the gospel. (Mat_5:17) The same Divine grace, which in its dawn shone through the earlier dispensation, in its noon glorifies the later one.
2. Its stability. It is to be an everlasting covenant. The old covenant was local, temporary, and fragile on the human side, though firm as adamant on God"s side. The new covenant must have other characteristics to make it more enduring.
(1) It is an inward, spiritual principle. (Jer_31:33)
(2) It is sealed by the blood of Christ, (1Co_11:25) is bound to the cross by his sacrifice and our love.
Vers. 60-63. Reconciliation.
It is not possible to conceive a more sudden and extraordinary change than that which occurs in passing from the fifty-ninth to the sixtieth verse of this chapter. From an exposure of the vilest treachery and threats of condign and awful punishment, the Lord, speaking by the mouth of his prophet, passes to promises of the most gracious and tender character. It is a wonderful revelation of the Divine heart. As the moral Governor, the Administrator of the affairs of nations, the Lord protests against his people"s defection, and denounces upon them the just punishment of their sins. But he does not forget that they are his people. He foresees that the discipline through which they are to pass will not be lost upon them, that their heart will be wrung by contrition, and that their life will witness to their repentance. He promises that he will be pacified towards them, and that reconciliation shall take the place of rebellion and of punishment.
I ON GOD"S SIDE MERCY IS REMEMBERED IN THE MIDST OF WRATH. The King pities his subjects even when they are in insurrection against him. It is their own interests that they are jeopardizing, their own sentence of condemnation that they are writing. The Lord of all, whilst he is displeased with the ingratitude and disobedience of his subjects, still retains his own character; there is no vindictiveness in his government; he ever delights in mercy.
II ON THE SIDE OF JERUSALEM THERE IS SINCERE REPENTANCE AND SHAME. While God remembers his covenant, Jerusalem remembers her ways, and the memory awakens shame and confusion. The poignant appeal has not been made in vain. The mirror has been held up before the face of the sinful and abandoned, and the guilty heart has been conscious of its sin. Conduct, which has been the outcome of unrestrained passion or of an unreflecting yielding to external influence, is now seen in its true light. Deliberate wickedness is deliberately regretted and deliberately loathed. "To us belong shame and confusion of face.
III THERE IS RE-ESTABLISHMENT OF THE BROKEN COVENANT. This covenant dates back from the time of Jerusalem"s youth; her infidelity has indeed cancelled it; but God, in his grace, is willing to overlook and forgive all that is past, and to renew the sweet and happy relations of other times. It is a miracle of mercy. God"s ways are not as our ways. Human magnanimity, in its noblest exercise, falls short of this action of the holy God. Here is a revelation of the Divine character which may well bring comfort and hope to the sinner who has forsaken and defied his God, but who sees and repents his folly and his guilt. In the light of the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ the language is infinitely encouraging. There is a covenant of grace into which the righteous God admits, not Israel only, but mankind a covenant in which all the giving is on God"s side, and all the receiving is on ours.
IV THERE IS AN ASSURANCE OF ACCEPTANCE AND PACIFICATION. The false prophets had proclaimed a false peace; a true peace comes only from him who is the God alike of righteousness and of mercy. When he declares, in the language of the text, "I am pacified toward thee," then it is well. When he giveth peace, who can give trouble? The transgressions of other days are forgotten; the estrangement of other days has given place to concord and harmony. Reverence and love are offered by those who were once in rebellion. And favour and everlasting love are revealed by him who but lately uttered words of reproach, and inflicted chastisement and punishment. It is the happy experience of the justified and accepted believer in Christ which breaks forth into the joyful exclamation, "Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. T.
Vers. 60-63. A rift in the stormcloud.
Human life is a season of probation. Far better to be chastised here, however severely, than to hear the sentence of doom at the last assize. Present corrections have a merciful design. Above the moral tempest calmly beams the star of mercy. To restoration repentance is needful.
I THE SOURCE OF REPENTANCE. "I," said God, "will remember my covenant with thee." Although God may severely punish, he does not cast off, if there be a vestige of hope. Though they bad forgotten God, God had not forgotten them; nor had he forgotten his covenant. Though gleams of anger were in his eye, and vengeance bared his arm, the love of his heart had not dried up. He ploughed up the field deeply, that the rain of his grace might penetrate the soil. It is pure love that originated the covenant, and pure love that maintains it.
II THE NATURE OF TRUE REPENTANCE. "Thou shalt be ashamed." Repentance comes from reflection. Sin is the effect of slumber of mind, callousness of conscience. When the real man awakens and reflects, he is filled with shame. He sees himself in the mirror of truth, and his emotional nature is pained, wounded, abashed. He loathes himself. He is willing to give anything, to hear anything, if only he might undo the guilty deeds. A sense of shame is self-inflicted punishment. It is not simply remorse because the sin has been discovered. It is change of mind with respect to sin itself. It is dislike for all sin.
III THE PROOFS OF REPENTANCE. Great humility is an evidence of repentance. The old pride is sapped and eradicated. Old prejudices and antipathies disappear. Better still, there springs up concern for others an ardent desire to bless our rivals and our foes. Sodom and Samaria should be received as daughters. The good we obtain we long to share with the worst of men. Generous and benevolent affection is good. evidence of repentance. "Then will I teach transgressors thy ways.
IV THE EFFECTS OF REPENTANCE. Two effects are mentioned.
1. Intimate friendship with God. "They shall know that I am the Lord." There is meant here, not simply intellectual knowledge, but strong conviction, intimate acquaintance, familiar friendship. This knowledge will increase and ripen into life eternal.
2. Greater self-restraint. "Thou shalt never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame." This indicates great tenderness of conscience; yea, a sensitive dread of offending God. The more we know of God the more reverence we have for him, and the stronger becomes our desire to please him. As is our knowledge, so is our humility ay, our self-extinction.
The more thy glories meet my eyes, The humbler I shall lie; Yet while I sink, my joys shall rise Immeasurably high. D.
Vers. 60-63. A picture of reviewed favour.
I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth," etc. There is perhaps a reference here to the return of the Jews from their captivity in Babylon to their own land. But it seems beyond doubt that the prophet points to the gospel covenant and its spiritual blessings. Two facts seem to us to afford conclusive proof of this.
(1) That this new covenant is more fully described by Jeremiah (31:31-34); and
(2) that this passage from Jeremiah is directly applied to the Christian covenant in the Epistle to the Hebrews. (Heb_8:8-12) The renewed favour of God to his people is seen not so much in temporal as in spiritual blessings.
I THE RENEWED FAVOUR OF GOD TOWARDS HIS PEOPLE ORIGINATED WITH HIMSELF. "Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant." Notwithstanding their breach of the covenant, and their countless and enormous sins, God will return to them in blessing. And he will do so of his own unmerited and unsought grace. When Jesus Christ came into our world he came without any solicitation from man. "He came unto his own possessions, and his own people received him not." "God commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." The contrast between God and the Jews in respect to the covenants shows that the existence of the new one was entirely owing to his grace.
1. They forgot him and the covenant into which they entered with him. Buthe says, "I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth." He does not forget the engagements into which he enters, or the promises which he makes. "If we are faithless, he abideth faithful; for he cannot deny himself.
2. They outrageously broke the covenant. "Thou hast despised the oath inbreaking the covenant" (ver. 59). But the Lord says, "I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant." Clearly this was not of their merit, but of his mercy. "By grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, that no man should glory.
II THS RENEWED FAVOUR OF GOD TO HIS PEOPLE AWAKENS WITHIN THEM PENITENT RECOLLECTIONS. "Then shalt thou remember thy ways, and be ashamed." This remembrance is not mere recollection, but recollection and reflection upon the things remembered. Moved by the grace of God, the Jews would recall to mind their sinful ways, and consider them, and take to themselves shame because of them. Like the psalmist
I thought on my ways, And turned my feet unto thy testimonies," etc. (Psa_119:59, Psa_119:60)
Like the prodigal also: "When he came to himself he said, How many hired servants of my father"s have bread enough and to spare!" etc.. (Luk 15:17-12) There is no real repentance without this remembrance and consideration of our ways; again, there is no real repentance except when such remembrance and consideration lead to shame and self-reproach. Now. according to our text, it is the grace of God which produces this desirable condition of mind and heart. "Law and terrors do but harden." "The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance." Unmerited kindness is like coals of fire melting the hearts of sinners. When the mercy of God is realized by man it leads to loathing of sin, and sincere sorrow, because we have been guilty thereof, and lowly love towards him.
III THE RENEWED FAVOUR OF GOD EXPRESSED IN THE BESTOWMENT OF RICH BLESSINGS. The blessings mentioned and referred to in the text are those of the new covenant which God would make with man. "I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant And I will establish my covenant with thee." (vers. 60, 62; and cf. Jer_31:31-34)
1. These blessings are spiritual. The knowledge of God is one of them. "And thou shalt know that I am the Lord." We have frequently read of their knowing him as a consequence of his judgments. Now we come to their knowing him as a result of his grace. This knowledge is more true and tender, more intimate and influential, than that. This is a saving acquaintance with him. "This is life eternal, that they should know thee the only true God, and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ." The forgiveness of sin is another of the blessings mentioned in the text. "When I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast done" (ver. 63), should be, as in the Revised Version, "When I have forgiven thee all that thou hast done." "I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more". (Jer_31:34) Says Schroder, "As the covenant springs from pure mercy and faithfulness, so in its inmost essence it consists in forgiveness of sins." What a blessing this is But the chief blessing of the covenant is not expressly mentioned by Ezekiel. God gives himself as the crowmng blessing of the covenant. "I will be their God, and they shall be my people". (Jer_31:33) Having him for our Portion, we have all good in him.
1. These blessings are universal. "Thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger." By these sisters probably Samaria and Sodom are meant (cf. ver. 46). But they must he taken, in connection with Jerusalem, as representing the world wide extent of the blessings of the new covenant. The gospel is not for one nation or people, but for humanity, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners;" "He died for all;" "Who gave himself a ransom for all;" "The living God is the Saviour of all men, specially of them that believe." And our Lord sent forth his servants into all the world to preach the gospel to the whole creation. Judah is said to receive these sisters, and they are said "to be given to her for daughters, because through her they should attain to the inheritance of blessing." "Salvation is of the Jews;" "Of whom is Christ as concerning the flesh." The first Christians were Jews. The apostles who offered the blessings of the new covenant unto the Gentiles, and received those of them who believed into the Church, were Jews.
2. These blessings are perpetual. "I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant." The first covenant was said to be "everlasting"; (Gen_17:7) and it was so in the sense that it led the way to and was fulfilled in this one. And this covenant shall never be abolished. With all its wealth of blessings it abides perpetually. God, the Supreme Blessing of it, is the soul"s unchangeable and eternal Portion. "God is the Rock of my heart and my Portion forever.
IV THE RENEWED FAVOUR OF GOD PRODUCES MOST DESIRABLE EFFECTS.
1. Sincere repentance for sin. "That thou mayest remember, and be confounded." The repentance which consists in abhorrence of sin, and grief because we have sinned against so gracious a God and Father, and in love to him and to all goodness, is not decreased by the reception of his forgiveness and favour, but rather increased. The more we know of God and the more we enjoy of his grace, the more base and wicked will sin appear unto us. "Sanctified knowledge will produce sanctified shame, sorrow, and tears. When we apprehend God to have taken us into covenant with him, to be our God, to have done great things for us, to have promised great things to us, and to have been very good to us, then the remembrance of our wretched ways causeth a holy shame and a holy sorrow" (Greenhill).
2. Devout submission to his will. "And never open thy mouth any more" in murmuring, or complaint, or rebellion against him. It is the silence of trustful acquiescence in his will. "I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it." "Thus Divine grace received into the heart produces gracious results in the lives of those who receive it. W.J.
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 v62 I will establish My covenant with thee.
Eze_16:62-63
I will establish My covenant with thee.
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Gods pardoning mercy
I. The way in which God reveals His pardoning mercy. I will establish My covenant with thee. The covenant of grace is the grand repository of the redemption of man. It comprehends all the items, all the particulars of Christ Jesus our Lord, in His person, His name, and all the characters and offices He has fulfilled in the work of mans redemption--which holds up all the effects of that work, all the fruits of that love, all the blessings of that redemption, and withal tracing it in all its refined ramifications to the covenant of grace.
II. The character in which He thus reveals it. Thou shalt know that I am the Lord. Thus to know the Lord is to know Him as a covenant God--to know Him as a God in Jesus Christ. God out of Christ is a consuming fire--I dare not approach Him but in Christ. I find Him to be a God of sympathy and compassion, because I find God in my nature is the very High Priest who intercedeth for sinners. God in my nature can be touched with the feeling of my infirmities, and knows how to sympathise with me. It is in this character as God in Christ that He reveals the blessings of His salvation.
III. The effect that is produced on the heart by this pardoning mercy. That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, etc. If there is not a more pure or a more exalted motive to obedience than the love of God, there is not a more powerful motive to walking in the ways of God, than the assurance of His pardoning love and mercy. How quickly does it excite the attention of a poor trembling sinner to hear the sound of mercy, when he knows that that sound comes from God who can pardon! (J. Holloway.)
The lasting covenant
I. What this covenant is, as revealed to a people among the Jews in the youthful period of that nation. Now, then, nevertheless, notwithstanding all this heathenism, I will remember My covenant with thee in the days of thy youth. The covenant was made with a people among the Jews in the youthful time of that nation. First, in the 3rd verse of the 12th of Genesis, the Lord said to Abraham--and that was the infancy, the commencement of the nation,--In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed; which is afterwards explained to mean that in Jesus Christ shall all families of the earth be blessed. That is Gods covenant. Now, just look at the suitability of this. It is in Christ Jesus. What is it that we need? Why, the very first thing that every man needs is a Saviour. We are by sin lost. And so, in the very first chapter of Matthew, Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. Here, then, this covenant is nothing else but a positive engagement on the Lords part to bring about eternal salvation. He has done that. And how suited this is! suited not only in itself, but in its manner--that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved; that is, brought to see what Jesus Christ is as the Mediator of this covenant. Let your confidence be in His person, in His righteousness, in His atonement, and in the promises that are by Him; and if you can do nothing else but go on from time to time with Lord, save me; Lord, have mercy upon me; Lord, look upon me; Lord, teach me; Lord, direct me;--if you have these desires, together with an acquaintance with the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom the blessings are, then thou wilt not be lost, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
II. How this covenant is an everlasting covenant. The covenant the Lord made with the Jews, that He was to be their God, and that they were to have the land of Canaan, and the great advantages of national distinction, as described in the Word of God--Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and many other places--they were to continue to enjoy all these on the ground of their conformity to that covenant; they were to continue in the purity of it. But instead of this they forsook Gods covenant, threw down His altars, the altar of sacrifice and the altar of incense; and the next thing, of course, was to slay those prophets and ministers that preached even this national covenant. There was no righteousness belonging to that temporal covenant that was eternal, and that could therefore perpetuate the covenant. There was no sacrifice in that covenant that could take away sin, and that could consequently perpetuate that covenant. If the people apostatised, or gave way, then everything was gone. But here the Lord says, I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant. Here is a testamentary will wherein God has willed everything by Christ Jesus. Now, Jesus Christ has brought in everlasting righteousness, for His righteousness is everlasting, and this perpetuates the covenant. This covenant and the promises cannot fail while Christs righteousness remains what it is; and as His atonement is perfect, and He has perfected forever all them that are sanctified, here it is the covenant is perpetuated. It must remain.
III. The note of time. Now, when you are brought to receive this covenant, there is a certain temper of mind. Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed. Saul of Tarsus, before he was brought to this covenant, remembered his ways and was delighted. (J. Walls.)
That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more, because of thy shame.
The heart full and the mouth closed
I. Review the blessed condition into which every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ has been brought by the sovereign act of Gods mercy. The Hebrew word which here sets forth forgiveness and pardon properly signifies to cover a thing with that which adheres and sticks to the thing covered; not with dry dust or leaves, which could be easily removed, but with glue or pitch, so that the thing hidden cannot easily be brought to sight again. O believer, God is pacified towards you, for your sin is covered; it is put away, all of it, and altogether. Since you have believed in Jesus Christ your sin has not become dimly visible, neither by searching may it be seen as a shadow in the distance, but God seeth it no more forever. God is pacified towards His people, for all that they have done, altogether pacified, for their sins have ceased to be. And this is not occasionally true, but always true, not only so in happier moments, when we enjoy a sense of it, but always, whether we have a sense of it or not. At all times, in the dark as well as in the light, in down castings as well as in upliftings, the Lord is pacified towards His people. I would to God that the Lords people grasped this more fully, and lived in the power of it more completely. May God grant we may! There is peace, there is nothing but peace, between my soul and God. Oh, what a joyous thought this is! Grasp it, Christian, and let your spirit exult in it. And all this, remember, is written in our text concerning a people who had plunged into wondrous sins. The greatness of the sin reveals the greatness of the redeeming sacrifice, and the direful nature of the disease declares the infinity of that Physicians skill who is able to put it all away.
II. What we have learned in the process of reaching this peaceful standing.
1. First, we have learned salvation by a covenant. The thought is charming, for we were lost by a covenant. Here, then, was the way to restore us again. As we sinned representatively, it was possible for us to satisfy the law by a representative. Here was the opening for the way of salvation. By a second covenant head man may be redeemed, and therefore Jesus Christ comes, the second Adam, and God makes a covenant with Him, which covenant runs thus--If He will bear the penalty of sin--if He will keep the law, then, all that are in Him shall be delivered from every sin, and the righteousness of the second Adam shall be imputed to them, and they shall be loved and blessed as if they were righteous. Oh, matchless mystery of love!
2. The next thing we have learned while reaching our happy condition of peace with God is the lesson that Jehovah is indeed God. Thou shalt know that I am the Lord. To be saved in a way that makes us know that God is God is to be taught aright. That God is God is easy to say but hard to know.
(1) I have learned His justice, and if ever I hear men talking about the injustice of everlasting punishment for sin, I have found no echo in my conscience to that observation, because, if I could be lifted up into Gods place, I feel that the very first thing I should have to do would be to eternally condemn such a guilty thing as I myself have been and am. I feel it.
(2) I have also been made to learn His sovereignty. This I know, that He is God, and doeth as He pleases with His grace.
(3) And oh, how we have to learn His power. Who but Thyself could have chained my imperious passions and broken the iron yoke from off my neck?
(4) Above all, we learn that precious word, God is love; but there is no understanding it until you are actually broken down under a sense of sin, and are led to see that your sin deserves the hottest hell.
3. We have learned ourselves. To remember and to be confounded--that is not comfortable. Who likes to remember and be confounded? Once you could have found twenty excuses, and had your choice out of them; but now that the Lord has forgiven you, you cannot find one, and as you turn them all up--those old excuses of yours--those fig leaves of yours, with which you once hoped to cover your nakedness, you despise them, and think you never saw such flimsy things.
III. The silence which is forever induced. Thou shalt never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame. If any man who believes himself to have been moral and sinless will only begin to look at the reasons why he has been so innocent, and search himself, he will often discover that inside all that purity of his there has been a mass of pride, self-conceit, self-seeking, indifference to God, and every detestable thing. When the Lord shows the man all this, and casts him down into the ditch till he abhors himself, and then cleanses him in the precious blood till he is pacified towards Him, he will never open his mouth about that matter any more. Neither will a man who has been cleansed in this way open his mouth any more against Divine sovereignty. He is the man above all others who loves to hear of God as absolute. He knows how gracious, how strong, how truly good He is. So, also, this way of salvation shuts a mans mouth as to all murmuring and complaining against God upon any score whatever; for, saith he, If the Lord has pardoned me, let Him do what He wills with me. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Humiliation and reconciliation
I. The first doctrine in our text is that of humiliation. It is no small mercy for us that we are allowed to distinguish between the voice of Gods law and the voice of Gods gospel. Hence the Apostle Paul saith, We know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Now, the humility here that clothes us with confusion of face and with shame in our own estimation, this humility is a real internal grace of the Holy Spirit, and not a mere put-on thing. It is not a mere humility of manner, though that is very good and useful in its place; but it is a vital, real humility, arising from what is felt within. Now, the law of God is spiritual, always spiritual. Are you? The Christian cannot, he dare not, say that he is always spiritual; but thank God he is not under the law, but under grace, where the spirituality of One who is perfect is set to his account. But to the natural man we say, The law is always spiritual, you are always carnal; the law is always holy, you are always unholy; the law is always good, you are always evil; the law is always just, you are always unjust; the law is always upright, and you are always as deceitful as the devil. Your heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. When thou seest the law to be thus spiritual, thou wilt remember thy foolish ways, how thou hast sinned against the Lord. You have not one reason to assign why the Lord should show mercy to you, or show you any favour whatever. Now, can you say this is the case?
II. The reconciliation. Now, what the law saith it saith to them that are under the law. Satan is our enemy; sin is our enemy; take both these in one. Without sin being put away by Jesus Christ, and Satan conquered by Jesus Christ--without this everything is against us; but when this is done, things then are made to take that wonderful turn that everything is in our favour by faith. Those of us that know thus our condition, we do most solemnly, most firmly and understandingly, and we can say lovingly, sincerely, and decisively, believe in what Jesus Christ hath done. We see by what He hath done all the sins of which we are the subjects put away, and we are delivered from them all. We are no longer reckoned sinners, but saints; no longer reckoned enemies, but friends--Abraham My friend;--and so the Lords people are the seed of Abraham, and are Gods friends by faith in what Jesus Christ has done. And so great is the change He has wrought that now the Lord doth not behold iniquity in Jacob, nor see perverseness in Israel. (J. Wells.)
The effect of Gods mercy on, the renewed soul
I. The extent of mans wickedness.
I. Give a brief summary of the chapter; mark how this image was applicable to Judah and Jerusalem; to us also it may be applied.
II. The exceeding riches of Gods grace; vile as the Jews had been, He promised to restore them to favour. This promise is no doubt to be extended to us.
II. The effect of this grace upon every soul of man. It is thought by some calculated to puff up pride and conceit in all who receive it. But this is--
1. Contrary to reason;
2. Contrary to fact. Remember--
(1) Your covenant mercies;
(2) Your covenant engagements. (C. Simeon, M. A.)
The silence of penitents
This is plainly a prophecy of the way in which the remnant of Judah shall be saved in the last days after the fulness of the Gentiles has come in. Some believe it to mean that in the awful times of Antichrist the Christian Jews shall be the heroes of the faith and the bulwark of the Church. Others have seen in the chapter the reunion of Christendom. However interesting these interpretations may be, we cannot overlook the extraordinary language of the last verse, which points out the frame of mind appropriate to the redeemed Jew, or whosoever shall stand for the figurative Jerusalem in those final days of this world. It is being confounded, and never cloning the mouth, because of shame. There can be no doubt that we are all too much disposed to underrate the exceeding shamefulness of wilful transgression against the light. There are those, indeed, who would eliminate the exercises of penance altogether from the Christian system. They hold that to expect a man to do penance for his sins after they have been forgiven him by our Lord is to take away from the perfection of His atonement, to limit the possibilities of His grace. But there is also to be considered the temporal punishment due for sin that justice may be satisfied and the world governed righteously. What right-minded soul does not yearn to make up in such wise as it can for past acts of coldness and disobedience? Suppose a son that has been estranged from his mother for years, has neglected her, thought hardly of her, perhaps spoken against her. And then after a long season he is brought back to her again, to find her poor and old and wellnigh helpless, going down to the grave uncared for and unloved save by strangers. The old love of early life comes back to him. Now he counts nothing too hard to do for her: he watches her day by day to find out in what small ways he may lighten her heavy burden and brighten her few remaining years. He knows this does not make up for the past,--only her dear pardon so generously given can do that; but it is all the reparation he can make, and he strives with his whole nature to make it. In like manner the true penitent knows that he cannot give back to God the love and obedience withheld so many years as one might pay back the money he had stolen; but at least he can show that he truly grieves for those years of sin, and has the heart to undo them had he but the power. When, therefore, we consider the relation of love in which we stand to Almighty God, and the duty of obedience which we know so well, we must acknowledge that only ignorance or thoughtlessness can make the penitent all full of joy without intermingling of pain. There is also another aspect of the matter. This consciousness of ones own shame, which belongs to the life of true penitence, must materially affect our judgments of our fellows. If when we are most earnest and stern voiced in rebuking our fellows we could be suddenly brought face to face with the words of this text, do you think we should not be silenced by them? What are we that we should sit in judgment upon our fellow men? Have we not sinned as grievously as any of them; or if not outwardly, when our greater light and opportunities of grace are taken into account, is there much in our favour? This is by no means to say that we ought not to denounce sin, and to stand out for the very highest type of Christian living. We are to be absolutely inflexible in maintaining in all points the doctrine of Christ our Lord. But when it comes to passing judgment upon individual sinners, let us not lose sight of the solemn words put by God in the mouth of the prophet concerning penitent Jerusalem. How can the Christian who has any vivid consciousness of his own past speak uncharitably of his neighbours and sharply condemn their failings, not making allowance for their circumstances and temptations; ay, often not even considering his own probable ignorance of some of the facts about which he so sternly speaks? What if our Master had judged us as we judge and had not pardoned us instead? Even when we have learned in some measure to control our tongues and lips, how often do we find rising up in our souls the self-righteousness of the Pharisee. What a hateful thing it is! How unlike the spirit of our gracious Master? Is there no way in which it may be conquered, and banished from our souls? I think there is a way. It is that of daily calling to mind, and that not perfunctorily but very thoroughly, the many evil things in our past lives of which we have repented and for which we have received Gods pardon. (Arthur Ritchie.)
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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 vv60, 62 General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh continues to speak about Jerusalem as if the city were his unfaithful wife. The city represents the people who live there. (See: Metaphor and Metonymy)
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call to mind
This idiom means to remember. AT: "remember" (See: Idiom)
made in the days of your youth
This can be stated in active form. AT: "that I made with you when you were young" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
call
mind
covenant
eternity
shame
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.