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| 1 And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, |
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| 2 Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, |
Son of man – Ezekiel represented the Son of Man, and also the members of the Bride of Christ, every member of which is a watchman on the walls of Zion. R4881:5, 6[R4881:20]
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| 3 and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah unto Jerusalem: Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of the Canaanite: thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite. |
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| 4 And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water for cleansing; thou wast not rubbed with salt at all, nor swaddled at all. |
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| 5 No eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, from abhorrence of thy person, in the day that thou wast born. |
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| 6 And I passed by thee, and saw thee weltering in thy blood, and I said unto thee, in thy blood, Live! yea, I said unto thee, in thy blood, Live! |
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| 7 I caused thee to multiply, as the bud of the field; and thou didst increase and grow great, and thou camest to fulness of beauty; thy breasts were fashioned, and thy hair grew: but thou wast naked and bare. |
Waxen great – Compare the description here given with that of the rich man in Luke 16:19-31. R802:3*
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| 8 And I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, and behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness; and I swore unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord Jehovah, and thou becamest mine. |
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| 9 And I washed thee with water, and thoroughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil; |
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| 10 and I clothed thee with embroidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I bound thee about with byssus, and covered thee with silk. |
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| 11 And I decked thee with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck; |
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| 12 and I put a ring on thy nose, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thy head. |
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| 13 Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver, and thy raiment was byssus, and silk, and embroidered work. Thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil; and thou becamest exceedingly beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom. |
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| 14 And thy fame went forth among the nations for thy beauty; for it was perfect through my magnificence, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord Jehovah. |
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| 15 But thou didst confide in thy beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy whoredoms on every one that passed by: his it was. |
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| 16 And of thy garments thou didst take, and madest for thyself high places decked with divers colours, and didst play the harlot thereupon: the like hath not come to pass, and shall be no more. |
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| 17 And thou didst take thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of males, and didst commit fornication with them. |
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| 18 And thou tookest thine embroidered garments, and coveredst them; and thou didst set mine oil and mine incense before them. |
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| 19 And my bread which I had given thee, the fine flour and the oil and the honey wherewith I fed thee, thou didst even set it before them for a sweet savour: thus it was, saith the Lord Jehovah. |
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| 20 And thou didst take thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hadst borne unto me, and these didst thou sacrifice unto them, to be devoured. Were thy whoredoms a small matter, |
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| 21 that thou didst slay my children and give them up in passing them over to them? |
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| 22 And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, when thou wast weltering in thy blood. |
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| 23 And it came to pass after all thy wickedness (woe, woe unto thee! saith the Lord Jehovah), |
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| 24 that thou didst also build unto thee a place of debauchery, and didst make thee a high place in every street: |
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| 25 thou didst build thy high place at every head of the way, and madest thy beauty to be abhorred, and thou didst open thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiply thy whoredom. |
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| 26 And thou didst commit fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and didst multiply thy whoredom to provoke me to anger. |
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| 27 And behold, I stretched out my hand over thee, and diminished thine appointed portion; and I gave thee over unto the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, who were confounded at thy lewd way. |
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| 28 And thou didst commit fornication with the Assyrians, because thou wast insatiable; yea, thou didst commit fornication with them, and yet couldest not be satisfied. |
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| 29 And thou didst multiply thy whoredom with the land of merchants, Chaldea, and yet thou wast not satisfied herewith. |
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| 30 How weak is thy heart, saith the Lord Jehovah, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of a whorish woman, under no restraint; |
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| 31 in that thou buildest thy place of debauchery at the head of every way, and makest thy high place in every street! And thou hast not been as a harlot, in that thou scornest reward, |
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| 32 O adulterous wife, that taketh strangers instead of her husband. |
Her husband – Here the word "husband" means caretaker, referring to a union or covenant between Jehovah and Israel. R1388:6[R1388]
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| 33 They give rewards to all harlots; but thou gavest thy rewards to all thy lovers, and rewardedst them, that they might come unto thee on every side for thy whoredoms. |
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| 34 And in thee is the contrary from other women, in thy whoredoms, in that none followeth thee to commit fornication; and whereas thou givest a reward, and no reward is given unto thee, so art thou contrary. |
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| 35 Therefore, O harlot, hear the word of Jehovah. |
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| 36 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because thy money hath been poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy fornications with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thine abominations, and because of the blood of thy children which thou didst give unto them; |
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| 37 therefore, behold, I will gather all thy lovers with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all that thou hast loved, with all that thou hast hated, --I will even gather them round about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness. |
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| 38 And I will judge thee with the judgments of women that commit adultery and shed blood; and I will give thee up to the blood of fury and jealousy; |
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| 39 and I will give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thy place of debauchery, and shall break down thy high places; and they shall strip thee of thy garments, and shall take thy fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare. |
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| 40 And they shall bring up an assemblage against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with their swords. |
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| 41 And they shall burn thy houses with fire, and execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women; and I will cause thee to cease from being a harlot, and thou also shalt give no more any reward. |
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| 42 And I will appease my fury against thee, and my jealousy shall depart from thee; and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry. |
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| 43 Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast raged against me in all these things, behold, therefore, I also will recompense thy way upon thy head, saith the Lord Jehovah, and thou shalt not commit this lewdness besides all thine abominations. |
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| 44 Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall speak in a proverb against thee, saying, As the mother, so is her daughter! |
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| 45 Thou art the daughter of thy mother that loathed her husband and her children; and thou art the sister of thy sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite, and your father an Amorite. |
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| 46 And thine elder sister is Samaria that dwelleth at thy left hand, she and her daughters; and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters. |
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| 47 And thou hast not walked in their ways, nor done according to their abominations; but as though that were a very little, thou hast been more corrupt than they in all thy ways. |
Corrupted more than they – "It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment" than for Capernaum. (Matt. 11:23) HG149:6[HG149]
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| 48 As I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters! |
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| 49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom: pride, fulness of bread, and careless ease was in her and in her daughters, but she did not strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. |
Sodom – The Sodomites possessed a very rich valley, making hard work unnecessary, which induced much idleness. PD24/35[PD24]
Sin there reached the enormity referred to by Paul in Rom. 1:18-32. R1617:6[R1617]
Pride – Prosperity develops pride, instead of gratitude to God and a realization of increased responsibility as a steward. Pride begets misrule, arrogance, injustice and tyranny. R2306:1[R2306]
Fulness of bread – Abundance of idleness is disastrous, making the downward course more rapid. SM157:1[SM157]; PD24/35[PD24]
Neglecting the poor and the needy. R3948:4[R3948]
Some modern instances: jewels worth $1,000,000 on one costume, $50,000 for two vases, $350,000 for a horse, $50,000 for a coffin, $5,000 for burying a dog, $50,000 for a single entertainment. D294[D294]
Such displays of luxury and extravagance will surely excite the envy and hatred of the poor against the wealthy. R2105:3[R2105]; D295[D295]
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| 50 And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me, and I took them away when I saw it2. |
Took them away – Not to eternal torment, but from present life with its privileges and advantages. R1617:6
The death of the Sodomites was merely the Adamic Death hastened, not the Second Death. OV43:2
Temporarily destroyed by fire as an example of the absolute annihilation which will ultimately come upon all wilful sinners, the Second Death. R4599:5, R5083:5
All human right in the earth was abrogated by the death sentence upon the sinner. R5335:6
As I saw good – Good, because it made an example of them for those who should afterward live ungodly. R1779:2, R1270:4
As with the Canaanites, their further continuance would be neither for their good nor for the Lord's glory. R5335:6
In all these things God had a wise purpose; and in his own time he will make that purpose manifest to all, as he even now makes it manifest to the saints. R675:5
If death ends all probation, why did God see good to take this people away without giving them a chance of salvation through "the only name?" R259:2; A111
Because it was not yet their due time. In "due time" they will be awakened from death, come to a knowledge of the truth, and have a full opportunity for life everlasting. A111; R5083:5, R1779:2, R1270:5, R545:5, R259:2; PD24/35
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| 51 And Samaria hath not sinned according to the half of thy sins; but thou hast multiplied thine abominations more than they, and hast justified thy sisters by all thine abominations which thou hast done. |
Samaria – God here speaks of Israel and compares her with her neighbor Samaria. R259:2
Half of thy sins – The chastisement and discipline necessary to Sodom's and Samaria's restoration to righteousness will be less severe than for some who are of the natural lineage of Abraham. R1374:2, R5363:5
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| 52 Thou also, who hast judged thy sisters, bear thine own confusion, because of thy sins in which thou hast acted more abominably than they: they are more righteous than thou. So be thou ashamed also, and bear thy confusion, in that thou hast justified thy sisters. |
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| 53 And I will bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them; |
When I shall – Under the New covenant, under Messiah's Kingdom. PD24/35
Bring again – The Sodomites will be raised from death and brought to a knowledge of God. R5179:6, R4881:3
The Sodomites could not have had their judgment yet--their second judgment. Like the rest of us, they suffered in the first judgment which came upon Father Adam. HG223:2[HG223]
Future probation is a doctrine of the Bible. R477:1*
Their captivity – In death, all are captives. R7:6, R259:3[R259], R545:6[R545], R236:1; A112[A112]
Captivity of Sodom – "There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and of the unjust." (Acts 24:15) R351:1*
In selecting so extreme an example of clemency, our Lord evidently intended that we should see that the sacrifice which he gave was unquestionably "a ransom for all." HG336:3
Since Jesus says they were all destroyed (Luke 17:29), this must be by a restor R413:2
In the midst – Sodom, Samaria and Israel will all be raised together. R8:1
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| 54 that thou mayest bear thy confusion, and mayest be confounded for all that thou hast done, in that thou comfortest them. |
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| 55 And thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate; thou also and thy daughters, ye shall return to your former estate. |
Thy sisters – The Lord will humble their pride by restoring peoples whom Israel detested as inferiors and sinners. SM211:2[SM211]
Shall return – Even the Sodomites who are held up, all through the Bible, as examples of wickedness, and "as suffering the vengeance of eternal fire" (Jude 7), are to share in the restitution. HG17:3[HG17]; HG14:5[HG14]
Their former estate – To open the prison doors of the grave--restitution. R8:1[R8], R259:3[R259], R4881:3[R4881]; A112[A112]
The Sodomites will be sharers in that restitution. R4594:4[R4594]
Not to judgment merely, and then to heaven or hell. HG39:5[HG39]
Of human perfection--to all who will receive Christ and obey him. R1718:4[R1718], R3452:5[R3452]
Your former estate – Their former estate is as much beneath the Kingdom, which flesh and blood cannot inherit, as our present position is beneath that of the angel Gabriel. HG36:5[HG36]
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| 56 Yea, Sodom thy sister was not mentioned by thy mouth in the day of thy pride, |
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| 57 before thy wickedness was discovered, as at the time of the reproach of the daughters of Syria, and of all that are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, who despise thee on every side. |
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| 58 Thy lewdness and thine abominations, thou bearest them, saith Jehovah. |
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| 59 For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, who hast despised the oath, and broken the covenant. |
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| 60 Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant. |
Remember my covenant – "For the gifts and callings of God are without repentance." (Rom. 11:29) R8:1, R259:3
I will – Showing that the Lord was not speaking ironically to the Jews. (Matt. 11:23) He was not saying that hebut had no intention of restoring either. OV227:6; HG346:1
Establish unto thee – The Lord's dealings with other nations will be through natural Israel. R4464:5; CR59:5; PD24/35
Everlasting covenant – The Lord will restore Sodom, Samaria and Israel, and establish his covenant with them through Messiah in the Millennial Age. R4599:5
As the old Law covenant was with Israel only, so the New (Law) covenant will be with Israel only. Other nations will share it by becoming Israelites. R4321:1
Jesus is the Mediator of the New (Law) covenant, under which he will establish his Mediatorial Kingdom for the blessing of Israel and the world. R4476:1
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| 61 And thou shalt remember thy ways, and be confounded, when thou shalt receive thy sisters who are older than thou, together with those who are younger than thou; for I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by virtue of thy covenant. |
Shalt remember – Raised with the same nature and personality and able to recall their former degraded condition. R360:5, R604:3*
Be ashamed – "They shall look upon him whom they pierced and mourn." (Zech. 12:10) R517:1*
If our ways are not right, they should be amended and not justified by saying, "It is my way." R705:3
Christ will set men's sins in order before them, and they must freely confess their sins and bear their shame. R1646:4
Shalt receive – The Lord's dealings with other nations will be through natural Israel. F4464:5
Thy sisters – Sodom and Samaria, representing other nations of the world. R4464:5
I will – God is not here speaking ironically, as some suggest. R259:3
Give them unto thee – The Lord clearly indicates that his dealings with outside nations will be through natural Israel. CR59:5
For daughters – The nations are to be instructed and blessed under the New covenant by becoming "daughters" to Israel. R4464:6, R4371:3, R4575:4, R130:5
"Thy sons shall come from afar, and thy daughters to be nursed at thy side." (Isa. 60:4) D638
Other nations will become Israelites, "proselytes of the gate," not under the Old, but under the New covenant. R4321:1
They will enjoy, as "daughters of Judah," the highest degree of happiness they are capable of appreciating. HG27:4
That she may instruct them and bring them into harmony with God's plans. R447:4*, R659:4*
Not by thy covenant – Not by the Law covenant, but by the New covenant. R4464:6, R4371:3, R4575:4, R236:1; CR59:5; SM212:T, Q622:1
Israel's Old covenant will cover them until they are brought under the new Mediator of the New covenant. Q134:2
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| 62 And I will establish my covenant with thee, and thou shalt know that I am Jehovah; |
I will establish – The Jews are to be the first to experience restitution favor. OV120:5
My covenant – The New Law covenant. SM212:T, CR59:5; R4354:6, R4575:4
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| 63 that thou mayest remember, and be ashamed, and no more open thy mouth because of thy confusion, when I forgive thee all that thou hast done, saith the Lord Jehovah. |
That – In order that. SM212:T
Confounded – Ashamed. R4881:4
Open thy mouth – In boasting or complaint. R4881:4
Pacified – In the redemption accomplished by our Lord. R4881:4
"And so all Israel shall be saved." (Rom. 11:26) OV228:1
The promised restitution is not based on the merits of Israel, the Samaritans or the Sodomites. R259:4, R546:1
That thou hast done – Which he declares to be worse than Sodom had done (see verses 47 and 48). R1618:1
Saith the Lord GOD – When God signs his name to a statement this way we must believe it. R259:4, R8:1, R546:1
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