Ezekiel 16:17 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Ezekiel 16:17
Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,
silver (from its pale color) · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
given
נָתַ֣תִּיna.Ta.ti
H5414
to give · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
madest
וַתַּעֲשִׂיva.ta.'a.si-
H6213
to do or make · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 2nd person feminine singular
images
צַלְמֵ֣יtzal.Mei
H6754
a phantom · noun, common masculine plural construct
men
זָכָ֑רza.Khar
H2145
properly · adjective, masculine singular absolute
whoredom
וַתִּזְנִיva.tiz.ni-
H2181
to commit adultery (usually of the female · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 2nd person feminine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Ezekiel 23:14-21 And that she increased her whoredoms: for when she saw men pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion,
Exodus 32:1-4 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto…
Isaiah 44:19-20 And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I ha…
Isaiah 57:7-8 Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy bed: even thither wentest thou up to offer sacrifice.
Jeremiah 2:27-28 Saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not their fa…
Jeremiah 3:9 And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.
Ezekiel 7:19-20 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them…
Ezekiel 16:11 I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 16:15-34
In these verses we have an account of the great wickedness of the people of Israel, especially in worshipping idols, notwithstanding the great favours that God had conferred upon them, by which, one would think, they should have been for ever engaged to him. This wickedness of theirs is here represented by the lewd and scandalous conversation of that beautiful maid which was rescued from ruin, brought up and well provided for by a kind friend and benefactor, that had been in all respects as a father and a husband to her. Their idolatry was the great provoking sin that they were guilty of; it began in the latter end of Solomon's time (for from Samuel's till then I do not remember that we read…
my gold . . . my silver-- (Hag 2:8).
images of men--rather, "of the phallus," the Hindu lingam, or membrum virile [HAVERNICK], deified as the emblem of fecundity; man making his lust his god. English Version, however, is appropriate; Israel being represented as a woman playing the harlot with "male images," that is, images of male gods, as distinguished from female deities.
Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 16:17
And madest to thyself images of men - צלמי זכר tsalmey zachar, male images. Priapi are here meant, which were carried about in the ceremonies of Osiris, Bacchus, and Adonis; and were something like the lingam among the Hindoos. Herodotus, lib. ii, c. 48, 49, gives us an account of these male images: Πηχυαια αγαλματα νευροσπαστα, τα περιφορεουσι κατα κωμας ται γυναικες, νευον το αιδοιον, ου πολλῳ τεῳ ελασσον εον του αλλου σωματος. This was done at the worship of Bacchus in Egypt: and they who wish to see more may consult Herodotus as above. In this phallic worship the women were principally concerned.
John Gill on Ezekiel 16:17
Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold, and of my silver, which I had given thee,.... Or "thy glorious vessels of gold and silver" (h); meaning either the vessels of gold and silver in the temple, as Jerom thinks, which they converted to idolatrous uses; or rather their own household vessels of gold and silver which God had given them, as the bounties of his providence, and he had still a right unto, and which they made use of to the dishonour of his name; which argued great ingratitude in them:
and madest to thyself images of men; images in the shape of men; some were in the shape of women, others in the shape of men; here only male images are mentioned, because the idolatrous Jew…
The Church Fathers
The golden and silver vase, the censers, the cups and the rest of that kind we have in the holy Scriptures. But when we turn the meaning of Scripture into another that is contrary to the truth, we kindle the divine words and turn the things of God into other images.
(Verse 17) And you took the vessels of your adornment from my gold and silver, which I gave to you; and you made for yourself male images, and you committed fornication with them. According to the letter of the Lord's Law, it was commanded that incense burners, vases, candlesticks, the Ark of the Covenant, and all things golden or gilded, and other things made of silver, were to be made. All of these were made in Jerusalem and turned into idols of Baal, Baalim, Chemosh, Ashtaroth, and Milcom. According to spiritual understanding, we make idols out of gold and silver from the Holy Scriptures when we corrupt the grace of perception and eloquence with heretical perversity, and we set our mouth in heaven, while our tongue reaches to the earth. The images in which every heresy commits fornication are called masculine, because each one thinks they are worshipping the most powerful and possessing what they have imagined, and that it cannot be subverted by any attack. These are the images that we have created in our hearts, and which are to be destroyed in the heavenly Jerusalem, of which the Prophet pronounces: Lord, in your city you will scatter their image (Ps. LXXII, 20). For whoever is a man and has lost the name of God, it is said of him: Nevertheless, man walks in an image, nevertheless he is troubled in vain (Ps. XXXVIII, 7). But we have one man, and we worship one image, which is the image of the invisible and omnipotent God.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Fornication — In every form of it was sternly condemned by the Mosaic law (Lev. 21:9; 19:29; Deut. 22:20, 21, 23-29; 23:18; Ex. 22:16). (See ADULTERY.) But this word is more frequently used in a symbolical than in…
Solomon, Song of — Called also, after the Vulgate, the “Canticles.” It is the “song of songs” (1:1), as being the finest and most precious of its kind; the noblest song, “das Hohelied,” as Luther calls it. The…
Zedekiah — Righteousness of Jehovah. (1.) The last king of Judah. He was the third son of Josiah, and his mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah, and hence he was the brother of Jehoahaz…
Gold · .Into ornaments — .Into ornaments
Idolatry · .Licentiousness of — .Licentiousness of
Ingratitude · 2:6,7; — 2:6,7;
Lasciviousness · FIGURATIVE — FIGURATIVE
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Ezekiel 16:17
17. Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,
17. Et sumpsisti vasa pulchritudinis tuae ex auro meo et ex argento meo quae dederam tibi: et fecisti tibi imagines masculi, [90] et scortata es cum illis.
The Prophet reproves them because they used silver and gold in making idols for themselves. He not only condemns idolatry, but ingratitude, since they turned to God's dishonor the gifts which he had bestowed. First, the profanation of his gifts was base; besides this, they had rashly and purposely abused his liberality to his dishonor, and that was not to…
The apostasy of Israel. Its origin and nature, Eze 16:15-22; its magnitude and extent, Eze 16:23-34. In close connection with what precedes, this apostasy is described as whoredom and adultery. - Eze 16:15. But thou didst trust in thy beauty, and didst commit fornication upon thy name, and didst pour out thy fornication over every one who passed by: his it became. Eze 16:16. Thou didst take off thy clothes, and didst make to thyself spotted heights, and didst commit fornication upon them: things which should not come, and that which should not take place. Eze 16:17. And thou didst take jewellery of thine ornament of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and didst make thyself mal…
Instead of appreciating the good things God had given her, Jerusalem prostituted her fame and beauty to false gods and offered to idols the clothes, jewels, food, and oil that the Lord had given her.
Rashi on Ezekiel 16:17
male images Since he compares her to a female harlot, he compares the image to a male who fornicates with her.
