Charles Ellicott Commentary Ezekiel 16:61

"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 by thy covenant." — Ezekiel 16:61 (ASV)

Give them unto thee for daughters. —The humiliation of Jerusalem must be so complete that she will gladly receive these once-despised enemies into the closest family relationship. We are not to think of Sodom specifically here, but (as the concrete passes into the general) of that which Sodom represented: the heathen world at large.

This heathen world will be received with Jerusalem into the church of God, but not by thy covenant.

The covenant with Israel, though it may have been preceded by a “preaching of the Gospel” to Abraham (Galatians 3:8), was distinctly a covenant of works. Under this covenant, neither Jew nor Gentile could attain salvation (see Romans and Galatians throughout). Therefore, it is not by this covenant that the nations of the earth will be given to Jerusalem as representing the Church.