John Calvin Commentary Ezekiel 16:27

"Behold therefore, I have stretched out my hand over thee, and have diminished thine ordinary [food], and delivered thee unto the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, that are ashamed of thy lewd way." — Ezekiel 16:27 (ASV)

Here God reproves the hardness of the Jews because admonition did not make them wise. The common proverb aptly says, “fools grow wise only by the rod”; and when their obstinacy is such that the rod does no good, their faults are indeed desperate. Therefore, God complains that when He had chastised the Jews, even this did not benefit them, for they were so perverse that they did not apply their minds to reflect upon their sins.

For God’s blows should rouse us, so that our previously hidden faults should be brought to light and knowledge. But when we champ the bit and are not affected by the blows, then our abandoned disposition is made manifest. Now the Prophet condemns this obstinacy in the Jews: I have extended, says he, my hand over thee.

He now enumerates two kinds of chastisement: first, God deprived the Jews of the abundance of the possessions by which they were enriched; and second, He had subjected them to the lust of their enemies. Those who translate "justification" as Jerome does depart from the sense of the Prophet. חק, chek, indeed signifies a statute and edict, and he explains it as the law.

But how does this agree with the Prophet retaining the simile already used? For he compares God to a husband. God now pronounces that He had taken away their appointed portion when He saw Himself made a laughingstock by His impure wife; that is, what He had intended for both food and clothing, for husbands spend a fixed sum on their wives for food, clothing, and ornament.

And God previously recounted, among other things, that what He had conferred upon the Jews, they had spent on superstitions. Therefore, He now says, I have taken away their allotted portion, that is, what I had assigned to them. This was one part of the chastisement, for He compares the fruitfulness of the land and other advantages to the portion that the husband assigns to his wife.

Now the other chastisement follows: their being harassed by their enemies. For not only did the Jews find themselves encompassed by the Philistines, but they were delivered up and bound to slavery, as Moses says (Deuteronomy 32:30), How, then, could one vanquish ten, and ten chase a thousand, unless we had been shut up in his hand?

He shows, therefore, that our enemies are never our superiors unless God enslaves us to them. But those who do not calmly subject themselves to God’s command, but are refractory, are delivered into the enemy’s hand, so that their stubborn disobedience may be subdued by severe tyranny. Now we understand what the Prophet means by this verse: he enlarges upon the people’s wickedness in not turning to God, though they felt by clear experience that they were under a curse.

They should examine their lives, groan before God, acknowledge their fault, and beg for pardon. Since no such feeling was awakened, the Prophet gathers that their obstinacy was desperate. This passage is worthy of our notice, so that we may be attentive to God’s chastisements. Whenever God even raises His finger and threatens us, let us know that He is anxious for our safety. Therefore, in our turn, let us rouse ourselves and implore His pity, and especially let us repent of our sins, by which we see His anger to have been inflamed (Jeremiah 2:30).

But if we remain slothful, we see that no excuse remains for us, since God elsewhere complains that He is trifled with when He has chastised His children in vain. Here, נפש, nepish, the soul, is used for lust or desire, as I have explained.