John Calvin Commentary Ezekiel 16:39

"I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thy vaulted place, and break down thy lofty places; and they shall strip thee of thy clothes, and take thy fair jewels; and they shall leave thee naked and bare." — Ezekiel 16:39 (ASV)

Here Ezekiel elaborates on God’s judgment, when he teaches that the Jews would not only be exposed to every disgrace, as if brought onto a prominent and public stage, but they would also suffer plunder and pillage from those in whom they previously trusted. I will give thee, he says, into their hands. He speaks of lovers and enemies: in truth, he says all will meet together—your former allies and friends as well as your enemies. And we know that they were plundered at one time or another by the Egyptians, Assyrians, and Chaldeans.

For at the time when Jerusalem was taken and destroyed, the Assyrians were reduced under the monarchy of the Chaldeans. Babylon had oppressed Nineveh, as is well known, but the strength of both peoples was joined together. Thus the Jews were plundered by them when they thought that they had secured themselves very successfully by an alliance with the Assyrians against the kings of Israel and Syria; and afterwards, when they had formed an alliance with the Chaldeans, they thought themselves safe from all danger.

But now the Prophet derides their foolish confidence, and says that they would be plundered by all their friends; so also he says that their altars would be thrown down. Those who translate it “a house of sin” do not sufficiently consider what I observed yesterday: that the Prophet uses this figure of speech to refer to the whole by one of its parts.

The Prophet’s language is moderate or mixed, because he speaks partly of lofty and profane altars, and at the same time pursues his own simile. There is no doubt, therefore, that by a high place and lofty things he means the altars themselves, although he also alludes to these sinful houses, because he said in yesterday’s lecture that the Jews stood at the main streets to entice any passing and unknown strangers to them.

Just as the Chaldeans did not spare the temple, so there is no doubt that they destroyed all the altars indiscriminately. And yet the Jews had wished to appease them by destroying some of them. But God shows how foolishly men imagine they will succeed while they deliberately fight against Him. Experience teaches that the same thing happens to all unbelievers.

For when anyone has embraced his own superstitions and despises what others think sacred and holy, then the conquerors destroy temples and images, and despoil the region they wish to leave ruined and desolate.

So it is also now said, they shall destroy your altars and high places. He now adds, and they shall spoil thee of thy garments, and take away the vessels of thy beauty.

The Prophet encompasses in these words whatever benefits God had bestowed on the Jews, for we know how liberally He had adorned them with His gifts, especially in making the earth wonderfully fruitful by His blessing.

In short, he signifies that the Jews, when deprived of all their adornments, would be disgraced, as it follows, and they shall send thee away naked and bare; that is, they will cast you off, just as a lover, when satisfied, rejects the companion of his iniquity.