John Calvin Commentary Ezekiel 16:48

"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." — Ezekiel 16:48 (ASV)

Since what we have recently seen was difficult to believe, therefore God interposes an oath. Nor is it surprising that shame was so despised and utterly rejected by the Jews, since they were accustomed to it; and we know how they were swollen with pride, for they always boasted in their adoption and gloried in the name of God.

Besides, we know that today, if anyone accuses a wicked nation—even one that is not as detestable as Sodom—and if he uses this comparison, he incites everyone against himself and causes them to reject his words with indignation. For who will tolerate any city or nation being compared with Sodom?

As for the Jews, we have said that their being disdainful and proud was intolerable. There was also another reason for their indignation at being declared worse than the Sodomites: since God had not chosen them as His peculiar treasure in vain and distinguished them with magnificent titles: You shall be a nation of priests to Me, you shall be My inheritance, and also, My son—My first-born Israel (Exodus 19:6 and Exodus 4:22).

We now see how necessary the interposition of an oath was to confirm what the Prophet had said. God therefore swears by Himself here, because we call upon Him as a witness and judge when we swear. But He swears by Himself or by His life because, as the Apostle teaches, he has no greater by whom to swear (Hebrews 6:13).

Be that as it may, He here overthrows all foolish boasting with which the Jews were puffed up when He swears by Himself, that they were worse than Sodom and her daughters. And here He likewise calls the smaller cities daughters of Jerusalem. This was very harsh for the Jews, when the Prophet says and often repeats, Your sister Sodom.

But He wounds their feelings far more bitterly, that Sodom was just in preference to Jerusalem: this was indeed intolerable, and yet we see that the Holy Spirit by no means indulges them here. Therefore, we must not consider what the unrighteous are able to bear, but they must be treated according to their own disposition; and since they rise fiercely against God, so also must they be subdued, and, according to the common proverb, “a hard wedge must be formed for a hard knot.”