John Calvin Commentary Ezekiel 16:56-57

"For thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth in the day of thy pride, before thy wickedness was uncovered, as at the time of the reproach of the daughters of Syria, and of all that are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, that do despite unto thee round about." — Ezekiel 16:56-57 (ASV)

God here blames the Jews because they did not pay attention to that remarkable judgment he had carried out against the Sodomites. For they always had before their eyes what should have kept them in the fear of God, because that was a terrifying sight, as it is to this day. They knew that the region had been like the paradise of God, as Moses calls it (Genesis 13:10).

Since, then, the fertility and pleasantness of the place were so great, seeing the lake of sulfur and bitumen there was sufficient to instruct them, unless they had been utterly sluggish. But the Prophet says that Sodom was not mentioned while the Jews lived prosperously; and we know that it was a great crime not to consider God’s judgments, as we read in Isaiah (Isaiah 5:12).

Among other things, he says that the Jews and Israelites were so corrupt that they did not pay attention to God’s works. Therefore, just as it is a useful exercise to consider God’s judgments—indeed, this is the primary wisdom of the faithful—so, on the other hand, those who shut their eyes to the manifest judgments of God are like unthinking animals.

Yet this is a very common fault, especially when the circumstance expressed here is added: that worldly people do not pay attention to God’s actions because they are intoxicated by prosperity. For in this passage, there are two ways of explaining the word גאוניך, gaonik, which the Prophet uses for pride or loftiness.

The word גאון, gaon, is sometimes taken in a negative sense, though it can also mean sublimity or any high degree of honor. Moreover, the Prophet’s meaning is clear: as long as things went according to the Jews’ desires, they were not concerned about giving an account to God. Indeed, they passed by with their eyes shut that memorable example God intended for them in Sodom and the neighboring cities.

Therefore, we should learn from this passage that when God is indulgent toward us and treats us gently and delicately, we must always remember his judgments so that we may be restrained from all licentiousness, and so that prosperity does not incite us to self-indulgence. For such remembrance is most necessary, as we know that nothing is more dangerous than to exult like untamed horses when God feeds us in abundance.

He adds, before thy wickedness was discovered. Here Ezekiel says that their wickedness was discovered when it became apparent that God was hostile to their sins. This was because even then, when their sins could be clearly identified as notorious throughout Jerusalem, the people still gloried in them. It is just as if an immodest woman, who is the talk of the town, is greeted honorably by all because she has many admirers to worship and adore her, and so she considers herself superior to every chaste matron. But if they all reject her, and she is reduced to poverty and to foul and disgraceful sores, then all her enormities are made evident.

This is the effect of which the Prophet speaks: before, he says,, thy enormities were discovered. How so? God, indeed, constantly proclaimed their sins by his prophets, and the wickedness of the people was clear enough. Yet they remained as though hidden, for they proudly rejected all the prophetic warnings and were even rebellious against God himself. Thus they lay hidden in their own hiding places.

But when they became a laughingstock, they were plundered by their neighbors and suffered extreme disgrace. Then it was evident that God had rejected them, for their crimes were exposed by punishments, since neither reproofs nor threats had any effect on them.

Moreover, interpreters explain this as referring to the slaughter which the Jews suffered in the time of Ahaz (2 Kings 16). For then the King of Syria devastated almost the whole region, and the citizens of Jerusalem were heavily fined. The Philistines took advantage of this occasion and made an invasion. They think, therefore, that the time indicated is when the King of Syria waged war against the Israelites and violently attacked Judea.

But I do not know whether the Prophet looks to the future, as I said yesterday, for he speaks of punishment near at hand, just as if God were fulfilling what he had already determined. I am inclined to think that the beginning and the end should be connected.

Therefore, God begins to reveal the wickedness of the people from the time when the burning consumed their neighbors until it reached them. For the slaughter of the tribes of Israel brought many losses upon them, as we well know. But God seems to encompass their ultimate destruction, which was now near.

Thus, he says that they had been, and would be, a laughingstock to the daughters of Syria, and the nations all around, and also to the daughters of the Philistines. But because they were plundered by the Philistines, who took their cities, as the sacred account informs us, it is very fitting to explain the word שאט, shat, as "to despise" in this passage. And because it signifies to despise, and the Prophet spoke of reproach, he may be repeating the same thing about the Philistines that he had said shortly before about the Syrians.