Ezekiel 16:20

20 Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto Me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this thy whoredoms a small matter,

Ezekiel 16:20 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 16:20

Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters
Their own flesh and blood; which were more than to take their clothes, and cover their idols with them, and their food, and set it before them to part with them was much, but to part with these, and that in such a shocking manner as after mentioned, was so irrational and unnatural, as well as impious and wicked, as is not to be paralleled; and what increased their wickedness was, that these were not only their own, but the Lord's: whom thou hast borne unto me;
for, though they were born of them, they were born unto the Lord, the Creator of them, the Father of their spirits, and God of their lives, and who had the sole right to dispose of them; nor was it in the power of their parents to take away their life at pleasure; for the Lord only has the sovereign power of life and death: and these hast thou sacrificed unto them:
the male images before mentioned; one of which was Molech, who is here particularly designed: to be devoured;
in the arms of that image; or to be consumed by fire, in which they were burnt, when sacrificed unto it. The Targum is,

``for oblation and worship;''

[is this] of thy whoredoms a small matter;
which was so dreadfully heinous and inhuman, yet by some reckoned a small matter; this was not the least of their idolatries, but, of all, the most shocking, and the most aggravated: or the sense is, is it a small thing that thou shouldest play the harlot, or worship idols? is it not enough for thee to do so, but thou must sacrifice thy children also to them? and which are not only thine, but mine, as follows:

Ezekiel 16:20 In-Context

18 and tookest thy embroidered garments and covered them; and thou hast set Mine oil and Mine incense before them.

19 My meat also which I gave thee -- fine flour and oil and honey, wherewith I fed thee -- thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savor; and thus it was, saith the Lord GOD.

20 Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto Me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this thy whoredoms a small matter,

21 that thou hast slain My children and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them?

22 And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare and wast polluted in thy blood.