Ezekiel 16:49

49 Look! This was the iniquity of Sodom, your sister: Pride, abundance of food, and {prosperous ease} was to her and to her daughters, and {she did not sustain the needy and the poor}.

Ezekiel 16:49 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 16:49

Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom
Namely, the first after mentioned, the source and spring of the rest; the causes and means of which are declared; and the same, as is suggested, was the sin of Jerusalem: namely, pride;
which was the sin of the devils, and the cause of their ruin; the sin of our first parents, by which they fell, and destroyed themselves, and their posterity; and is the prevailing, governing, sin of human nature: it has been the ruin of kingdoms and states, of cities and particular persons; a sin hateful to God, and destructive to man: fulness of bread;
the land of Sodom was very fruitful before it was destroyed; it was like the garden of the Lord, ( Genesis 13:10 ) ; it brought forth plentifully, so that there was great fulness of provision, of all sorts of food, which is meant by bread: this, considered in itself, was not sinful, but a blessing; it was the Lord's mercy and goodness to them that they had such plenty; but it was their sin that they abused it; luxury and intemperance, eating and drinking to excess, are here meant; which led on to that sin, and kindled the flames of it, and were the fuel to it, which has its name from them; and, besides, this fulness of good things enjoyed by them was the source of their pride, and served to increase that, as before mentioned: and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters;
or, "peace of rest" F2; prosperity and ease, security and quietness, at leisure, and without labour; two words are used to express the same thing, and to denote, as Kimchi observes, the abundance of it: sloth and idleness, as they often arise from the goodness and fruitfulness of a country, said fulness of provision, so they are the cause of much sin and wickedness; for, if persons are not employed in some business or another, either of the head or hand, they will be doing evil: neither did she strengthen the hands of the poor and needy;
though she had such abundance of food to supply them with, and so much leisure to attend to their distress; but her pride would not suffer her to do it; and she was too idle and slothful to regard such service; perhaps more is intended than is expressed; that she weakened the hands of the poor and needy, and cruelly oppressed them; which is often done by proud men, in great affluence and at leisure, which they abuse to bad purposes.


FOOTNOTES:

F2 (jqvh twlvw) "quies otii, [vel] otium quietas"; so some in Vatablus; "prosperitas otii", Castalio; "tranquillitas quietas", Starckius.

Ezekiel 16:49 In-Context

47 And you have not [only] gone in their ways, but you [also] did according to their detestable things. {In such a short time} you behaved [more] corruptly than they in all of your ways.
48 {As surely as I live},' {declares} the Lord Yahweh, 'surely your sister Sodom and her daughters did not [do] as you and your daughters did.
49 Look! This was the iniquity of Sodom, your sister: Pride, abundance of food, and {prosperous ease} was to her and to her daughters, and {she did not sustain the needy and the poor}.
50 And they were proud, and they did a detestable thing {before me}, and I removed them {because} I saw [it].
51 And Samaria did not sin {according to even half of your sins}, and you caused your detestable things to increase more than they, and you made your sister righteous [in comparison] with all of your detestable things that you did.

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Literally "and ease of granting relief"
  • [b]. Literally "And [the] hand of [the] needy and [the] poor not she did take hold of"
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