Yechezkel 16:17

17 Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of My zahav and of My kesef, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself tzelamim (images) of zakhar (male, i.e., phallic symbols), and didst play the zonah with them,

Yechezkel 16:17 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 16:17

Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold, and of my
silver, which I had given thee
Or "thy glorious vessels of gold and silver" F8; meaning either the vessels of gold and silver in the temple, as Jerom thinks, which they converted to idolatrous uses; or rather their own household vessels of gold and silver which God had given them, as the bounties of his providence, and he had still a right unto, and which they made use of to the dishonour of his name; which argued great ingratitude in them: and madest to thyself images of men;
images in the shape of men; some were in the shape of women, others in the shape of men; here only male images are mentioned, because the idolatrous Jews are represented by an adulterous woman committing adultery, with men; and these were made by themselves, of their jewels of gold and silver; or of their golden and silver vessels, which they had to eat and drink out of; these, they melted down and made idols of them in the form of men, just as the molten calf was made of the earrings of the women, ( Exodus 32:3 Exodus 32:4 ) ; to which some refer this passage: and as it was a piece of egregious folly in themselves to part with their jewels and plate for such purposes, and of great ingratitude to God, their benefactor, so of the grossest stupidity and ignorance to worship images so made; which was equally as stupid, or more so, than if a woman should embrace the image of a man, instead of a man himself, as it follows: and didst commit whoredom with them:
the images: that is, idolatry, which is spiritual adultery.


FOOTNOTES:

F8 (ypokmw ybhzm Ktrapt ylk) "vasa gloriae tuae de auro meo, et de argento meo", Pagninus, Montanus; "vasa tua insigniora et elegantiora, facta ex auro meo?" Vatablus.

Yechezkel 16:17 In-Context

15 But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the zonah because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy harlotry on every one that passed by; his it became.
16 And of thy begadim thou didst take, and adorned thy bamot te’lu’ot (gaudy high places, cult prostitution brilliantly colored harlot "beds"), and playedst the zonah thereupon; such things should not come, neither should they be.
17 Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of My zahav and of My kesef, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself tzelamim (images) of zakhar (male, i.e., phallic symbols), and didst play the zonah with them,
18 And tookest thy embroidered garments, and coveredst them [the idols]; and thou hast set Mine shemen and Mine ketoret before them [the idols].
19 My lechem also which I gave thee, solet (fine flour), and shemen, and devash, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them [the idols] for a re’ach hannichoach; and it was thus, saith Adonoi Hashem.
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.