Yechezkel 16:20

20 Moreover thou hast taken thy banim and thy banot, whom thou hast borne unto Me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them [the idols] to be devoured. Was this thy zonah harlotry not enough,

Yechezkel 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:

Yechezkel 16:20 In-Context

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.

20 Moreover thou hast taken thy banim and thy banot, whom thou hast borne unto Me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them [the idols] to be devoured. Was this thy zonah harlotry not enough,

21 That thou hast slaughtered My banim, and offered them to cause them to pass through the eish for them [the idols]?

22 And in all thine to’avot and thy zonah harlotry thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast erom (naked) and bare, and wast flailing about in thy dahm.