(43) Hast fretted me.--Better, hast raged against me. This form of the verb does not have a transitive sense. (Comp. Genesis 45:24; Proverbs 29:9; and in this particular form, 2 Kings 19:27-28; Isaiah 37:28-29, where the same word is used.)
Thou shalt not commit.--The English here follows the Masoretic punctuation, putting the verb in the second person. Probably it should be read in the first person (which only changes the Masoretic vowels) and translated "that I may not commit wickedness concerning all thine abominations." The word for wickedness is the especial word used for one who tolerates sin in another who is under his control (see Leviticus 19:29). God represents that it would be wrong to allow Israel's sin to go unpunished.
Verse 43. - Because thou hast not remembered (comp. Jeremiah 2:2). There is, so to speak, a certain dawn of tenderness in the new form of reproach, as compared with the sternness of what had gone before, and this in itself implies the pity which is the ground of hope. Fretted. Ezra (Ezra 5:12) uses the same word, there rendered "provoke." Had Ezekiel's use of it stamped it as the right word for confession? Thou shalt not commit, etc. The Vulgate follows a reading which gives, "I have not done according to thy lewdness," etc.; i.e. the guilt had deserved a greater punishment. The Revised Version margin gives, "Hast then not committed," etc.? The word for "lewdness" ("lewd way" in ver. 27) is specially characteristic of Ezekiel, who uses it eleven times. Elsewhere it is translated "wickedness" (Leviticus 18:17, et al.), "lewdness" in Judges 20:6; Jeremiah 13:27. It conveys always the sense of a guilt that revolts and shocks us.
16:1-58 In this chapter God's dealings with the Jewish nation, and their conduct towards him, are described, and their punishment through the surrounding nations, even those they most trusted in. This is done under the parable of an exposed infant rescued from death, educated, espoused, and richly provided for, but afterwards guilty of the most abandoned conduct, and punished for it; yet at last received into favour, and ashamed of her base conduct. We are not to judge of these expressions by modern ideas, but by those of the times and places in which they were used, where many of them would not sound as they do to us. The design was to raise hatred to idolatry, and such a parable was well suited for that purpose.
Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth,.... The low estate they were once in, and the great favours bestowed upon them, which laid them under great obligation to serve the Lord, and him only; but these they forgot, which highly provoked him, and caused him to do the things he did; see Ezekiel 16:22,
and hast fretted me in all these things; irritated, provoked him, moved him to wrath and anger, stirred up in his breast a tumult, speaking after the manner of men; this they did by their ingratitude, idolatry, and other sins:
behold, therefore, I also will recompense thy way upon thine head,
saith the Lord God; retaliate their evils, punish them according as their sins deserved, and in a way which they led unto:
and thou shall not commit this lewdness above all thine abominations; or add to all thine abominable idolatries this shocking piece of wickedness, the sacrificing of their children to their idols: or rather the words may be rendered, "for thou hast not taken this thought" (or counsel) "upon" or "concerning all thine abominations" (u); to repent of them and turn from them So the Targum,
"and thou hast not taken counsel to thyself, to turn from all thine abominations.''
Or, as Jarchi,
"thou hast hot taken counsel to put the, heart upon thine abominations to turn from them;''
and he observes, that the word here used always signifies counsels either good or evil. There is a double reading of this clause; we follow the "Keri", or marginal reading; but the "Cetib", or textual writing or reading, is, "and I have not done according to this lewdness above all thine abominations"; and so expresses the mercy and long suffering of God (w).
(u) "et non fecisti cogitationem super omnibus abominationibus tuis", Pagninus, Montanus, Calvin; "nec tamen fecisti", &c. Vatablus, Grotius. (w) This is followed by the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Luther, Starckius, and others.
Thou shalt not commit.--The English here follows the Masoretic punctuation, putting the verb in the second person. Probably it should be read in the first person (which only changes the Masoretic vowels) and translated "that I may not commit wickedness concerning all thine abominations." The word for wickedness is the especial word used for one who tolerates sin in another who is under his control (see Leviticus 19:29). God represents that it would be wrong to allow Israel's sin to go unpunished.
and hast fretted me in all these things; irritated, provoked him, moved him to wrath and anger, stirred up in his breast a tumult, speaking after the manner of men; this they did by their ingratitude, idolatry, and other sins:
behold, therefore, I also will recompense thy way upon thine head,
saith the Lord God; retaliate their evils, punish them according as their sins deserved, and in a way which they led unto:
and thou shall not commit this lewdness above all thine abominations; or add to all thine abominable idolatries this shocking piece of wickedness, the sacrificing of their children to their idols: or rather the words may be rendered, "for thou hast not taken this thought" (or counsel) "upon" or "concerning all thine abominations" (u); to repent of them and turn from them So the Targum,
"and thou hast not taken counsel to thyself, to turn from all thine abominations.''
Or, as Jarchi,
"thou hast hot taken counsel to put the, heart upon thine abominations to turn from them;''
and he observes, that the word here used always signifies counsels either good or evil. There is a double reading of this clause; we follow the "Keri", or marginal reading; but the "Cetib", or textual writing or reading, is, "and I have not done according to this lewdness above all thine abominations"; and so expresses the mercy and long suffering of God (w).
(u) "et non fecisti cogitationem super omnibus abominationibus tuis", Pagninus, Montanus, Calvin; "nec tamen fecisti", &c. Vatablus, Grotius. (w) This is followed by the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Luther, Starckius, and others.