Ezekiel 16:16
And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colours, and playedst the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so.
And of thy garments thou didst take,.... Which were made of fine linen, silk, and broidered work; which God had given them, and they were richly clad with:
and deckedst thy high places with divers colours; that is, with garments of divers colours; either they erected tents on their high places, made with these; or they covered their altars with them, which were on their high places for the ornament of them, as harlots deck their beds to allure their lovers; see Proverbs 7:16; or "thou hast made for thyself high places spotted" {d}; so the word is rendered in
Genesis 30:32; alluding to garments spotted with the flesh by adulterers. The Targum is, "thou hast made for thyself high places covered with idols": and so the Septuagint version renders it, "idols sewed together". The word, in the Talmudic language {e}, has the signification of sewing. These idols were decked as children's babies are; and so the Syriac version, "thou hast made for thyself babies"; images like babies, richly dressed with their garments above described, such as the papists now have;
and playedst the harlot thereon; committed idolatry on the high places; or "with them" {f}; that is, with the images and idols decked with their garments, which were set on those high places:
the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so; the like idolatries shall set be committed any more; and after the Babylonish captivity worshipping of idols was not practised by the Jews; nor is it to this day: or such "things have not come yet", and there "shall not be" the like {g}; the sense is, there never were such idolatries committed by this people before; and there hover shall be, or will be, the like afterwards. Kimchi's note is,
"the high places shall not come as these; as if it was said these shall not be in futurity; and there shall not be a man or a people that shall make like these for multitudes;''
so Ben Melech; and twmb, "high places", does agree with twab, "come". The Targum joins this with the preceding clause,
""and playedst the harlot" with them, as is not right and fit''
{d} twalj twmb Kl yvetw "et fecisti tibi excelsa maculosa", Montanus; "excelsa conspera maculis", Calvin; "latis maculis interstincta", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Polanus.
{e} T. Bab. Gittin. fol. 45. 2. Misn. Celim, c. 27. sect. 6.
{f} Mhyle "iisque", Ar. Interp.
{g} hyhy alw twab al "non eventurae sunt tales scortationes, nec erit qui sic scortetur", Piscator.