Ezekiel 16:46

Eze 16:46 And thine elder sister [is] Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, [is] Sodom and her daughters.

Ver. 46. She and her daughters,] i.e., Her cities and villages.

That dwell at thy left hand.] Thou art well set up therewhile, well neighboured.

That dwelleth at thy right hand.] That did do so, but new dwelleth with devils; being "thrown out for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." {Jdg 1:7}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eze 16:46-47. Thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters — That is, her lesser towns. “Samaria is called the elder, or greater sister, because it was a much larger city and kingdom, greater for power, riches, and numbers of people, and more nearly allied to Judah. And Sodom is called the younger sister, as being a smaller and less populous city, and further removed in blood from Jerusalem and its inhabitants, being only, as it were, a half sister. That dwell at thy left hand — That is, toward the north, Samaria lying northward of Jerusalem, as Sodom lay southward of it. For these two quarters of the world are expressed by the right and left in the Hebrew language, being placed in such a position to those that set their faces eastward. The prophet here considers Samaria and Sodom as two cities still subsisting; though Sodom had been long since destroyed, and Samaria had been overthrown one hundred and twenty-seven years before this prophecy of Ezekiel was delivered. Yet thou hast not walked after their ways — Thou hast not been content merely to be as bad as they, but hast carried thy wickedness to a much greater height, and committed many more crimes than they: see note on Eze 5:7. “The vices of Sodom and Samaria were not attended with such aggravating circumstances as those of Jerusalem; for they had not been blessed with the same great privileges.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16:46-50 Samaria, Jerusalem’s older (or larger) sister, had practiced deviant worship ever since Jeroboam introduced golden calves into his national shrines at Dan and Bethel (1 Kgs 12:28-33). • Sodom, Jerusalem’s younger (or smaller) sister, was a byword for sexual sin (Gen 19:4-9) and for pride, gluttony, laziness, and neglect of the poor and needy.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Hebrew, thy sister younger than thou.

That is, her cities.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

elder sister . . . Samaria--older than Sodom, to whom Judah was less nearly related by kindred than she was to Samaria. Sodom is therefore called her younger sister; Samaria, her "elder sister" [GROTIUS]. Samaria is called the "elder," because in a moral respect more nearly related to Judah [FAIRBAIRN]. Samaria had made the calves at Dan and Beth-el in imitation of the cherubim.

her daughters--the inferior towns subject to Samaria (compare Num 21:25, Margin).

left--The Orientals faced the east in marking the directions of the sky; thus the north was "left," the south "right."

Sodom . . . daughters--Ammon and Moab, offshoots from Sodom; also the towns subject to it.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 46. Thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left] It is supposed that the prophet by Sodom in this place means the Israelites that dwelt beyond Jordan, in the land of the Moabites and Ammonites; or rather of the Moabites and Ammonites themselves. Literally, Sodom could not be called the younger sister of Jerusalem, as it existed before Jerusalem had a name. In looking east from Jerusalem, Samaria was on the left, and Sodom on the right hand; that is, the first was on the north, the second on the south of Jerusalem.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(46) Thine elder sister.—The words elder and younger mean, literally, greater and smaller. They thus come, like the Latin major and minor, to be used for older and younger; but still their original and most common meaning, which should be retained here, is greater and smaller. Chronologically, Sodom was not younger than Jerusalem, nor is there evidence that Samaria was older. The terms are to be understood of Samaria as the capital of the far larger northern kingdom, and of Sodom as a single city of no great population. The Orientals, in describing geographical positions, considered themselves as facing the east, and hence Samaria (at the north) was on the left, and Sodom on the right. Sodom is spoken of poetically as if still in existence. They were both the spiritual sisters of Judah, just as all alike were daughters of the Amorite and Hittite.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

46. elder sister] “elder” is lit. greater, and the reference is to the greater political importance and wider territory of Samaria; as on the other hand Sodom was smaller than Judah. In estimating the quarters of the heavens the beholder faced the east, having the north on his left, &c.

her daughters] i.e. subordinate towns.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Yet hast thou not walked after their ways,.... But in ways more evil; were not content to keep pace with them, and do as they did; but outwent them, outstripped them in wickedness:

nor done after their abominations; but committed greater abominations than they did; sins of a more heinous nature, and attended with more aggravated circumstances; having more power and wealth, more Wisdom and understanding; the means of grace, the word and ordinances of God:

but, as if that were a very little thing; to commit the sins that Samaria and Sodom did: or, "it was loathing to thee as a little thing" (a); they despised and loathed their sins as too mean and little, and not flagitious and enormous, or bold and daring enough to be committed; and looked upon them, with contempt, as sneaking sinners, that had no soul nor spirit in them, or taste for sinful pleasures, in comparison of them: or the sense is, it would have been a little thing, comparatively speaking, had they only walked after the ways and abominations of Samaria and Sodom, and stopped there; but they had greatly exceeded them; and so the Targum,

"if thou hadst walked in their ways, and done according to their abominations, thy sin had been small.''

Kimchi interprets it of a small time that the Jews continued in the ways and worship of God, after the captivity of the ten tribes, which were carried away in the sixth year of Hezekiah; so that there were but three and twenty years left of his reign, when his son Manasseh succeeded him, and was more wicked than all before him; and these three and twenty years are the little time here spoken of and within a very little time, and

thou wast corrupted more than they in all their ways; this explains what is meant by not walking after their ways and abominations; they were greater sinners than they; more corrupt in their principles and practices; more hardened in them, and more difficult to be reclaimed from them; see Mat 11:23.

(a) "tanquam parvum, fastidio fuit hoc", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Polanus; "velut parum fastidi", Starckius.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The temple looked to the east. Samaria was on its left, and Sodom on its right hand.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Right: southward. --- Sodom. The city was more ancient than Jerusalem. Hence it here designates Ruben, (Haydock) and the Jews east of the Jordan; (Prado) or rather Moab and Ammon, (ver. 55.; Calmet) and the rest of the Gentiles. (Haydock) --- Samaria shewed Jerusalem the road to idolatry, and therefore is called her elder sister. The number of the ten tribes was also greater than that of the kingdom of Juda, which became corrupt as Sodom, only by degrees. (Theodoret)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Thine elder sister, i.e. the greater for power, riches, and numbers of people, not the elder for years.

Samaria; metropolis, or mother city, of the revolted and idolatrous ten tribes.

Her daughters; lesser cities of the kingdom of Israel, or the people who dwelt in them.

At thy left hand; northward, as you look toward the east.

Thy younger sister; or lesser, so the Hebrew; which consists of fewer people, is of less power.

At thy right hand; southward from Jerusalem. Sodom, as chief city.

Her daughters; either the cities near in place, and joined in affinity, idolatry, and other sins like Sodom, or the inhabitants of those cities.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

46. Elder sister… younger sister — The reference is not to the relative age of Sodom and Samaria as compared with Jerusalem, but to their relative importance.

And her daughters — Suburban towns and colonies.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

No very adequate reason appears for the assignment of the respective ages of the two sisters. Historically, Sodom, as the oldest representative of evil, would have seemed to claim precedence. Samaria may have had this position assigned to it as more closely connected with Judah. The left and right hands indicate respectively a position to the north and south of Jerusalem, the observer of the heavens looking east, as, we may note, the temple did. (Eze_8:16) The comparison with Samaria is developed more fully in ch. 23. The daughters are, as elsewhere, the cities dependent on Sodom and Samaria respectively.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thine elder sister - The greater for power, riches, and numbers of people. Her daughters - The lesser cities of the kingdom of Israel. Thy left hand - Northward as you look toward the east. Thy younger sister - Which was smaller and less populous. Thy right hand - Southward from Jerusalem.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

General Information:

Yahweh continues to speak about Jerusalem as if the city were his unfaithful wife. The city represents the people who live there. (See: Metaphor and Metonymy)

Your older sister was Samaria ... your younger sister was the one living south of you, that is, Sodom

Samaria and Sodom were both cities that Yahweh had judged for their idolatry and wickedness. Yahweh speaks of these cities being Jerusalem's sisters to express that she belonged to a family that practiced idolatry and wickedness. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information and Metaphor)

translationWords

sister

Samaria

life

Sodom

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

at your left Since the territory of Judah was at the southern border of Eretz Israel [and one is considered facing east], all the other tribes were situated at their left [since they are north of Judah].

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.