Ezekiel 16:60

16:59-63 After a full warning of judgments, mercy is remembered, mercy is reserved. These closing verses are a precious promise, in part fulfilled at the return of the penitent and reformed Jews out of Babylon, but to have fuller accomplishment in gospel times. The Divine mercy should be powerful to melt our hearts into godly sorrow for sin. Nor will God ever leave the sinner to perish, who is humbled for his sins, and comes to trust in His mercy and grace through Jesus Christ; but will keep him by his power, through faith unto salvation.

Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth,.... The covenant made with them at Sinai, quickly after they came out of Egypt, when they were, both as a body politic and ecclesiastical, in their infant state; for, as Kimchi says, all the while they were in Egypt, and until they, came into the land of Canaan, were called the days of their youth; and to this covenant, which had the nature of a matrimonial contract, the, prophet refers when he speaks of the "love" of their "espousals", and the "kindness" of their "youth", Jeremiah 2:2 ; this covenant the Lord remembered, and made good his part, though they neglected theirs; and it was particularly remembered when Christ was made under this law, and became the fulfilling end of it to his people; yielding perfect obedience to it, and bearing the penalty of it in their room and stead; for here begins a declaration of the grace and mercy of God to the remnant, according to the election of grace, which were among this degenerate people, and whom the Lord had a special regard unto: and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant; the covenant of grace, made with the Messiah and his spiritual seed; which is confirmed of God in Christ; ordered in all things and sure; whose promises are yea and amen in Christ; and the blessings of it, the sure mercies of David; a covenant that shall never be broken, made void, or removed; but will continue for ever.

Ezekiel 16:60-63 . Nevertheless, I will remember my covenant with thee, in the days of thy youth — I will yet have some regard for you, because you were formerly my people, by virtue of the covenant that I made with you at your coming out of Egypt. And I will establish with you an everlasting covenant — Such a one as shall never be abolished, namely, that of the gospel: see note on Jeremiah 32:40 . Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed — Thou shalt be affected with a deep sense of, and contrition for, thy former provocations, as a necessary preparation for thy conversion. When thou shalt receive thy sisters — Converted with thee to Christianity; when the Gentiles, now strangers, but then sisters, shall be admitted with thee into the Christian Church. And I will give them unto thee for daughters — As daughters hearken to, and obey their mothers, so shall the Gentiles, brought into the church of God, hearken to his word, which is there declared, and which first went forth from Jerusalem. “Even in the times of the apostles, there was a particular deference paid to the church of Jerusalem, as the mother church of the Christian world: see Romans 15:26-27 . Accordingly, she is styled the mother of all churches, by the second general council in their synodical epistle: see Theod., Hist. Ecclesiastes, lib. 5. c. 9. A title which the Church of Rome now assumes, without any pretence from Scripture or antiquity.” — Lowth.

Not by thy covenant — Not by that old covenant, which was violated; not by external ceremonies, which were a great part of the first covenant; but by that covenant which writes the law in the believer’s heart, and puts the fear of God into his inward parts; the covenant which I will make with you, through the mediation of the Messiah; a covenant founded in the divine love, cemented by the blood of Christ, and freed from the yoke of bondage. The first covenant was only for a time, but this shall be for ever. And thou shalt know that I am the Lord — Shalt know to thy comfort, that I am Jehovah, the source of being and of blessedness, the God of almighty power, of infinite love, and of inviolable faithfulness, merciful to thy unrighteousness, and remembering thy sins and iniquities no more, Jeremiah 31:34 ; as conspicuous in my mercies as I was before in my judgments. That thou mayest remember and be confounded — That thou mayest acknowledge, and be deeply sensible, how many and great thy transgressions have been, and how great my mercy is in pardoning so many and such aggravated iniquities; and never open thy mouth any more — Either to justify thyself, or to condemn others, or to quarrel with thy God; because of thy shame — Because shame and sorrow, for thy past sins, will cover thee with confusion. When I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done — When I have pardoned all thy transgressions, and am reconciled to thee, notwithstanding thy innumerable provocations.

(60) I will remember my covenant. —The remembrance of God’s covenant is made the basis of His mercy to His penitent people ( Leviticus 26:42-45 ) from the beginning, and it is often spoken of as an everlasting covenant. In the New Testament ( Luke 1:54-55 ; Luke 1:72-73 , &c.) this covenant is regarded as fulfilled in the Christian dispensation. At the same time, the Christian covenant is described as new in Jeremiah 31:31-34 ; it was both the continuation and designed fulfilment of the old, and in its superiority and plainer revelation of the Divine will was new. Hence the contrast between My covenant here and Thy covenant in the following verse. The covenant to be afterwards established shall be “an everlasting covenant.”

60 . The Lord will substitute for the old covenant which was broken an “everlasting” covenant, cf. ch. Ezekiel 37:26 ; Isaiah 54:9-10 ; Isaiah 55:3 ; Jeremiah 31:35-36 ; Jeremiah 32:40 ; Jeremiah 33:20-22 . The covenant will be everlasting because he will forgive their sins ( Jeremiah 31:34 ), and write his law ( Jeremiah 31:33 ), and put his fear ( Jeremiah 32:40 ) in their hearts; giving them a new heart and putting his spirit within them, Ezekiel 36:26 . On “days of thy youth” cf. Jeremiah 2:2 , and Isaiah 54:6 . Ezekiel 16:60

The promise of restoration must almost have sounded as strangely as the threat of punishment, including as it did those whom Judah hated and despised Ezekiel 16:61 . The covenant of restoration was not to be like the old covenant. Not "by thy covenant," but "by My covenant." The people's covenant was the pledge of obedience. That had been found ineffectual. But the covenant of God was by "promise" Galatians 3:17 . See

The Lord having denounced a perpetual punishment to the stubborn, impenitent body of the Jewish nation, he doth now promise to the remnant that they shall be remembered and obtain covenanted mercy, which makes up the last part of the chapter. I will remember: properly neither remembering nor forgetting is in God, who is omniscient; but after the manner of man this is spoken of God, who is said to remember when he makes it appear that he hath regard to us, as Psalm 20:3 , and blesseth us. My covenant; in which I promised I would not utterly cast off the seed of Israel, nor fail to send the Messiah, the Redeemer, who Should turn away iniquity from Jacob. With thee; in the loins of Abraham, and solemnly renewed after their coming out of Egypt, which is the time called the days of thy youth, Isaiah 44:2 46:3 Ezekiel 16:43 . Establish; confirm and ratify, it shall be sure and unfailing. Everlasting, i.e. of a very long continuance, as to that part of the covenant which respecteth their condition in the Land of Promise, or Canaan; but in what is spiritual, and containeth heavenly things, it shall be absolutely everlasting, Jeremiah 31:31-34 .

60. The promise here bursts forth unexpectedly like the sun from the dark clouds. With all her forgetfulness of God, God still remembers her; showing that her redemption is altogether of grace. Contrast "I will remember," with "thou hast not remembered" (Eze 16:22, 43); also "My covenant," with "Thy covenant" (Eze 16:61; Ps 106:45); then the effect produced on her is (Eze 16:63) "that thou mayest remember." God's promise was one of promise and of grace. The law, in its letter, was Israel's (thy) covenant, and in this restricted view was long subsequent (Ga 3:17). Israel interpreted it as a covenant of works, which she while boasting of, failed to fulfil, and so fell under its condemnation (2Co 3:3, 6). The law, in its spirit, contains the germ of the Gospel; the New Testament is the full development of the Old, the husk of the outer form being laid aside when the inner spirit was fulfilled in Messiah. God's covenant with Israel, in the person of Abraham, was the reason why, notwithstanding all her guilt, mercy was, and is, in store for her. Therefore the heathen or Gentile nations must come to her for blessings, not she to them. everlasting covenant—(Eze 37:26; 2Sa 23:5; Isa 55:3). The temporary forms of the law were to be laid aside, that in its permanent and "everlasting" spirit it might be established (Jer 31:31-37; 32:40; 50:4, 5; Heb 8:8-13).