16:13. Thus was thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil; and thou wast exceedingly beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom.—He gave them the purest and best food from the Word of God (Psa. 147:14); and they became beautiful in the beauty of holiness (Psa. 110:3), and prospered even unto inheritance of the Kingdom of Heaven.—Col. 1:13.
16:14. And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty; for it was perfect through My comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God.—They became renowned for their holy, kindly characters; obtainable through sacrificial suffering.—Heb. 2:10.
16:15. But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was.—The spirit of fornication in a church is the desire to form a union with any world-government (Rev. 18:3); this spirit was manifested to every government.—Isa. 1:21.
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.—The high places are the tops of mountains, the rulers of governments; there the church displayed her greatest attractions, and induced the spiritual fornication of governments, to an extent never to be witnessed again.
16:17. Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of My gold and of My silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them.—She took the Divine treasures of Truth, and shaped and distorted them into the form of traditions of men.
16:18, 19. And tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them; and thou hast set Mine oil and Mine incense before them. My meat also, which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savour; and thus it was, saith the Lord God.—The spiritual food of the Word of God was spiced with human errors; such as Divine right of kings and clergy, immortality, Trinity and eternal torment, preached in a way to please the ruling powers and serve their unholy purposes.—Hos. 2:8.
16:20, 21. Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto Me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter? That thou hast slain My children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them?—The Church gave the children of God, begotten of the Word, to endure doctrines of hell fire (Jer. 7:31) and fiery trials in the warfares of governments.
16:22. And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in thy blood.—In her pride of place, the church forgot the heathendom from which her members had been raised.
16:23-25. And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, (woe, woe unto thee! saith the Lord God.) That thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, and hast made thee a high place in every street. Thou hast built thy high place at every head of the way, and hast made thy beauty to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied thy whoredoms.—Woe, woe, distress, trouble and destruction to such an apostate, who in every conspicuous way (Isa. 57:7) served the interests of the god of this world, made her “virtues” detestable to thoughtful men, and offered herself for state-church union to every government (street), state, city and town!
16:26. Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbors, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke Me to anger.—She united herself with the most worldly people, great in earthly things.