Compare 2 Kings 23:7. Such decoration of idol-temples in the holy land showed how the ungrateful people were devoting the wealth and energies which Yahweh had given them to the service of those false gods, in whose worship He was especially dishonored.

The like things shall not come ... - The abominations reached the very utmost - nothing would hereafter be so bad as these had been.

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 "high places", does agree with "come". The Targum joins this with the preceding clause,

""and playedst the harlot" with them, as is not right and fit''

(d) "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) "iisque", Ar. Interp. (g) "non eventurae sunt tales scortationes, nec erit qui sic scortetur", Piscator.

And of thy garments thou didst take, and didst deck thy high places with various colours, {m} and didst play the harlot upon them: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so.

(m) This declares how the idolaters put their chief delight in those things which please the eyes and outward senses.

16:16 Thy garments - Those costly, royal robes, the very wedding clothes. High places - Where the idol was. With divers colours - With those beautiful clothes I put upon thee. The like things - As there was none before her that had done thus, so shall there be none to follow her in these things.

16. deckedst . with divers colours-or, "didst make . of divers colors" [Fairbairn]; the metaphor and the literal are here mixed. The high places whereon they sacrificed to Astarte are here compared to tents of divers colors, which an impudent harlot would spread to show her house was open to all [Calvin]. Compare as to "woven hangings for Astarte" (the right translation for "grove") 2Ki 23:7.

the like . shall not come, neither shall . be-rather, "have not come, nor shall be." These thy doings are unparalleled in the past, and shall be so in the future.

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.