Ezekiel 16:60-61

Ezekiel 16:60-61

[60] Nevertheless I will remember  my covenant  with thee in the days  of thy youth,  and I will establish  unto thee an everlasting  covenant.  [61] Then thou shalt remember  thy ways,  and be ashamed,  when thou shalt receive  thy sisters,  thine elder  and thy younger:  and I will give  them unto thee for daughters,  but not by thy covenant. 

What does Ezekiel 16:60-61 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

Yet the Lord promised to remember and stand by His promises in the Abrahamic Covenant ( Genesis 12:1-3). He would establish a new, everlasting covenant with His people in the future (cf. Ezekiel 11:18-20; Ezekiel 36:26-28; Ezekiel 37:26-28; Isaiah 59:21; Isaiah 61:8; Jeremiah 31:31-34). The New Covenant is an organic outgrowth of the Abrahamic Covenant in that it explains further the blessing aspect of that covenant. It does not have the same relationship to the Mosaic Covenant, which it eventually replaced. In the (far distant) future, when the other cities of Canaan would come under Israel"s authority (ch48; Genesis 17:7-8; Leviticus 26:42), the Israelites would remember their sinful ways and feel ashamed (cf. Ezekiel 20:43; Ezekiel 36:31; Zechariah 12:10-14). Other nations would come under Israel"s authority, not because of her faithfulness to the Mosaic Covenant, but because of God"s grace. [1]
"God can no more help being gracious than He can cease being God. He is the God of all grace, and He always finds a covenant basis on which He can exercise His grace." [2]