Ezekiel Chapter 23
1 The LORD's word came again to me, saying,
2 "Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother.
3 They played the prostitute in Egypt. They played the prostitute in their youth. Their breasts were fondled there, and their youthful nipples were caressed there.
4 Their names were Oholah the elder, and Oholibah her sister. They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem Oholibah.
5 "Oholah played the prostitute when she was mine. She doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours,
6 who were clothed with blue, governors and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses.
7 She gave herself as a prostitute to them, all of them the choicest men of Assyria. She defiled herself with the idols of whoever she lusted after.
8 She hasn't left her prostitution since leaving Egypt; for in her youth they lay with her. They caressed her youthful nipples; and they poured out their prostitution on her.
9 "Therefore I delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, on whom she doted.
10 These uncovered her nakedness. They took her sons and her daughters; and they killed her with the sword. She became a byword amongst women; for they executed judgements on her.
11 "Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was more corrupt in her lusting than she, and in her prostitution which was more depraved than the prostitution of her sister.
12 She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and rulers, her neighbours, clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men.
13 I saw that she was defiled. They both went the same way.
14 "She increased her prostitution; for she saw men portrayed on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with red,
15 dressed with belts on their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like princes, after the likeness of the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their birth.
16 As soon as she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them into Chaldea.
17 The Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their prostitution. She was polluted with them, and her soul was alienated from them.
18 So she uncovered her prostitution and uncovered her nakedness. Then my soul was alienated from her, just like my soul was alienated from her sister.
19 Yet she multiplied her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth, in which she had played the prostitute in the land of Egypt.
20 She lusted after their lovers, whose flesh is as the flesh of donkeys, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.
21 Thus you called to memory the lewdness of your youth, in the caressing of your nipples by the Egyptians because of your youthful breasts.
22 "Therefore, Oholibah, the Lord GOD says: 'Behold, I will raise up your lovers against you, from whom your soul is alienated, and I will bring them against you on every side:
23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, Shoa, Koa, and all the Assyrians with them; all of them desirable young men, governors and rulers, princes and men of renown, all of them riding on horses.
24 They will come against you with weapons, chariots, and wagons, and with a company of peoples. They will set themselves against you with buckler, shield, and helmet all around. I will commit the judgement to them, and they will judge you according to their judgements.
25 I will set my jealousy against you, and they will deal with you in fury. They will take away your nose and your ears. Your remnant will fall by the sword. They will take your sons and your daughters; and the rest of you will be devoured by the fire.
26 They will also strip you of your clothes, and take away your beautiful jewels.
27 Thus I will make your lewdness to cease from you, and remove your prostitution from the land of Egypt; so that you will not lift up your eyes to them, nor remember Egypt any more.'
28 "For the Lord GOD says: 'Behold, I will deliver you into the hand of them whom you hate, into the hand of them from whom your soul is alienated.
29 They will deal with you in hatred, and will take away all your labour, and will leave you naked and bare. The nakedness of your prostitution will be uncovered, both your lewdness and your prostitution.
30 These things will be done to you, because you have played the prostitute after the nations, and because you are polluted with their idols.
31 You have walked in the way of your sister; therefore I will give her cup into your hand.'
32 "The Lord GOD says: 'You will drink of your sister's cup, which is deep and large. You will be ridiculed and held in derision. It contains much.
33 You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of your sister Samaria.
34 You will even drink it and drain it out. You will gnaw the broken pieces of it, and will tear your breasts; for I have spoken it,' says the Lord GOD.
35 "Therefore the Lord GOD says: 'Because you have forgotten me, and cast me behind your back, therefore you also bear your lewdness and your prostitution.' "
36 The LORD said moreover to me: "Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations.
37 For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols. They have also caused their sons, whom they bore to me, to pass through the fire to them to be devoured.
38 Moreover this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my Sabbaths.
39 For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and behold, they have done this in the middle of my house.
40 "Furthermore you sisters have sent for men who come from far away, to whom a messenger was sent, and behold, they came; for whom you washed yourself, painted your eyes, decorated yourself with ornaments,
41 and sat on a stately bed, with a table prepared before it, whereupon you set my incense and my oil.
42 "The voice of a multitude being at ease was with her. With men of the common sort were brought drunkards from the wilderness; and they put bracelets on their hands, and beautiful crowns on their heads.
43 Then I said of her who was old in adulteries, 'Now they will play the prostitute with her, and she with them.'
44 They went in to her, as they go in to a prostitute. So they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, the lewd women.
45 Righteous men will judge them with the judgement of adulteresses and with the judgement of women who shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands.
46 "For the Lord GOD says: 'I will bring up a mob against them, and will give them to be tossed back and forth and robbed.
47 The company will stone them with stones, and dispatch them with their swords. They will kill their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire.
48 " 'Thus I will cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to be lewd like you.
49 They will recompense your lewdness on you, and you will bear the sins of your idols. Then you will know that I am the Lord GOD.' "
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Ezekiel Chapter 23 Guide
The next prophecy dealt with the sins of Samaria and Jerusalem under the figures of two women, Oholah and Oholibah. The prophet first described their sins. Samaria was charged with unfaithfulness in her confederacy with the Assyrians in that she allowed herself to be seduced by their wealth and their strength, from her loyalty to Jehovah. He also reminded her of her former confederacy with Judah. In consequence of this double sin she was handed over to the Assyrians who overcame and oppressed her.
The sin of Jerusalem was even more heinous than that of Samaria, and that notwithstanding the judgment she had seen falling on Samaria. She also made confederacy with Assyria, and subsequently more directly with Egypt, wherein she violated her Covenant with Jehovah. Against her also therefore Jehovah raised up those with whom she had been in unholy alliance, bringing them against her in full force, and allowing them to despoil and strip her.
Proceeding at the command of Jehovah, the prophet pronounced judgment on Oholah and Oholibah. In terrible language he again described the wickedness of the alliances formed between these two cities and the surrounding nations. Righteous men would judge them with the judgment of adulteresses. Under the figure of the Hebrew method of dealing with the sin of adultery, namely, stoning, the prophet described an assembly against these cities, carrying out this judgment, and destroying the people utterly. Again the purpose was declared to be to make lewdness cease out of the land in the interests of other cities here referred to under the figure of women, all this still in order to vindicate the honour of Jehovah.
From "An Exposition of the Whole Bible" by G. Campbell Morgan.
Ezekiel Chapter 23 Commentary
Chapter Outline
- A history of the apostacy of God's people from him, and the aggravation thereof.
Verses 1-49
In this parable, Samaria and Israel bear the name Aholah, "her own tabernacle;" because the places of worship those kingdoms had, were of their own devising. Jerusalem and Judah bear the name of Aholibah, "my tabernacle is in her," because their temple was the place which God himself had chosen, to put his name there. The language and figures are according to those times. Will not such humbling representations of nature keep open perpetual repentance and sorrow in the soul, hiding pride from our eyes, and taking us from self-righteousness? Will it not also prompt the soul to look to God continually for grace, that by his Holy Spirit we may mortify the deeds of the body, and live in holy conversation and godliness?
From the "Concise Commentary on the Bible" by Matthew Henry.