Ezekiel
Ezekiel 23
1Yahweh’s word came again to me, saying, 2“Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother. 3They played the prostitute in Egypt. They played the prostitute in their youth. Their breasts were fondled there, and their youthful nipples were caressed there. 4Their 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 neighbors, 6who were clothed with blue, governors and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. 7She 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. 8She 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. 10These uncovered her nakedness. They took her sons and her daughters; and they killed her with the sword. She became a byword among women; for they executed judgments 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. 12She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and rulers, her neighbors, clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men. 13I 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, 15dressed 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. 16As soon as she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them into Chaldea. 17The 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. 18So she uncovered her prostitution and uncovered her nakedness. Then my soul was alienated from her, just like my soul was alienated from her sister. 19Yet she multiplied her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth, in which she had played the prostitute in the land of Egypt. 20She lusted after their lovers, whose flesh is as the flesh of donkeys, and whose issue is like the issue of horses. 21Thus 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 Yahweh 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: 23the 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. 24They 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 judgment to them, and they will judge you according to their judgments. 25I 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. 26They will also strip you of your clothes, and take away your beautiful jewels. 27Thus 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 Yahweh 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. 29They will deal with you in hatred, and will take away all your labor, and will leave you naked and bare. The nakedness of your prostitution will be uncovered, both your lewdness and your prostitution. 30These things will be done to you, because you have played the prostitute after the nations, and because you are polluted with their idols. 31You have walked in the way of your sister; therefore I will give her cup into your hand.’
32“The Lord Yahweh says:
35“Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Because you have forgotten me, and cast me behind your back, therefore you also bear your lewdness and your prostitution.’ ”
36Yahweh said moreover to me: “Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations. 37For 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. 38Moreover this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my Sabbaths. 39For 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, 41and 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. 43Then I said of her who was old in adulteries, ‘Now they will play the prostitute with her, and she with them.’ 44They went in to her, as they go in to a prostitute. So they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, the lewd women. 45Righteous men will judge them with the judgment of adulteresses and with the judgment of women who shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands.
46“For the Lord Yahweh says: ‘I will bring up a mob against them, and will give them to be tossed back and forth and robbed. 47The 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. 49They will recompense your lewdness on you, and you will bear the sins of your idols. Then you will know that I am the Lord Yahweh.’ ”
Commentary
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What others are saying
5 commentators · 116 notes on this chapter
Matthew Henry3
Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.
Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.
God had often spoken to Ezekiel, and by him to the people, to this effect, but now his word comes again; for God speaks the same thing once, yea, twice, yea, many a time, and all little enough, and too little, for man perceives it not. Note, To convince…
The prophet Hosea, in his time, observed that the two tribes retained their integrity, in a great measure, when the ten tribes had apostatized (Hos 11:12, Ephraim indeed compasses me about with lies, but Judah yet rules with God and is faithful with the…
Jerusalem stands indicted by the name of Aholibah, for that she, as a false traitor to her sovereign Lord the God of heaven, not having his fear before her eyes, but moved by the instigation of the devil, had revolted from her allegiance to him, had compassed…
John Gill49
The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.
Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.
The word of the Lord came unto me,.... The word of prophecy, as the Targum; another prophecy, one upon the same subject, as in Ezekiel 16:1, saying; as follows:
Son of man, there were two women,.... Or two nations and kingdoms, the kingdom of Israel or the ten tribes, and the kingdom of Judah or the two tribes. So the Targum, "son of man, prophesy concerning two provinces, which are as two women:'' the daughters of…
And they committed whoredoms in Egypt,.... When they were but one body, one nation; and while they sojourned as strangers in that land they learned and practised the idolatries of it, Joshua 24:14, and so the Targum, "and they erred in Egypt, after the…
Adam Clarke18
The linguist of this set. Expect Hebrew and Greek word study, oriental custom, and geography — and an Arminian reading of grace and free will where Gill or Henry would read election. Note one real divergence: Clarke denied the eternal sonship of Christ, a position most of the tradition rejects, so read him closely on the person of Christ.
Why this voice is here: Where you want to know what a word actually says, Clarke is the one who will tell you — with the caveat above on Christ’s sonship.
Son of man, there were two women - All the Hebrews were derived from one source, Abraham and Sarah; and, till the schism under Rehoboam, formed but one people: but as these ten tribes and a half separated from Judah and Benjamin, they became two distinct…
And Aholah played the harlot - Without entering into detail here, or following the figures, they both became idolatrous, and received the impure rites of the Egyptians, Assyrians, and Chaldeans, of which connection the prophet speaks here as he did in chap…
Clothed with blue - The purple dye was highly valued among the ancients, and at first was only used by kings, at last it was used among the military, particularly by officers of high rank in the country.
Keil & Delitzsch5
The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.
Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.
The Sisters Oholah and Oholibah Eze 23:1. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Eze 23:2. Son of man, two women, daughters of one mother were they, Eze 23:3. They committed whoredom in Egypt, in their youth they committed whoredom; there were their…
Samaria's Whoredom and Punishment Eze 23:5. And Oholibah played the harlot under me, and burned towards her lovers, even as far as Assyria, standing near; Eze 23:6. Clothed in purple, governors and officers, all of them choice men of good deportment, horsemen…
Whoredom of Judah Eze 23:11. And her sister Oholibah saw it, and carried on her coquetry still more wantonly than she had done, and her whoredom more than the whoredom of her sister. Eze 23:12. She was inflamed with lust towards the sons of Asshur, governors…
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown41
The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.
Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.
Even so early in their history as their Egyptian sojourn, they committed idolatries (see on Eze 20:6-8; Jos 24:14). in their youth--an aggravation of their sin. It was at the very time of their receiving extraordinary favors from God (Eze 16:6, Eze 16:22)…
Aholah--that is, "Her tent" (put for worship, as the first worship of God in Israel was in a tent or tabernacle), as contrasted with Aholibah, that is, "My tent in her." The Beth-el worship of Samaria was of her own devising, not of God's appointment; the…
when . . . mine--literally, "under Me," that is, subject to Me as her lawful husband. neighbours--On the northeast the kingdom of Israel bordered on that of Assyria; for the latter had occupied much of Syria. Their neighborhood in locality was emblematical of…
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