Commentary Critical and Explanatory
on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 23
Ezekiel 23:1-49. ISRAEL'S AND
JUDAH'S
SIN AND
PUNISHMENT
ARE
PARABOLICALLY
PORTRAYED UNDER THE
NAMES
AHOLAH AND
AHOLIBAH.
The imagery is similar to that in the sixteenth chapter; but here the
reference is not as there so much to the breach of the spiritual
marriage covenant with God by the people's idolatries, as by their
worldly spirit, and their trusting to alliances with the heathen for
safety, rather than to God.
2. two . . . of one mother--Israel and Judah, one nation by birth from
the same ancestress, Sarah.
3. Even so early in their history as their Egyptian sojourn, they
Joshua 24:14).
in their youth--an aggravation of their sin. It was at the very time
of their receiving extraordinary favors from God (Ezekiel 16:6,22).
they bruised--namely, the Egyptians.
4. 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
temple-worship of Jerusalem was expressly appointed by Jehovah, who
"dwelt" there, "setting up His tabernacle among the people as His"
(Exodus 25:8, Leviticus 26:11,12, Joshua 22:19, Psalms 76:2).
the elder--Samaria is called "the elder" because she preceded Judah
in her apostasy and its punishment.
they were mine--Previous to apostasy under Jeroboam, Samaria (Israel,
or the ten tribes), equally with Judah, worshipped the true God. God
therefore never renounced the right over Israel, but sent prophets, as
Elijah and Elisha, to declare His will to them.
5. 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 their being near in
corruption of morals and worship. The alliances of Israel with
Assyria, which are the chief subject of reprobation here, tended to this
(2 Kings 15:19, 16:7,9, 17:3, Hosea 8:9).
6. blue--rather, "purple"
[FAIRBAIRN]. As a lustful woman's passions
are fired by showy dress and youthful appearance in men, so Israel was
seduced by the pomp and power of Assyria (compare Isaiah 10:8).
horsemen--cavaliers.
7. all their idols--There was nothing that she refused to her lovers.
8. whoredoms brought from Egypt--the calves set up in Dan and Beth-el
by Jeroboam, answering to the Egyptian bull-formed idol Apis. Her
alliances with Egypt politically are also meant
(Isaiah 30:2,3, 31:1). The ten tribes probably resumed the Egyptian rites, in order to enlist the Egyptians against Judah (2 Chronicles 12:2-4).
9. God, in righteous retribution, turned their objects of trust into
the instruments of their punishment: Pul, Tiglath-pileser, Esar-haddon,
and Shalmaneser (2 Kings 15:19,29, 17:3,6,24, Ezra 4:2,10). "It was their sin to have sought after such lovers, and it was to be their punishment
that these lovers should become their destroyers"
[FAIRBAIRN].
10. became famous--literally, "she became a name," that is, as
notorious by her punishment as she had been by her sins, so as to be
quoted as a warning to others.
women--that is, neighboring peoples.
11. Judah, the southern kingdom, though having the "warning"
instead of profiting by it, went to even greater lengths in corruption
than Israel. Her greater spiritual privileges made her guilt the greater
(Ezekiel 16:47,51, Jeremiah 3:11).
12. (Ezekiel 23:6,23).
most gorgeously--literally, "to perfection."
GROTIUS translates,
"wearing a crown," or "chaplet," such as lovers wore in visiting their
mistresses.
13. one way--both alike forsaking God for heathen confidences.
14. vermilion--the peculiar color of the Chaldeans, as purple was of
the Assyrians. In striking agreement with this verse is the fact that
the Assyrian sculptures lately discovered have painted and colored
bas-reliefs in red, blue, and black. The Jews (for instance Jehoiakim,
Jeremiah 22:14) copied these (compare Ezekiel 8:10).
15. exceeding in dyed attire--rather, "in ample dyed turbans";
literally, "redundant with dyed turbans." The Assyrians delighted in
ample, flowing, and richly colored tunics, scarfs, girdles, and
head-dresses or turbans, varying in ornaments according to the rank.
Chaldea, . . . land of their nativity--between the Black and Caspian
princes--literally, a first-rate military class that fought by threes
in the chariots, one guiding the horses, the other two fighting.
16. sent messengers . . . into Chaldea--(Ezekiel 16:29). It was she that solicited the Chaldeans, not they her. Probably the occasion was
when Judah sought to strengthen herself by a Chaldean alliance against a
menaced attack by Egypt (compare 2 Kings 23:29-35, 24:1-7). God made the object of their sinful desire the instrument of their punishment.
Jehoiakim, probably by a stipulation of tribute, enlisted Nebuchadnezzar
against Pharaoh, whose tributary he previously had been; failing to keep
his stipulation, he brought on himself Nebuchadnezzar's vengeance.
17. alienated from them--namely, from the Chaldeans: turning again
to the Egyptians (Ezekiel 23:19), trying by their help to throw off her solemn engagements to Babylon (compare Jeremiah 37:5,7, 2 Kings 24:7).
18. my mind was alienated from her--literally, "was broken off from
her." Just retribution for "her mind being alienated (broken off) from
the Chaldeans" (Ezekiel 23:17), to whom she had sworn fealty (Ezekiel 17:12-19). "Discovered" implies the open shamelessness of her apostasy.
19. Israel first "called" her lusts, practised when in Egypt, "to her
(fond) remembrance," and then actually returned to them. Mark the
danger of suffering the memory to dwell on the pleasure felt in past
sins.
20. their paramours--that is, her paramours among them (the
Egyptians); she doted upon their persons as her paramours
(Ezekiel 23:5,12,16).
flesh--the membrum virile (very large in the ass). Compare
Leviticus 15:2, Margin; Ezekiel 16:26.
issue of horses--the seminal issue. The horse was made by the Egyptians
the hieroglyphic for a lustful person.
21. calledst to remembrance--"didst repeat"
[MAURER].
in bruising--in suffering . . . to be bruised.
22. lovers . . . alienated--(Ezekiel 23:17). Illicit love, soon or late, ends in open hatred (2 Samuel 13:15). The Babylonians, the objects formerly of their God-forgetting love, but now, with characteristic
fickleness, objects of their hatred, shall be made by God the
instruments of their punishment.
23. Pekod, &c.--(Jeremiah 50:21). Not a geographical name, but descriptive of Babylon. "Visitation," peculiarly the
land of "judgment"; in a double sense: actively, the inflicter
of judgment on Judah; passively, as about to be afterwards herself
the object of judgment.
Shoa . . . Koa--"rich . . . noble"; descriptive of Babylon in her
prosperity, having all the world's wealth and dignity at her disposal.
MAURER suggests that, as descriptive appellatives are subjoined to the
proper name, "all the Assyrians" in the second hemistich of the verse
(as the verse ought to be divided at "Koa"), so Pekod, Shoa, and Koa
must be appellatives descriptive of "The Babylonians and . . .
Chaldeans" in the first hemistich; "Pekod" meaning "prefects";
Shoa . . . Koa, "rich . . . princely."
desirable young men--strong irony. Alluding to Ezekiel 23:12, these "desirable young men" whom thou didst so "dote upon" for their manly
vigor of appearance, shall by that very vigor be the better able to
chastise thee.
24. with chariots--or, "with armaments"; so the Septuagint; "axes"
[MAURER]; or, joining it with "wagons,"
translate, "with scythe-armed wagons," or "chariots"
[GROTIUS].
weels--The unusual height of these increased their formidable
appearance (Ezekiel 1:16-20).
their judgments--which awarded barbarously severe punishments
(Jeremiah 52:9, 29:22).
25. take away thy nose . . . ears--Adulteresses were punished so among
the Egyptians and Chaldeans. Oriental beauties wore ornaments in the ear
and nose. How just the retribution, that the features most bejewelled
should be mutilated! So, allegorically as to Judah, the spiritual
adulteress.
26. strip . . . of . . . clothes--whereby she attracted her paramours
(Ezekiel 16:39).
27. Thus . . . make . . . lewdness to cease--The captivity has made the
Jews ever since abhor idolatry, not only on their return from Babylon,
but for the last nineteen centuries of their dispersion, as foretold
(Hosea 3:4).
28. (Ezekiel 23:17,18, 16:37).
29. take away . . . thy labour--that is, the fruits of thy labor.
leave thee naked--as captive females are treated.
31. her cup--of punishment (Psalms 11:6, 75:8, Jeremiah 25:15, &c.). Thy guilt and that of Israel being alike, your punishment shall be alike.
34. break . . . sherds--So greedily shalt thou suck out every drop like
one drinking to madness (the effect invariably ascribed to drinking
God's cup of wrath, Jeremiah 51:7, Habakkuk 2:16) that thou shalt crunch the very shreds of it; that is, there shall be no evil left which thou shalt
not taste.
pluck off thine own breasts--enraged against them as the ministers to
thine adultery.
35. forgotten me--(Jeremiah 2:32, 13:25).
cast me behind thy back--(1 Kings 14:9, Nehemiah 9:26).
bear . . . thy lewdness--that is, its penal consequences
(Proverbs 1:31).
36-44. A summing up of the sins of the two sisters, especially those
of Judah.
wilt thou judge--Wilt thou (not) judge
38. the same day--On the very day that they had burned their children
to Molech in the valley of Gehenna, they shamelessly and hypocritically
presented themselves as worshippers in Jehovah's temple (Jeremiah 7:9,10).
40. messenger was sent--namely, by Judah (Ezekiel 23:16, Isaiah 57:9).
paintedst . . . eyes--(2 Kings 9:30, Margin; Jeremiah 4:30). Black paint was spread on the eyelids of beauties to make the white of
the eye more attractive by the contrast, so Judah left no seductive art
untried.
41. bed--divan. While men reclined at table, women sat, as it seemed
indelicate for them to lie down (Amos 6:4) [GROTIUS].
table--that is, the idolatrous altar.
mine incense--which I had given thee, and which thou oughtest to
have offered to Me (Ezekiel 16:18,19, Hosea 2:8; compare Proverbs 7:17).
42. Sabeans--Not content with the princely, handsome Assyrians, the
sisters brought to themselves the rude robber hordes of Sabeans (Job 1:15). The Keri, or Margin, reads "drunkards."
upon their hands--upon the hands of the sisters, that is, they allured
Samaria and Judah to worship their gods.
43. Will they, &c.--Is it possible that paramours will desire any
longer to commit whoredoms with so worn-out an old adulteress?
45. the righteous men--the Chaldeans; the executioners of God's
righteous vengeance (Ezekiel 16:38), not that they were "righteous" in themselves (Habakkuk 1:3,12,13).
46. a company--properly, "a council of judges" passing sentence on a
criminal [GROTIUS].
The "removal" and "spoiling" by the Chaldean army
is the execution of the judicial sentence of God.
47. stones--the legal penalty of the adulteress
(Ezekiel 16:40,41, John 8:5). Answering to the stones hurled by the Babylonians from engines in besieging Jerusalem.
houses . . . fire--fulfilled (2 Chronicles 36:17,19).
48. (Ezekiel 23:27).
that all . . . may be taught not to do, &c.--(Deuteronomy 13:11).
49. bear the sins of your idols--that is, the punishment of your
idolatry.
know that I am the Lord God--that is, know it to your cost . . . by
bitter suffering.
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