2 "Son of man , there were two women , the daughters of one mother ; 3 and they played the harlot in Egypt . They played the harlot in their youth ; there their breasts were pressed and there their virgin bosom was handled . 4 "Their names were Oholah the elder and Oholibah her sister . And they became Mine, and they bore sons and daughters . And as for their names , Samaria is Oholah and Jerusalem is Oholibah 5 "Oholah played the harlot while she was Mine ; and she lusted after her lovers , after the Assyrians , her neighbors , 6 who were clothed in purple , governors and officials , all of them desirable young men , horsemen riding on horses . 7 "She bestowed her harlotries on them, all of whom were the choicest men of Assyria ; and with all whom she lusted after, with all their idols she defiled herself. 8 "She did not forsake her harlotries from the time in Egypt ; for in her youth men had lain with her, and they handled her virgin bosom and poured out their lust on her. 9 "Therefore , I gave her into the hand of her lovers , into the hand of the Assyrians , after whom she lusted . 10 "They uncovered her nakedness ; they took her sons and her daughters , but they slew her with the sword . Thus she became a byword among women , and they executed judgments on her.
11 "Now her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was more corrupt in her lust than she, and her harlotries were more than the harlotries of her sister . 12 "She lusted after the Assyrians , governors and officials , the ones near , magnificently dressed , horsemen riding on horses , all of them desirable young men . 13 "I saw that she had defiled herself; they both took the same way . 14 "So she increased her harlotries . And she saw men portrayed on the wall , images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion 15 girded with belts on their loins , with flowing turbans on their heads , all of them looking like officers , like the Babylonians e in Chaldea , the land of their birth . 16 "When she saw e them she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea . 17 "The Babylonians e came to her to the bed of love and defiled her with their harlotry . And when she had been defiled by them, she became disgusted with them. 18 "She uncovered her harlotries and uncovered her nakedness ; then I became disgusted with her, as I had become disgusted with her sister . 19 "Yet she multiplied her harlotries , remembering the days of her youth , when she played the harlot in the land of Egypt 20 "She lusted after their paramours , whose flesh is like the flesh of donkeys and whose issue is like the issue of horses .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Ezekiel 23:2-20
Chapter Contents
A history of the apostacy of God's people from him, and the aggravation thereof.
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?