Ezekiel 23:22,23

The Judgments of God on Oholibah (Jerusalem) Through Her Lovers Because of Her Evil Ways In Order To Purify Her.

‘Therefore, Oh Oholibah, thus says the Lord Yahweh, “I will raise up your lovers against you, from whom your soul is alienated, and I will bring them against you on every side, the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, desirable young men, governors and rulers all of them, princes and those proclaimed, all of them riding on horses.”

Her loves had proved unfaithful and not lasting, for now she was alienated from them, for there is only pleasure in sin for a season. So these erstwhile lovers will now gather against her, their splendour now only making her realise the certainty of her fate.

Her lovers are listed. Babylonians and Chaldeans had become almost synonymous, but the distinction looks back to their earlier origins. The Chaldeans came from southern Babylonia, the result of Aramaean infiltration from the Syrian desert. Pekod, Shoa and Koa were also possibly the Aramaean tribes east of the River Tigris known in inscriptions as Puqudu, Sutu and Qutu. So the list reveals a knowledge of Babylonian background and describes a multiplicity of lovers. Note the inclusion of the Assyrians. They had been absorbed into the Babylonian empire and were remembered because of their past associations with Israel. They had destroyed Oholah and Ezekiel wants to include them in the destruction of Oholibah.

But they are to see that it is finally Yahweh Who has brought them against her. They are the instruments of divine judgment. In the final analysis all is from the hand of Yahweh.