Ezekiel 23:10

These discovered her nakedness: they took her sons and her daughters, and slew her with the sword: and she became famous among women; for they had executed judgment upon her. SHE BECAME FAMOUS - literally, 'she became a name' - i:e., as notorious by her punishment as she had been by her sins, so as to be quoted as a warning to others. AMONG WOMEN - i:e., among neighbouring peoples....

FAMOUS - Or, “infamous among women;” literally as in the margin, i. e., a byword among women....

EXPOSITION After another pause, the prophet enters on another elaborate parallel, after the pattern of Ezekiel 16:1; but with a marked variation. There we have the history of one harlot, _s.c. _of Israel in its collective unity. There we have two sister harlots, the daughters of one mother, and they are Samaria and Jerusalem, as both belonging to Israel. For the purpose of the parable, they are represented as having had a separate existence, even during the period of the sojourn in Egypt. This was probably historically true, the line of cleavage caused by the claims of Ephraim to supremacy appearing again and again long before the revolt of the tea tribes under Jeroboam (Judges 8:1; Judges 12:1;...

THESE DISCOVERED HER WICKEDNESS,.... That is, stripped them of all their substance: THEY TOOK HER SONS AND HER DAUGHTERS; and carried them captive: AND SLEW HER WITH THE SWORD; put an end to the kingdom of Israel, or the ten tribes, and which was never recovered to this day: AND SHE BECAME FAMOUS AMONG WOMEN; or among the provinces, as the Targum; she became famous, or rather infamous, among other nations; was talked of for her sins, her whoredoms and idolatries, and the vengeance of God upon her for them; she became a byword and a proverb among the kingdoms of the world for her wickedness and her destruction: FOR THEY HAD EXECUTED JUDGMENT UPON HER; that is, the Assyrians, who were the instruments in God's hand in doing justice to her, and inflicting his judgments on her, and for that she became famous....

In Ezekiel 23:1 Samaria and Jerusalem are called two sisters, Aholah and Aholibah, in their ungodly relation with Assyria and Chaldea. Aholah means “her tent.” Aholibah, “my tent is in her.” The latter denotes the fact that the true sanctuary was in Judah. The sins and vileness of both are portrayed throughout this long chapter, as well as the deserved punishment....

EZEKIEL 23. FATAL ALLIANCE WITH FOREIGNERS. This is the third and last of the three great indictments (Ezekiel 16, 20) which draw their material from the past rather than (as Ezekiel 22) from the present. Its underlying imagery is the same as that of ch. 16, but it differs from that chapter in dealing with the northern and southern kingdoms separately (_cf. Ezekiel 16:46_) and in emphasizing political rather than religious entanglements, though of course foreign alliances did as a matter of fact involve the recognition of foreign gods, i_.e._ idolatry (Ezekiel 22:7). Samaria and Jerusalem, the capitals of Israel and Judah respectively, are described as sisters married to Yahweh (_cf._ Jacob with his two sister wives). Their names, Oholah and Oholibah, are significantly connected with t

FAMOUS. a name: i.e. infamous....

_famous among women_ lit. _a name to women_, i.e. a notorious example to women to take warning from, Ezekiel 23:48; Ezekiel 36:3; Ezekiel 16:41....

AND SHE BECAME FAMOUS, &C.— _And she became the common talk among the women, after judgment had been executed upon her._ As she had formerly been renowned among the heathen for her beauty; so she was now everywhere mentioned as a remarkable instance of God's vengeance. Instead of _She became famous,_ &c. Houbigant reads, _She was then in the power of tyrants, who executed,_ &c....

B. Samaria's Prostitution 23:5-10 TRANSLATION (5) And Oholah committed harlotry under Me, and she threw herself on her lovers, on the Assyrians, warriors, (6) clothed with blue. governors and rulers, all of them handsome young men, horsemen riding on horses. (7) And she bestowed her harlotries upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them; and on whomsoever she threw herself, with all their idols she defiled herself. (8) And she did not forsake her Egyptian harlotries; for they lay with her in her youth, and they bruised her virgin breasts; and they poured out their lust upon her. (9) Therefore, I will give her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians upon whom she threw herself. (10) They uncovered her nakedness; they took her sons and daughters, and slew her with the sword, and she became a byword to women, for judgments were made against her. COMMENTS For th...