Ezekiel 23:22

Therefore, O Aholibah, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy mind is alienated, and I will bring them against thee on every side; I WILL RAISE UP THY LOVERS AGAINST THEE, FROM WHOM THY MIND IS ALIENATED - (). Illicit love, soon or late, ends in open hatred (, "Then (after defiling Tamar) Ammon hated her exceedingly"). The Babylonians, the objects formerly of her God- forgetting love, but now (such was her characteristic fickleness) objects of her hatred, shall be made by God the instruments of her punishment....

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;...

THEREFORE, O AHOLIBAH, THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD,.... Or, ye two tribes of Benjamin and Judah, hear what the Lord says unto you: BEHOLD, I WILL RAISE UP THY LOVERS AGAINST THEE; the Chaldeans, whom they had formerly loved, and in whose alliance they were, and whose idols they worshipped: FROM WHOM THY MIND IS ALIENATED; having broke covenant with them, and cast off their yoke, and rebelled against them: AND I WILL BRING THEM AGAINST THEE ON EVERY SIDE; to besiege and encompass Jerusalem on every side with their army, as they did, so that there was no escaping....

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

THE LORD GOD. Hebrew. _Adonai Jehovah_. See note on Ezekiel 2:4. BEHOLD. Figure of speech _Asterismos._ App-6....

Chastisement of the adulteress 22. _thy lovers_ the nations once in alliance with her, Ezekiel 23:9; ch. Ezekiel 16:37; Jeremiah 30:14; Lamentations 1:19. In Hosea 2 the "lovers" are the Baals....

I WILL RAISE UP THY LOVERS, &C.— "I will execute my judgments upon thee by those very Babylonians of whose alliance and idolatries thou hall been so fond. Thou hast since indeed broken the league which thou madest with them, contracting a new one with Egypt, and thereby provoked them to avenge thy perfidy. These, with the other nations mentioned in the next verse, shall all come upon thee." _Pekod, Shoa,_ and _Koa,_ are understood by Grotius as proper names, agreeably to our translation. By _Pekod_ he understands the Bactrians, by _Shoa_ a people in Armenia, and by _Koa_ the Medes. The Vulgate, however, translates the words as appellatives, _noblemen, tyrants,_ and _princes:_ and Jerome takes them to be titles of honour....

D. The Punishment of Jerusalem 23:22-35 TRANSLATION (22) Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord GOD: Behold I am about to stir up your lovers against you, those from whom your soul is alienated, and I will bring them against you round about; (23) the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shea and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, handsome young men, governors and rulers all of them, captains and counselors, all of them riding upon horses. (24) And they shall come against you with hosts,[359] chariots, wheels, and with an assembly of peoples; with shield, buckler, and helmet they shall set themselves against you round about; and I will commit judgment to them, and they will judge you with their judgments. (25) And I will set My jealousy against You, and they shall deal with you in wrath; they shall remove your nose and your ears, and the rest of you shall fall with the swor...

THE UNCHASTE SISTERS, OHOLAH AND OHOLIBAH The idolatries and foreign alliances of Jerusalem and Samaria are here described under the same strong figure which is used in Ezekiel 16. Oholah (Samaria) and Oholibah (Jerusalem) were two sisters, both seduced in Egypt in their youth (Ezekiel 23:3), both espoused by God (Ezekiel 23:4), and both unfaithful to Him. Samaria took as her lovers first the Assyrians (Ezekiel 23:5), and then the Egyptians (Ezekiel 23:8), and was at length slain by the former ...