Ezekiel 23:27

Thus will I make thy lewdness to cease from thee, and thy whoredom brought from the land of Egypt: so that thou shalt not lift up thine eyes unto them, nor remember Egypt any more. THUS WILL I MAKE THY LEWDNESS TO CEASE. The captivity has made the Jews ever since to abhor idolatry, not only on their return from Babylon, but for the lair eighteen centuries of their dispersion, as foretold ()....

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;...

THUS WILL I MAKE THY LEWDNESS TO CEASE FROM THEE,.... That is, their idolatry; for, after this captivity, the Jews never were guilty of idolatry any more: AND THY WHOREDOM BROUGHT FROM THE LAND OF EGYPT; the idolatry which they learned there, and brought from thence; so the Targum, "the worship of thine idols, which was with thee when thou wast in the land of Egypt:'' SO THAT THOU SHALL NOT LIFT UP THINE EYES UNTO THEM; to the idols of Egypt, to pray unto them, and worship them: NOR REMEMBER EGYPT ANY MORE; with any delight and pleasure, and so as to desire an alliance with them, and help from them, or to join with them in their idolatries: so the Targum, "and the idols of the Egyptians thou shalt remember no more.''...

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

brought _from … Egypt_ i.e. continued since the time they were in the land of Egypt, cf. Ezekiel 16:41; Ezekiel 22:15....

THUS WILL I MAKE, &C.— "These severe judgments shall effectually deter thee from idolatry, and make thee to abhor the least approaches towards it." Accordingly, we find that after the captivity the Jews never returned to their idolatrous practices. See Lowth....

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 ...

EZEKIEL: ‘THEY SHALL KNOW THAT I AM GOD’ THE *SIN OF JUDAH AND THE JUDGEMENT OF GOD EZEKIEL CHAPTER S 1 TO 24 _IAN MACKERVOY_ CHAPTER 23 * The *Lord had made special promises to *Israel. Those promises were like the marriage promises that a man makes to his wife. When *Israel divided into two *kingdoms, both parts had that special relationship with the *Lord. But neither part stayed loyal to the *Lord. So the *Lord said that they were like *prostitutes. Their *sins had continued for a long time. And they could not avoid punishment. THE TWO *PROSTITUTES – EZEKIEL 23:1-49 (1) TWO SISTERS – EZEKIEL 23:1-4...