Ezekiel 23:34

Thou shalt even drink it and suck it out, and thou shalt break the sherds thereof, and pluck off thine own breasts: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD. THOU SHALT BREAK THE SHERDS THEREOF - so greedily shalt thou suck out every drop, like one drinking to madness (the effect invariably ascribed to drinking God's cup of wrath, ; ), that thou shalt craunch the very sherds of it - i:e., there shall be no evil left which thou shalt not taste. AND PLUCK OFF THINE OWN BREAST - enraged against them as the ministers to thine adultery....

Verse Ezekiel 23:34. _THOU SHALT - PLUCK OFF THINE OWN BREASTS_] Thou shalt _tear them_; a frequent action in extreme sorrow and desolation. _Weeping, tearing the bosom, and beating the breasts_. Tunc vero rupique sinus, et pectora planxi. OVID'S Ep. 5....

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;...

THOU SHALT EVEN DRINK IT, AND SUCK IT OUT,.... The very dregs of it, that which lies at the bottom, which is the most nauseous and the most pernicious; not through love to it, but through force, shall be obliged to it; see Psalms 75:8: AND THOU SHALL BREAK THE SHERDS THEREOF; and suck them, so that not a drop of the liquor shall be lost; even what has penetrated into the earthen vessel, which this cup is supposed to be; and therefore it shall be broken to pieces, and these pieces sucked, that all may be got out; suggesting that there will be no abatement of the punishment, it shall be endured to the utmost: or it may be an allusion to drunkards, who, having drunk up their liquor, and become drunk, break their glasses, pots, and cups, and to which the next clause agrees: AND PLUCK OFF THINE OWN BREASTS; as men in their drunken fits, being like mad men, tea

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

BREAK: or, gnaw, lest. drop should be lost. PLUCK OFF. tear out: i.e. destroy the occasions of their idolatry. SAITH THE LORD GOD. [is] Adonai Jehovah's oracle....

Cf. Psalms 75:8; Isaiah 51:17. _break the sheards_ GNAW the sherds. The act of plucking out her own breasts is that of one intoxicated to madness, Jeremiah 25:16. The words are wanting in LXX. Beating the breasts and tearing the cheeks was a sign of excessive grief (_Hamasa_, p. 373). "The women rent the breast of their dress, went half-naked, tore their faces, and beat their skin till it was lacerated with shoes (_Aghani_, xiv. 101, 28; xv. 139, 6; _Hudh_. 139, 3)," Well., _Skizzen_, iii. p. 160....

AND PLUCK OFF THINE OWN BREASTS— _And shalt tear thy breasts._ Houbigant....

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...