Ezekiel 23:46

For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will bring up a company upon them, and will give them to be removed and spoiled. I WILL BRING UP A COMPANY UPON THEM - "a company" [ qaahaal (H6951)], properly, a council of judges passing sentence on a criminal (Grotius). AND WILL GIVE THEM TO BE REMOVED AND SPOILED - the 'removal' and 'spoiling' by the Chaldean army is the execution of the judicial sentence of God....

The judgment to be executed by the hands of their allies. Ezekiel 23:45 THE RIGHTEOUS MEN - Or, righteous men. The allies are so called as the instruments of God’s righteous judgments. Ezekiel 23:48 TO CEASE - Because they are stricken and consumed. Compare marginal reference. ALL WOMEN - i. e., all countries....

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;...

FOR THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD, I WILL BRING UP A COMPANY UPON THEM,.... Or, "do thou bring up a company upon them" m, or "against them". The Targum represents it as spoken to the prophet, thus, "prophesy that armies shall come up against them.'' Kimchi interprets it as we do, "I will bring up", c. and so others n. By this "company" is to be understood the Chaldean army, whom God in his providence, and in righteous judgment, would bring up against the Jews styled a "convocation" o, assembly or congregation, in allusion to the sanhedrim, or court of judicature, that took cognizance of such crimes, and judged and condemned for them: AND WILL GIVE THEM TO BE REMOVED AND SPOILED; or, "for a removing", and a "spoil" p; that is, he would give the Jews into the hands of the Chaldean army; their persons to be carried captive into other lands, and their substance to be spoiled and plundered. m א...

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

COMPANY. a gathered host....

New exposure of the immoralities of Oholah and Oholibah (Ezekiel 23:36), and threat of their punishment (Ezekiel 23:45) The passage is not a continuation of Ezekiel 23:1, but an independent description, parallel to these verses. (1) Ezekiel 23:36. The adulteries, that is, idolatries, and bloodshed of which the two women are guilty. (2) _vv_, 38, 39. Their profaning the house of Jehovah, and breaking; his Sabbaths the former particularly in their entering his house fresh from the sacrifice of their children. (3) Ezekiel 23:40

E. Further Indictment of the Two Sisters 23:36-49 TRANSLATION (36) And the LORD said unto me, Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations. (37) For they have committed adultery and blood is on their hands, and with their idols they have committed adultery; and also their sons whom they bore to Me they offered up to them to be devoured. (38) This also they have done unto Me: they have defiled My sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned My sabbaths. (39) For when they had slain their sons to their idols, then they came unto My sanctuary the same day to profane it; and, behold, thus they did in the midst of My house. (40) And furthermore you have sent for men that come from afar; to whom a messenger was sent, and behold they came; for whom you washed, painted your eyes, and you decked yourself with ornaments; (41) and you sat upon a stately b...

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 ...