Ezekiel 23:8

Neither left she her whoredoms brought from Egypt: for in her youth they lay with her, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured their whoredom upon her. NEITHER LEFT SHE HER WHOREDOMS BROUGHT FROM EGYPT - the calves set up in Dan and Bethel by Jeroboam, answering to the Egyptian bull-formed idol Apis. Her alliances with Egypt politically are also meant (Isaiah 30:2; ). The ten tribes probably resumed the Egyptian idolatrous rites, in order to enlist the Egyptians against Judah; because Shishak king of Egypt would be the natural ally of the ten tribes' kingdom of Israel, as having assailed Jerusalem and taken the fenced cities of Judah in the reign of Rehoboam, from whom Israel had revolted ...

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;...

NEITHER LEFT SHE HER IDOLS BROUGHT FROM EGYPT,.... Though the Israelites took in the gods of the Assyrians into their worship, they did not relinquish the golden calves set up at Dan and Bethel, in imitation of the Egyptian deities; the idolatrous worship of which they learned in Egypt, and brought from thence: FOR IN HER YOUTH THEY LAY WITH HER; the Egyptians enticed the Israelites to idolatry when among them, as soon as they began to be a people; Ezekiel 23:3: AND THEY BRUISED THE BREASTS OF HER VIRGINITY; who before retained the pure worship of God, and was like a chaste virgin: AND POURED THEIR WHOREDOM UPON HER; expressive of the numerous acts of idolatry committed together by them....

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

Samaria intrigued with Assyria and Egypt alternately, or different parties simultaneously. Hosea 7:11, "Ephraim is like a silly dove, without understanding; they call unto Egypt, they go unto Assyria....

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...

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...

וְ אֶת ־תַּזְנוּתֶ֤יהָ מִ מִּצְרַ֨יִם֙ לֹ֣א עָזָ֔בָה כִּ֤י אֹותָהּ֙ שָׁכְב֣וּ בִ נְעוּרֶ֔יהָ וְ הֵ֥מָּה...