Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Ezekiel 23:16
(16) Saw them with her eyes.—This is to be taken in a sense wide enough to include knowledge obtained in any way, as well as by actual sight. The intercourse between Judæa and Babylon was so close that many of the people had seen the Babylonians personally, while others knew of them through their report.Sent messengers.—Ahaz “sent messengers” to Assyria (2 Kings 16:7), and Hezekiah entertained ambassadors from Babylon (2 Kings 20:13); but besides these, the whole history of the times implies... read more
John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Ezekiel 23:1-49
The Unchaste Sisters, Oholah and OholibahThe 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 23:5-7), and then the Egyptians (Ezekiel 23:8), and was at length slain by the former... read more