calling to remembrance. Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of the Cause), App-6 , for the desiring of her former idolatries. harlot. Put for idolatress. in. Some codices read "from", as in Ezekiel 23:8 and Ezekiel 23:27 . read more
Ezekiel 23:19. Yet she multiplied, &c.— Instead of one calf they would have two; and so favourite a superstition were the calves of Dan and Beth-el, that they kept their ground against all those general reformations which divers of their better kings had made to purge the land from idolatry. See Div. Leg. vol. 3: read more
19. Israel first "called" her lusts, practised when in Egypt, "to her (fond) remembrance," and then actually returned to them. Mark the danger of suffering the memory to dwell on the pleasure felt in past sins. read more
20. their paramours—that is, her paramours among them (the Egyptians); she doted upon their persons as her paramours (Ezekiel 23:5; Ezekiel 23:12; Ezekiel 23:16). flesh—the membrum virile (very large in the ass). Compare Ezekiel 23:16- :, Margin; Ezekiel 23:16- :. issue of horses—the seminal issue. The horse was made by the Egyptians the hieroglyphic for a lustful person. read more
Jerusalem’s prostitution 23:11-21 read more
The Babylonians responded to her invitations and came to Judea where they polluted her by entering into treaties with her. After she became a vassal of Babylon, she became disgusted with the Babylonians and turned away to seek help from Egypt (cf. Jeremiah 2:18; Jeremiah 6:8; Jeremiah 37:5-7; Lamentations 4:17). The Lord also became disgusted with her, as He had with her sister. Nevertheless she persisted in her immoral conduct that she had learned in Egypt. She lusted after the Egyptians that... read more
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
(20) Their paramours.—The word is masculine, as indicating the abominable sins copied by the Israelites from the heathen, and asses and horses are introduced to show the intensity of lust. (Comp. Jeremiah 5:8.) read more
OHOLA AND OHOLIBAHEzekiel 23:1-49THE allegory of chapter 23 adds hardly any new thought to those which have already, been expounded in connection with chapter 16 and chapter 20. The ideas which enter into it are all such as we are now familiar with. They are: the idolatry of Israel, learned in Egypt and persisted in to the end of her history; her fondness for alliances with the great Oriental empires, which was the occasion of new developments of idolatry; the corruption of religion by the... read more
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Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 23:1-35
Two prostitute sisters (23:1-35)God’s chosen nation was saved from Egypt and settled in Canaan, but it soon divided into two, the northern kingdom Israel (capital: Samaria) and the southern kingdom Judah (capital: Jerusalem). The prophet likens these two kingdoms to two sisters who became prostitutes (23:1-4).The prostitution of Israel and Judah was their unfaithfulness to God in forming military alliances with foreign nations instead of trusting in him. Israel, the northern kingdom, was... read more