Ezekiel 23:6

"And Oholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, the Assyrians her neighbors, who were clothed with blue, governors and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses. And she bestowed her whoredoms upon them, the choicest men of Assyria, all of them; and upon whomsoever she doted, with all their idols she defiled herself. Neither hath she left her whoredoms since the days of Egypt; for in her youth they lay with her, and they handled the bosom of her virginity.; and they poured out their whoredoms upon her. Wherefore I delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted. These uncovered her nakedness; they took her sons and her daughters; and her they slew with the sword: and she became a byword among women; for they executed judgment upon her."

That Oholah should be judged and executed by her lovers verified one of the strange mysteries of wickedness, the classical example of which is that of Amnon (2 Samuel 13), who forced his sister Tamar. Afterward, the Scriptures record that, "Then Amnon hated Tamar with exceeding great hatred; for the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her (2 Samuel 13:15ff)."

"Assyrians, clothed with blue, governors and rulers, all desirable young men ..." (Ezekiel 23:6). "This verse indicates symbolically the embracing of all of Assyria's pagan gods. Oholah, true to her corrupt self, merely superimposed upon the ancient pagan gods of Egypt, the gods of Assyria, producing a syncretistic blend of pagan worship."[7] The most shameful thing of all was that Jehovah was also called upon, right along with the whole pantheon of pagan deities.

The temptation to Israel lay in this: they were terrified by the universal reputation of the terrible Assyrians, known throughout all the world of that period as, The Breakers. "The paramour here, on whose account Israel forsook her God, is Assyria itself, not Assyria's gods, although, no doubt, through fear of the people, Israel endeavored to make friends of the gods also. Thus the `adultery' here was not so much religious as political."[8] We agree that the text here clearly indicates that Israel, although terrified by Assyria, nevertheless admired the beauty of the young men in the armies of their enemies, and also lusted after them. This did not justify their actions, but it affords an explanation of what they did.

Keil also noted that, it was Israel's efforts to avoid damage to themselves that motivated their efforts to form alliances with powerful nations.[9] Also, had not Israel's most glorious king, Solomon himself, done exactly the same thing in his seven hundred marriages with foreign wives, and his honoring all of their gods with special shrines, high places, and other considerations?

The result of Israel's disobedience in this matter, contrary to the admonition of all of her holy prophets, was not their protection at all, but their ultimate destruction as a nation, the sack of their capital city Samaria, and the deportation to Assyria of many thousands of the people. It is simply amazing that Judah apparently never learned anything from the experience of her sinful sister Oholah.