Ezekiel 23:20 - Exposition

She doted on her paramours . Commonly the word is used of a concubine ( Genesis 22:24 ; 8:31 ). Here it is used in scorn of the Egyptian princes whose favor Judah courted, reminding us of Homer's ἀχαιίδες οὐκετ ἀχαίοι , as indicating their political weakness. All that need be said of the comparison that follows is that here also Ezekiel follows in the footsteps of Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 5:8 ). What is indicated is that Judah threw herself into the idolatrous ritual of Egypt with an almost orgiastic passion. The harlot nation returned, as it were, to her first love, and renewed the whoredoms of her youth.