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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Ezekiel 23:1 - 23:1
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The Sisters Oholah and Oholibah
Eze 23:1. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Eze 23:2. Son of man, two women, daughters of one mother were they, Eze 23:3. They committed whoredom in Egypt, in their youth they committed whoredom; there were their breasts pressed, and there men handled their virgin bosom. Eze 23:4. Their names are Oholah, the greater, and Oholibah her sister; and they became mine, and bare sons and daughters. But their names are: Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem is Oholibah. - The name אָֽהֳלִיבָה is formed from אָֽהֳלִי בָהּ, “my tent in her;” and, accordingly, אָֽהֳלָה is to be derived from אָֽהֳלָהּ, “her tent,” and not to be regarded as an abbreviation of אָֽהֳלָהּ בָהּ, “her tent in her,” as Hitzig and Kliefoth maintain. There is no ground for this assumption, as “her tent,” in contrast with “my tent in her,” expresses the thought with sufficient clearness, that she had a tent of her own, and the place where her tent was does not come into consideration. The “tent” is the sanctuary: both tabernacle and temple. These names characterize the two kingdoms according to their attitude toward the Lord. Jerusalem had the sanctuary of Jehovah; Samaria, on the other hand, had her own sanctuary, i.e., one invented by herself. Samaria and Jerusalem, as the historical names of the two kingdoms, represent Israel of the ten tribes and Judah. Oholah and Oholibah are daughters of one mother, because they were the two halves of the one Israel; and they are called women, because Jehovah had married them (Eze 23:4). Oholah is called הַגְּדֹולָה, the great, i.e., the greater sister (not the elder, see the comm. on Eze 16:46); because ten tribes, the greater portion of Israel, belonged to Samaria, whereas Judah had only two tribes. They committed whoredom even in Egypt in their youth, for even in Egypt the Israelites defiled themselves with Egyptian idolatry (see the comm. on Eze 20:7). מָיעַךְ, to press, to crush: the Pual is used here to denote lewd handling. In a similar manner the Piel עִשָּׂה is used to signify tractare, contrectare mammas, in an obscene sense.