(b) Judah and Israel’s Ripeness for Judgment (Ezekiel 23.)
1And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, 2Son of man, there were 3two women, the daughters of one mother; And in Egypt they played the wanton; in their youth they wantoned, there were their breasts pressed, and 4there were the teats of their virginity bruised. And their names were “Oholah,” the great [greater], and “Oholibah” her sister; and they were mine, and bare sons and daughters; and their names were Samaria—Oholah, 5and Jerusalem—Oholibah. And Oholah when under me played the wanton, 6and doted upon her lovers,—on Assyria, her neighbours, Clothed in purple, captains and rulers, all of them comely young men, knights riding on 7horses. And she bestowed her wantonness upon them, all the choice of the sons of Assyria; and with all on whom she doted, with all their idols she 8polluted herself. And her whoredoms brought from Egypt she did not leave; for they lay with her in her youth, and they bruised her virgin breasts, 9and poured their whoredoms upon her. Therefore I gave her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the sons of Assyria, upon whom she doted. 10These discovered her nakedness [shame]; they took her sons and daughters, and herself they slew with the sword, and she became a name to women, and 11they executed judgment upon her. And her sister Oholibah saw it, and made her wantonness more corrupt than she, and her whoredoms more than 12the whoredoms of her sister. She doted on the sons of Assyria,—captains and rulers, her neighbours, clothed gorgeously, knights riding upon horses, all 13of them comely young men. And I saw that she was defiled; they had both 14one way. And she still added to her whoredoms; and she saw men portrayed 15upon the wall, likenesses of the Chaldeans, painted with vermilion, Girdled with a girdle on their loins, flowing turbans on their heads, all of them having the appearance of leaders, the likeness of the sons of Babylon, of the Chaldeans 16in the land of their birth. And she doted upon them as soon as her17eyes saw them, and sent messengers unto them to Chaldea. And the sons of Babylon came to her into the bed of love, and defiled her through their whoredoms; and she was polluted with them, and her soul was estranged 18from them. And she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered her nakedness; and My soul was estranged from her, as My soul had been estranged 19from her sister. And she multiplied her whoredoms, so that she remembered the days of her youth, when she played the wanton in the land of Egypt. 20And she doted on their paramours, whose flesh is the flesh of asses, and their 21issue the issue of horses. Yea [and] thou didst seek after the lewdness of thy youth, when the Egyptians bruised thy teats on account of thy youthful 22breasts. Therefore, Oholibah, thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will stir up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy soul is estranged, and I will 23bring them against thee from every side; The sons of Babylon, and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa, all the sons of Assyria with them, comely young men, captains and rulers all of them, leaders and men of renown, every one riding on horses. 24And they shall come against thee with weapons, chariot and wheel, and with an assembly of peoples; target and shield and helmet they shall set against thee round about; and I will set judgment before them, and they shall judge thee with their judgments. 25And I will set My jealousy upon thee, and they shall deal with thee in fury; they shall take away thy nose and thine ears, and thy remnant shall fall by the sword; they shall take thy sons and thy daughters, 26and thy remnant shall be devoured by the fire. And they shall strip thee of 27thy clothes, and take away thy fair jewels. And I will make thy lewdness to cease from thee, and thy whoredom from the land of Egypt; and thou shalt not lift up thine eyes to them, nor remember Egypt any more. 28For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will deliver thee into the hand of those whom thou hatest, into the hand of those from whom thy soul is estranged. 29And they shall deal with thee in hatred, and shall take away all thy earning, and leave thee naked and bare; and the nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be discovered, and thy lewdness and thy wanton courses. 30This shall be done unto thee because thou hast gone a-whoring after the 31heathen, because thou hast defiled thyself with their idols. In the way of thy sister thou hast gone, and I give her cup into thy hand. 32Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, The cup of thy sister, the deep and wide, thou shalt drink; it shall be for laughter and mockery according to its measure. 33Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow; a cup of wasting and desolation is the 34cup of thy sister Samaria. And thou shalt drink it and suck it out; and thou shalt gnaw its sherds, and tear off thy breasts; for I have spoken,—sentence of the Lord Jehovah. 35Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because thou hast forgotten Me, and hast cast Me behind thy back, do thou 36also bear thy lewdness and thy whoredoms. And Jehovah said to me, Son of man, wilt thou judge Oholah and Oholibah, then show them their abominations. 37For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands, and with their idols they have committed adultery; and also their sons whom 38they bare unto Me they have made to pass through the fire to them. This besides they did to Me; they defiled My sanctuary in the same day, and profaned 39My Sabbaths. And when they had slain their sons [children] to their idols, they came to My sanctuary on the same day to profane it; and lo! 40thus have they done in the midst of My house. Yea, they sent even to men coming from afar, to whom a messenger was sent; and, lo, they came, for whom thou didst wash thyself, paint thine eyes, and deck thyself with ornaments; 41And thou satest upon a stately bed, and a table was laid before it, 42and My incense and My oil didst thou set upon it. And the voice of a loose crowd [was] in her [Jerusalem], and to people of the multitude were brought drunkards from the wilderness, who put bracelets on their hands, and a 43beautiful crown upon their heads. And I said of her worn out with adulteries, 44Will they now commit her adulteries? And she [also]? And they went in to her as they go in to a harlot. Thus they went in to Oholah and 45to Oholibah, the lewd women. But righteous men, they shall judge them with the judgment of adulteresses, and the judgment of those that shed blood; for they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands. 46For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, I will bring up a company against them, and give them to maltreatment and spoiling. 47And the company shall cast stones upon them, and cleave them with their swords; their sons and their daughters 48they shall slay, and burn their houses with fire. And I will cause lewdness to cease out of the land, so that all women shall be warned, and shall not do after your lewdness. 49And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and ye shall bear the sins of your idols, and ye shall know that I am the Lord Jehovah.
Eze_23:32-33. …
ôï ðëåïíáæïí ôïõ óõíôåëåóáé ìåèçí
,
ê
.
ἐêëõóåùò ðëçóèçóç
—Eris in derisum … subsannationem, quæ est capacissima … repleberis, calice mœroris et tristitiæ—
Eze_23:34. Sept.: ...
ê
.
ôáò ἑïñôáò ê
.
ôáò íïõìçíéáò áὐôçò ἀðïóôñåøù
—
Eze_23:37. …
äé
’
ἐìðõñùí
;
Eze_23:41-42. …
ðñï ðñïóùðïõ áὐôçò
…
ἐîåõöñáéíïíôï ἐí áὐôïéò
,
ê
.
öùíçí ἁñìïíéáò ἀíåêñïõïíôï
—vox multitudinis exultantis … in ea et in viris qui de … adducebantur et veniebant de deserto—
Eze_23:41. Vulg. reads:
ìôðéê
. Syr., Chald., Arab, read:
ìôðéäí
.—42. Some codd.:
éãéäí
; some also:
ãàùéäí
.
Eze_23:43. K.
åἰðá
·
ïὐê ἐí ôïõôïéò ìïé÷ùíôáé
;
ἐñãá ãõíáéêïò ðïñíçò ἐðïéåéò
; Vulg.: ei, quæ attrita est in … Nunc fornicabitur in fornicatione sua etiam hæc.
Eze_23:44. Another reading:
åéáàå
.
Eze_23:46. Many codd.:
òìéäï
.
Eze_23:47.
ëéèïéò ὀ÷ëùí
.
Eze_23:49. Codd. and Syr.:
åðúúé
.
EXEGETICAL REMARKS
The allegory in which the ripeness for judgment of Judah and Israel is represented, is closely allied to that of Ezekiel 16. The remarks made on it are to be compared with the present chapter. In contradistinction to Ezekiel 16, which gave prominence to the love borne to the faithless one by her lawful husband, Ezekiel 23 directs our attention rather to the seductive power and splendour of the lovers for whom Jehovah was forsaken. The prospect of pardon presented by the earlier chapter here disappears behind the penal judgment.
[Fausset: “The imagery is similar to that in Ezekiel 16; but here the reference is not, as there, so much to the breach of the spiritual marriage-covenant with God by the people’s idolatries, as by their worldly spirit, and their trusting to alliances with the heathen for safety, rather than to God.”—W. F.]
Eze_23:1-4
. Preface
Eze_23:2. The one mother may be presupposed from Ezekiel 16 as the Hittite. Comp. at Eze_23:3; Eze_23:44 sq. As, however, it is not the present object to give prominence to the ancestry in the sense of Ezekiel 16, the word simply describes the original unity of the people. This also explains what is said in Eze_23:3 relative to Egypt. The two kingdoms which form the theme of the chapter are assumed as already two in Egypt; but in point of fact, what is said holds as to the yet undivided people. [Hengst., indeed, appeals to Genesis 49, in which the two tribes of Judah and Ephraim appear as two independent powers.]—On account of the legitimate relation in which the nation stood to God from its very origin, namely, of a marriage-covenant, the political and religious departure of both kingdoms from the principles laid down in the law, appears as wantonness (
æָðָä
), Eze_16:15 (Jam_4:4).—Here also (comp. Eze_20:7 sq.) they are said to be tainted with the spirit of Egypt. Comp. also at Eze_16:26. In their youth, points (comp. Eze_16:22; Eze_16:43) to their innate corruption, showing itself early in sinful lust.—Even when still unwedded (Eze_16:8), as Jehovah’s betrothed, the conduct of the people was to be judged according to Deu_22:23. Comp. farther, Eze_16:7; Hos_2:4 [2].—
òִùּׂåּ
, the Egyptians (Eze_23:8). Egypt was the means of exciting the first carnal impulses of the youthful people to a heathenish mode of feeling and action, whereby they were robbed of their virgin purity. The Sept. explains their virginity according to Deu_22:20. Hitz. repels the idea of any allusion to idolatry, and makes the reference to be to the oppression by the Egyptians.
Eze_23:4. Oholah = her tent, i.e. either generally (Hengst.): that has a house of her own, an independent existence, or (on account of the contrast to Oholibah): who possesses her wilfully erected sanctuary (1Ki_12:28 sq., 16), which makes it unnecessary to think of an abbreviation of
àָäֳìָäִÎáָäּ
, her tent in her. Häv., while maintaining the Hittite reference, Eze_16:3, etc., makes prominent the allusion found in it to the history of Esau, and explains Oholibah relative to Gen_36:2, inasmuch as Aholibamah [Oholibamah], who is called Judith in an earlier passage (Gen_26:34), could most appropriately represent the kingdom of Judah. While Aholibamah merely means (tent of the high place): My tent (house, family) is a height (“I have a high tent”), in the name Oholibah—My tent (namely, Jehovah’s, who speaks) in her—the reference is taken from the tabernacle; whereby one is reminded of the habit which prevailed among the exiles of naming their children from the temple and similar objects (1Ch_3:20; Ezr_2:43; Ezr_2:59), to express their yearning for restoration. (Moreover, the members of a family in the East often bear the same or like-sounding names.) The kingdom of Judah had also the advantage of possessing the one true sanctuary, which, however, made its guilt the more aggravated. The great is to be rendered, as in Eze_16:46, and not with Hengst.: the elder, with an allusion to Joseph’s precedence, Gen_49:26, to that of Ephraim in the time of Joshua and the judges, and to that of Benjamin which belonged to the ten tribes in the time of Saul, while Judah attained supremacy only in the time of David (Psalms 78.). Häv. combines with the political importance of Samaria, owing to its greater extent, its priority in sin as well as in punishment.—Comp. Eze_16:8; Eze_16:20. Häv. translates
åַúִּäְéֶéðָä ìִé
: “And they belonged to me as wives,” with emphasis.—The explanation of the names as those of Samaria and Jerusalem (representing Judah as hitherto) closes this introduction.
Eze_23:5-10
. Oholah’s Adulterous Wantonness (Eze_23:5-8) and Punishment (Eze_23:9-10)
Eze_23:5-8. The Harlotries
Eze_23:5. Comp. at Eze_16:32. Hitz.: “When she turned her back on me” (?). So also the Chaldee. But rather is the marriage relation pointed to, in the line of Eze_23:4 (Hos_4:12). Umbr.: “While she rests under her husband, her thoughts run wantonly after others.”—
òָâַá
, found only in Jeremiah and Ezekiel, means: to desire, to burn. The description of the Assyrians begins with
÷ְøåֹáִéí
. If is in apposition, like all that follows. The nearness is to be taken neither locally, nor yet morally—of inward relationship, but it brings into prominence the historical element, the time when the Assyrians became neighbours of Israel; comp. 2Ki_15:17 sq., Eze_16:9, Eze_17:3. [The supposition of a loose connection of the words=“and neighbours,” who were somewhere in her neighbourhood, is not consistent with what follows. Others: Who came near her lustfully (Gen_20:4). Häv.: “So closely related, intimate, trusted friends,” that alliances were made with them, and their favour courted, until, from being bosom friends, they became deadly enemies. There is nothing of all this in the context, which only states that on the first opportunity, namely, when the Assyrians approached, Israel was captivated by the carnal glory of the world-power, which is then portrayed with greater minuteness.]—This political power is Assyria, which does not come into view, in the first place, on the side of its idolatry; but when Israel wantoned after it from political motives, this infidelity to the idea of their complete dependence on God could not fail to issue, from the first, in apostasy from God, and the other natural consequences of the forbidden relationship.
Eze_23:6. Description of the Assyrians from the view-point of Israel’s apostate heart, to whom this world-power seemed most imposing, as Hengst. remarks: “with a touch of irony.” The impressions are entirely such as are made on the mind of a carnal woman, whereby the previously mentioned doting gaze is accounted for.—
úְּëֵìֶú
, either from its thick, hard shell, or from its dark colour, is the name of a mussel (helix ianthina) with a purple shell, from which a blue or violet purple was made.—
ôֶּçָä
is a foreign word, denoting the military governor of a province. Similarly
íָâָï
(
íֶâֶï
) = the representative of the prince, commander-in-chief. (Something like governors and generals.)—The special mention of horses is intended to distinguish the noblest and proudest class of riders from those riding on asses and camels.
Eze_23:7.
îִáְçַø
briefly resumes Eze_23:6, in order, perhaps, to suggest, besides the “choice,” etc., those who were of less account; at all events, she doted also on others, as the Egyptians, who are presently mentioned.—
åּáְëֹì× áְּëָì×
, the one illustrating the other; the political confederation with the heathen led to idolatry. (Hengst.: The idols of the world-powers are not beyond and above them, but themselves made objective.)
Eze_23:8. Thither Jeroboam’s calf-worship pointed back, so that their ancient deliverance from Egypt, instead of remaining a fact, had become a mere tradition. As to the political application (Rashi), 2Ki_17:4 is to be compared. Hitzig takes it in an exclusively political sense.
Eze_23:9-10
. The Punishment
Eze_23:9. The recompense for Eze_23:7 : “And she bestowed,” “Therefore I gave.” Comp. 2 Kings 17
Eze_23:10. The shame of her wantonness is succeeded by the shame of punishment, executed by her paramours themselves. Comp. besides, Eze_16:37. So in the figure; as to the fact, it was accomplished by the captivity of the people, the slaughter of those on whom the existence of the kingdom depended, of the men who were able to bear arms, so that Israel became notorious among the nations on account of its shameful overthrow, Eze_16:41.
Eze_23:11-35
. Oholibah’s Guilt (Eze_23:11-21) and Punishment (Eze_23:22-35)
Eze_23:11-21. The Guilt
Eze_23:11. She saw both the transgressions and their recompense. The former should have filled her with loathing, by the latter she should have been warned. But her corrupt conduct was still worse than that of Samaria (Eze_16:47).
Eze_23:12. Comp. 2Ki_16:7 sq.; 2Ch_28:19 sq.—Comp. at Eze_23:6; Eze_23:5.—
îִëְìåֹì
(in Eze_23:6,
úְּëֵìֶú
) means: perfection, therefore: splendour; not exactly (Sept.): “with beautiful (purple) fringe,” as Hitz. Ewald: “clothed in martial coats of mail.”
Eze_23:13. And I saw, counterpart to
åַúֵּøֶà
, Eze_23:11. (Comp. Jer_3:8) The way and end of both sisters were the same.
Eze_23:14. The description of Judah’s baser conduct follows. Her relations with the Assyrians were similar to those of Samaria. They had in reality approached the kingdom of Judah, as they had the kingdom of Israel. In regard to the Chaldeans, on the other hand, the relation to them was brought about by means of likenesses, which Judah saw,—
îְçֻ÷ֶּä
, partic. Pual, something engraven or sketched, painted. (Häv.: probably coloured bas-reliefs), in vermilion (which would be all the more appropriate for warriors); or perhaps in ochre, as frescoes of this description for the glorification of the Chaldean commanders and their victories were sufficiently common in Ezekiel’s neighbourhood. The representation here, therefore, may possibly be the mere drapery of the thought, that the bare report of the military prowess of the Chaldeans had inflamed the imagination and the senses of Judah. So Hengst. Owing to the undeniable intercourse between nations in the Old World, which certainly obtained between Palestine and Babylon, it is not in itself unimaginable that such wall-pictures of representatives of foreign nations may have existed in the royal palaces of Judah. Hitz. here takes note of “the influence (of pictures) on a woman’s imagination,” under which figure Judah is personified. Häv. cites Eze_8:10, and thinks of “pictorial representations from the circle of Chaldean mythological ideas.” The Chaldean embassy of 2Ki_20:12 sq., 2Ch_32:31 (comp. Delitzsch on Isaiah 39), shows that the Chaldeans kept up intercourse with Judah, even when Assyria was still the dominant world-power. May not this embassy have been perpetuated by a painting as the occasion of an alliance with the Chaldeans against Assyria? Ewald supposes: “beautiful idol-pictures, which, as e.g. Mithras, were represented in the human form,” and cites Eze_8:16.
Eze_23:15. The flowing turbans are such as may be seen on the monuments of ancient Nineveh, with which the following descriptions correspond throughout. See Layard’s Nineveh and Babylon. [
èָáַì
refers not so much to the colour (gay), but rather means originally to twist round. Layard remarks, by the way: “The general was clothed in embroidered robes, and wore on his head a fillet adorned with rosettes, and long tasselled bands.” Probably, waving head-bands. The Kurds, who still preserve the most ancient Eastern customs, wear on their bright-coloured turbans, appendages which hang over their neck and shoulders.]—
ùָׁìִéùׁ
in the plural betokens the charioteers, of whom there were three, in each chariot, one driving, one bearing the shield, and a third fighting. (Appearance and likeness; see Eze_1:5.) The emphasizing of: the land of their birth, according to Hengst., is intended to form a contrast to the Assyrians, whom Judah saw in her own land,—to point perhaps to Ur (Gen_11:28) of the Chaldees (Abraham’s native land), so that the original blood - relationship may have been alluded to in this political intercourse (?). Häv.: “The Chaldean’s fatherland theirs,” which sarcastically places side by side, the original home of the once fierce and warlike people, and the idolatrous pictures, which resemble them, but not the existing faineant Babylonians. The statement made by the sentence is simpler: that even they were not farther removed than Abraham, the founder of the Jewish people,—“whose fathers served strange gods in Ur of the Chaldees (Jos_24:2), so that he was called thence,” etc., as Cocc. remarks.
Eze_23:16. Apodosio to Eze_23:14 : “And she saw,” resumed by: as soon as her eye saw. The messengers mentioned here can scarcely be those of Jer_29:3. “They were probably,” says Hengst., “the occasion of the embassy sent from the Chaldeans, who were to take a view of the resources of the people proposing an alliance.” This side of the history of Judah is not described elsewhere. Enough that Judah, as is in itself probable, made the first advances (Eze_16:29).
Eze_23:17. The political alliance led to religious defilement—was itself, in fact, religious defection; and after the defilement was effected, it led again to political hostility. Judah found that it had only changed its masters. Jehoiakim and Zedekiah rebelled against Babylon, 2 Kings 24.—In
ðָ÷ַò
(the weaker form is
éָ÷ַò
, from which the fut. is derived) there lies the idea of satiety and loathing; in this sense the meaning of the verb is: to push away any one, to break a relationship, to be alienated from any one. Comp. 1Co_6:16; Eze_18:6; Eze_18:11.
Eze_23:18. Yet the satiety was not absolute. Others take the connection thus: “and when she had discovered,” etc., “then was,” etc. But more is meant to be stated as the ground of Jehovah’s estrangement, for Judah’s alienation from the Chaldeans might also have led her back to Jehovah. More general prostitution, however, was the result, by which is especially meant alliances with the lesser states against Babylon, and at the same time breaches of faith towards men, Eze_17:15. Jehovah’s estrangement from Judah is a suggestive parallel to Judah’s from the Chaldeans.
Eze_23:19. Comp. Eze_23:3; Eze_23:8, Eze_16:51. But Judah multiplied, etc. Instead of remembering the misery of her youth, and the grace then shown (Eze_16:22; Eze_16:43), she thought only of renewing quite another “first love” than that of Jehovah.
Eze_23:20.
òַì
is unjustifiably pressed by some interpreters (“beyond,” more than the neighbouring people of Egypt, or, “together with,” Eze_16:37), as its construction with
òָâַá
in the chapter sufficiently shows. Nor does this single masculine form of
ôִּìֶּâֶùׁ
, which is elsewhere fem., justify the interpretation of Kimchi, that Judah wished to be the concubine of the Egyptians. It is rather a derision of the Egyptian eunuchs, i.e. courtiers and officers who mediated the alliance with Egypt. (
ôִּìַּâְùֵׁéäֶí
does not mean the men-concubines, which the Egyptians are, nor is it to be taken in the sense of eunuchus imbellis, or puer mollis, or polyandry.) The representation which follows is sufficiently explained by the particularly lecherous character of the animals mentioned, and describes the obscene character of the Egyptians (Eze_16:26). Hengst.: “The falling power of Egypt sought to provide a prop for itself by diplomatic art.”
Eze_23:21 sums up. “The sudden transition to the address in Eze_23:21 is explained by this, that the prophet has the actual state of affairs (the union with Egypt) before his eyes” (Hengst.).—
áְּ
explains
æִîַּú×
in accordance with Eze_23:3, to which the inexperienced sensuousness and carnality of the youthful people presented the inducement.
Eze_23:22-35
. Oholibah’s Punishment
Eze_23:22. She is punished by those with whom she had wantoned. Comp. Eze_23:9. The following verse shows who are meant. Those from whom she would (Eze_23:17) escape out of loathing, will not allow her to escape punishment.
Eze_23:23. The sons, etc., are more definitely personified. Ewald regards the three names as the proper names of three subordinate Chaldee tribes, which are placed together from similarity of sound. As there is no proof of this, nor even of their being nomina propria, modern interpreters for the most part regard them as the titles of Chaldee dignitaries (Hengst.: “Pekod =supremacy; Shoa = the chief; Koa, of uncertain meaning”), or three classes of the people, three branches of the military force, or three ranks in it (Hitz.: “noble and prince and lord”). From the description, the assembly which is to be gathered together to execute punishment, shall be great and imposing. The Assyrians figure as part of it, and are ironically represented in the manner of Eze_23:12 (6).—
àåֹúָí
, therefore the
ùָׁìִùִׁéí
form Eze_23:15 are named.
÷ְøåּàִéí
, Ew.: renowned, which Hitz. questions. For the purpose in hand, the word is either formed after Num_1:16; Num_16:2 : formally “appointed,” or means generally: “summoned.”
Eze_23:24. The assembly was not more conspicuous for its numbers than for the completeness of its equipments,
äֹöֶï
(
çöï
)
ἁð
.
ëåã
. (something hard, cutting, sharp), signifying indefinitely: weapon, so that a threefold equipment is specified. [Meier: battle-axe. Hengst.: sabre (a Chaldee military word). Ewald: “with shoulder, bridle, and wheel,” as the three modes in which soldiers advance,—shouldering (with bent arm), riding, and driving.] The missing
áְּ
is easily understood; but it is not required, as the three expressions standing for the concretes, foot, horse, and chariots, could be the subject to
åּáָàåּ
.—
åּáּ÷ְäַì×
(
å
explic.), since the assembly of peoples in the manner of the Israelitish congregation (Eze_23:23) supplies the proper element for the judgment which is to be held. To indicate that they (while on Jehovah’s mission) are secured against any anxiety as to the result, three pieces of exclusively defensive armour are now mentioned, which correspond to the above threefold description,—the shield which covered the whole person, the smaller shield of the light-armed soldier, and the helmet. They received from God the right to judge according to their judgments, their ideas of judgment. Thus it was a divine judgment. They were judges in God’s stead. But with a reference, at the same time, to the fact that Judah had been in fellowship with them politically, religiously, and morally.
Eze_23:25. The jealousy of God was turned against Israel; in consequence of it the judgments of the heathen were fierce. The mutilation is to be understood in conformity with common Asiatic and Chaldee usages, but, in the present connection, of the “severing of portions of the national body-corporate” (Hitz.), or with Hengst., of the annihilation of their military strength, which is to a people what “nose and ears” are to a woman. The older interpreters understood Judah’s royal splendour, or (Kimchi) kingdom and priesthood. The remnant is defined the first time by “nose” and “ears,” so that there is pronounced, on the one hand, mutilation, and on the other, slaughter; the meaning of the expression in the second instance is defined by the carrying away of the children, so that it can only refer to the empty houses (Eze_16:41).
[Henderson: “Eze_23:25-26. Punishment by cutting off the nose and ears was inflicted for adultery, not only among the Chaldeans, but also among the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. It was therefore most appropriate to represent that which adulterous Judah was to suffer, under the image of such ignominious and cruel treatment. They were also to be stripped of what lewd females set most value upon—their rich dresses and costly jewels, by which they attract the notice of their paramours, Eze_16:39.”—W. F.]
Eze_23:26. Eze_16:39; Eze_16:17. The plundering is either symbolical or actual.
Eze_23:27. The lewdness is made to cease by God as to subject and object.
Eze_23:29. Hatred (Eze_23:28) and counter-hatred instead of all the former intimacy. Despoiling by the Chaldeans till she is reduced to her original condition in Egypt (Eze_16:7), from which results the discovery of her guilt and accumulated infamy (Eze_16:37).
Eze_23:31 (Eze_23:13). The figure of the cup, to represent the final issue, under the idea of drinking out.
Eze_23:32. The cup described as containing much.
úִּäְéֶä
is the 3d, not the 2d pers., and the subject to it, is either the cup or
îִøְáָä
(amplitude, wideness); but the former is preferable, with the latter as epexegetical. The cup, from its capacity, occasions the derisive laughter of the enemies,—that the person, formerly so wide-mouthed and haughty, now become so insignificant, requires to swallow so much.
Eze_23:33. What the cup contains for those who have to empty it, and hence what cup it is. Stupefaction with sorrow and woe, until they are distracted by the wasting and desolation ! (The verse begins with
ùִׁëָּøåֹï
, and ends with
ùֹׁîְøåֹï
.)
Eze_23:34. Not so much an intensification of the figure (Keil), as of the drunkenness, arising from the anguish of thought. In the madness of her pain she licks up the last drops of the cup. Her affliction is her thirst.—The sherds point to an earthen cup—nothing is gilded or splendid in this Nemesis-song—and presuppose a breaking in pieces, which is incidentally set forth in the madness which follows; but the word is especially intended to fit in with
úְּðָøֵîִé
, which expresses the idea of crushing or gnawing the sherds with the teeth, in order to suck out the last drops of moisture left in them. (Hengst. says merely: “Thou shalt break the sherds thereof, as one who, having taken a very disagreeable potion, shatters the vessel in ill-humour.”) The tearing of the breasts is placed beside the breaking of the sherds, as if it were done by means of the sherd-fragments. Or it may even have been done in frenzy by her own nails. See Eze_23:3; Eze_23:8, in reference to the breasts. “We find a historical illustration of this in the treatment they gave Gedaliah, the Chaldean governor, for which they were compelled to suffer, Jeremiah 41.” (Hengst.)
Eze_23:35. Eze_22:12.—She followed after the heathen and their gods (Eze_23:30).—Eze_16:43; Eze_16:52; Eze_16:58.
Eze_23:36-49
. Oholah’s and Oholibah’s Abominations together. Eze_23:36-45. The Abominations. Eze_23:46-49. The Judgment
Eze_23:36-45. The Abominations
Eze_23:36. Eze_22:2; Eze_20:4. Since the ripeness of both of them for judgment is evident, this refrain is most appropriate.—(Eze_16:2)
Eze_23:37. Adultery with the idols, and blood-shedding, as in Eze_22:3, etc. Eze_16:38. The latter illustrated by the bloody sacrificing of children. (Eze_23:4. Eze_16:20; Eze_20:31)
Eze_23:38. Eze_20:27.—Eze_5:11. (2Ki_21:4-5; 2Ki_21:7) In the same day, makes the shocking contrast more obvious. Desecration of the sanctuary and Sabbath, as in Eze_22:8.
Eze_23:39. (Eze_16:21.) To their idols, explains “to them” at the close of Eze_23:37.—The doing of the one and the other,—this was the special affront to Jehovah. Not that children were sacrificed in the temple, but Jehovah was repaired to after Moloch, each in their several places. That which was “defilement” of the sanctuary in Eze_23:38, when the idea of offering to Moloch was included, is here called “profanation,” when both are treated separately. To profane it, however, seems to mean something more, namely: that they came to the temple to profane it also by alien rites of all sorts, as the clause: and lo … in the midst of My house, evinces (Eze_8:3 sq.). The immediately following change from the plural to the singular shows that the background is here supplied, by the period subsequent to the destruction of Israel; Judah appears before the prophet’s eye for Israel, partly on account of the temple, but also in consideration of all Israel’s relations to Judah both before and after (2Ch_15:9; 2Ch_30:11).
Eze_23:40. Climax, a non plus.—
úִּùְׁìַçְðָä
is not the 2d plur. (address), but is said of both, although it could also be the 3d sing. The signification of the imperf. shows the conduct as continuous; not once and again, but they were wont to do so. Ew.: “They sent repeatedly.” Unless it be merely a repetition of Eze_23:16 from a new point of view? The point of the coming from afar is not in its contrast to the near (Eze_23:5; Eze_23:12), but in the exertions which it presupposes, so that it is expressly added: to whom a messenger was sent, although this was already involved in: they sent. And, lo, they came, seems to say this, that those who were far off were at last moved, and actually came. Which may apply to others besides the Chaldeans. To this correspond the special exertions she makes to prepare herself for those whom she has addressed, as “washing;” then painting the eyes (
ëָּçַì
, to make dark)—staining the eyelashes and eyebrows with a powder, so as to make the glance of the eye more brilliant (comp. Winer, Realw.); and finally the attire in general, 2Ki_9:30; Jer_4:30.
Eze_23:41. “Sitting” is the most natural rendering with
îִèָּä
, couch, cushion; with which also the rest harmonizes. The placing of the table betokens the preparation of a meal (according to the prevalent custom). Hengst.: “Eating and drinking play an important part in harlotry, either in the usual or the spiritual sense.” (
ì
—
äָ
, to be referred, not to
ùֻׁìְçָï
, which is masc., but to
îִèָּä
.) Every effort was made to fill the heart’s emptiness in relation to Jehovah, by other and remote associations. For this purpose she placed even Jehovah’s holy incense (Exo_30:1 sq.) and oil beside herself on the couch, so that nothing was any longer sacred to her. Comp. Eze_16:18. [Hengst.: The bed is made fragrant by the incense and oil; whereby are meant the rich gifts by which Judah sought to purchase the favour of the heathen sovereigns, Isa_30:6; Isa_57:9 (?). Hitz.: The oil is used at table for anointing, and the incense kindled to excite sensuous feeling. Adultery through commercial intercourse is meant, so that it can be the merchant’s table, where oil could be exchanged for incense. Häv. understands it of the lascivious worship of the Babylonish Mylitta. The wanton Israel is described as preparing herself for one of the high festivals of this goddess, and as abandoning herself to strangers like the young women of Babylon; incense and oil, therefore, for the purposes of a religious ceremony.]
Eze_23:42.
äָîåֹï
(
äָîָä
), a humming; hence, from the sound of the noise it makes: a crowd. Loose, in a bad sense. In her, pointing away from the figure to the fact. [Hengst.: “Secure murmur,” arising from the self-confident intercourse of the adulterers with the adulteresses, from the festivals which were held for the sealing of political friendship. Ew.: “While a godless shouting resounded thereat.” Keil: “The loud noise became still” (!?). Häv. recalls the reckless wantonness which characterized the worship of Aphrodite in the East.] The loud, dominant voice, which is alone heard in Jerusalem, is further explained as loose, from the fact that it is the voice of the great (godless) multitude, rich and poor, high and low, with whom those brought from the wilderness (Eze_23:40, “men coming from afar”) associate themselves (
îåּáָàִéí
, Hoph. makes a paronomasia with
ñåֹáָàִéí
). By this the coalition against Nebuchadnezzar, already frequently referred to, must be meant, not (as Hengst.) “the great anti-Assyrian coalition in the time of Hezekiah,” which can be no element in the ripeness for judgment referred to in this chapter. [According to Hengst.,
ñåֹáָàִéí
is a mixed form that signifies both Sabeans and topers, loose barbarians, besides many others from all the world; and the verse should be referred to political connections with Ethiopia. (Isa_37:9; Isa_43:3; Isa_45:14; 2Ki_19:9; Isaiah 18)] That the people of the multitude, who are the same as the “men coming from afar” of Eze_23:40, represent the Assyrians (Keil) cannot be evidenced by Isa_39:3, since those mentioned there are Babylonians, therefore Chaldeans; nor can the drunkards from the wilderness (here Keil makes
îִîִּãְáָּø
correspond to
îִîֶּøְçָ÷
(!)) be the Chaldeans, who are afterwards called “righteous men.” The addition: “from the wilderness,” does not (as Häv.) refer to the Arabian-Syrian wilderness, which separated Babylon from Palestine, but must be taken as an antithesis to
áָäּ
,—from the region outside Jerusalem. Jerusalem accordingly appears as a political harlot-house, in which the counterpart to the native multitude, with their noisy watch-cry, is formed by the foreign dissolute rabble, the political sots of the coalition against Babylon. [Hitz. supposes the Arabians, Dedanites, and Sabeans, who had in their hands the commerce between the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean. But commercial relations are not in question, apart from the fact whether such could be depicted as harlotry. As the commercial highways did not pass through Jerusalem, they must have been induced (according to Hitz.) to go thither by special circumstances. Ew. regards
ñåֹáָàִéí
as a pathetic repetition of
îåּáָàִéí
, since he translates: “And for men … brought from the wilderness, they laid bracelets,” etc.] The giving of the bracelets and the crown suggests how the combination against Nebuchadnezzar, referred to, promised to reunite Judah and Israel as one kingdom (therefore “crown,” in the singular), and generally, as the expressive parallel in Eze_16:11-12 shows, to restore them to their ancient glory. Such was the harlot-reward given to the adulterous women on this side. [According to Häv., the words betoken the self-adornment of the women with an eye to the crowd (?). Jerome supposes that the women had so adorned their lovers, that even men wore bracelets. Hitz. finds in it that both lands had become not only rich, but also luxurious, through commerce.]
Eze_23:43. The judgment-boding sentence of God upon such abominations. If
åָàֹîַø
be taken with
ìַáָּìָä
, the translation would be. And I said to, or of, etc. The older translators connect the latter word with
ðִàֻôִéí
, and supply
áְּ
, in adulteries; the more modern take it in the same connection, but accusatively: In relation to, no more capable of, etc. Hitz. as a question: “Does the faded one prosecute adultery?” So also Hengst.: “Are adulteries to the faded? i.e. shall her adulteries still go on to the worn out?” The subject to
éִæְðֶä
(for which the Qeri reads:
òַúָּä éִæְðåּ
) is, according to some, the woman in question (?); as Ewald: “Now she also prosecutes her whoredoms,” i.e. Judah is as Samaria; according to others:
úַæְðåּúֶéäָ
, taken generally as adulterous character and conduct; and
åָäִéà
personifies her still surviving, indestructible lewdness, although the woman herself has become shrivelled: “Now shall her lewdness itself go a-whoring” (Hitz.). It is less forced to assume a question, which applies the resultant
áָּìָä ðְàֻôִéí
to paramour, adulteries, and adulteress, which expresses what should be the consequence of sin, even before judgment decrees and executes punishment. [Hengst.: “Shall adulteries be still committed even with her?” The Lord cannot possibly suffer this, He must at length make an end (Eze_23:45). Philippson renders
åָäִéà
: “when she is so (withered)!” Rashi: “Yet she continues to play the wanton.”]
Eze_23:44.
åַéָּáåֹà
justifies our exposition of
éִæְðֶä
in the previous verse. On this account, therefore, judgment is influenced to descend upon those who are ripe for it. Jerusalem, as stated, and as is expressly added, represents the whole people. Comp. also Eze_16:30.—
àִùֹּׁú
, a unique plural.
Eze_23:45. The judges and executioners are called righteous—comp. at Eze_23:24—because they carry out God’s judgment conformably to the judgment appropriate to such women (Isa_49:24). A moral comparison between the Chaldeans and the Jews is not intended, nor are prophets and righteous men among the people themselves to be imagined.—Comp. Eze_16:38.—Comp. at Eze_23:37.
Eze_23:46-49
. The Judgment
Eze_23:46. According to Hengst. and many others, an address to the prophet: “Bring up” in the might of prophecy. Others suppose the infin, absol to stand either for the indefinite 3d pers. fut., or (Hitz.) the 1st pers. (Eze_21:31).—The company retains the character of the previous description of the Chaldeans as “righteous,” Eze_16:40. The heathen are thus solicitous about that which Israel, as a congregation, had neglected to do (Judges 20).—As in the previous verse, the masc. suffix interchanges with the fem., the reference passing over from the figurative to the actual—the men in question. Comp. besides, Eze_7:21, and at Deu_28:25.
Eze_23:47. The company—the Chaldeans—again made specially prominent. Cleave (comp. at Eze_21:24) is here used in its natural sense.—Comp. Eze_23:25.
Eze_23:48. Eze_23:27, Eze_16:41.—
åְðִåַּñְּøåּ
, according to Gesen., for
ðִúְåַñְּøåּ
, if the Rabbin, punctuation be maintained; otherwise it could be read:
ðåֹñְøåּ
, Niph. instead of a mixed Nithpael. Deterrent beacon for all peoples, as Eze_23:10; Eze_5:15.
Eze_23:49
åְðָúְðåּ
, according to some: the women, namely, with their tongues; according to most: the avengers noted in Eze_23:45,—in very deed. [Hitz.: “the heavenly powers.”] In consequence of this recompense, those who are thus judged bear in their punishment the sins of the idols, those occasioned by them, committed with, i.e. by means of them. (Eze_23:7; Eze_23:30; Eze_23:37)—Eze_16:58.
[“The closing part of the description represents the two women, and especially the one that personated the people of Judah, as persevering to the last in their wicked and profligate courses. Like persons in the final stages of abandonment, they went on rioting in the ways of evil, unchecked by all the troubles and humiliations they had experienced in the past; and now, therefore, as utterly reprobate and hardened and hopeless, they must be adjudged to the doom appointed against such incorrigible and shameless offenders. So the doleful story ends. The prophet looks only, from first to last, to the course of crime and its deserved recompense; and he allows the curtain to drop without one gleam of hope as to the future. He sees that the hammer of the law in its strongest form is needed to break the hard and stony heart of the people. So urgent was the call for a work of conviction, and so great the danger of that not being effectually wrought, that he would not drop a word which might lighten the impression of guilt upon their minds, or afford the least excuse for delay. His message was, Now or never. Judged by the sense of right and wrong current among men, your conduct toward God calls for judgment without mercy. And if there be not immediately awakened the contrition of sincere repentance, you have nothing to expect but the most unsparing visitations of wrath.”—Fairbairn’s Ezekiel, p. 257.—W. F.]
DOCTRINAL REFLECTIONS
(See Doct. Reflec. on Ezekiel 20 and Ezekiel 16)
1. As contrast is an inherent element in all human development, so through the people
êáô
̓
ἐîï÷çí
, among the peoples, a dualism immediately accompanies the evolution of the triad of the patriarchs to the dodecad, in its relativeness (of the 3 to the 4) to the world as a permeating influence. The two foci of the ellipse illustrate for us the history of the chosen people in their orbit. Even in Genesis 49 (comp. therewith Deuteronomy 33), Joseph, as against Judah, is prominent compared with the others. If the first position in the camp was allotted to Judah, and a signally large extent of territory in Canaan bestowed on it, to Joseph (and Ephraim took precedence of Manasseh, Genesis 48) belonged the distinction of furnishing the nation with Joshua, the leader of the host and conqueror of Canaan, as well as of long retaining the tabernacle in its midst. (For the independence of Ephraim in the time of the judges, comp. Jdg_8:12; Psalms 78) The jealousy which obtained between the two appears, after Saul’s death, in the kingdom of Ishbosheth. Only the centralizing personality of a David was capable of unifying the existing dualism. Yet the fire of discord, which continued to smoulder beneath outward harmony, nourished the rebellion of Absalom and the revolt of Sheba. Under Solomon, it is true, the glory of the nation silenced for the time the variance of the two tribes; but Solomon’s polytheistic aberration from the monotheistic path introduced an additional element of division. When sin, including that of Rehoboam and the seceding tribes, had in this way accomplished the division into the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel, this result of sin was at the same time a judgment of God; for which, however, the foundation was laid in that original dualism b
