Ezekiel 23

This chapter belongs to the prophecies of judgment against Jerusalem in the first part of Ezekiel (chapters 1–24). The previous chapter lists Jerusalem's sins; this chapter recasts those sins as the story of two sisters' harlotry. It is a companion to Ezekiel 16, which uses the same marriage imagery.

Outline

• Verses 1–4 Two daughters of one mother commit whoredoms in Egypt from their youth. The elder is Oholah (Samaria), and the younger is Oholibah (Jerusalem).
• Verses 5–10 Oholah dotes on the Assyrians and defiles herself with their idols. God delivers her into the hand of Assyria, and the Assyrians slay her with the sword.
• Verses 11–21 Oholibah becomes more corrupt than her sister. She dotes on the Assyrians, sends messengers after seeing images of the Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion on the wall, and again longs for the days of her youth in Egypt.
• Verses 22–35 The Babylonians, the Chaldeans, and the men of Pekod, Shoa, Koa, and Assyria come against her, cut off her nose and ears, and strip her of her clothes. Oholibah drinks her sister's cup, the cup of astonishment and desolation.
• Verses 36–45 The two sisters are accused of defiling the sanctuary and profaning the Sabbaths on the same day they burned their children as offerings to idols, and of sending for men from afar and adorning themselves to receive them.
• Verses 46–49 An army stones them, slays them with the sword, and burns their houses. The chapter closes with God's declaration, "ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD."

Key Verses

• Ezekiel 23:4 "Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah." The text itself identifies what the parable represents.
• Ezekiel 23:35 "Because thou hast forgotten me, and cast me behind thy back." This shows that the imagery of harlotry ultimately speaks of the sin of forsaking God.
• Ezekiel 23:49 "Ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD." This is the recurring formula in Ezekiel that states the purpose of judgment.

Characters and Places

• Oholah (KJV: Aholah): The elder sister, representing Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel.
• Oholibah (KJV: Aholibah): The younger sister, representing Jerusalem, the capital of Judah. Both names are commonly explained as related to the word for "tent" (tabernacle).
• Son of man: The title by which God addresses the prophet Ezekiel.
• Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon: The great powers on which the two sisters "doted."
• Chaldeans: A people who lived in southern Babylonia; in this chapter the term is used almost synonymously with Babylon.
• Pekod, Shoa, and Koa: Names of peoples belonging to the Babylonian army. Their exact locations are uncertain.

Points for Reflection

• Many commentators hold that the parable refers to actual historical events. In this interpretation, the political alliances that Israel and Judah made in reliance on Assyria, Babylon, and Egypt, along with the foreign religions that came with them, are described as "harlotry." The fall of Samaria (c. 722 B.C.; see fall of the northern kingdom of Israel) is portrayed as Oholah's fate, and the impending fall of Jerusalem as Oholibah's.
• The language is extremely graphic and contains many depictions of violence against women. For this reason, some modern scholars critically examine the way the parable uses female imagery. Traditional interpretation understands it as rhetoric intended to expose the gravity of betraying the covenant.
• The portrayal of Israel and Judah as two sisters also appears in Jeremiah 3, and the tradition of depicting God and His people as husband and wife is connected with Hosea.
• The image of the "cup" of judgment also appears in other Old Testament prophetic books. Revelation 17, which portrays a harlot together with the cup of judgment, is frequently compared with this chapter.