Chapter Twenty-Three

Oholah and Oholibah

The chapter is parallel to XVI and XX: like those, it considers the idolatry of Israel, as the cause of the coming destruction, historically, and like chapter XVI, it presents idolatry under the image of adultery; but in distinction from those chapters a) it is more occupied with the later history of Israel (eighth and seventh centuries); b) it deals more with political history than religious – alliances with neighboring peoples, though these, – insofar as they had religious consequences – attraction to foreign cults, on which the very names of the sisters hint; c) more than chapter XVI, it speaks of the northern (Oholah) kingdom; d) it does not have messianic promises in its conclusion. Division: 1-4. The harlotry of the sisters Oholah – Samaria and Oholibah – Jerusalem in the first period of their life – with the Egyptians. 5-10. The harlotry of Oholah with the Assyrians and Egyptians and her punishment. 11-21. The harlotry of Oholibah with the Assyrians (11-13), Chaldeans (14-18) and Egyptians (19-21). 22-35. Her punishment. 36-49. The justness of this punishment.

Ezekiel 23:2. Son of man! There were two women, daughters of one mother, Samaria and Jerusalem – sisters, as in Ezek 16:45-46, but of their mother, as there (“a Hittite”), it is not said.

Ezekiel 23:3. And they played the harlot in Egypt, they played the harlot in their youth; there their breasts were pressed, and there the bosoms of their virginity were handled. The thought of Israel’s attraction to Egyptian idolatry in the period of Egyptian slavery is already expressed by Ezekiel in Ezek 16:26; see there; compare Ezek 20:8. “Their breasts were pressed.” A cutting realism that sounds harsh to our ears, but indifferent to the simplicity of the ancients. Delicate silence about what follows. Slavonic: “their breasts fell.” – “The bosoms of their virginity.” Symmachus: τιτθοι, breasts. The LXX omit, perhaps bashfully, leaving only the concept of virginity: “defiled your virginity”.

Ezekiel 23:4. Their names: the elder was Oholah, and her sister was Oholibah. And they became Mine, and bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Samaria is Oholah and Jerusalem is Oholibah. The names of the sisters Oholah and Oholibah previously were translated: the first as “her tabernacle”, and the second as “My tabernacle in her” and interpreters found in them an indication that whereas the Israelite kingdom introduced worship of alien gods and built for them tabernacles at high places (Ezek 16:16), the Judean kingdom had the lawful Temple, which replaced the ancient tabernacle, in Jerusalem. But later commentators drew attention to the fact that such an explanation would not accord with Ezekiel’s view that the Judean kingdom more than the Israelite devoted itself to idolatry (Ezek 16:46-47). Naturally, for the prophet to give in the names of the sisters homogeneous indications: if the name of the elder sister indicates her sin, then a different indication should not be contained in the name of the younger sister. To obtain such an indication in it, commentators suggest not to consider the vowel “i” – khirek – in it as the personal pronoun “my”, but as a characteristic vowel of the ancient form for the Hebrew grammatical device status constructionis (“state of construction” – such a connection of the determined with the determiner, in which the first changes); such a khirek is called chirek compaginis; it is in the name Hevziba 2 Sam 21:1, meaning “delightful.” In such a case Oholibah will mean the same as in Gen 26:25 “oholivama” – “tabernacle on the height”; and if such shortening is questionable, then “tabernacle (that is, pagan tabernacles) in her”, and Oholah – “her tabernacle.” In the East children are often given alliterative names (Ewald reminds of the names Azan and Uzen, sons of Elihu). The example of Elkanah shows that for a man of average means among Israelites it was customary to have two wives; and the example of Jacob, that such were sisters (limitation of this in Lev 18:18). It was noted (Skinner, Expositor Bible 1895, 191) that Oholah has as many consonants as Samaria, and Oholibah – as many as Jerusalem. – The second half of the verse gives the thought that the sisters came to be called Samaria and Jerusalem already in Canaan (perhaps sometimes upon marriage or birth of children they changed names).

Ezekiel 23:5. And Oholah played the harlot while still Mine; and she lusted for her lovers, the Assyrians, her neighbors, “Lusted” – Hebrew verb “ahav”, used only by Jeremiah and Ezekiel, Slavonic: “inclined.” – “For the Assyrians.” Menahem, king of Israel, through envoys made an alliance with Pul, king of Assyria: 2 Sam 15:19. Perhaps Ezekiel knew of other alliances (he certainly knew the later history of Israel better than we do). According to cuneiform inscriptions and Jehu paid tribute to Shalmaneser (Trochon). “Her neighbors.” – Spatially the Assyrians could hardly be called neighbors of Israel; consequently, they are called so by spiritual closeness to Israel, as idolaters; or the Hebrew “keroim” should be given another meaning: derive it, for example, from “karab” – “war” – “warlike”, compare Assyrian “kiradu” – “warrior”, “hero”; or read “keruyim” – “celebrated”, “prominent”; compare the place occupied by this word in verse 12. LXX: “approaching her”, that is, lustfully.

Ezekiel 23:6. to ones clothed in blue, to governors and commanders, to all attractive young men, to horsemen riding on horses; Blinded by the brilliance and might of the Assyrians, Israel entered into an alliance with them, which opened the doors to Assyrian idolatry. This blinding is represented under the image of a woman’s attraction to an Assyrian soldier, richly dressed, commanding, attractively sitting on his horse, – cases which might have been taken by the prophet directly from life: Israelite girls could indeed be attracted by brilliant Assyrian officers. “Clothed in blue” – Hebrew “tekelet” (Assyrian “takiltu”) – blue purple (Vulgate hyacinthus; Slavonic: “scarlet cloth”) in opposition to red purple “argaman” (Ezek 27:24. Schrader, Keilinschr. and O.T., 2 ed., 155). “Purple, double cloth, acted especially on the imagination” (Hitzig). “Governors.” Hebrew “pachot” from Assyrian “paketu”, more fully “belpachati”, that is, lord of a satrapy, satrap, commanding the military forces of the district; from the root “pachah” – “to levy tribute” “to rule” or Persian “pukten” – “to care for”, “to act.” Slavonic simply: “elders” Vulgate principes. – “Commanders.” Hebrew “seganim”, Assyrian “saknu”, in classical writers ζωγαννης, perhaps the same as in cuneiform inscriptions “sakkanaku”, from the root “sakan” – “to supply”, “to replace”, – apparently a chief, or perhaps royal vicegerents; consequently, probably a rank even higher than pachot, – their commanders, royal vicegerents (Kraetzschmar). But others consider seganim subordinate to pachot; so apparently and the Russian translation. Slavonic “voivodes” – military commanders in distinction from “elders”, as civil, or military governors, generals from simply governors. Vulgate magistratus – lower than principes. – “All attractive young men” – for greater closeness of the comparison, for by youth a woman is attracted more; therefore the Vulgate felicitously: juvenes cupidinis; in the broader sense: youthful and bold and daring. – “Horsemen”, who impressed the Israelites all the more because they never had good cavalry. – “Riding on horses” – a pleonasm, or: horsemen in the proper sense in distinction from, for example, riders on military chariots.

Ezekiel 23:7. And she scattered her harlotries with all the choicest of the sons of Assyria, and she defiled herself with all the idols of those to whom she clung; “She defiled herself with all the idols of those to whom she clung.” Not only in the case of the Assyrians, but in general political alliances always drew after them the seduction of foreign cults. The northern kingdom owed the cult of Kaiwan and Sakkuth to Assyrian influence Amos 5:26, as well as in general the worship of the host of heaven 2 Sam 17:16.

Ezekiel 23:8. And she did not give up her harlotries from the time of Egypt, for they had lain with her in her youth and handled the breasts of her virginity, and poured out their lust upon her. The golden calves of Jeroboam, the cult of which persisted stubbornly until the fall of the northern kingdom, were of Egyptian origin, and the fact that it was so easy for Jeroboam to introduce and widely spread them shows how deeply rooted in the people’s soul was the inclination to Egyptian idolatry. Moreover, here are meant the alliances with Egyptian pharaohs, for example Hoshea with Shebaka (Shabaka) 2 Sam 17:4; cf. Hos 7:11.

Ezekiel 23:9. Therefore I gave her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the sons of Assyria, to whom she clung. In the fact that the Israelite kingdom was destroyed precisely by Assyria, whom it loved so much, there appeared as it were a divine irony (cf. Ezek 6:11); “at the same time this shows what kind of opinion Assyria had of Samaria” (Bertholet).

Ezekiel 23:10. They exposed her nakedness, they took her sons and daughters, and slew her with the sword. And she became a byword among women, when they executed judgment upon her. “They exposed her nakedness” – Ezek 16:37. Perhaps what is meant is that Samaria was destroyed to its foundations 2 Sam 17. – “They took her sons and daughters” – the inhabitants into captivity. – “And slew her with the sword.” Destroyed the kingdom. – “And she became a byword among women,” that is, among the neighboring peoples.

Ezekiel 23:11. Her sister Oholibah saw this, and she was more corrupt in her love than she, and her whoredom was more vile than her sister’s. The prophet devotes more space to the behavior of Oholibah, the description of which begins from this verse (until verse 35), because it lay closer to his heart, so that the fate of Oholah serves for him only to shed more light on Oholibah’s behavior, to show that she was worse than the former, whereas the awful fate of the latter should have warned her.

Ezekiel 23:12. She lusted for the sons of Assyria, governors and rulers, her neighbors, clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men. This is a repetition of verse 6. The difference in word order can perhaps be explained by the fact that here the prophet wished to enumerate individual classes of Assyrians, whereas there he spoke of them in general; furthermore, this difference proves that Ezekiel did not like to copy himself mechanically. Besides this difference, here instead of “text” – “cloth of jacinth color” is “miclol,” a word occurring only in Ezek 28:4 and, judging by the root “kalal” – “to complete,” should mean perfection, fullness; therefore the Russian translation “gorgeously”; cf. Ezek 27:24: according to the Slavonic: “in goodly woven,” ευπαρυφα; the Alexandrian codex: ευπορφυρα, Symmachus: ευκατασκευα (good armor), Theodotion: παντοια. Vulgate veste varia. Assyrian cult penetrated into Judea during the time of Ahaz 2 Sam 16:10, and after the death of Hezekiah it gained significant spread: 2 Sam 21; Ezek 8.

Ezekiel 23:13. And I saw that she was defiled, that both of them had gone one way, Jehovah for now as it were quietly looked upon the sin of Judah: cf. verse 18.

Ezekiel 23:14. But this one multiplied her harlotries, for when she saw men portrayed on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans drawn in bright red, “Multiplied her harlotries.” Jerusalem did not content itself with the Assyrian cult, which Samaria ended with as its last pagan seduction, but seduced itself with the Chaldeans, and moreover seduced itself by merely looking at images, without seeing them in person. With the seclusion of women in the East, she can fall in love with foreign “men” from their images, and Ezekiel represents the first seduction of the Chaldeans in Jerusalem as though through these images a craving for the Chaldeans awakened in the people and they began to send for them. In reality it may have been otherwise: Chaldean drawings on the walls penetrated after prolonged acquaintance with the Chaldeans and adoption of their customs. The prophet here uses oratorical freedom regarding chronology. But it is possible that the Israelites deported to Nineveh (cf. Jer 29:3), upon seeing its palaces, informed their countrymen of the beauties of the city. The monuments of Nineveh, the palaces of Nimrud, Corsabad, and Kuyunjik, have on their walls drawings that precisely correspond to Ezekiel’s description: they depict kings, princes, military commanders, battles. And the Babylonians and Assyrians were so closely bound together by origin and customs that the palaces of Nineveh may represent the palaces of Babylon, erected by Nebuchadnezzar, whom the discovered inscriptions represent mainly as a builder, saying almost nothing about his conquests (as the inscriptions of Assyrian kings always do). The images were engraved (“drawn”) and the hollows filled with “paints,” Hebrew “shahar,” according to the LXX, with which Gesenius agrees, red lead, that is, red oxide of lead (μιλτος, Slavonic “sharim”), according to Kimchi – cinnabar. The further description of the images shows that what is meant here are not religious and mythological images (as in Ezek 8:10), but ordinary frescoes adorning the walls. Characteristic is the condemnation which the prophet pronounces over the introduction of foreign art, and which the prophets in general met every attempt of this kind. On the other hand, this passage is interesting insofar as it shows how little the Israelites shut themselves off from that which attracted them abroad (Bertholet).

Ezekiel 23:15. girded with girdles upon their loins, with flowing turbans upon their heads, all of them resembling officers, the likeness of the Babylonians, whose native land is the land of the Chaldeans, “With girdles,” upon which weapons were worn; therefore the Vulgate: balteis (portage); Hebrew “ezer” should be “clothing”; Slavonic “with motleys” (varied material). – “Flowing turbans.” Hebrew “seruchey tevulim.” The first from the root “sara” – “to hang down” – either a long, pointed royal cap like the Monomakh cap, – Alexandria codex: τιαρα, – or a turban, (Slavonic “prevoi”) to which the definition “tevulim” would fit (Russian translation “flowing”), akin to the Ethiopic root “to wrap” – “wrapping the head”; Slavonic “colored,” παραβαπτα, that is, colored, Vulgate. tinctas, like the green turban of the Turks only on the sultan. – “All of them resembling.” Even ordinary people among them have such appearance. – “Officers.” Hebrew “shalishim,” literally “thirds,” that is, the third person on a military chariot after the king and the charioteer, or some other military rank, like our former second majors, captains of the 1st and 2nd ranks; or possibly a foreign word in Hebrew transcription. Slavonic “appearance threefold of all” (is each one drawn in three forms? in three costumes?). – “Whose native land is the land of the Chaldeans,” so famous.

Ezekiel 23:16. And when she saw them she lusted after them, and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. “And she lusted after them by the sight of her eyes.” Acquaintance of Judah with the luxury and splendor of the Chaldeans, represented in the images, prompted the Hebrews to establish political and commercial relations with the mighty monarchy. This same acquaintance gradually led to imitation of Chaldean idolatry – “And she sent messengers to them in Chaldea.” Messengers were sent by Ahab in earlier times 2 Sam 16:7; but on the whole here a later embassy is meant, which took place after Babylon had achieved world significance. An embassy may have been sent after Nebuchadnezzar’s victory at Carchemish: if records of it have not been preserved, it only shows how obscured from us are the details of the policy of the Judean kingdom in its last decades. The prophet notes that the first steps toward agreement were taken on Judah’s part.

Ezekiel 23:17. And the sons of Babylon came to her upon the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was defiled by them, and her soul was estranged from them. “And the sons of Babylon came to her.” After the death of Josiah the Babylonians could not fail to maintain friendly relations with Jerusalem: 2 Sam 23:29. – “Upon the bed of love” – Slavonic “upon the bed of wanderers,” that is, temporary visitors of a harlot; Vulgate cubile mammarum. – “And her soul was estranged from them.” A subtle psychological trait of carnal passion unenlightened by the spirit, passing into satiation and loathing after satisfaction. Judah remained faithful to Nebuchadnezzar for only 3 years, and then rebelled: 2 Sam 24:1 (the rebellion of Jehoiakim). “That the supposed friends from Babylon upon closer acquaintance with them proved to be not as desirable, this of course precisely corresponded to the actual experience made by Jerusalem” (Bertholet).

Ezekiel 23:18. When she openly played the harlot and exposed her nakedness, then my soul turned from her, as my soul had turned from her sister. By frequent change of lovers Oholibah declared herself a true harlot. Jehovah saw that she was incorrigible (cf. the thought of verse 13) and He Himself turned away from her, as He had turned away from her sister. Perhaps it is indicated that Judah passed from secret and so to speak shameful idolatry to open, to public sacrifices.

Ezekiel 23:19. Yet she increased her harlotries, remembering the days of her youth, when she played the harlot in the land of Egypt; “Increased her harlotries,” – which the second half of the verse explains: remembering, that is, began again the former harlotry with Egypt. What is meant is the alliance with the latter under Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, which, like all political alliances of the Judean kings, was accompanied by the adoption of local worship. “I had already forgotten that you did in Egypt, but you reminded me of it through your later practices” (St. Theodoret). When Judea became disgusted with Chaldea, instead of this being a cause for her turning to God, she turned to another world power.

Ezekiel 23:20. And she lusted for the paramours of Assyria, whose flesh is like the flesh of donkeys, and whose issue is like the issue of horses. “Paramours.” Hebrew “pillageshim” – “concubine” (cognate with synonymous παλλαξ, rellex) only here about men and in an obviously insulting sense. Should be men who sell themselves to women. How the prophet values them is shown by the subsequent epithets. So also Kimchi: scorta mascula (male concubines). Others see ironic reference to Egyptian eunuchs and courtesans. The word has with it a feminine pronoun “her” (in the Russian version: “of hers”), that is, should be Egypt’s. It can be thought that parallel to Assyrian and Chaldean nobles here are meant Egyptian ones, which are called “pillageshim” as effeminate and ready for the satisfaction of any carnal desire. LXX: “upon the Chaldeans,” seeing in verses 19–21 a continuation of speech about seduction by the Chaldeans. Targum: “to be a maid-servant to them.” Peshitta: “to their transgressions.” Symmachus; επι τους παιδας αυτων. Theodotion; επι τας εκλεκας αυτων. Vulgate, like Russian: super concubitum sorom. “Flesh” – Ezek 16:26. “Like the flesh of donkeys.” The donkey for its lustfulness played a role in Phoenician-Syrian worship (Creuzer. Comment. Herod 266), and once also had significance as an animal endowed with special phallic capability (Pindar Pyth. X, 32). The reference may be to the immorality of certain Egyptian cults (Isis?). “Issue” – Hebrew “zirma” – “emission of seed,” Vulgate. fluxus, Greek: αιδεια (secret parts), Slavonic: “womb.” – “Like the issue of horses.” In Jer 5:8 horses are noted from this standpoint. Jarchi: horses copulate more frequently than other male pack animals. – “Zirma” in connection with “horses” may suggest the thought of bestiality ιππομανειν (Aristotle Anim. VI, 22. Virg. Georg. III, 266 and others. Columella, De re rustica VI, 27). The prophet intensifies the comparison Ezek 16:26: his indignation grew from reflection upon the impiety of Israel.

Ezekiel 23:21. Thus you recalled the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians handled your bosom because of the breasts of your youth. “Recalled” – Slavonic more precisely: “visited” (and Vulgate: visitasti), that is, repeated. – “Handled your bosom” – verse 3.

Ezekiel 23:22. Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will stir up your lovers against you, from whom your soul is estranged, and I will bring them against you on every side: The punishment of Oholibah is the same as of her sister (verse 9), although her behavior is worse. The instrument of punishment shall be those same who served as instruments of sin – this is required by the righteousness and wrath of God. Whereas in Ezek 16:37 the judgment over the harlot—Jerusalem is conducted in the presence of those whom she loved and those whom she hated, here the executors of judgment are those same lovers from whom her soul is estranged and who because of this insult will act with all the more fury: they will certainly carry out judgment without any compassion.

Ezekiel 23:23. the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, desirable young men, governors and rulers, sated and renowned, all of them horsemen riding upon horses. “The Babylonians and all the Chaldeans.” The latter concept is broader than the former, and to the Chaldeans besides the Babylonians belong the three peoples named below. – “From Pekod, from Shoa and Koa.” Slavonic more precisely without “from”: “Fakuda, Suda and Kuda” according to the Alexandria codex; other codices, Symmachus and Theodotion: Φακουκ και Σουε και Yχουε; these words are considered names of peoples also by the Targum with Peshitta. But others see here the names of offices and ranks, enumeration of which continues in the second half of the verse: Aquila: επισκεπτην και τυραννον και χουφαιον, Vulgate: nobiles, tyrannosque et principes; so also the rabbis with Luther. The first opinion is more correct: all the forces of the north must rise against Jerusalem, not only Chaldeans but also Assyrians, who are just now mentioned, and between those and the other cannot be named “nobles, rulers and princes.” Cuneiform inscriptions prove the existence in the Chaldean monarchy of peoples with such names: Pekod corresponds to Puqudu of the cuneiform inscriptions, dwelling in the very east of Chaldea near the Elamite border; Shoa the same as Sutu, abbreviated Su, constantly connected in the inscriptions with Kutsu, abbreviated Ku, Koa; those and others dwelt in the upper basin of the Adem in Diyala (Schrader, Keilinschr. u. A. T., 2nd ed., 413. Delitzsch, Wo lag das Paradies, 240. Winckler. Untersuchung. 177. Altorientalische Forschungen II, 2, 254). Those considering these names as common nouns refer to Isa 32:5; Job 34:19, where “shoa” is used in the sense of a respected, rich, royal person; “pekod” is derived from the verb “pakad” – “to conduct observation,” “to watch,” and “koa” they decline to explain. “The sons of Assyria.” Remarkable is the mention of the Assyrians also. – “Desirable young men, governors and rulers” – see the explanation of verse 6. – “Sated,” Slavonic “tristaty,” Hebrew “shalishim” see the explanation of verse 15, where it is translated into Russian “military commanders,” and into Slavonic “threefold appearance.” – “Renowned,” Slavonic “notable” – a supplement to what was enumerated in verses 6 and 12, showing that the prophet did not like to copy himself.

Ezekiel 23:24. And they shall come against you with weapons, with chariots and wagons and a host of peoples; they shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler and shield and helmet; and I will commit the judgment to them, and they shall judge you by their judgments. “With weapons” – a conjectural translation of the Hebrew “gotzen.” A cognate Talmudic word means “bundle,” “heap.” LXX read “taphon”: “from the north.” – “With chariots and wagons” – so fearful to the Hebrews who did not have them and so attracting them (verse 6, 12). – “In armor,” Slavonic “with spear-tips.” Slavonic “and they shall set an ambush round about you” – superfluous against Hebrew and “ambush” constitutes another transmission (doublet) of Hebrew “kovag” translated earlier as “helmet.” – “They shall judge you by their judgments” – according to their barbarous laws, which assign such cruel punishments as those described in the following verse.

Ezekiel 23:25. And I will direct my jealousy against you, and they shall deal with you in fury. They shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your remnant shall fall by the sword; they shall take your sons and your daughters, and your remnant shall be devoured by fire; “They shall cut off your nose and your ears.” Such cruelties were inflicted upon captives even now in the East (Winer according to Smend), and in ancient times continually (Dan 2:5; Herod. III, 69, 154). Perhaps Ezekiel knew and had in mind the Egyptian custom of cutting off the nose of an adulteress, supposedly for disfigurement. Slavonic “nostrils” is exactly from Hebrew, as the nose was called in other languages, for example, Latin nares. “And your remnant shall fall by the sword” – those who will not be taken into captivity in such disfigured form. “They shall take... into captivity (verse 10) your sons and daughters,” already without disfiguring them, in order to sell them more profitably, as young and beautiful. “And your remnant shall be devoured by fire.” Accidentally remaining inhabitants of the city, for example, not discovered by the conquerors, will perish in the fire from the burning of the city. The prophet almost abandons the allegory (comparison of Jerusalem with a harlot) and passes over to direct speech about the fate of Jerusalem.

Ezekiel 23:26. and they shall strip you of your clothes and take away your fair jewels. The mention of jewelry (see Ezek 16:39) seems late after what is said in verse 25, but: 1) jewelry is inseparable from a harlot, for it attracts the gaze of those looking at her; 2) under them here is meant the riches of the country, plundered by the Chaldeans upon conquest.

Ezekiel 23:27. Thus I will put an end to your lewdness and your harlotry brought from the land of Egypt; so that you shall not lift your eyes to them, nor remember Egypt anymore. “Thus I will put an end to your lewdness and your harlotry.” After the Babylonian captivity the Jews indeed no longer engaged in idolatry. – “Brought from the land of Egypt.” According to the view of the prophet Ezekiel, expressed more than once by him, the Jews learned idolatry in Egypt. “To them” – to lewdness and harlotry or to idols. “And nor remember Egypt anymore,” that is, about idolatry, to which they were taught there.

Ezekiel 23:28. For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am handing you over to those whom you hate, to those from whom your soul is estranged. “Those whom you hate” after former love, – the Chaldeans. – “From whom your soul is estranged” – synonymous expression to the former.

Ezekiel 23:29. And they shall deal with you in hatred, and take away all that you have labored for, and leave you naked and bare, and the nakedness of your harlotry shall be uncovered, both your lewdness and your harlotry. “In hatred” – Slavonic more precisely: “in hate,” repaying hatred for your hatred. – “Take away all that you have labored for” – all possessions. Supplement to the threats of verse 25, Slavonic: “all your labors and your works.” – “Leave you naked” Ezek 16:39. – “The nakedness of your harlotry shall be uncovered” – synonymous to the previous expression. This verse adheres more to the developed allegory (comparison of Jerusalem with a harlot) than verses 24 and 25, where the prophet often abandons the allegory for direct speech (“your remnant shall fall by the sword”).

Ezekiel 23:30. These things shall be done to you because you have gone whoring after the nations, and because you have defiled yourself with their idols. After the devastating picture of the punishment of Jerusalem, the chief and, one may say, only cause is indicated: harlotry and it is explained that by it should be understood idolatry (“because you have defiled yourself with their idols”).

Ezekiel 23:31. You have gone the way of your sister; therefore I will give her cup into your hand. The image of the cup of God’s wrath is new here for Ezekiel, but quite frequent before him: Ps 74:9; Isa 51:17; Hab 2:15 and afterward, and especially beloved by Jeremiah (Jer 25:15-16 and three more times). “As medicine (catharticum) is given so that harmful sweat, which is in the body, comes out, so the Lord gives a cup of most bitter torments, so as to remove from sinners all the gall and bitterness which is in them, and restore them to former health” (St. Jerome). Like every image and comparison, this image in Ezekiel is developed in detail, to its ultimate grounds: verses 31–34.

Ezekiel 23:32. Thus says the Lord God: You shall drink your sister’s cup that is deep and large; you shall be laughed at and held in derision, for it holds so much. “Your sister’s cup... deep and large” – containing so many calamities – “you shall be laughed at and held in derision” – on the part of the surrounding peoples, which will further increase the calamity. The words somewhat interrupt the flow of thought, namely the development of the image of the cup; the Vatican codex does not have them. – “For it holds so much” – more precisely: “great capacity” (“for” is an addition of the Russian translation) – a synonym to “deep and large”; Slavonic: “abundant for the fulfillment of drunkenness” – sufficient for final inebriation, – whereby to the concluding proposition of verse 32 is drawn the first word of verse 33.

Ezekiel 23:33. You shall be filled with drunkenness and sorrow. A cup of horror and desolation is the cup of your sister Samaria. “You shall be filled with drunkenness and sorrow.” From terrible calamities the mind will be confused, as from drunkenness; Slavonic: “you shall be filled with weakness,” and “drunkenness” is referred to the last proposition of verse 32. “A cup of horror and desolation…” – Jerusalem will be desolated as Samaria.

Ezekiel 23:34. You shall drink it and drain it out, and pluck out your hair, and tear your breasts; for I have spoken, says the Lord God. “And drain it out.” In spite of the fact that this is a cup of horror and calamity, the harlot will drink it eagerly, as if the drink were sweetened. A subtle psychological trait of excessive despair, when a man seems to enjoy his suffering. “And pluck out your hair.” “Hair” – Hebrew “harashim” may denote either the whole clay vessel (Jer 19:1 and others), since it is not supposed that the cup is broken. “Pluck out” – more precisely “gnaw at”; according to Slavonic “eating you will consume” and devorabis of the Vulgate is excessively strong, although in the Targum on Ps 27:2 the Hebrew verb “garam” used here has the meaning “to eat.” “And tear your breasts.” The highest degree of grief, because with a lesser degree one only struck the breast. The breasts were also an instrument of sin for the harlot: verses 3 and 21. – LXX after this proposition has excessive against Hebrew and disrupting the flow of thought: “and your feasts and your new moons I will turn away.”

Ezekiel 23:35. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, you shall bear the consequences of your lewdness and harlotry. “And cast me behind your back.” Slavonic and Vulgate more precisely and strongly: “and rejected me and turned your back to me.”

Ezekiel 23:36. And the Lord said to me: Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Declare to them their abominations; A new section of the discourse begins here, as shown by the expression: “will you judge” (cf. Ezek 20:4), in which the prophet returns to the depiction of the guilt (and also the punishment – beginning from verse 45) of the two sisters (after the description of both their guilt and the punishment for it) for the purpose of making some additions to what was said about this and communicating details which there would have hindered the unity of the picture. “Oholah.” “The circumstance that Oholah has already perished and is no longer does not hinder the judgment of the prophet upon her, for for prophecy, as well as for place, time does not constitute a boundary; from the Chebar the prophet judges Jerusalem” (Smend).

Ezekiel 23:37. For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands, and with their idols they have committed adultery; and they have caused their sons, whom they bore to me, to pass through the fire to them. “Committed adultery.” Further it is explained that this they did “with their idols” (served them). “Blood is on their hands.” This is also explained below, what blood – of their sons sacrificed to idols. “Whom they bore to me.” In Ezek 16:20 directly “bore.” A remarkable view of God’s covenant with the people, by which all carnal children become children of God by the very act of birth (hence also circumcision). All the more heinous is the sacrifice of them to idols. – “To pass through the fire” – Ezek 16:20; cf. Jer 7:31.

Ezekiel 23:38. Moreover this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and profaned my Sabbaths; See Ezek 22:8 (by “sanctuary” is here translated the same Hebrew word as there “holy things”). – “On the same day.” This remark is completely incomprehensible without the explanation given in the following verse; therefore, and on the basis that it is absent in the majority of LXX manuscripts, it is thought that it penetrated here from verse 39.

Ezekiel 23:39. For when they had slaughtered their children for their idols, they entered my sanctuary on the same day to profane it; and look, thus they did in my house. Consequently, at the times of the greatest obsession with idolatry the Jews did not forget Jehovah; but such a combination brought Jehovah down to the rank of heathen gods and therefore essentially was a forgetting of Him, of His true essence. Cf. Ezek 14:4.

Ezekiel 23:40. And furthermore you sent for men to come from far away, to whom messengers were sent; and look, they came. For them you bathed yourself, painted your eyes, and decked yourself with ornaments; As in verses 38 and 39 there is speech about infatuation with foreign cults, so in verses 40–43 about political alliances, although, as always, the prophet has in mind the religious consequences of these unions, that is, again infatuation with foreign cults – here already Chaldean, and in verses 38–39 Canaanite ones. Verses 40–43 develop more fully the thought of verse 16. “To come from far away” – Chaldeans. “You bathed yourself.” Bathing began in the East a careful toilet. The plural number, denoting the 2 sisters, passes into the singular number, as Jerusalem is primarily in view. “Painted your eyes.” Hebrew “kagal” (akin to Arabic “kohol,” from which our “alcohol”) meant the rubbing of eyelids and eyebrows with a cosmetic, called “puk” (Jer 4:30; cf. 2 Sam 9:30) and consisting of lead and tin; from this rubbing there appeared blackness around the eyes which gave them greater size and luster; this blackness in many East women is natural, and kohl, which still has great use there, was compensation for the natural lack of this (Nowack, Archaeol. I, § 22). – “Decked yourself with ornaments.” Dressed up finely and for idolatry.

Ezekiel 23:41. and you sat on a stately couch, with a table prepared before it, upon which you set my incense and my oil. “A stately couch” – Slavonic more precisely: “upon a prepared bed,” a divan hung with carpets and spread with cushions. Here is found reference to the immoral cult of the Babylonian Melita. “A table, upon which you set...” food from which gluttony arose a desire in you for lovers” (St. Jerome). What is meant are chiefly sacrificial feasts. – “My incense and my oil.” Incense and myrrh were forbidden to use in domestic use under penalty of being cut off from the people (Exod 30:32-33). Meanwhile at solemn feasts it was customary to anoint oneself with fragrances (Amos 6:6; Ps 22:5; Luke 7:46) and as shown by this passage, often of the same composition as sacred myrrh; and the banquet room was fumigated with incense (Prov 7:17). But here, as in Ezek 16:8, seems to be meant a more religious use of these sacred substances for idols.

Ezekiel 23:42. And the sound of a carefree multitude was with her; and with the men of the common sort were brought drunkards from the wilderness; and they put bracelets on their wrists and beautiful crowns on their heads. The relations with Babylon, the richest and most luxurious city of the then world, as earlier in the Israelite kingdom with Nineveh, spread luxury in carefree (“carefree” – Hebrew “shaluay” – lit. “carefree; Greek αρμονιας, Slavonic “appropriate” – music) life in Judea, which embraced also “men of the common sort,” the common people. – “Drunkards from the wilderness” – Babylonians, who could reach Judea only through the Syrian desert and, according to Quintus Curtius (Trochon.), were much devoted to drunkenness. “And they put bracelets on their wrists…” From Babylon began to be received in abundance precious ornaments. Perhaps the reference, as in the entire verse, is to idol-sacrificial feasts with their ornaments (wreaths on heads were frequent during the offering of sacrifices to idols).

Ezekiel 23:43. Then I said of her who was worn out by adulteries, “Now let them use her for harlotry, and she will still do it! The Hebrew text of this verse is very obscure, but the sense which the Russian translation gives it, following the Vulgate, is one of the most probable and gives a better thought than the Slavonic “and I said: in these (that is, in the rings and wreaths of verse 42, or: with “men coming from the wilderness”) do they not commit adultery? (Oholah and Oholibah; and then of only one Oholibah and the deeds of the harlot, and the same preserve”). Whereas the Russian translation gives such a thought that, perhaps because Oholibah, perhaps because she lived and committed harlotry for 200 years longer than Oholah, already grew old (a notion, undoubtedly in Hebrew text: “bala,” Vulgate attrita) in harlotry, one could expect and God expected that her harlotries would end (here Vulgate is better than the Russian translation: nunc fornicabitur etiam haec – might even this one commit harlotry?); but – the next verse.

Ezekiel 23:44. Yet men went to her as men go to a harlot. Thus they went to Oholah and to Oholibah, the lewd women. From adulterous women Oholah and Oholibah gradually became ordinary harlots, degrading by this their lofty Spouse to the last, unbearable degree.

Ezekiel 23:45. But righteous men shall pass judgment on them with the judgment of adulteresses, and with the judgment of women that shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands. “Righteous men,” that is, themselves innocent of adultery. Such were the Chaldeans, faithful to their gods (cf. Ezek 3:7); furthermore, “they are righteous in that they punish the adulteress and child-murderer according to my commandment” (St. Jerome). But the prophet may not have directly meant the Chaldeans here, because in a parable not every detail has symbolic significance. – “With the judgment of adulteresses” – Ezek 16:38. – “And blood is on their hands” verse 37.

Ezekiel 23:46. For thus says the Lord God: Bring up an assembly against them, and give them to harassment and plunder. Ezekiel 23:47. And the assembly shall stone them with stones and dispatch them with their swords; they shall kill their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire. As the sin was public, so the judgment must be public. “Bring up” – infinitive instead of imperative, Slavonic: “bring forth.” The prophet receives the command to do what he must proclaim, – a metaphor employed in Jer 1:10 and others. The rest see Ezek 16:40-41; cf. verse 25.

Ezekiel 23:48. Thus I will put an end to lewdness in the land, and all the women shall take a lesson and not commit lewdness like you; Ezekiel 23:49. And they shall recompense you for your lewdness, and you shall bear the penalties of your sinful idolatry; and you shall know that I am the Lord God. The punishment will be a warning example to the whole world (“all the women” – all peoples) and the two women themselves, bearing punishment, will come to true knowledge of God. – “In the land,” which is defiled and tired of the conduct of Oholah and Oholibah. – “Shall take a lesson.” Consequently, according to the prophet’s view, pagans can be virtuous in their own way; cf. verse 45, Ezek 16:41.