2 "Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother. 3 They became whores in Egypt, whores from a young age. Their breasts were fondled, their young bosoms caressed. 4 The older sister was named Oholah, the younger was Oholibah. They were my daughters, and they gave birth to sons and daughters. "Oholah is Samaria and Oholibah is Jerusalem 5 "Oholah started whoring while she was still mine. She lusted after Assyrians as lovers: military men 6 smartly uniformed in blue, ambassadors and governors, good-looking young men mounted on fine horses. 7 Her lust was unrestrained. She was a whore to the Assyrian elite. She compounded her filth with the idols of those to whom she gave herself in lust. 8 She never slowed down. The whoring she began while young in Egypt she continued, sleeping with men who played with her breasts and spent their lust on her. 9 "So I left her to her Assyrian lovers, for whom she was so obsessed with lust. 10 They ripped off her clothes, took away her children, and then, the final indignity, killed her. Among women her name became Shame - history's judgment on her.

11 "Her sister Oholibah saw all this, but she became even worse than her sister in lust and whoring, if you can believe it. 12 She also went crazy with lust for Assyrians: ambassadors and governors, military men smartly dressed and mounted on fine horses - the Assyrian elite. 13 And I saw that she also had become incredibly filthy. Both women followed the same path. 14 But Oholibah surpassed her sister. When she saw figures of Babylonians carved in relief on the walls and painted red 15 fancy belts around their waists, elaborate turbans on their heads, all of them looking important - famous Babylonians! - 16 she went wild with lust and sent invitations to them in Babylon. 17 The Babylonians came on the run, fornicated with her, made her dirty inside and out. When they had thoroughly debased her, she lost interest in them. 18 Then she went public with her fornication. She exhibited her sex to the world. 19 But that didn't slow her down. She went at her whoring harder than ever. She remembered when she was young, just starting out as a whore in Egypt 20 That whetted her appetite for more virile, vulgar, and violent lovers - stallions obsessive in their lust.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on Ezekiel 23:2-20

Chapter Contents

A history of the apostacy of God's people from him, and the aggravation thereof.

In this parable, Samaria and Israel bear the name Aholah, "her own tabernacle;" because the places of worship those kingdoms had, were of their own devising. Jerusalem and Judah bear the name of Aholibah, "my tabernacle is in her," because their temple was the place which God himself had chosen, to put his name there. The language and figures are according to those times. Will not such humbling representations of nature keep open perpetual repentance and sorrow in the soul, hiding pride from our eyes, and taking us from self-righteousness? Will it not also prompt the soul to look to God continually for grace, that by his Holy Spirit we may mortify the deeds of the body, and live in holy conversation and godliness?