Ezekiel 23:39 Kommentar

This long chapter (as before ch. 16 and 20) is a history of the apostasies of God's people from him and the aggravations of those apostasies under the similitude of corporal whoredom and adultery. Here the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, the ten tribes and the two, with their capital cities, Samaria and Jerusalem, are considered distinctly. Here is, I. The apostasy of Israel and Samaria from God (Eze 23:1-8) and their ruin for it (Eze 23:9, Eze 23:10). II. The apostasy of Judah and Jerusalem from God (Eze 23:11-21) and sentence passed upon them, that they shall in like manner be destroyed for it (Eze 23:22-35). III. The joint wickedness of them both together (Eze 23:36-44) and the joint ruin of them both (Eze 23:45-49). And all that is written for warning against the sins of idolatry, and confidence in an arm of flesh, and sinful leagues and confederacies with wicked people (which are the sins here meant by committing whoredom), is that others may hear and fear, and not sin after the similitude of the transgressions of Israel and Judah.

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 23 In this chapter the idolatries of Israel and Judah are represented under the metaphor of two harlots, and their lewdness. These harlots are described by their descent; by the place and time in which they committed their whoredoms; by their names, and which are explained, Eze 23:1, the idolatries of Israel, or the ten tribes, under the name of Aholah, which they committed with the Assyrians, and which they continued from the Egyptians, of whom they had learned them, are exposed, Eze 23:5, and their punishment for them is declared, Eze 23:9 then the idolatries of Judah, or the two tribes, under the name of Aholibah, are represented as greater than those of the ten tribes, Eze 23:11, which they committed with the Assyrians, Eze 23:12, with the Chaldeans and Babylonians, Eze 23:13 in imitation of the Egyptians, reviving former idolatries learnt of them, Eze 23:19, wherefore they are threatened, that the Chaldeans, Babylonians, and Assyrians, should come against them, and spoil them, and carry them captive, Eze 23:22, and the prophet is bid to declare the abominable sin of them both, Eze 23:36, and to signify that they should be judged after the manner of adulteresses, should be stoned, and dispatched with swords, their sons and their daughters, and their houses burnt with fire; by which means their adulteries or idolatries should be made to cease, Eze 23:45

For when they had slain their children to their idols,.... This explains more clearly what is before said, that by causing their children to pass through the fire was a slaying them; and that their passing through it "for them" was for their idols, and unto them; see Eze 23:37, and how when they had been guilty of such shocking wickedness, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; not that they came into the temple on purpose to profane it; but coming into it, being themselves defiled with the murder of their infants, and offering sacrifices to idols, or performing a hypocritical service to the Lord, this was in the event a profanation of the sanctuary: and, lo, thus they have done in the midst of mine house; set up idols there, and worshipped them; as they did in the temple itself, in the times of Ahaz and Manasseh; see Jer 7:30.

(Verse 36, 37 onwards) And the Lord said to me, saying: Son of man, do you judge Oholah and Oholibah and announce to them their crimes (or iniquities): for they are adulteresses (or have committed adultery), and there is blood on their hands, and they have committed adultery with their idols (or inventions): moreover, they have offered to devour (or have led) their sons whom they have borne to me through fire. But they have also done this to me, they have defiled my sanctuary on that day: and they have profaned my Sabbaths. And they sacrificed their sons to their idols, and entered my sanctuary on that day to defile it, and they did these things in the midst of my house. They sent messengers to men who were coming from afar, to whom they had sent a message. So behold, they have come, and you washed yourself (or, when they came, you immediately washed yourself): and you painted your eyes with antimony, and you adorned yourself with feminine beauty. You sat on a beautiful bed, and a table was set before you. You have placed my incense and my ointment upon her, and the voice of the multitude was rejoicing in her (or with a composed voice was she rejoicing); And indeed in her were brought together crowds of men, and they came from the wilderness (or drunk from the wilderness): they placed bracelets upon their hands, and most beautiful crowns upon their heads. And I said to her who was worn out with adultery: Now she will commit fornication in her own fornication even more. And they entered into it: as they would enter to a prostitute, so they entered to Oolla and Oolibah, wicked women (or to commit iniquity). Therefore, the righteous men (Vulgate inserts 'to them') shall judge them with the judgment of adulteresses, and with the judgment of those who shed blood, for they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands. For thus says the Lord God: Bring upon them a multitude and deliver them to tumult and to plunder, and let them be stoned with the stones of the people, and let them be pierced with their swords; they shall kill their sons and daughters, and burn their houses with fire, and I will remove wickedness (or impiety) from the land, and all women shall learn not to commit according to their wickedness (or impiety). And they shall bring your wickedness (or impiety) upon you, and you shall bear the sins of your idols, and you shall know that I am the Lord God. As I have often mentioned, I have connected the small discrepancies in the Septuagint edition with the Hebrew text, avoiding annoyance to the reader. Therefore, it follows that one who separately described the adulteries of Samaria and Jerusalem should also announce their punishments. However, all things are said as if to adulteresses, and by way of recapitulation, their crimes are briefly presented so that the stoning of the people may justly follow according to the command of the Law towards adulteresses. (alternative reading: adulterers) Therefore, since they are adulterous, bring forth a just sentence. For they are committing adultery with idols, and there is blood on their hands, namely the blood of those they sacrificed to idols, so that they would consecrate the sons they had borne to me to demons. They did not do this outside or in the mountains and woods, as they often used to do; but in the end they defiled my temple, so that they would place a statue of Baal in it. And they profaned my Sabbaths, so that neither the place nor the time of worship would be observed among them. But they were not content with present adulteries alone, nor were they satisfied with sacrificing my sons to their idols or demons; but they also indulged in foreign pleasures, worshipping the images of the Assyrians and Chaldeans. And when they came, Oholibah, you filled the entire attire of an adulteress upon them, to wash your body, to line your eyes with antimony: to assume a feminine appearance, to sit on a bed prepared for lust, to set out feasts to restore the strength of your lovers broken by pleasure; my incense and the ointment which I had specially ordered to be made (Exodus 30), and to exterminate that soul from the people, which had wanted to do this for private use, you offered to idols; to gather a multitude of people, and to sing with every kind of music: so that you would please your lovers not only by sight, but also by hearing and smell, and all the senses, who came to you drunk: not having any urban elegance, but having the appearance of desert and solitude, resembling peasants and brigands. And you, wicked sisters, have fallen into such great madness of pleasures, that you would place your bracelets and necklaces on the hands and heads of your lovers, or even on yourselves, so that you may be defiled in full adornment. Therefore I say to you, either Jerusalem or Samaria, or both: You have burned your forehead, so that you may not be polluted in secret, and you avoid the gaze of your husbands or other men; but you are publicly prostituting yourselves like harlots, eagerly desiring to be polluted by those who enter to you like prostitutes. Therefore, I will deliver you to be punished by those to whom you have willingly submitted yourselves. For they are righteous men, who, at my command, torture adulterers and murderers. For thus says the Lord God: Gather, by the prompting of your voice, O prophet, a multitude of peoples against them, and first let all their possessions be plundered; then let them be stoned and pierced with swords, and let their sons and daughters be killed, and let their houses be burned. And all these things shall be done so that impiety may be eradicated from the earth, and all women and the entire province placed far away may learn to avoid similar punishments: so that after you have received what you deserve and have carried the crimes of your idols, then you may know that I am the Lord. However, all these things were said figuratively and under the guise of adulteresses against Samaria and Jerusalem, because they were handed over to the Assyrians and Chaldeans, led into captivity, and their cities were burned with fire: the people who worshipped the idols of demons instead of God were killed. These things can also be understood after the coming of Christ, because righteous men from the peoples of the nations themselves judge the Samaritans and the Jews by comparison with themselves, and hand them over to be devoured, to whom the Lord said (Matt. XXIII, 38): Your house shall be left to you desolate. And: When you see Jerusalem surrounded by an army, know that its desolation is near (Luke XXI, 22). For even until this day they are adulterated and are oppressed by stones from the whole world. Since they sent messengers to those who were far away, and could not say: I am a approaching God, and not a God from afar, says the Lord (Jeremiah XXIII, 23): and they prepared themselves for their beloved demons: and they turned all the worship and adornment which they had received from God as natural good, into the worship of demons, and they offered their works and adornment, which we understand as bracelets and a crown, to adulterous lovers, whose punishment is a source of fear for the nations, indeed for those among the nations who have believed, lest they suffer similar consequences if they do the same things that Samaria and Jerusalem did. Then, when they have received their crimes, the wickedness will be taken away from those by whom the veil that was placed before the face of Moses (Exod. XXXIV) has been taken away from their eyes, so that they may recognize that Jesus Christ Himself is the Lord, whom they denied to be the Son of God (II Cor. III).

The idolatries of Samaria and Jerusalem are represented in this chapter by the bad practices of two common harlots, for which God denounces severe judgments against them, vv. 1-49. See the sixteenth chapter, where the same metaphor is enlarged upon as here, it being the prophets view to exude the utmost detestation of the crime against which he inveighs.

ISRAEL'S AND JUDAH'S SIN AND PUNISHMENT ARE PARABOLICALLY PORTRAYED UNDER THE NAMES AHOLAH AND AHOLIBAH. (Eze. 23:1-49) two . . . of one mother--Israel and Judah, one nation by birth from the same ancestress, Sarah.