Read Ezekiel 23
Two Adulterous Sisters
23 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother. 3 They became prostitutes in Egypt,engaging in prostitution from their youth. In that land their breasts were fondled and their virgin bosoms caressed. 4 The older was named Oholah, and her sister was Oholibah. They were mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.
5 “Oholah engaged in prostitution while she was still mine; and she lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians—warriors 6 clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all of them handsome young men, and mounted horsemen.7 She gave herself as a prostitute to all the elite of the Assyrians and defiled herself with all the idols of everyone she lusted after. 8 She did not give up the prostitution she began in Egypt, when during her youth men slept with her, caressed her virgin bosom and poured out their lust on her.
9 “Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, the Assyrians, for whom she lusted. 10 They stripped her naked, took away her sons and daughters and killed her with the sword. She became a byword among women, and punishment was inflicted on her.
11 “Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet in her lust and prostitution she was more depraved than her sister. 12 She too lusted after the Assyrians—governors and commanders, warriors in full dress, mounted horsemen, all handsome young men. 13 I saw that she too defiled herself; both of them went the same way.
14 “But she carried her prostitution still further. She saw men portrayed on a wall, figures of Chaldeans portrayed in red, 15 with belts around their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like Babylonian chariot officers, natives of Chaldea. 16 As soon as she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. 17 Then the Babylonianscame to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. After she had been defiled by them, she turned away from them in disgust. 18 When she carried on her prostitution openly and exposed her naked body, I turned away from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her sister. 19 Yet she became more and more promiscuous as she recalled the days of her youth, when she was a prostitute in Egypt. 20 There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses. 21 So you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when in Egypt your bosom was caressed and your young breasts fondled.
22 “Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will stir up your lovers against you, those you turned away from in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side— 23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, the men of Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, handsome young men, all of them governors and commanders, chariot officers and men of high rank, all mounted on horses. 24 They will come against you with weapons, chariots and wagons and with a throng of people; they will take up positions against you on every side with large and small shields and with helmets. I will turn you over to them for punishment, and they will punish you according to their standards. 25 I will direct my jealous anger against you, and they will deal with you in fury. They will cut off your noses and your ears, and those of you who are left will fall by the sword. They will take away your sons and daughters, and those of you who are left will be consumed by fire. 26 They will also strip you of your clothes and take your fine jewelry. 27 So I will put a stop to the lewdness and prostitution you began in Egypt. You will not look on these things with longing or remember Egypt anymore.
28 “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am about to deliver you into the hands of those you hate, to those you turned away from in disgust.29 They will deal with you in hatred and take away everything you have worked for. They will leave you stark naked, and the shame of your prostitution will be exposed. Your lewdness and promiscuity 30 have brought this on you, because you lusted after the nations and defiled yourself with their idols. 31 You have gone the way of your sister; so I will put her cup into your hand.
32 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“You will drink your sister’s cup,
a cup large and deep;
it will bring scorn and derision,
for it holds so much.
33 You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow,
the cup of ruin and desolation,
the cup of your sister Samaria.
34 You will drink it and drain it dry
and chew on its pieces—
and you will tear your breasts.
I have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord.
35 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Since you have forgottenme and turned your back on me, you must bear the consequences of your lewdness and prostitution.”
36 The Lord said to me: “Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then confront them with their detestable practices, 37 for they have committed adultery and blood is on their hands. They committed adultery with their idols; they even sacrificed their children, whom they bore to me, as food for them. 38 They have also done this to me: At that same time they defiled my sanctuary and desecrated my Sabbaths. 39 On the very day they sacrificed their children to their idols, they entered my sanctuary and desecrated it. That is what they did in my house.
40 “They even sent messengers for men who came from far away, and when they arrived you bathed yourself for them, applied eye makeup and put on your jewelry. 41 You sat on an elegant couch, with a table spread before it on which you had placed the incense and olive oil that belonged to me.
42 “The noise of a carefree crowd was around her; drunkards were brought from the desert along with men from the rabble, and they put bracelets on the wrists of the woman and her sister and beautiful crowns on their heads.43 Then I said about the one worn out by adultery, ‘Now let them use her as a prostitute, for that is all she is.’ 44 And they slept with her. As men sleep with a prostitute, so they slept with those lewd women, Oholah and Oholibah.45 But righteous judges will sentence them to the punishment of women who commit adultery and shed blood, because they are adulterous and blood is on their hands.
46 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Bring a mob against them and give them over to terror and plunder. 47 The mob will stone them and cut them down with their swords; they will kill their sons and daughters and burn down their houses.
48 “So I will put an end to lewdness in the land, that all women may take warning and not imitate you. 49 You will suffer the penalty for your lewdness and bear the consequences of your sins of idolatry. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.”
Go Deeper
If you felt uncomfortable after reading this chapter, that’s the point. God (through Ezekiel) is using detailed imagery to help portray just how drastic a situation is. To avoid any misunderstanding, God states it clearly that in this story of the two promiscuous sisters, Oholah is Samaria (the capital of Israel) and Oholibah is Jerusalem (the capital of Judah). This story depicts the relationship between Yahweh and His people who have been unfaithful.
We see an overall theme of Israel’s unfaithfulness from the start. They engaged in this type of sinful behavior first with Egypt (as previously noted in Ezekiel 20) and now with the Assyrians. They lusted after their gods, power and protection, ultimately rejecting God and choosing the path of sin. Because Israel gave herself to Assyrian idols and morals, God allowed them to be conquered by them. Ultimately their lovers became their destroyers, which is exactly how sin works—what seems enticing at first, will lead to destruction.
The shocking part is that Judah, referenced as the “younger sister”, sees what happens to Israel and decides to do the same thing with Babylon. This chapter even says that she “carried her prostitution even still further” (v. 14). Again, the same fate for Judah was that the Lord allowed for them to be taken into captivity and captured by the very nation that they idolized and devoted themselves to. We can see here that for those who continue to walk in sin and disobedience, the natural consequence is distance from God.
When the Lord refers to Judah’s punishment, He mentions that they will “drink the cup of ruin and isolation…they will drink it and drain it dry” (v. 32-24). This is referring to the full cup of the Lord’s wrath. They would drink it and drain it and suffer the full penalty of their sin. Thankfully, this is not our same fate for those who have trusted in Jesus!
We see this same language used when Jesus is praying in the Garden of Gethsemane before he is about to be arrested (Matthew 26). He asks for the Lord to “let this cup pass”, referring to the suffering He was about to endure for our sake. When Jesus died on the cross, He took the full cup of God’s wrath and bore the punishment that we deserved. Let’s remind ourselves of that today, fixing our eyes on the cross and all that entails, and giving thanks to Jesus for being the propitiation for our sins.
Questions
- What does this chapter reveal about how God feels towards sin?
- Why do you think that Judah did not learn from Israel’s sins?
- What stirs in your heart today as you are reminded of what Jesus endured on your behalf?
Keep Digging
Oholah and Oholibah have specific meanings to their names and are used strategically. You can read more about them here.
2 thoughts on “Ezekiel 23”
It’s been said that those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat it. God, through scripture, is reaching out to mankind to reveal truth that we might turn from our evil ways. Joshua 24:15 instructs us to “choose this day whom you will serve.” Our choices will either align with God or alienate us from him. Do we understand how repugnant sin is to holy God? Have we merely rationalized, coddled, and ultimately deluded our thinking so that we embrace what Christ died for? This morning I’m trying to reconcile what I’m reading in Ezekiel with what is presently going on in Israel and finding the Lord’s Prayer to be my earnest plea:
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever, Amen.”
We are His bride He is our Groom. We have to be careful that in the newness of our joining we do not step out of line. We break our vow with who is the VERY Love of our lives because we allow the sin (Gen 4:7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”) to rule us. We are so selfish and desire our provable cake and eat it too. If we are depressed we turn to comfort foods, we keep trying to get the “perfect” job to make the money, so that we can be “happy”. While all along we have a perfect bridegroom and in Him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge about what we need for life–truth, grace, love, faith, and love, He has for us.
In this chapter we see that their sin, as well as ours now, is unacceptable to God. He did not nor will not stand for it. This all makes me think very hard about my “little compromises” and how they must feel to Him. Hebrews 12 is about fixing our eyes upon Jesus and all that He endured to make it so that we can be His bride. We are to keep focused in on God and His Holy Word, Jesus the author and finisher of our faith To pursue after God with all our hearts, soul, mind and strength and our neighbors as ourselves. Let Him be the Groom we desire to pursue whole heartedly!!!
God You are so amazing in Your love for me. I am so unworthy but through the blood of Your Son You make me worthy. Thank You for me not forgetting. Thank you for helping me to put You first in all that I do every waking moment. God I will put on my amour, fight for You to be first in my thoughts, stand in the gap for others as they struggle. Help me see others through Your love goggles and help me be an odd fruity tree that glorifies You above all, in Jesus name amen.
WOOHOO!!!!