Ezekiel 23 commentary

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?

CHAPTER 23

Eze 23:1-49. Israel's and Judah's Sin and Punishment Are Parabolically Portrayed under the Names Aholah and Aholibah.

The imagery is similar to that in the sixteenth chapter; but here the reference is not as there so much to the breach of the spiritual marriage covenant with God by the people's idolatries, as by their worldly spirit, and their trusting to alliances with the heathen for safety, rather than to God.

2. two ... of one mother--Israel and Judah, one nation by birth from the same ancestress, Sarah.

3. Even so early in their history as their Egyptian sojourn, they committed idolatries (see on Eze 20:6-8; Joshua 24. 14).

in their youth--an aggravation of their sin. It was at the very time of their receiving extraordinary favors from God (Eze 16:6, 22).

they bruised--namely, the Egyptians.

4. Aholah--that is, "Her tent" (put for worship, as the first worship of God in Israel was in a tent or tabernacle), as contrasted with Aholibah, that is, "My tent in her." The Beth-el worship of Samaria was of her own devising, not of God's appointment; the temple-worship of Jerusalem was expressly appointed by Jehovah, who "dwelt" there, "setting up His tabernacle among the people as His" (Ex 25:8; Le 26:11, 12; Jos 22:19; Psa 76:2).

the elder--Samaria is called "the elder" because she preceded Judah in her apostasy and its punishment.

they were mine--Previous to apostasy under Jeroboam, Samaria (Israel, or the ten tribes), equally with Judah, worshipped the true God. God therefore never renounced the right over Israel, but sent prophets, as Elijah and Elisha, to declare His will to them.

5. when ... mine--literally, "under Me," that is, subject to Me as her lawful husband.

neighbours--On the northeast the kingdom of Israel bordered on that of Assyria; for the latter had occupied much of Syria. Their neighborhood in locality was emblematical of their being near in corruption of morals and worship. The alliances of Israel with Assyria, which are the chief subject of reprobation here, tended to this (2Ki 15:19; 16:7, 9; 17:3; Ho 8:9).

6. blue--rather, "purple" [Fairbairn]. As a lustful woman's passions are fired by showy dress and youthful appearance in men, so Israel was seduced by the pomp and power of Assyria (compare Is 10:8).

horsemen--cavaliers.

7. all their idols--There was nothing that she refused to her lovers.

8. whoredoms brought from Egypt--the calves set up in Dan and Beth-el by Jeroboam, answering to the Egyptian bull-formed idol Apis. Her alliances with Egypt politically are also meant (Is 30:2, 3; 31:1). The ten tribes probably resumed the Egyptian rites, in order to enlist the Egyptians against Judah (2Ch 12:2-4).

9. God, in righteous retribution, turned their objects of trust into the instruments of their punishment: Pul, Tiglath-pileser, Esar-haddon, and Shalmaneser (2Ki 15:19, 29; 17:3, 6, 24; Ezr 4:2, 10). "It was their sin to have sought after such lovers, and it was to be their punishment that these lovers should become their destroyers" [Fairbairn].

10. became famous--literally, "she became a name," that is, as notorious by her punishment as she had been by her sins, so as to be quoted as a warning to others.

women--that is, neighboring peoples.

11. Judah, the southern kingdom, though having the "warning" (see on Eze 23:10) of the northern kingdom before her eyes, instead of profiting by it, went to even greater lengths in corruption than Israel. Her greater spiritual privileges made her guilt the greater (Eze 16:47, 51; Jr 3:11).

12. (Eze 23:6, 23).

most gorgeously--literally, "to perfection." Grotius translates, "wearing a crown," or "chaplet," such as lovers wore in visiting their mistresses.

13. one way--both alike forsaking God for heathen confidences.

14. vermilion--the peculiar color of the Chaldeans, as purple was of the Assyrians. In striking agreement with this verse is the fact that the Assyrian sculptures lately discovered have painted and colored bas-reliefs in red, blue, and black. The Jews (for instance Jehoiakim, Jr 22:14) copied these (compare Eze 8:10).

15. exceeding in dyed attire--rather, "in ample dyed turbans"; literally, "redundant with dyed turbans." The Assyrians delighted in ample, flowing, and richly colored tunics, scarfs, girdles, and head-dresses or turbans, varying in ornaments according to the rank.

Chaldea, ... land of their nativity--between the Black and Caspian Seas (see on Is 23:13).

princes--literally, a first-rate military class that fought by threes in the chariots, one guiding the horses, the other two fighting.

16. sent messengers ... into Chaldea--(Eze 16:29). It was she that solicited the Chaldeans, not they her. Probably the occasion was when Judah sought to strengthen herself by a Chaldean alliance against a menaced attack by Egypt (compare 2Ki 23:29-35; 24:1-7). God made the object of their sinful desire the instrument of their punishment. Jehoiakim, probably by a stipulation of tribute, enlisted Nebuchadnezzar against Pharaoh, whose tributary he previously had been; failing to keep his stipulation, he brought on himself Nebuchadnezzar's vengeance.

17. alienated from them--namely, from the Chaldeans: turning again to the Egyptians (Eze 23:19), trying by their help to throw off her solemn engagements to Babylon (compare Jr 37:5, 7; 2Ki 24:7).

18. my mind was alienated from her--literally, "was broken off from her." Just retribution for "her mind being alienated (broken off) from the Chaldeans" (Eze 23:17), to whom she had sworn fealty (Eze 17:12-19). "Discovered" implies the open shamelessness of her apostasy.

19. Israel first "called" her lusts, practised when in Egypt, "to her (fond) remembrance," and then actually returned to them. Mark the danger of suffering the memory to dwell on the pleasure felt in past sins.

20. their paramours--that is, her paramours among them (the Egyptians); she doted upon their persons as her paramours (Eze 23:5, 12, 16).

flesh--the membrum virile (very large in the ass). Compare Le 15:2, Margin; Eze 16:26.

issue of horses--the seminal issue. The horse was made by the Egyptians the hieroglyphic for a lustful person.

21. calledst to remembrance--"didst repeat" [Maurer].

in bruising--in suffering ... to be bruised.

22. lovers ... alienated--(Eze 23:17). Illicit love, soon or late, ends in open hatred (2Sa 13:15). The Babylonians, the objects formerly of their God-forgetting love, but now, with characteristic fickleness, objects of their hatred, shall be made by God the instruments of their punishment.

23. Pekod, &c.--(Jr 50:21). Not a geographical name, but descriptive of Babylon. "Visitation," peculiarly the land of "judgment"; in a double sense: actively, the inflicter of judgment on Judah; passively, as about to be afterwards herself the object of judgment.

Shoa ... Koa--"rich ... noble"; descriptive of Babylon in her prosperity, having all the world's wealth and dignity at her disposal. Maurer suggests that, as descriptive appellatives are subjoined to the proper name, "all the Assyrians" in the second hemistich of the verse (as the verse ought to be divided at "Koa"), so Pekod, Shoa, and Koa must be appellatives descriptive of "The Babylonians and ... Chaldeans" in the first hemistich; "Pekod" meaning "prefects"; Shoa ... Koa, "rich ... princely."

desirable young men--strong irony. Alluding to Eze 23:12, these "desirable young men" whom thou didst so "dote upon" for their manly vigor of appearance, shall by that very vigor be the better able to chastise thee.

24. with chariots--or, "with armaments"; so the Septuagint; "axes" [Maurer]; or, joining it with "wagons," translate, "with scythe-armed wagons," or "chariots" [Grotius].

wheels--The unusual height of these increased their formidable appearance (Eze 1:16-20).

their judgments--which awarded barbarously severe punishments (Jr 52:9; 29:22).

25. take away thy nose ... ears--Adulteresses were punished so among the Egyptians and Chaldeans. Oriental beauties wore ornaments in the ear and nose. How just the retribution, that the features most bejewelled should be mutilated! So, allegorically as to Judah, the spiritual adulteress.

26. strip ... of ... clothes--whereby she attracted her paramours (Eze 16:39).

27. Thus ... make ... lewdness to cease--The captivity has made the Jews ever since abhor idolatry, not only on their return from Babylon, but for the last eighteen centuries of their dispersion, as foretold (Ho 3:4).

28. (Eze 23:17, 18; 16:37).

29. take away ... thy labour--that is, the fruits of thy labor.

leave thee naked--as captive females are treated.

31. her cup--of punishment (Psa 11:6; 75:8; Jr 25:15, &c.). Thy guilt and that of Israel being alike, your punishment shall be alike.

34. break ... sherds--So greedily shalt thou suck out every drop like one drinking to madness (the effect invariably ascribed to drinking God's cup of wrath, Jr 51:7; Ha 2:16) that thou shalt crunch the very shreds of it; that is, there shall be no evil left which thou shalt not taste.

pluck off thine own breasts--enraged against them as the ministers to thine adultery.

35. forgotten me--the root of all sin (Jr 2:32; 13:25).

cast me behind thy back--(1Ki 14:9; Ne 9:26).

bear ... thy lewdness--that is, its penal consequences (Pr 1:31).

36-44. A summing up of the sins of the two sisters, especially those of Judah.

wilt thou judge--Wilt thou (not) judge (see on Eze 20:4)?

45. the righteous men--the Chaldeans; the executioners of God's righteous vengeance (Eze 16:38), not that they were "righteous" in themselves (Ha 1:3, 12, 13).

46. a company--properly, "a council of judges" passing sentence on a criminal [Grotius]. The "removal" and "spoiling" by the Chaldean army is the execution of the judicial sentence of God.

47. stones--the legal penalty of the adulteress (Eze 16:40, 41; Joh 8:5). Answering to the stones hurled by the Babylonians from engines in besieging Jerusalem.

houses ... fire--fulfilled (2Ch 36:17, 19).

48. (Eze 23:27).

that all ... may be taught not to do, &c.--(De 13:11).

49. bear the sins of your idols--that is, the punishment of your idolatry.

know that I am the Lord God--that is, know it to your cost ... by bitter suffering.

Son of man, there were two women - All the Hebrews were derived from one source, Abraham and Sarah; and, till the schism under Rehoboam, formed but one people: but as these ten tribes and a half separated from Judah and Benjamin, they became two distinct people under different kings; called the kingdom of Judah, and the kingdom of Israel. They are called here, because of their consanguinity, two sisters. The elder, Samaria, (for there was the seat of government for the kingdom of Israel), was called אהלה aholah, "a tent." The younger, Judah, was called אהליבה aholibah, "my tent is in her," because the temple of God was in Jerusalem, the seat of the government of the kingdom of Judah.

And Aholah played the harlot - Without entering into detail here, or following the figures, they both became idolatrous, and received the impure rites of the Egyptians, Assyrians, and Chaldeans, of which connection the prophet speaks here as he did in chap. 16, which see.

In this chapter there are many of what we would call indelicate expressions, because a parallel is run between idolatry and prostitution, and the circumstances of the latter illustrate the peculiarities of the former. In such cases, perhaps, the matter alone was given to the prophet, and he was left to use his own language, and amplify as he saw good. Ezekiel was among the Jews what Juvenal was among the Romans, - a rough reprover of the most abominable vices. They both spoke of things as they found them; stripped vice naked, and scourged it publicly. The original is still more rough than the translation; and surely there is no need of a comment to explain imagery that is but too generally understood. I have said enough on Ezekiel 16, and to that I must refer the reader. It is true that there are a few things here in the shade that might be illustrated by anatomy; and it would not be difficult to do it: but they are not necessary to salvation, and I shall not take off the covering. They were sufficiently understood by those for whose use they were originally designed.

Clothed with blue - The purple dye was highly valued among the ancients, and at first was only used by kings, at last it was used among the military, particularly by officers of high rank in the country.

Men pourtrayed upon the wall - See on Eze 8:10 (note).

She doted upon their paramours - פלגשיהם pillagsheyhem, their harlots or concubines. Anciently harlot meant in our language either the male or female prostitute.

Whose flesh is as the flesh of asses - See on Eze 16:25 (note).

Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa - פקוד ושוע וקוע. These names have been thought to designate certain people bordering on the Chaldeans; but no geographer has ever been able to find them out.

In our old translations these names were considered appellatives - rulers, mighty men, and tyrants. Others, following the literal import of the words, have translated, visiting, shouting and retreating. Others have applied them to the habits of the Chaldean soldiers. Pekod signifying the muster or review of armies; Shoa, the magnificence of their uniform and arms; and Koa, the marks or embroidery of the clothes of the captains and generals. Grotius thought that they might be names of contiguous nations: Pekod, the Bactrians; Shoa, a people of Armenia; and Boa, the Medes. I have nothing to add that would satisfy myself, or be edifying to my readers.

Shall take away thy nose - A punishment frequent among the Persians and Chaldeans, as ancient authors tell. Adulteries were punished in this way; and to this Martial refers: -

Quis tibi persuasit nares abscindere moecho? "Who has counselled thee to cut off the adulterer's nose?"

Women were thus treated in Egypt. See Calmet.

They shall also strip thee - See on Eze 16:39 (note).

Thou shalt drink of thy sister's cup - Thou shalt be ruined and desolated as Samaria was.

Thou shalt - pluck off thine own breasts - Thou shalt tear them; a frequent action in extreme sorrow and desolation. Weeping, tearing the bosom, and beating the breasts.

Tunc vero rupique sinus, et pectora planxi.

Ovid's Ep. 5.

They have defiled my sanctuary - By placing idols there.

Thou didst wash thyself, paintedst thy eyes, and deckedst thyself with ornaments - This is exactly the way in which a loose female in Bengal adorns herself to receive guests. She first bathes, then rubs black paint around her eyes, and then covers her body with ornaments. - Ward's Customs.

And satest upon a stately bed - Hast raised a stately altar to thy idols; probably alluding to that which Ahaz ordered to be made, after the similitude of that which he saw at Damascus. The bed here is in allusion to the sofas on which the ancients were accustomed to recline at their meals; or to the couches on which they place Asiatic brides, with incense pots and sweetmeats on a table before them.

And a voice of a multitude - This seems to be an account of an idolatrous festival, where a riotous multitude was assembled, and fellows of the baser sort, with bracelets on their arms and chapters on their heads, performed the religious rites.

And the righteous men - אנשים צדיקים anashim tsaddikim. The Chaldeans, thus called because they are appointed by God to execute judgment on these criminals.

Shall stone them with stones - As they did adulteresses under the law. See Lev 20:10; Deu 22:22, compared with Joh 8:3.

Thus will I cause lewdness to cease - Idolatry; and from that time to the present day the Jews never relapsed into idolatry.

Ye shall bear the sins of your idols - The punishment due to your adultery; your apostasy from God, and setting up idolatry in the land.

Two women - Judah, and Israel, two kingdoms.

Whoredoms - Idolatry.

Aholah - That is, his own tabernacle; for Israel falling off from the house of David, fell off from the tabernacle, or temple of God; so that all the temple they had was of their own making. The elder - Greater for number of tribes, and for power, wealth, and for multitudes of people. Aholibah - That is, my tabernacle in her: the two tribes had the temple of God with them. Mine - By solemn marriage - covenant. Bare sons - Were fruitful and brought forth children to me; they increased in numbers of people; and among these, some there were that were children of God by faith, love, and obedience.

Played the harlot - United in idolatry, with the Assyrians. Mine - When under my government, and protection.

Horsemen - Skillful in riding, and well furnished with choice horses.

With all - Other nations, with whom she had commerce.

Discovered - Stript her naked, and exposed her to shame. Took her sons - Captives. Slew her - The kingdom of Israel, under Hoshea, was by Salmanesar utterly destroyed. They - The Assyrians, had executed God's just displeasure upon her.

Girded - With soldiers belts, which includes the rest of the habit of soldiers. In dyed attire - Both rich, comely, large, and of divers colours. Princes - Of princely aspect and majesty.

Alienated - She grew weary of the Chaldeans.

Discovered - Made it appear to all, far and near.

By - Remembering her idolatries in Egypt, her alliance with it in days past, which she now resolved to act over again.

Paramours - The nations, that were confederate with the Egyptians.

Pekod - Pekod is the province between Tigris, and Lycus; in this was old Nineveh. Shoa - Either Sia in Armenia, or the Sohia, among which were the Adiabeni, and this contained the middle part of the kingdom of Babylon. Koa - This bordered upon Media, the inhabitants were called Kohai, and dwelt about Arbela. And all - All subjects of the Assyrian monarchy.

And wheels - Lest in their march the carriage wheels should break, a store of these were provided. An assembly - A mighty confluence of people. I will set - Give them a power in right of conquest over their rebels, as well as mine, and I will give them a spirit of judgment to discern the greatness of this people's sins. Judge - Condemn, and execute sentence upon thee. According - To their will, power, wrath, and custom, against rebels; for these are their rules of judgment.

I will set my jealousy - As a jealous provoked husband, I will be as much against thee as they are. Thy residue - Either the people, who hid themselves in vaults and cellars, or what the Chaldeans cannot carry away, all this shall be devoured by fire.

Take away - Deprive thee of the comfortable use of all thy labour, which they will exact of thee in captivity.

It - Is large, and contains what will last many years, even 'till the seventy years be expired.

Thou - Shalt stagger with sorrows, that shall intoxicate, and astonish. Suck it out - The dregs shalt thou drink, and multiply thine own sorrows. Break the sheards - To suck out what remains. And pluck - Revenging thyself upon thyself.

Bear thou - The guilt, I will impute it, the punishment, I will not pardon it.

In the same day - When they had newly polluted themselves with idolatry and murder, they thrust into the temple.

My house - Nay, these things have been in my house.

Wash thyself - After the manner of harlots.

Sattest - Prepared to feast them. A stately bed - A magnificent bed, on which women sat to feast, when men leaned on their sides. Incense - Offered to their idols.

A voice - A shout for joy, that there was a treaty of peace between the Jews, and the Chaldeans.

Righteous men - Men that keep the law of their God.

Upon them - Against the Jews, the children of this Aholibah.

The company - The Babylonian army.

Lewdness - Idolatry. And indeed we do not read of any after their return out of this captivity.

They - The Babylonians. The sins - The guilt of worshipping idols; and you shall bear the punishment of idolaters.

2 Son of man, there were two women the daughters of one mother .

Iudah, and Israel, the two Kingdoms.

Sprung from Sarah, or, as some, Daughters of the Synagogue. They rose from one Family, these two were Daughters, that is parts, and the Mother is the whole posterity of the 12 Tribes.

3 And they committed whoredoms in Egypt, they committed whoredoms in their youth : there were their breasts pressed , and there they bruised the teats of their virginity.

When they came down into Egypt, and sojourned there, possibly they might commit Bodily Whoredoms, but Spiritual Whoredoms; i. e. Idolatry they did certainly commit, as appears Ioh. 24.14. and Ezek. 20.7, 8. which see; in a low condition by converse with the Idolatrous Egyptians, they fell in with their Idolatry.

Early, though 'tis no where said when they began, yet by this it appears, that 'twas not long after their coming down into Egypt.

This and what follows is an allusion, which illustrates what was before spoken; while they were constant to God, and his Worship, they were as Beautiful, chast, and lovely Virgins, when seduced to Idolatry, they became as loathsome Harlots, or Strumpets.

Marginal references: Lev. 17.7. [illegible: 1 letter]hap. 20.8.

4 And the names of them were Aholah the elder , and Aholibah her sister: and they were mine , and they bare sons and daughters: thus were their names: Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem , Aholibah.

That we might know them, they are described,

Which rendred in English, is his own Tabernacle, for Israel falling off from the House of David, fell also off from the Tabernacle, or Temple of God, so that all the Temple, and Worship they had amongst them, was of their own making.

Greater for number of Tribes, being Ten of Twelve, and greater for Power, Wealth, and multitudes of people.

This rendred in English, my Tabernacle in her: The Two Tribes had the Temple and Worship of God with them; God's own Tent was pitcht there, and his solemn Services.

By solemn Marriage Covenant, Ezek. 16.18.

Were fruitful, and brought forth Children to me, saith God, they increased in Numbers of people, and among these, some there were, that were Children of God by Faith, Love, and Obedience.

The chief City of the Apostate Ten Tribes.

Ierusalem, the chief City of the Two Tribes.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 letter]hap. 16.8,

5 And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine , and she doted on her lovers , on the Assyrians her neighbours .

The Kingdom of Israel, or the Ten Tribes.

United in confederacy in civil concerns, and in Idolatry as to Religious concerns with the Assyrians.

When under my Government, and Protection, or in my presence, or before I had abdicated, and cast her off.

Were madly inamoured with the Assyrian Idols, Temples, and manner of Worship.

Whom she loved, not that I find they so much loved her.

So often mentioned, nothing needs be said of them.

So they were now by their siezing of Syria, and possessing it as their own, 2 Kings. 15.19.

6 Which were cloathed with blue , captains , and rulers , all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses.

Richly apparelled, and, as the humour of that Nation, in rich and beautiful blue, very magnificent to the eye.

Daring valiant men, and fit for Wars, who might defend the Iews in time of danger.

Worthy of Authority, and fit to govern in times of peace.

Young, and vigorous, full of beauty, and strength to commend them to the desire, and choice.

Skilful in riding, and well furnisht with choice Horses, on which these deluded apostatizing Israelites relyed for help, as appears, Hos. 14.3.

7 Thus she committed her whoredoms with them, with all them that were the chosen men of Assyria, and with all on whom she doted : with all their idols she defiled her self.

By the eye, and familiar converse she fell to Idolatry.

See ver. 2. let. i.

She embraced the Friendship, and Religion of all of them, and relied on the Assyrians Idols for deliverance, and peace.

i. e. Other Nations with whom she had Commerce, and made Leagues.

Like an Adulterous Wife, she was mad in her love to them, to their Persons, Customs, Idols, and Religion, with all which she polluted her self.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 letter]eb. bestowed whor[illegible: 1 letter]doms [illegible: 1 word] them.; [illegible: 1 letter]eb. choice of [illegible: 1 word] children of [illegible: 1 word].

8 Neither left she her whoredoms brought from Egypt: for in her youth they lay with her, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured their whoredom upon her.

Though she took in so many Gods of the Assyrians, yet she did not renounce, or cast off the Gods of Egypt, but kept them too.

It is plain, the Israelites learnt Idolatry in Egypt, carried it with them out of Egypt, and retained it to the la[illegible: 1 letter]t.

See ver. 3. let. k, l.

9 Wherefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted.

For this boundless Idolatry, and Lewdness.

Long agone I have delivered the Ten Tribes: First, P[illegible: 1 letter]l put them under Tribute, 2 Kings 15.19, 20. about 200 years before our Prophets time: Then Tiglath-Pi[illegible: 2 letters]ser, 2 Kings 15.29. and finally into Salmanezer's hand, who destroyed the Kingdom, 2 King. 17.6.

Punisht them for their sins by those, were fellow sinners with her.

Marginal references: 2 King. 17.[illegible: 1 letter], 4, 5, 23.

10 These discovered her nakedness : they took her sons and her daughters, and slew her with the sword : and she became famous among women; for they had executed judgment upon her.

Used her as lewd Women deserve, stript her naked, and exposed her to shame, as ver. 26. God her Husband had clothed her, and covered her nakedness, but she lightly esteemed her God, doted on Idols, and Idolaters strip her.

Made them Captives, and carried them away as Slaves to serve the Lusts of barbarous Conquerors, so both Sexes were used.

As a person slain with the Sword ceaseth to be, so this Kingdom of Israel under Hoshea was by the Sword of Salmanezer utterly destroyed.

Her lewdness made her infamous, and God's judgments for it made her more known in the world.

The Assyrians a proud, bitter, and violent Enemy.

Had executed their own malicious revenges, but God's just displeasure upon her.

Marginal references: chap. 16.37.; Heb. a name.

11 And when her sister Aholibah saw this she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in her whoredoms.

Iudah, yet Two Tribes.

Both the sins and punishments of the Kingdom of Israel, which should have been her Admonition.

Ran more violently into both Friendship, Confederacies, and Idolatries with the Assyrians.

Samaria, Ierusalem had more Idols in it, and more abominable Idolatry, than any we read of in Samaria, that, at present, I can remember.

Marginal references: Jer. 3.8.; Jer. 3.11. chap. 16.47, 51.; Heb. corrupted her inordinate love more, &c.; Heb. more than the whoredoms of her sister.

12 She doted upon the Assyrians her neighbours, captains and rulers, clothed most gorgeously, horse men riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men.

This verse is the same with verse 6▪ which see; only the cloathing there of Blue, is here clothing of Beauty, i. e. most beautiful.

Marginal references: 2 King. 16.7, 10. chap. 16.28.

13 Then I saw that she was defiled , that they took both one way.

When she took not warning, neither feared.

Her heart was already on her Idols.

Samaria, and Ierusalem.

Chose the same Idols, and Idolatry.

14 And that she increased her whoredoms: for when she saw men pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans pourtray'd with vermilion ,

Added to the number of her Idolatries.

Where ever 'twas, the Jews saw there 'twas they doted on their persons and habits; it is probable enough they might see them in the Idol Temples, or in the House of the King of Iudah, or of the great men, who promoted the friendships, and Leagues with these Nations.

The counterfeits of Strangers, and such as were far off, as the Chaldaeans were.

Which as 'tis a very glossy and shining colour, so duly mixt with Ceruse, doth lively express the colour of mans flesh.

15 Girded with girdles up on their loines, exceeding in died attire upon their heads, all of them princes to look to, after the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldaea the land of their nativity.

With Souldiers belts about their [illegible: 1 letter]o[illegible: 1 letter]ns, which includes the rest of the garb, dres[illegible: 1 letter], or habit of Souldiers.

Both rich, comely, large, and of divers colours, and those of the choicest, that art, or money could prepare.

Of princely aspect, and majesty.

Agreeable to the garments of the rich, and pro[illegible: 1 letter]d Babylon[illegible: 1 letter]a[illegible: 1 letter]s.

Which probably was the most fruitful part of that Kingdom, and most pleasant, and were the pride and luxury of the inhabitants, exceeded others.

16 And as soon as she saw them with her eyes, she doted upon them, and sent messengers unto them into Chaldea .

The pourtraits of them.

Courted the love of those strangers, and woo'd their embraces, sent to make alliances with them, prostituted her self to them.

Though 'twas a long journey, troublesome, and cos[illegible: 1 letter]ly; all this hinders not this extravagant lewd woman, she sends to these remote parts, and forgets her God.

Like an in[illegible: 1 letter]atiable, and most impudent Adulteress she fell into most inordinate affection for their persons on sight of their pictures.

Marginal references: 2 King. 24.1. chap. 1[illegible: 1 letter].29.; Heb. at the sight of her eyes.

17 And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom , and she was polluted with them, and her mind was alienated from them.

The Prophet prosecuteth the Allegory, the Adulteress sent, and invited, and here the Chaldeans comply with it, they came, Embassadors no doubt first to make a Confederacy, and then free intercourse in Trade and Religion too.

So the impudently lascivious call the polluted, forbidden bed, as the Harlot, Prov. 7.18. It is like with this commerce, and Confederacy the lustful Babylonians did spread that disease, the Jewish nation were too much inclined to corporal Adulteries, and Fornications, but metaphorically, it is a delightful communicating with them in their Idolatry in their Idol Temples, and Feasts.

Made her unclean, and loathsom.

Spiritual and corporal.

Greatly defiled, as the doubling the expression imports.

Like an arrant Adulteress, wearied, but not satisfied with her Adulterers, she changeth mind, and friendships, and seeks new on[illegible: 1 letter]s. So did this people weary of the Chaldeans seek new confederates.

Marginal references: Heb. children of Babel.; verse 28.; Heb. lo[illegible: 1 letter]sed, or disjointed.

18 So she discovered her whoredomes, and discovered her nakedness . Then my mind was alienated from her , like as my mind was alienated from her sister .

By this uns[illegible: 1 letter]tiableness and change of Lovers.

Made it appear to all far, and near, that she was a most notorious, and infamous strumpet.

Her weakness, and her shame.

When I saw the lewdness, impudence, and boundlesness of her Adulteries.

Turned from her with abhorrency, I could no longer endure it.

Ierusalem, the land of Iudea, the Kingdom of the Two Tribes.

Samaria the Ten Tribes, and I resolved to destroy them both alike by their Lovers.

Marginal references: Jer. 6.8.

19 Yet she multiplyed her whoredomes, in calling to remembrance the dayes of her youth , wherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt.

And Heb.

Added more, and greater to her former sins of Idolatry, and Whoredomes, and persisted in them.

This may refer, either to the Jewish nation remembring their Idolatries in Egypt, their alliances with, and reliance upon it in days past, which she now resolves to act over again; or it may refer to God, who, by these continued courses of Iudahs lewdness, is provokt to remember, and punish old perfidious and idolatrous practices.

Verse 3. let. k.

20 For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.

Verse 5. let. z.

Egyptians, and the nations, that were Confederate with the Egyptians, looking on them as able to defend by their power, enrich by their Trade and make prosperous by their Friendship.

In these terms the Prophet expresseth the vehement desire of the Jews to Egyptian Idolatry compared to whoredom, and may, for ought I know, tax the lustful impudence of some of the Jewish Women in their corporal uncleannesses with the Egyptians, who were it seems (by report of Authors) naturally disposed for that vice, and fittest for unsatiable lustful women. See chap. 16.26. let. l.

Marginal references: chap. 16.26.

21 Thus thou calledst to remembrance the lewdness of thy youth , in bruising thy teats by the Egyptians, for the paps of thy youth.

See ver. 19. let. c.

Seever. 3. let. k.

Vid. 3. let. l.

The beauty & loveliness of them, when God had formed them, allured the Egyptians, this may be understood, both politically of the growing state of the Jewish Commonweal, or litterally of the beauty of their young women.

22 ¶ Therefore, O Aholibah, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy mind is alienated , and I will bring them against thee on every side .

See ver. let t.

Thy Confederates.

Whom thou hast first loathed and forsaken, and thereby enraged them against thee.

Be not only an exci[illegible: 1 letter]er to stir them up against thee, but I will be a guide, and conducter of them.

So no way left for thy escape.

Marginal references: chap. 16.37.

23 The Babylonians and all the Chaldeans , Pekod , and Shoa , and Koa , and all the Assyrians with them: all of them desireable young men, captains, and rulers, great lords, and renowned , all of them riding upon horses.

These are known.

Some reckon these the Titles of some of the great Commanders in this Army, which come against Ierusalem, but they are names of distinct Countries, or Provinces under the Babyloni[illegible: 1 letter]h Government, and so Pekod is the Province between Tigris, and Ly[illegible: 2 letters]s Rivers; in this was old Ninive[illegible: 1 letter], and was the principal Province of the Kingdom, though some others think Pekod was Bactriana, now called Vsbeck, and Corass[illegible: 1 letter]n, fierce thievish, and barbarous of old.

Either Sia in Arme[illegible: 1 letter]ia, or the S[illegible: 2 letters]ai, among which were the Adiabeni, and this contained the middle part of the Kingdom of Babylon, and was Assyria Mediana.

This bordered on Media, the inhabitants called Ko[illegible: 1 letter]ai, and dwelt about A[illegible: 1 letter]bel, or Arbelis, or A[illegible: 1 letter]bela, and comprehended Ganyamela, where a Fortress Ganga looks like this Koha, being easily changed from Koa to Ganga by change of the original Letters [non-Latin text not transcribed] into G. and [non-Latin text not transcribed] into G, a people too like enough to be cruel, and barbarous by their very scituation.

All these Sons, or subjects of the Assyrian Monarchy, or Confederates.

Most of these are already explained ver. 6. where these were objects of love, now they are objects of terrour, so God turns the occasions of mens sins into occasions of greater terrour, and punishment.

Heb. called, or invited first by the Jews to sin with them, ver. 16. let. i. now called of God to punish their fellow sinners.

24 And they shall come against thee with chariots , wagons , and wheels and with an assembly of people, which shall set against thee buckler, and shield, and helmet round about: and I will s[illegible: 1 letter]t judgment before them, and they shall judge thee according to their judgments .

Mentioned before ver. 23.

Or upon thee, surprize thee with a speedy march, for they were swift in their course.

Heb. is of larger sense, and more properly speaks all kind of Arms for the War, a thorough furniture, so the Chalde[illegible: 1 letter] Parap[illegible: 1 letter]r. with instruments of War, or Arms.

Heb. Chariot, and is oftner so renderd, for expedition, for ease of their Commanders on their march, and for strength against the Enemy in the Battle.

Whether distinct from all other, or whether prepared, lest in their march the carriage wheels should break, and they be at a stand, therefore beforehand store of these were provided.

A mighty confluence of people, and a mixture, where the worst, and cruellest are the most numerous.

Yet for their own defence well armed▪ and with armature fitted to defeat the Arrows, and offensive weapons of their Enemy, and to maintain a siege, such as they should weary Ierusalem with.

Give them a power by their victory and in right of conquest over theirRebels, as well as mine, and I will give them a spirit of judgment to discern the greatness of this peoples sins.

Plead with thee, convince, condemn, and execute sentence upon thee.

To their will, power, wrath, and custom against Rebels, for these are their rules of judgment, all which appeared when the chief of all the people were condemned to slavery, the wise Counsellers, and valiant Commanders sentenced to dye, Zedekia[illegible: 1 letter]s Children slain, his own eyes put out, and City and Temple to be burnt.

25 And I will set my jealousie against thee, and they shall deal furiously with thee: they shall take away thy nose, and thine ears; and thy remnant shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons and thy daughters, and thy residue shall be devoured by the fire.

As a jealous provoked Husband, I will be as much against thee as they are, their fury shall avenge my quarrel.

Their disposition naturally is to furious wrath, my jealousie shall enkindle it more.

As thou hast prostituted thy beauty like an harlot, so they shall use thee as such, and marre thy beauty, and brand thee for ever, as thou deservest, and that thou mayst be as loathsome in thy deformity, as ever thou wast thought lovely in thy beauty; this punishment of Adulteresses is known to have been used, and is yet in use.

Or else at last, thy latter end shall be to fall by the Sword, those, that do not live under such reproach, shall dye by the Sword of the Enemy.

For Captives and Slaves for work, and somewhat a thousand times worse.

Either the people, who did hide themselves in vaults and cellars, and came not out, or else what remains of that the Chaldeans cannot carry away, all this shall be devoured by fire as when the City was burnt.

26 They shall also strip thee of thy clothes, and take away thy fair jewels .

Both as lewd disgraced Harlots, and as Captives are used▪ chap. 16.39. let. a.

All thy rich, beautiful ornaments. chap. 16. ver. 17. let. p. They shall be prey, and plunder to the Enemy.

By these destroying judgments, which shall make thee cease to be a people; I will put an end to the lewdness thou wouldst never have put end to, thou shalt never have opportunity, if thou had'st heart to do the like.

Idolatries.

When thou camest out under my hand.

With desire and affection toward them, as once, when thou dotedst on them.

With Love, Trust, Imitation, and desire of Commerce with her, but all thy remembrance of Egypt shall be with deep shame, and loathing.

Marginal references: Heb. i[illegible: 4 letters]ment of [illegible: 1 span].

28 For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold I will deliver thee into the hand of them whom thou hatest, into the hand of them from whom thy mind is alienated.

Give thee up.

To the Power, and Will.

Those shall be thy Masters, and Domineer over thee, whom of all men thou didst most desire might not.

'Tis doubled for certainty of the thing, and to make deeper Impression, they shall certainly Lord it over thee, whom of all men thou dost most loath.

Marginal references: [illegible: 2 letters]p. 16.37.; [illegible: 1 letter]er. 17.

29 And they shall deal with thee hatefully , and shall take away all thy labour , and shall leave thee naked and bare: and the nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be discovered, both thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.

Use thee, and ever demean themselves toward thee

In hatred, whatever drudgery, hardship, base, and vile employment their spite and hatred can invent, they shall cast on thee.

Spoil thee of all thou hadst got in Iudea, as they did when they conquered, and plundered. And deprive thee of all the right, and comfortable use of all thy labour, which they will exact of thee in Captivity, and make thee know a Slave hath no right to any thing.

Both literally, thou shalt not have clothes to cover thy nakedness, and figuratively, thou shalt be left in a most disgraced state, and the shame of all thy sins shall cover thee: All this, as this Prophet usually doth, is doubled to affect the more.

Marginal references: [illegible: 2 letters]p. 16.39.

30 I will do these things unto thee, because thou hast gone a whoring after the heathen, and because thou art polluted with their idols.

This verse gives the same reason, which hath been often given, why the Lord proceeds in this severity, because as an obstinate, lewd, untractable Adulteress abuseth the best Husband, till none can forbear, so had the Jews dealt with God, and God will deal with them.

31 Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister , therefore will I give her cup into thine hand.

O Ierusalem and Iudah.

Hast run into the same sinful enormities.

Samaria, and the ten Tribes, both great Idolatresses.

Of judgments, and sorrow exprest frequently by a Cup, Psal. 75.8. and Ier. 25.15. I will punish thee with punishments like hers, since thou hast made thy self in sins like her.

32 Thus saith the Lord GOD, Thou shalt drink of thy sisters cup deep , and large : thou shalt be laught to scorn and had in derision; it containeth much.

Thou shalt not put it by, and shift it off.

Towards the dregs where the bitterest poyson of it lieth.

In great quantity; thy punishment shall be most grievous who must drink so deep of this cup of astonishment.

When sick, as heart can hold, and needest pity, and help to relieve, instead hereof thou shalt be derided, and abused, these will be cruel mockings.

The Cup.

Is large, and contains what will last many years till the 70 years be expired, and of this Cup thou shalt still drink, and be derided.

33 Thou shalt be [illegible: 1 letter]illed with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of thy sister Samaria.

Thy afflictions shall be as great, as thou canst hold, as a vessel filled with liqour.

34 Thou shalt even drink it , and suck it out , and thou shalt break the sheards thereof, and pluck off thine own breasts : for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.

Thou shalt stagger with sorrows, that shall intoxicate, and astonish, in the verse each part explains the other, sorrow explains drunkenness, astonishment explains sorrow, desolation explains astonishment, and the cup of Samaria, el[illegible: 1 letter]ewhere called the line of Samaria explains all: Samaria was made a heap, Mic. 1.6. so shall Ierusalem be.

The dregs shalt thou drink, and multiply thine own sorrows.

Either out of indignation, or to suck out what was imbibed.

Which tempted others, and undid thy self, for which cause thou now revengest thy self upon thy self.

Nothing shall divert the punishment.

Marginal references: Psal. 75.8. [illegible: 1 word]. 51.17.

35 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast forgotten me, and cast me behind thy back, therefore bear thou also thy lewdness and thy whoredomes.

Chap. 22.12. which is here explained by what follows, 'twas a willful forgetting of God, and voluntary despising his Law, Ordinances, Worship, Favour, and Presence, so God is cast behind a sinners back.

The guilt, I will impute it, the punishment, I will not pardon it, and the shame, for I will pour out contempt upon thee, bear both sorrow and reproach of thy sins.

Marginal references: Jer. 2.32. & 3.21. & 13.25.; [illegible: 1 letter] King. 14.9, Neh. 9.26.

36 ¶ The LORD said moreover unto me, Son of man, wilt thou judge Aholah and Aholibah? yea, declare unto them their abominations.

Excuse or plead for such Adulteresses? So chap. 22.2. let. b.

Plainly, fully tell them, what they have been, and what they must expect for all their abominations.

Marginal references: chap. 20.4[illegible: 1 letter]; Or, plead for ▪

37 That they have committed adultery , and blood is in their hands, and with their idols have they committed adultery and have also caused their sons, whom they bare unto me, to pass for them through the fire to devour them.

This seems to referre to corporal uncleannesses.

Innocent blood of the murthered Prophets, and just men.

Spiritual Adultery, i. e. Idolatry.

Most unheard of cruelty, and unnatural murthers under pretext of Religion thus chap. 16.20.

They destroyed, took away the life of their sons in barbarous manner.

Marginal references: chap. 16.38▪; chap. 16.36, 45. & 20.26, 31.

38 Moreover this they have done unto me: They have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths .

Which is declared in the following words, 'twas some great injury, or affront done to God.

My Holy things, House, Altar, Sacrifices, and Oblations; one part of the Temple put for all parts of the holy things of God.

When they had newly polluted themselves with most horrid crimes, Idolatry and Murther they thrust into the Temple, whereas by the Law, if they had been but unclean by touch of a dead body, they must have been cleansed by sacrifices before they ought to come into company with the Jews.

By offering Sacrifices to Idols, and doing that on those dayes, which God, Nature, and all Civil Nations abhorre, onely the Devil is pleased with, who is a murtherer from the beginning, promotes such bloody cruelties.

Marginal references: chap. 22.8.

39 For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it, and lo, thus have they done in the midst of my house.

See chap. 16. ver. 20. let. m, n.

Using my Holy Temples, as if 'twere a common, and unclean place.

Nay, these things have been done in my house, they have offered to their Idols in the house, where my name alone should be called upon.

Marginal references: 2 Kings 21.4.

40 And furthermore, that ye have sent for men to come from far , unto whom a Messenger was sent; and lo, they came ; for whom thou didst wash thy self, paintedst thy eyes , and deckedst thy self with ornaments.

See verse 16. let. i.

From Chaldaea.

An Embassy from the King of Iudah, with advice of his Princes, no doubt.

See ver. 17. let. l, and m.

After the manner of Harlots got'st all fine, clean, and delicate against thy paramours came, so Idol Temples built, Altars beautified, Sacrifices prepared, all to commend thy self to their alliance, and help.

Like a decayed Harlot madest up thy defects with paint.

Put'st on the rich clothing I gave thee, and with thy Husbands Bounty allured Adulterers to thy Bed; so chap. 16.13, 14. thus was God abused, and provoked.

Marginal references: Heb. comings

41 And satest upon a stately bed, and a table prepared before it, whereupon thou hast set mine incense, and mine oyl.

'Tis a Table gesture, as appears, she was prepared to feast them.

A magnificent rich Bed, on which Women sate to Feast, when men leant on their sides, which would not have been a comely posture to a Woman.

Table furnisht with choicest provision, such as made for Feasts, when solemn Sacrifices were offered, or when vows were paid, as the Harlot, Prov. 7.14, 15.

This assures us that Idolatrous Worship was acted by her in complyance with the Chaldaeans, offered to their Idols, and then feasted the Idolaters, with what God had given her, when they confirm'd their Leagues, and swore by false Gods.

Marginal references: Heb. honourable.; Prov. 7.16.

42 And a voice of a multitude being at ease was with her ; and with the men of the common sort were brought Sabeans from the wilderness, which put bracelets upon their hands, and beautiful crowns upon their heads.

A shout for joy, that there was treaty of peace between the Jews, and the Chaldaeans, or Songs of gladness for the peace made, and confirmed not in God's Name, but in the Name of the Idols.

Free now from the tears of any Wars to disquiet them.

About the Altar first, where the peace was s[illegible: 1 letter]orn, about her Bed next, where she feasted her new Allies, that were Great Princes, and Nobles.

And to these worthy the Name of men, or beside these Great, and Famous ones. (Et avec ets ho[illegible: 2 letters]nes) as the French Version.

Messengers were sent to, or received, or entertained, and cares[illegible: 1 letter]ed from the Roaring Sabeans, who lived on Robberies, and Spoiling the Merchants, these were brought to Ierusalem from the Wilderness, Deserts of Arabia, a rude, barbarous, and Idolatrous scum of men described by their ill properties in Geographers, of these were they, that destroyed Iob's Servants in the verse described by their Ornaments, Bracelets about Necks and Arms, and Crowns on their Heads, which some think they bestowed upon this Harlot.

Marginal references: Heb. multitude of men.; Or, [illegible: 1 word].

43 Then said I unto her that was old in adulteries, will they now commit whoredoms with her, and she with them?

After the manner of man God seems to stand musing, or saying to himself, or it may be supposed that God speaks to his Prophet, asking him.

Or rather of her, concerning her.

Such usually are out of request with Adulterers, and now Samaria and Ierusalem had been long Spiritual Adulteresses, and one would think her Lovers would be weary of her, if she were not weary of them.

Marginal references: Heb. her whoredoms.

44 Yet they went in unto her, as they go in unto a woman that playeth the harlot: so went they in unto Aholah and unto Aholibah the lewd women.

This resolves the doubt of the former Chapter.

In this Metaphor the Prophet expresseth the Confederacy of the Jews, against God's express command with the Nations round about them. The Jews enter League with these Robbers, and admit their Idols, and so commit whoredom with them, and these Sabeans probably admit some of the Jews Idols too, and so commit whoredom with her, exprest in the last words of the 43 verse.

45 And the righteous men, they shall judge them after the manner of adulteresses , and after the manner of women that shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands.

Men that kept the Law of their God: for some such there were about Aholibah her self, or Prophets, such as Ieremiah and Ezekiel, and some few more; or else the Babylonians, who in the present Controversie between Ierusalem, and its King on the one part, and Nebuchadnezzar, and the Babylonians on the other part, were comparatively the Righteous men.

Which was to be put to death by stoning, Lev. 20.10. and Murther was punisht with Death.

Marginal references: chap. 16.38.

46 For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will bring up a company upon them, and will give them to be removed , and spoiled .

The Babylonian Army.

Against the Jews, the Children of this Aholibah.

The Inhabitants of Iudea, the Citizens of Ierusalem with Princes, and Royal Family.

To be carried away Captive into the Land of Chaldaea.

By the rapine of the Souldiers in their own Land, and by the cruelty of their Masters to whom they shall be slaves in a strange Land; this is the plain sense of the verse, though possibly there may be an allusion to the solemn proceedings of a Court of Judicature coucht in the proper import of many of the Hebr. words.

Marginal references: chap. 16.40.; Heb. for a removing and spoil.

47 And the company shall stone them with stones, and dispatch them with their swords; they shall slay their sons and their daughters , and burn up their houses with fire.

Congregation, Hebr. the Babylonian Army.

The Punishment of an Adulteress, and this was in manner done, when the Engines, which cast mighty stones into the besieged City, dasht out the brains of some, and when Chimneys, or Walls, or Towers beat down by those stones cast out of the Engines, fell on others, and buried them alive,

Some of them, who scaped the stones, fell under the Sword.

Of the Babylonian Souldier.

Either in Fight, or when they break into the City, or light on them wandring on Mountains, or hiding in Dens, and Caves.

Either in sacking the City, when they regard no Sex, or because they choose to dye, rather than yield to the lust of those vile ones.

As the Cities, and Houses abroad in the Countrey; so the Babylonish Army destroyed what they could not carry away with them; as verse 25. let. a.

Marginal references: Or, single them out.

48 Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness.

See verse 27. let. t. Hereafter in this [illegible: 1 letter]and such like abominations shall never be committed more, as indeed we do not read of any such after their return out of this Captivity.

Countreys, Kingdoms, and Cities may be warn'd by your examples of [illegible: 1 letter]orrows, destruction to fear God, do justly, love mercy, and hate violence.

Marginal references: chap. 22.15.

49 And they shall recompence your lewdness upon you, and ye shall bear the sins of your idols: and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

The Babylonians, and their Confederates.

As God's Ministers of just vengeance shall judge you worthy, and execute on you what you are worthy of, all that may make you desolate, a derision, and scorn.

The guilt of the sins you committed in Worshipping of, and relying upon Idols, and you shall bear the punishment of Idolaters, which by the Law of God is Death without Mercy. Deut. 13.6, 7, 8, 9, 10.

By what you suffer you shall know, that I am justly displeased with your sins, am true to my threats, and have made good my word, Deut. 8.19, 20. if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other Gods, and serve them, &c. ye shall surely perish.

Oholah and Oholibah, the Harlots Samaria and Jerusalem

Samaria and Jerusalem, as the capitals and representatives of the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah, are two sisters, who have practised whoredom from the days of Egypt onwards (Eze 23:2-4). Samaria has carried on this whoredom with Assyria and Egypt, and has been given up by God into the power of the Assyrians as a consequent punishment (Eze 23:5-10). But Jerusalem, instead of allowing this to serve as a warning, committed fornication still more grievously with Assyria and the Chaldeans, and, last of all, with Egypt again (Eze 23:11-21). In consequence of this, the Lord will permit the Chaldeans to make war upon them, and to plunder and put them to shame, so that, as a punishment for their whoredom and their forgetfulness of God, they may, in the fullest measure, experience Samaria’s fate (Eze 23:22-35). In conclusion, both kingdoms are shown once more, and in still severer terms, the guilt of their idolatry (Eze 23:36-44), whilst the infliction of the punishment for both adultery and murder is foretold (Eze 23:45-49).

In its general character, therefore, this word of God is co-ordinate with the two preceding ones in Ezekiel 21 and 22, setting forth once more in a comprehensive way the sins and the punishment of Israel. But this is done in the form of an allegory, which closely resembles in its general features the allegorical description in Ezekiel 16; though, in the particular details, it possesses a character peculiarly its own, not only in certain original turns and figures, but still more in the arrangement and execution of the whole. The allegory in Ezekiel 16 depicts the attitude of Israel towards the Lord in the past, the present, and the future; but in the chapter before us, the guilt and punishment of Israel stand in the foreground of the picture throughout, so that a parallel is drawn between Jerusalem and Samaria, to show that the punishment of destruction, which Samaria has brought upon itself through its adulterous intercourse with the heathen, will inevitably fall upon Jerusalem and Judah also.

Eze 23:1-4

The Sisters Oholah and Oholibah

Eze 23:1. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Eze 23:2. Son of man, two women, daughters of one mother were they, Eze 23:3. They committed whoredom in Egypt, in their youth they committed whoredom; there were their breasts pressed, and there men handled their virgin bosom. Eze 23:4. Their names are Oholah, the greater, and Oholibah her sister; and they became mine, and bare sons and daughters. But their names are: Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem is Oholibah. - The name אהליבה is formed from אהלי בהּ, “my tent in her;” and, accordingly, אהלה is to be derived from אהלהּ, “her tent,” and not to be regarded as an abbreviation of אהלהּ בהּ, “her tent in her,” as Hitzig and Kliefoth maintain. There is no ground for this assumption, as “her tent,” in contrast with “my tent in her,” expresses the thought with sufficient clearness, that she had a tent of her own, and the place where her tent was does not come into consideration. The “tent” is the sanctuary: both tabernacle and temple. These names characterize the two kingdoms according to their attitude toward the Lord. Jerusalem had the sanctuary of Jehovah; Samaria, on the other hand, had her own sanctuary, i.e., one invented by herself. Samaria and Jerusalem, as the historical names of the two kingdoms, represent Israel of the ten tribes and Judah. Oholah and Oholibah are daughters of one mother, because they were the two halves of the one Israel; and they are called women, because Jehovah had married them (Eze 23:4). Oholah is called הגּדולה, the great, i.e., the greater sister (not the elder, see the comm. on Eze 16:46); because ten tribes, the greater portion of Israel, belonged to Samaria, whereas Judah had only two tribes. They committed whoredom even in Egypt in their youth, for even in Egypt the Israelites defiled themselves with Egyptian idolatry (see the comm. on Eze 20:7). מיעך, to press, to crush: the Pual is used here to denote lewd handling. In a similar manner the Piel עשּׂה is used to signify tractare, contrectare mammas, in an obscene sense.

Eze 23:5-10

Samaria’s Whoredom and Punishment

Eze 23:5. And Oholibah played the harlot under me, and burned towards her lovers, even as far as Assyria, standing near; Eze 23:6. Clothed in purple, governors and officers, all of them choice men of good deportment, horsemen riding upon horses. Eze 23:7. And she directed her whoredom toward them, to the choice of the sons of Assyria all of them, and with all towards whom she burned, with all their idols she defiled herself. Eze 23:8. Also her whoredom from Egypt she did not give up; for they had lain with her in her youth, and they had handled her virgin bosom, and had poured out their lust upon her. Eze 23:9. Therefore I have given her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the sons of Assyria, towards whom she was inflamed. Eze 23:10. They uncovered her nakedness, took away her sons and her daughters, and slew her with the sword, so that she became a legend among the women, and executed judgments upon her. - Coquetting and whoring with Assyria and Egypt denote religious and political leaning towards and connection with these nations and kingdoms, including idolatry and the formation of alliances with them, as in Ezekiel 16. תּחתּי is to be interpreted in accordance with תּחת אישׁהּ (Eze 16:32). עגּב, which only occurs in Ezekiel and once in Jeremiah, denotes the eager desire kindled by passionate love towards any one. By the words אל־אשּׁוּר the lovers are more precisely defined. קרובים without an article is not an adjective, belonging to מאהביה, but in apposition, which is continued in the next verse. In these appositions the particular features, which excited the ardent passion towards the lovers, are pointed out. קרוב is not to be taken in an outward or local sense, but as signifying inward or spiritual nearness: standing near, equivalent to inwardly related, as in Psa 38:12; Job 19:14. The description given of the Assyrians in Eze 23:6 contains the thought that Israel, dazzled by Assyria’s splendour, and overpowered by the might of that kingdom, had been drawn into intercourse with the Assyrians, which led her astray into idolatry. The predicate, clothed in purple, points to the splendour and glory of this imperial power; the other predicates, to the magnitude of its military force. פחות וּסגנים are rulers of higher and lower grades (cf. Jer 51:57). “Here the expression is a general one, signifying the different classes of office-bearers in the kingdom” (Hävernick). With regard to פּחה, see my comm. on Hag 1:1; and for סגן, see Delitzsch on Isa 41:25. “Riding upon horses” is added to פּרשׁים to denote the noblest horsemen, in contrast to riders upon asses and camels (cf. Isa 21:7). In Eze 23:7 בּכּל־גּלּוּליהםhem is in apposition to בּכל אשׁר־עגבה, and defines more precisely the instigation to pollution: with all towards whom she burned in love, namely, with all their (the lovers') idols. The thought is as follows: it was not merely through her intercourse with the Assyrians that Israel defiled herself, but also through their idols. At the same time, Samaria did not give up the idolatry which it had derived from Egypt. It was from Egypt that the worship of God under the image of the golden calves had been imported. The words are much too strong for us to understand them as relating simply to political intercourse, as Hitzig has done. We have already observed at Eze 20:7, that even in Egypt itself the Israelites had defiled themselves with Egyptian idolatry, as is also stated in Eze 23:8. - Eze 23:9, Eze 23:10. As a punishment for this, God gave Samaria into the power of the Assyrians, so that they executed judgment upon the harlot. In Eze 23:10 the prophecy passes from the figure to the fact. The uncovering of the nakedness consisted in the transportation of the sons and daughters, i.e., the population of Samaria, into exile by the Assyrians, who slew the woman herself with the sword; in other words, destroyed the kingdom of Samaria. Thus did Samaria become a name for women; that is to say, her name was circulated among the nations, her fate became an object of conversation and ridicule to the nations, not “a nickname for the nations,” as Hävernick supposes (vid., Eze 36:3). שׁפוּטים, a later form for שׁפטים (cf. Eze 16:41).

Eze 23:11-21

Whoredom of Judah

Eze 23:11. And her sister Oholibah saw it, and carried on her coquetry still more wantonly than she had done, and her whoredom more than the whoredom of her sister. Eze 23:12. She was inflamed with lust towards the sons of Asshur, governors and officers, standing near, clothed in perfect beauty, horsemen riding upon horses, choice men of good deportment. Eze 23:13. And I saw that she had defiled herself; they both went one way. Eze 23:14. And she carried her whoredom still further; she saw men engraved upon the wall, figures of Chaldeans engraved with red ochre, Eze 23:15. Girded about the hips with girdles, with overhanging caps upon their heads, all of them knights in appearance, resembling the sons of Babel, the land of whose birth is Chaldea: Eze 23:16. And she was inflamed with lust toward them, when her eyes saw them, and sent messengers to them to Chaldea. Eze 23:17. Then the sons of Babylon came to her to the bed of love, and defiled her with their whoredom; and when she had defiled herself with them, her soul tore itself away from them. Eze 23:18. And when she uncovered her whoredom, and uncovered her nakedness, my soul tore itself away from her, as my soul had torn itself away from her sister. Eze 23:19. And she increased her whoredom, so that she remembered the days of her youth, when she played the harlot in the land of Egypt. Eze 23:20. And she burned toward their paramours, who have members like asses and heat like horses. Eze 23:21. Thou lookest after the lewdness of thy youth, when they of Egypt handled thy bosom because of thy virgin breasts. - The train of thought in these verses is the following: - Judah went much further than Samaria. It not only indulged in sinful intercourse with Assyria, which led on to idolatry as the latter had done, but it also allowed itself to be led astray by the splendour of Chaldea, to form alliances with that imperial power, and to defile itself with her idolatry. And when it became tired of the Chaldeans, it formed impure connections with the Egyptians, as it had done once before during its sojourn in Egypt. The description of the Assyrians in Eze 23:12 coincides with that in Eze 23:5 and Eze 23:6, except that some of the predicates are placed in a different order, and לבשׁי is substituted for לבשׁי תכלת. The former expression, which occurs again in Eze 38:4, must really mean the same as תכלת 'לב. But it does not follow from this that מכלול signifies purple, as Hitzig maintains. The true meaning is perfection; and when used of the clothing, it signifies perfect beauty. The Septuagint rendering, εὺπάρυφα, with a beautiful border - more especially a variegated one - merely expresses the sense, but not the actual meaning of מכלול. The Chaldee rendering is לבשׁי גמר, perfecte induti. - There is great obscurity in the statement in Eze 23:14 as to the way in which Judah was seduced to cultivate intercourse with the Chaldeans. She saw men engraved or drawn upon the wall (מחקּה, a participle Pual of חקק, engraved work, or sculpture). These figures were pictures of Chaldeans, engraved (drawn) with שׁשׁר, red ochre, a bright-red colour. חגורי, an adjective form חגור, wearing a girdle. טבוּלים, coloured cloth, from טבל, to colour; here, according to the context, variegated head-bands or turbans. סרוּח, the overhanging, used here of the cap. The reference is to the tiarae tinctae (Vulgate), the lofty turbans or caps, as they are to be seen upon the monuments of ancient Nineveh. שׁלישׁים, not chariot-warriors, but knights: “tristatae, the name of the second grade after the regal dignity” (Jerome. See the comm. on Exo 14:7 and 2Sa 23:8).

The description of these engravings answers perfectly to the sculptures upon the inner walls of the Assyrian palaces in the monuments of Nimrud, Khorsabad, and Kouyunjik (see Layard’s Nineveh and its Remains, and Vaux, Nineveh and Persepolis). The pictures of the Chaldeans are not mythological figures (Hävernick), but sculptures depicting war-scenes, triumphal processions of Chaldean rulers and warriors, with which the Assyrian palaces were adorned. We have not to look for these sculptures in Jerusalem or Palestine. This cannot be inferred from Eze 8:10, as Hävernick supposes; nor established by Hitzig’s argument, that the woman must have been in circumstances to see such pictures. The intercourse between Palestine and Nineveh, which was carried on even in Jonah’s time, was quite sufficient to render it possible for the pictures to be seen. When Israelites travelled to Nineveh, and saw the palaces there, they could easily make the people acquainted with the glory of Nineveh by the accounts they would give on their return. It is no reply to this, to state that the woman does not send ambassadors till afterwards (Eze 23:16), as Hitzig argues; for Judah sent ambassadors to Chaldea not to view the glories of Assyria, but to form alliances with the Chaldeans, or to sue for their favour. Such an embassy, for example, was sent to Babylon by Zedekiah (Jer 29:3); and there is no doubt that in v. 16 b Ezekiel has this in his mind. Others may have preceded this, concerning which the books of Kings and Chronicles are just as silent as they are concerning that of Zedekiah. The thought in these verses is therefore the following: - The acquaintance made by Israel (Judah) with the imperial splendour of the Chaldeans, as exhibited in the sculptures of their palaces, incited Judah to cultivate political and mercantile intercourse with this imperial power, which led to its becoming entangled in the heathen ways and idolatry of the Chaldeans. The Chaldeans themselves came and laid the foundation for an intercourse which led to the pollution of Judah with heathenism, and afterwards filled it with disgust, because it was brought thereby into dependence upon the Chaldeans. The consequence of all this was, that the Lord became tired of Judah (Eze 23:17, Eze 23:18). For instead of returning to the Lord, Judah turned to the other power of the world, namely, to Egypt; and in the time of Zedekiah renewed its ancient coquetry with that nation (Eze 23:19-21 compared with Eze 23:8). The form ותּעגּבה in Eze 23:20, which the Keri also gives in Eze 23:18, has taken ah as a feminine termination (not the cohortative ah), like תּרגּה in Pro 1:20; Pro 8:1 (vid., Delitzsch, Comm. on Job, en loc.). פּלּגשׁים are scorta mascula (here (Kimchi) - a drastically sarcastic epithet applied to the sârisim, the eunuchs, or courtiers. The figurative epithet answers to the licentious character of the Egyptian idolatry. The sexual heat both of horses and asses is referred to by Aristotle, Hist. anim. vi. 22, and Columella, de re rust. vi. 27; and that of the horse has already been applied to the idolatry of the people by Jeremiah (vid., Jer 5:8). בּשׂר, as in Eze 16:26. פּקד (Eze 23:21), to look about for anything, i.e., to search for it; not to miss it, as Hävernick imagines.

Eze 23:22-35

Punishment of the Harlot Jerusalem

Eze 23:22. Therefore, Oholibah, thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy soul has torn itself away, and cause them to come upon thee from every side; Eze 23:23. The sons of Babel, and all the Chaldeans, rulers, lords, and nobles, all the sons of Assyria with them: chosen men of graceful deportment, governors and officers together, knights and counsellors, all riding upon horses. Eze 23:24. And they will come upon thee with weapons, chariots, and wheels, and with a host of peoples; target and shield and helmet will they direct against thee round about: and I commit to them the judgment, that they may judge thee according to their rights. Eze 23:25. And I direct my jealousy against thee, so that they shall deal with thee in wrath: nose and ears will they cut off from thee; and thy last one shall fall by the sword: they will take thy sons and thy daughters; and thy last one will be consumed by fire. Eze 23:26. They will strip off thy clothes from thee, and take thy splendid jewellery. Eze 23:27. I will abolish thy lewdness from thee, and thy whoredom from the land of Egypt: that thou mayest no more lift thine eyes to them, and no longer remember Egypt. Eze 23:28. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I give thee into the hand of those whom thou hatest, into the hand of those from whom thy soul has torn itself away: Eze 23:29. And they shall deal with thee in hatred, and take all thy gain, and leave thee naked and bare; that thy whorish shame may be uncovered, and thy lewdness and thy whoredom. Eze 23:30. This shall happen to thee, because thou goest whoring after the nations, and on account of thy defiling thyself with their idols. Eze 23:31. In the way of thy sister hast thou walked; therefore I give her cup into thy hand. Eze 23:32. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, The cup of thy sister thou shalt drink, the deep and broad one; it will be for laughter and for derision, because it contains so much. Eze 23:33. Thou wilt become full of drunkenness and misery: a cup of desolation and devastation is the cup of thy sister Samaria. Eze 23:34. Thou wilt drink it up and drain it, and gnaw its fragments, and tear thy breasts (therewith); for I have spoken it, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. Eze 23:35. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Because thou hast forgotten me, and hast cast me behind thy back, thou shalt also bear thy lewdness and thy whoredom. - As Jerusalem has given herself up to whoredom, like her sister Samaria, she shall also share her sister’s fate. The paramours, of whom she has become tired, God will bring against her as enemies. The Chaldeans will come with all their might, and execute the judgment of destruction upon her. - For the purpose of depicting their great and powerful forces, Ezekiel enumerates in Eze 23:23 and Eze 23:24 the peoples and their military equipment: viz., the sons of Babel, i.e., the inhabitants of Babylonia, the Chaldeans - the ruling people of the empire at that time - and all the sons of Asshur, i.e., the inhabitants of the eastern portions of the empire, the former rulers of the world. There is some obscurity in the words פּקוד ושׁוע , which the older theologians have almost unanimously taken to be the names of different tribes in the Chaldean empire. Ewald also adopts this view, but it is certainly incorrect; for the words are in apposition to וכל־כּשׂדּים, as the omission of the copula ו before פּקוד is sufficient to show. This is confirmed by the fact that שׁוע is used, in Isa 32:5 and Job 34:19, in the sense of the man of high rank, distinguished for his prosperity, which is quite in harmony with the passage before us. Consequently פּקוד is not to be taken in the sense of visitation or punishment, after Jer 50:21; but the meaning is to be sought in the verb פּקד, to exercise supervision, or lead; and the abstract oversight is used for overseer, or ruler, as an equivalent to פּקיד. Lastly, according to Rabbins, the Vulgate, and others, קוע signifies princes, or nobles. The predicates in Eze 23:23 are repeated from Eze 23:6 and Eze 23:12, and קרוּאים alone is added. This is a word taken from the Pentateuch, where the heads of the tribes and families, as being members of the council of the whole congregation of Israel, are called קרוּאי or קרוּאי מועד, persons called or summoned to the meeting (Num 1:16; Num 16:2). As Michaelis has aptly observed, “he describes them sarcastically in the very same way in which he had previously described those upon whom she doted.”

There is a difficulty in explaining the ἁπ. λεγ.. הצן - for which many MSS read חצן - as regards not only its meaning, but its position in the sentence. The fact that it is associated with רכב וגלגּל would seem to indicate that הצן is also either an implement of war or some kind of weapon. At the same time, the words cannot be the subject to וּבאוּ; but as the expression וּבקהל עמּים, which follows, clearly shows, they simply contain a subordinate definition of the manner in which, or the things with which, the peoples mentioned in Eze 23:23, Eze 23:24 will come, while they are governed by the verb in the freest way. The attempts which Ewald and Hitzig have made to remove the difficulty, by means of conjectures, are forced and extremely improbable. נתתּי לפּניהם, I give up to them (not, I place before them); נתן, as in 1Ki 8:46, to deliver up, or give a thing into a person’s hand or power. לפני is used in this sense in Gen 13:9 and Gen 24:51. - In Eze 23:25, Eze 23:26, the execution of the judgment is depicted in detail. The words, “they take away thy nose and ears,” are not to be interpreted, as the earlier expositors suppose, from the custom prevalent among the Egyptians and other nations of cutting off the nose of an adulteress; but depict, by one particular example, the mutilation of prisoners captured by their enemies. אחרית: not posterity, which by no means suits the last clause of the verse, and cannot be defended from the usage of the language (see the comm. on Amo 4:2); but the last, according to the figure employed in the first clause, the trunk; or, following the second clause, the last thing remaining in Jerusalem, after the taking away of the sons and daughters, i.e., after the slaying and the deportation of the inhabitants - viz. the empty houses. For Eze 23:26, compare Eze 16:39. - In Eze 23:27, “from the land of Egypt” is not equivalent to “dating from Egypt;” for according to the parallel ממּך, from thee, this definition does not belong to זנוּתך, “thy whoredom,” but to השׁבּתּי, “I cause thy whoredom to cease from Egypt” (Hitzig). - For Eze 23:28, compare Eze 16:37; for Eze 23:28, vid., Eze 23:17 above; and for Eze 23:29, see Eze 23:25 and Eze 23:26, and Eze 16:39. - Eze 23:31 looks back to Eze 23:13; and Eze 23:31 is still further expanded in Eze 23:32-34. Judah shall drink the cup of the wrathful judgment of God, as Samaria has done. For the figure of the cup, compare Isa 51:17 and Jer 25:15. This cup is described in Eze 23:32 as deep and wide, i.e., very capacious, so that whoever exhausts all its contents must be thoroughly intoxicated. תּהיה is the third person; but the subject is מרבּה, and not כּוס. The greatness or breadth of the cup will be a subject of laughter and ridicule. It is very arbitrary to supply “to thee,” so as to read: will be for laughter and ridicule to thee, which does not even yield a suitable meaning, since it is not Judah but the nations who laugh at the cup. Others regard תּהיה as the second person, thou wilt become; but apart from the anomaly in the gender, as the masculine would stand for the feminine, Hitzig has adduced the forcible objection, that according to this view the words would not only anticipate the explanation give of the figure in the next verse, but would announce the consequences of the שׁכּרון ויגון mentioned there. Hitzig therefore proposes to erase the words from תּהיה to וּללעג as a gloss, and to alter מרבּה into מרבּה : which contains much, is very capacious. But there is not sufficient reason to warrant such critical violence as this. Although the form מרבּה is ἁπ λεγ.., it is not to be rejected as a nomen subst.; and if we take מרבּה להכיל, the magnitude to hold, as the subject of the sentence, it contains a still further description of the cup, which does not anticipate what follows, even though the cup will be an object of laughter and ridicule, not so much for its size, as because of its being destined to be drunk completely empty. In Eze 23:33 the figure and the fact are combined - יגון, lamentation, misery, being added to שׁכּרון, drunkenness, and the cup being designated a cup of devastation. The figure of drinking is expanded in the boldest manner in Eze 23:34 into the gnawing of the fragments of the cup, and the tearing of the breasts with the fragments. - In Eze 23:35 the picture of the judgment is closed with a repetition of the description of the nation’s guilt. For Eze 23:35, compare Eze 16:52 and Eze 16:58.

Eze 23:36-49

Another Summary of the Sins and Punishment of the Two Women

Eze 23:36. And Jehovah said to me, Son of man, wilt thou judge Oholah and Oholibah, then show them their abominations; Eze 23:37. For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands; and they have committed adultery with their idols; and their sons also whom they bare to me they have caused to pass through to them to be devoured. Eze 23:38. Yea more, they have done this to me; they have defiled my sanctuary the same day, and have desecrated my Sabbaths. Eze 23:39. When they slaughtered their sons to their idols, they came into my sanctuary the same day to desecrate it; and, behold, they have acted thus in the midst of my house. Eze 23:40. Yea, they have even sent to men coming from afar; to them was a message sent, and, behold, they came, for whom thou didst bathe thyself, paint thine eyes, and put on ornaments, Eze 23:41. And didst seat thyself upon a splendid cushion, and a table was spread before them, thou didst lay thereon my incense and my oil. Eze 23:42. And the loud noise became still thereat, and to the men out of the multitude there were brought topers out of the desert, and they put armlets upon their hands, and glorious crowns upon their heads. Eze 23:43. Then I said to her who was debilitated for adultery, Now will her whoredom itself go whoring, Eze 23:44. And they will go in to her as they go in to a shore; so did they go in to Oholah and Oholibah, the lewd women. Eze 23:45. But righteous men, these shall judge them according to the judgment of adulteresses and according to the judgment of murderesses; for they are adulteresses, and there is blood in their hands. Eze 23:46. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, I will bring up against them an assembly, and deliver them up for maltreating and for booty. Eze 23:47. And the assembly shall stone them, and cut them in pieces with their swords; their sons and their daughters shall they kill, and burn their houses with fire. Eze 23:48. Thus will I eradicate lewdness from the land, that all women may take warning and not practise lewdness like you. Eze 23:49. And they shall bring your lewdness upon you, and ye shall bear the sins of your idols, and shall learn that I am the Lord Jehovah. - The introductory words 'התשׁפּוט point back not only to Eze 22:2, but also to Eze 20:4, and show that this section is really a summary of the contents of the whole group (Eze 20:23). The actual subject-matter of these verses is closely connected with Eze 23:16, more especially in the designation of the sins as adultery and bloodshed (compare Eze 23:37 and Eze 23:45 with Eze 16:38). נאף, to commit adultery with the idols, whereby the idols are placed on a par with Jehovah as the husband of Israel (compare Jer 3:8 and Jer 2:27). For the Moloch-worship in Eze 23:37, compare Eze 16:20-21, and Eze 20:31. The desecration of the sanctuary (Eze 23:38) is more minutely defined in Eze 23:39. בּיּום ההוּא in Eze 23:38, which has so offended the lxx and Hitzig that it is omitted by the former, while the latter proposes to strike it out as a gloss, is added for the purpose of designating the profanation of the sanctuary as contemporaneous with the Moloch-worship of Eze 23:37, as is evident from Eze 23:39. For the fact itself, compare 2Ki 21:4-5, 2Ki 21:7. The desecration of the Sabbaths, as in Eze 20:13, Eze 20:16. For Eze 23:39, compare Eze 16:21. The words are not to be understood as signifying that they sacrificed children to Moloch in the temple, but simply that immediately after they had sacrificed children to Moloch, they went into the temple of Jehovah, that there they might worship Jehovah also, and thus placed Jehovah upon a par with Moloch. This was a profanation (חלּל) of His sanctuary.

In Eze 23:40-44 the allusion is not to actual idolatry, but to the ungodly alliance into which Judah had entered with Chaldea. Judah sent ambassadors to Chaldea, and for the purpose of receiving the Chaldeans, adorned herself as a woman would do for the reception of her paramours. She seated herself upon a splendid divan, and in front of this there was a table spread, upon which stood the incense and the oil that she ought to have offered to Jehovah. This is the explanation which Kliefoth has correctly given of Eze 23:40 and Eze 23:41. The emphatic ואף כּי in Eze 23:40 is sufficient to show that the reference is to a new crime deserving of punishment. This cannot be idolatry, because the worship of Moloch has already been mentioned in Eze 23:38 and Eze 23:39 as the worst of all the idolatrous abominations. Moreover, sending for (or to) men who come from afar does not apply to idolatry in the literal sense of the word; for men to whom the harlot sent messengers to invite them to come to her could not be idols for which she sent to a distant land. The allusion is rather to Assyrians or Chaldeans, and, according to Eze 23:42, it is the former who are referred to here (compare Isa 39:3). There is no force in Hitzig’s objection, namely, that the one woman sent to these, and that their being sent for and coming have already been disposed of in Eze 23:16. For the singulars in the last clause of Eze 23:40 show that even here only one woman is said to have sent for the men. Again, תּשׁלחנה might even be the third person singular, as this form does sometimes take the termination נה (vid., Ewald, §191 c, and Ges. §47, Anm. 3). At the same time, there is nothing in the fact that the sending to Chaldea has already been mentioned in Eze 23:16 to preclude another allusion to the same circumstance from a different point of view. The woman adorned herself that she might secure the favour of the men for whom she had sent. כּהל is the Arabic khl, to paint the eyes with stibium (kohol). For the fact itself, see the remarks on 2Ki 9:30. She then seated herself upon a cushion (not lay down upon a bed; for ישׁב does not mean to lie down), and in front of this there was a table, spread with different kinds of food, upon which she placed incense and oil. The suffix to עליה refers to שׁלחן, and is to be taken as a neuter, which suits the table as a thing, whilst שׁלחן generally takes the termination ות in the plural. In Eze 23:41, Ewald and Hävernick detect a description of the lectisternia of the licentious worship of the Babylonian Mylitta. But neither the sitting (ישׁב) upon a cushion (divan), nor the position taken by the woman behind the table, harmonizes with this. As Hitzig has correctly observed, “if she has taken her seat upon a cushion, and has a table spread before her, she evidently intends to dine, and that with the men for whom she has adorned herself. The oil is meant for anointing at meal-time (Amo 6:6; Pro 21:17; cf. Psa 23:5), and the incense for burning.” “My incense and my oil” are the incense and oil given to her by God, which she ought to have devoted to His service, but had squandered upon herself and her foreign friends (cf. Eze 16:18; Hos 2:10). The oil, as the produce of the land of Palestine, was the gift of Jehovah; and although incense was not a production of Palestine, yet as the money with which Judah purchased it, or the goods bartered for it, were the fists of God, Jehovah could also call it His incense.

Eze 23:42 is very obscure. Such renderings of the first clause as et vox multitudinis exultantis in ea (Vulg)., and “the voice of a careless multitude within her” (Hävernick), can hardly be sustained. In every other passage in which קול occurs, it does not signify the voice of a multitude, but a loud tumult; compare Isa 13:4; Isa 33:3; Dan 10:6, and 1Sa 4:14, where קול ההמון is used as synonymous with קול. Even in cases where המון is used for a multitude, it denotes a noisy, boisterous, tumultuous crowd. Consequently שׁלו cannot be taken as an adjective connected with המון, because a quiet tumult is a contradiction, and שׁלו does not mean either exultans or recklessly breaking loose (Hävernick), but simply living in quiet, peaceful and contented. שׁלו must therefore be the predicate to קול המון; the sound of the tumult or the loud noise was (or became) quiet, still. בהּ, thereat (neuter, like בהּ, thereby, Gen 24:14). The words which follow, 'ואל אנשׁים וגו, are not to be taken with the preceding clause, as the connection would yield no sense. They belong to what follows. אנשׁים מרב אדם .swollof tah can only be the men who came from afar (Eze 23:40). In addition to these, there were brought, i.e., induced to come, topers from the desert. The Chetib סובאים is no doubt a participle of סבא, drinkers, topers; and the Hophal  מוּבאים is chosen instead of the Kal בּאים, for the sake of the paronomasia, with סובאים. The former, therefore, can only be the Assyrians (בּני אשּׁוּר, Eze 23:5 and Eze 23:7), the latter (the topers) the Chaldeans (בּני בבל( sn, Eze 23:15). The epithet drinkers is a very appropriate one for the sons of Babylon; as Curtius (Eze 23:1) describes the Babylonians as maxime in vinum et quae ebrietatem sequuntur effusi. The phrase “from the desert” cannot indicate the home of these men, although ממּדבּר corresponds to ממּרחק in Eze 23:40, but simply the place from which they came to Judah, namely, from the desert of Syria and Arabia, which separated Palestine from Babylon. These peoples decorated the arms of the harlots with clasps, and their heads with splendid wreaths (crowns). The plural suffixes indicate that the words apply to both women, and this is confirmed by the fact that they are both named in Eze 23:44. The subject to ויּתּנוּ is not merely the סובאים, but also the אנשׁים ממּרחק eht osla in Eze 23:40. The thought is simply that Samaria and Judah had attained to wealth and earthly glory through their intercourse with these nations; the very gifts with which, according to Eze 16:11., Jehovah Himself had adorned His people. The meaning of the verse, therefore, when taken in its connection, appears to be the following: - When the Assyrians began to form alliances with Israel, quiet was the immediate result. The Chaldeans were afterwards added to these, so that through their adulterous intercourse with both these nations Israel and Judah acquired both wealth and glory. The sentence which God pronounced upon this conduct was, that Judah had sunk so deeply into adultery that it would be impossible for it ever to desist from the sin.

This is the way in which we understand Eze 23:43, connecting  לבּלה  with ואמר: “I said concerning her who was debilitated with whoredom.” בּלה, feminine of בּלה fo enini, used up, worn out; see, for example, Jos 9:4-5, where it is applied to clothes; here it is transferred to persons decayed, debilitated, in which sense the verb occurs in Gen 18:12. נאפּים, which is co-ordinated with בּלה, does not indicate the means by which the strength has been exhausted, but is an accusative of direction or reference, debilitated with regard to adultery, so as no longer to be capable of practising it.The proposal of Ewald to take לבּלה נאפּים as an independent clause, “adultery to the devil,” cannot be defended by the usage of the language; and that of Hitzig, “the withered hag practises adultery,” is an unnatural invention, inasmuch as ל, if taken as nota dativi, would give this meaning: the hag has (possesses) adultery as her property - and there is nothing to indicate that it should be taken as a question.

In the next clause עתּ , תּזנוּתיה is the subject to יזנה, and the Chetib is correct, the Keri being erroneous, and the result of false exposition. If תזנותיה were the object to יזנה, so that the woman would be the subject, we should have the feminine תּזנה. But if, on the other hand, תזנותיה is the subject, there is no necessity for this, whether we regard the word as a plural, from תּזנוּתים, or take it as a singular, as Ewald (§259 a) has done, inasmuch as in either case it is still an abstract, which might easily be preceded by the verb in the masculine form. והיא gives greater force, not only to the suffix, but also the noun - and that even she (her whoredom). The sin of whoredom is personified, or regarded as רוּח זנוּנים (Hos 4:12), as a propensity to whoredom, which continues in all its force after the capacity of the woman herself is gone. - Eze 23:44 contains the result of the foregoing description of the adulterous conduct of the two women, and this is followed in Eze 23:45. by an account of the attitude assumed by God, and the punishment of the sinful women. ויּבוא, with an indefinite subject, they (man, one) went to her. אליה, the one woman, Oholibah. It is only in the apodosis that what has to be said is extended to both women. This is the only interpretation of Eze 23:44 which does justice both to the verb ויּבוא (imperfect with Vav consec. as the historical tense) and the perfect בּאוּ. The plural אשּׁת does not occur anywhere else. Hitzig would therefore alter it into the singular, as “unheard of,” and confine the attribute to Oholibah, who is the only one mentioned in the first clause of the verse, and also in Eze 23:43, Eze 23:40, and Eze 23:41. The judgment upon the two sisters is to be executed by righteous men (Eze 23:45). The Chaldeans are not designated as righteous in contrast to the Israelites, but as the instruments of the punitive righteousness of God in this particular instance, executing just judgment upon the sinners for adultery and bloodshed (vid., Eze 16:38). The infinitives העלה and נתון in Eze 23:46 stand for the third person future. For other points, compare the commentary on Eze 16:40 and Eze 16:41. The formula נתן לזעוה is derived from Deu 28:25, and has been explained in the exposition of that passage. וּברא is the inf. abs. Piel. For the meaning of the word, see the comm. on Eze 21:24. From this judgment all women, i.e., all nations, are to take warning to desist from idolatry. נוּסּרוּ is a mixed form, compounded of the Niphal and Hithpael, for התוסּרוּ, like נכּפּר in Deu 21:8 (see the comm. in loc.). - For Eze 23:49, vid., Eze 16:58. - The punishment is announced to both the women, Israel and Judah, as still in the future, although Oholah (Samaria) had been overtaken by the judgment a considerable time before. The explanation of this is to be found in the allegory itself, in which both kingdoms are represented as being sisters of one mother; and it may also be defended on the ground that the approaching destruction of Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah affected the remnants of the kingdom of the ten tribes, which were still to be found in Palestine; whilst, on the other hand, the judgment was not restricted to the destruction of the two kingdoms, but also embraced the later judgments which fell upon the entire nation.

The Sins of Samaria and Jerusalem. (b. c. 591.)

1 The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother: 3 And they committed whoredoms in Egypt; they committed whoredoms in their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their virginity. 4 And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her sister: and they were mine, and they bare sons and daughters. Thus were their names; Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah. 5 And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours, 6 Which were clothed with blue, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses. 7 Thus she committed her whoredoms with them, with all them that were the chosen men of Assyria, and with all on whom she doted: with all their idols she defiled herself. 8 Neither left she her whoredoms brought from Egypt: for in her youth they lay with her, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured their whoredom upon her. 9 Wherefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted. 10 These discovered her nakedness: they took her sons and her daughters, and slew her with the sword: and she became famous among women; for they had executed judgment upon her.

God had often spoken to Ezekiel, and by him to the people, to this effect, but now his word comes again; for God speaks the same thing once, yea, twice, yea, many a time, and all little enough, and too little, for man perceives it not. Note, To convince sinners of the evil of sin, and of their misery and danger by reason of it, there is need of line upon line, so loth we are to know the worst of ourselves. The sinners that are here to be exposed are two women, two kingdoms, sister-kingdoms, Israel and Judah, daughters of one mother, having been for a long time but one people. Solomon's kingdom was so large, so populous, that immediately after his death it divided into two. Observe, 1. Their character when they were one (v. 3): They committed whoredoms in Egypt, for there they were guilty of idolatry, as we read before, ch. xx. 8. The representing of those sins which are most provoking to God and most ruining to a people by the sin of whoredom plainly intimates what an exceedingly sinful sin uncleanness is, how offensive, how destructive. Doubtless it is itself one of the worst of sins, for the worst of other sins are compared to it here and often elsewhere, which should increase our detestation and dread of all manner of fleshly lusts, all appearances of them and approaches to them, as warring against the soul, infatuating sinners, bewitching them, alienating their minds from God and all that is good, debauching conscience, rendering them odious in the eyes of the pure and holy God, and drowning them at last in destruction and perdition. 2. Their names when they became two, v. 4. The kingdom of Israel is called the elder sister, because that first made the breach, and separated from the family both of kings and priests that God had appointed—the greater sister (so the word is), for ten tribes belonged to that kingdom and only two to the other. God says of them both, They were mine, for they were the seed of Abraham his friend and of Jacob his chosen; they were in covenant with God, and carried about with them the sign of their circumcision, the seal of the covenant. They were mine; and therefore their apostasy was the highest injustice. It was alienating God's property, it was the basest ingratitude to the best of benefactors, and a perfidious treacherous violation of the most sacred engagements. Note, Those who have been in profession the people of God, but have revolted from him, have a great deal to answer for more than those who never made any such profession. "They were mine; they were espoused to me, and to me they bore sons and daughters;" there were many among them that were devoted to God's honour, and employed in his service, and were the strength and beauty of these kingdoms, as children are of the families they are born in. In this parable Samaria and the kingdom of Israel shall bear the name of Aholah—her own tabernacle, because the places of worship which that kingdom had were of their own devising, their own choosing, and the worship itself was their own invention; God never owned it. Her tabernacle to herself (so some render it); "let her take it to herself, and make her best of it." Jerusalem and the kingdom of 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. He acknowledged it to be his, and honoured them with the tokens of his presence in it. Note, Of those that stand in relation to God, and make profession of his name, some have greater privileges and advantages than others; and, as those who have greater are thereby rendered the more inexcusable if they revolt from God, so those who have less will not thereby be rendered inexcusable. 3. The treacherous departure of the kingdom of Israel from God (v. 5): Aholah played the harlot when she was mine. Though the ten tribes had deserted the house of David, yet God owned them for his still; though Jeroboam, in setting up the golden calves, sinned, and made Israel to sin, yet, as long as they worshipped the God of Israel only, though by images, he did not quite cast them off. But the way of sin is down-hill. Aholah played the harlot, brought in the worship of Baal (1 Kings xvi. 31), set up that other god, that dunghill-god, in competition with Jehovah (1 Kings xviii. 21), as a vile adulteress dotes on her lovers, because they are well dressed and make a figure, because they are young and handsome (v. 6), clothed with blue, captains and rulers, desirable young men, genteel, and that pass for men of honour, so she doted upon her neighbours, particularly the Assyrians, who had extended their conquests near them; she admired their idols and worshipped them, admired the pomp of their courts and their military strength and courted alliances with them upon any terms, as if her own God were not sufficient to be depended upon. We find one of the kings of Israel giving a thousand talents to the king of Assyria, to engage him in his interests, 2 Kings xv. 19. She doted on the chosen men of Assyria, as worthy to be trusted and employed in the service of the state (v. 7), and on all their idols with which she defiled herself. Note, Whatever creature we dote upon, pay homage to, and put a confidence in, we make an idol of that creature; and whatever we make an idol of we defile ourselves with. And now again the conviction looks back as far as the original of their nation: Neither left she her whoredoms which she brought from Egypt, v. 8. Their being idolaters in Egypt was a thing never to be forgotten—that they should be in love with Egypt's idols even when they were continually in fear of Egypt's tyrants and task-masters! But (as some have observed) therefore, at that time, when Satan boasted of his having walked through the earth as all his own, to disprove his pretensions God did not say, Hast thou considered my people Israel in Egypt? (for they had become idolaters, and were not to be boasted of), but, Hast thou considered my servant Job in the land of Uz? And this corrupt disposition in them, when they were first formed into a people, is an emblem of that original corruption which is born with us and is woven into our constitution, a strong bias towards the world and the flesh, like that in the Israelites towards idolatry; it was bred in the bone with them, and was charged upon them long after, that they left not their whoredoms brought from Egypt. It would never out of the flesh, though Egypt had been a house of bondage to them. Thus the corrupt affections and inclinations which we brought into the world with us we have not lost, nor got clear of, but still retain them, though the iniquity we were born in was the source of all the calamities which human life is liable to. 4. The destruction of the kingdom of Israel for their apostasy from God (v. 9, 10): I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers. God first justly gave her up to her lust (Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone), and then gave her up to her lovers. The neighbouring nations, whose idolatries she had conformed to and whose friendship she had confided in, and in both had affronted God, are now made use of as the instruments of her destruction. The Assyrians, on whom she doted, soon spied out the nakedness of the land, discovered her blind side, on which to attack her, stripped her of all her ornaments and all her defences, and so uncovered her, and made her naked and bare, carried her sons and daughters into captivity, slew her with the sword, and quite destroyed that kingdom and put an end to it. We have the story at large 2 Kings xvii. 6, &c., where the cause of the ruin of that once flourishing kingdom by the Assyrians is shown to be their forsaking the God of Israel, fearing other gods, and walking in the statutes of the heathen; it was for this that God was very angry with them and removed them out of his sight, v. 18. And that the Assyrians, whom they had been so fond of, should be employed in executing judgments upon them was very remarkable, and shows how God, in a way of righteous judgment, often makes that a scourge to sinners which they have inordinately set their hearts upon. The devil will for ever be a tormentor to those impenitent sinners who now hearken to him and comply with him as a tempter. Thus Samaria became famous among women, or infamous rather; she became a name (so the word is); not only she came to be the subject of discourse, and much talked of, as the desolations of cities and kingdoms fill the newspapers, but she was thus ruined for her idolatries in terrorem—for warning to all people to take heed of doing likewise; as the public execution of notorious malefactors makes them such a name, such an ill name, as may serve to frighten others from those wicked courses which have brought them to a miserable and shameful end. Deut. xxi. 21, All Israel shall hear and fear.

The Sins of Samaria and Jerusalem. (b. c. 591.)

11 And when her sister Aholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in her whoredoms. 12 She doted upon the Assyrians her neighbours, captains and rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men. 13 Then I saw that she was defiled, that they took both one way, 14 And that she increased her whoredoms: for when she saw men portrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion, 15 Girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes to look to, after the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their nativity: 16 And as soon as she saw them with her eyes, she doted upon them, and sent messengers unto them into Chaldea. 17 And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with them, and her mind was alienated from them. 18 So she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered her nakedness: then my mind was alienated from her, like as my mind was alienated from her sister. 19 Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, in calling to remembrance the days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt. 20 For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses. 21 Thus thou calledst to remembrance the lewdness of thy youth, in bruising thy teats by the Egyptians for the paps of thy youth.

The prophet Hosea, in his time, observed that the two tribes retained their integrity, in a great measure, when the ten tribes had apostatized (Hos. xi. 12, Ephraim indeed compasses me about with lies, but Judah yet rules with God and is faithful with the saints; and this was justly expected from them: Hos. iv. 15, Though thou Israel play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend); but this lasted not long. By some unhappy matches made between the house of David and the house of Ahab the worship of Baal had been brought into the kingdom of Judah, but had been by the reforming kings worked out again; and at the time of the captivity of the ten tribes, which was in the reign of Hezekiah, things were in a good posture: but it lasted not long. In the reign of Manasseh, soon after the kingdom of Judah had seen the destruction of the kingdom of Israel, they became more corrupt than Israel had been in their inordinate love of idols, v. 11. Instead of being made better by the warning which that destruction gave them, they were made worse by it, as if they were displeased because the Lord had made that breach upon Israel, and for that reason became disaffected to him and to his service. Instead of being made to stand in awe of him as a jealous God, they therefore grew strange to him, and liked those gods better that would admit of partners with them. Note, Those may justly expect God's judgments upon themselves who do not take warning by his judgments upon others, who see in others what is the end of sin and yet continue to make a light matter of it. But it is bad indeed with those who are made worse by that which should make them better, and have their lusts irritated and exasperated by that which was designed to suppress and subdue them. Jerusalem grew worse in her whoredoms than her sister Samaria had been in her whoredoms. This was observed before (ch. xvi. 51), Neither has Samaria committed half of thy sins.

I. Jerusalem, that had been a faithful city, became a harlot, Isa. i. 21. She also doted upon the Assyrians (v. 12), joined in league with them, joined in worship with them, grew to be in love with their captains and rulers, and cried them up as finer and more accomplished gentlemen than any that ever the land of Israel produced. "See how richly, how neatly, they are dressed, clothed most gorgeously; how well they sit a horse; they are horsemen riding on horses; how charmingly they look, all of them desirable young men." And thus they grew to affect every thing that was foreign and to despise their own nation; and even the religion of it was mean and homely, and not to be compared with the curiosity and gaiety of the heathen temples. Thus she increased her whoredoms; she fell in love, fell in league, with the Chaldeans. Hezekiah himself was faulty this way when he was proud of the court which the king of Babylon made to him and complimented his ambassadors with the sight of all his treasures, Isa. xxxix. 2. And the humour increased (v. 14); she doted upon the pictures of the Babylonian captains (v. 15, 16), joined in alliance with that kingdom, invited them to come and settle in Jerusalem, that they might refine the genius of the Jewish nation and make it more polite; nay, they sent for patterns of their images, altars, and temples, and made use of them in their worship. Thus was she polluted with her whoredoms (v. 17), and thereby she discovered her own whoredom (v. 18), her own strong inclination to idolatry. And when she had had enough of the Chaldeans, and grew tired of them and disposed to break her league with them, as Jehoiakim and Zedekiah did, her mind being alienated from them, she courted the Egyptians, doted upon their paramours (v. 20), would come into an alliance with them, and, to strengthen the alliance, would join with them in their idolatries and then depend upon them to be their protectors from all other nations; for so wise, so rich, so strong, was the Egyptian nation, and came to such perfection in idolatry, that there was no nation now which they could take such satisfaction in as in Egypt. Thus they called to remembrance the days of their youth (v. 19), the lewdness of their youth, v. 21. 1. They pleased themselves with the remembrance of it. When they began to set their affections upon Egypt, they encouraged themselves to put a confidence in that kingdom, because of the old acquaintance they had with it, as if they still retained the gust and relish of the leeks and onions they ate there, or rather of the idolatrous worship they learned there, and brought up with them thence. When they began an acquaintance with Egypt they remembered how merrily their fathers worshipped the golden calf, what music and dancing they had at that sport, which they learned in Egypt; and they hoped they should now have a fair pretence to come to that again. Thus she multiplied her whoredoms, repeated her former whoredoms, and encouraged herself to close with present temptations, by calling to remembrance the days of her youth. Note, Those who, instead of reflecting upon their former sins with sorrow and shame, reflect upon them with pleasure and pride, contract new guilt thereby, strengthen their own corruptions, and in effect bid defiance to repentance. This is returning with the dog to his vomit. 2. They called it God's remembrance, and provoked him to remember it against them. God had said indeed that he would reckon with them for the golden calf, that idol of Egypt (Exod. xxxii. 34); but such was his patience that he seemed to have forgotten it till they, by their league now with the Egyptians against the Chaldeans, did, as it were, put him in mind of it; and in the day when he visits he will now, as he has said, visit for that. It is very observable how this adulteress changes her lovers: she dotes first on the Assyrians; then she thought the Chaldeans finer and courted them; after a while her mind was alienated from them, and she thought the Egyptians more powerful (v. 20) and she must contract an intimacy with them. This shows the folly, (1.) Of fleshly lusts; when they are indulged they grow humoursome and fickle, are soon surfeited but never satisfied; they must have variety, and what is loved one day is loathed the next. Unius adulterium matrimonium vocant—One adultery is called marriage, as Seneca observes. (2.) Of idolatry. Those who think one God too little will not think a hundred sufficient, but will still be for trying more, as finding all insufficient. (3.) Of seeking to creatures for help; we go from one to another, but are disappointed in them all, and can never rest till we have made the God of Israel our help.

II. The faithful God justly gives a bill of divorce to this now faithless city, that has become a harlot. His jealousy soon discovered her lewdness (v. 13): I saw that she was defiled, that she was debauched, and saw which way her inclination was, that the two sisters both took one way, and that Jerusalem grew worse than Samaria. For, if we stretch out our hand to a strange god, will not God search this out? No doubt he will; and when he has found it can he be pleased with it? No (v. 18): Then my mind was alienated from her, as it was from her sister. How could the pure and holy God any longer take delight in such a lewd generation? Note, Sin alienates God's mind from the sinner, and justly, for it is the alienation of the sinner's mind from God; but woe, and a thousand woes, to those from whom God's mind is alienated; for whom he turns from he will turn against.

The Punishment of Jerusalem. (b. c. 591.)

22 Therefore, O Aholibah, thus saith the Lord God ; Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy mind is alienated, and I will bring them against thee on every side; 23 The Babylonians, and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them: all of them desirable young men, captains and rulers, great lords and renowned, all of them riding upon horses. 24 And they shall come against thee with chariots, waggons, and wheels, and with an assembly of people, which shall set against thee buckler and shield and helmet round about: and I will set judgment before them, and they shall judge thee according to their judgments. 25 And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall deal furiously with thee: they shall take away thy nose and thine ears; and thy remnant shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons and thy daughters; and thy residue shall be devoured by the fire. 26 They shall also strip thee out of thy clothes, and take away thy fair jewels. 27 Thus will I make thy lewdness to cease from thee, and thy whoredom brought from the land of Egypt: so that thou shalt not lift up thine eyes unto them, nor remember Egypt any more. 28 For thus saith the Lord God ; Behold, I will deliver thee into the hand of them whom thou hatest, into the hand of them from whom thy mind is alienated: 29 And they shall deal with thee hatefully, and shall take away all thy labour, and shall leave thee naked and bare: and the nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be discovered, both thy lewdness and thy whoredoms. 30 I will do these things unto thee, because thou hast gone a whoring after the heathen, and because thou art polluted with their idols. 31 Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister; therefore will I give her cup into thine hand. 32 Thus saith the Lord God ; Thou shalt drink of thy sister's cup deep and large: thou shalt be laughed to scorn and had in derision; it containeth much. 33 Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of thy sister Samaria. 34 Thou shalt even drink it and suck it out, and thou shalt break the sherds thereof, and pluck off thine own breasts: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God . 35 Therefore thus saith the Lord God ; Because thou hast forgotten me, and cast me behind thy back, therefore bear thou also thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.

Jerusalem stands indicted by the name of Aholibah, for that she, as a false traitor to her sovereign Lord the God of heaven, not having his fear before her eyes, but moved by the instigation of the devil, had revolted from her allegiance to him, had compassed and imagined to shake off his government, had kept up a correspondence had joined in confederacy with his enemies, and the pretenders to a deity, in contempt of his crown and dignity. To this indictment she has pleaded, Not guilty: I am not polluted; I have not gone after Baalim. But it is found against her by the notorious evidence of the fact, and she stands convicted of it, nor has any thing material to offer why judgment should not be given and execution awarded according to law. In these verses, therefore, we have the sentence.

I. Her old confederates must be her executioners; and those whom she had courted to be her leaders in sin are now to be employed as instruments of her punishment (v. 22): "I will raise up thy lovers against thee, the Chaldeans, whom formerly thou didst so much admire and covet an acquaintance with, but from whom thy mind is since alienated and with whom thou hast perfidiously broken covenant." They are called thy lovers (v. 22) and yet (v. 28) those whom thou hatest. Note, It is common for sinful love soon to turn into hatred; as Amnon's to Tamar. Those of headstrong and unreasonable passions are often very hot against those persons and things that a little before they were as hot for. Fools run into extremes; nay, and wise men may see cause to change their sentiments. And therefore, as we should rejoice and weep as if we rejoiced not and wept not, so we should love and hate as if we loved not and hated not. Ita ama tanquam osurus—Love as one who may have cause to feel aversion.

II. The execution to be done upon her is very terrible.

1. Her enemies shall come against her on every side (v. 22), those of the several nations that constituted the Chaldean army (v. 23), all of them great lords and renowned, whose pomp, and grandeur, and splendid appearance made them look the more amiable when they came as friends to protect and patronise Jerusalem, but the more formidable when they came to chastise its treachery and aimed at no less than its ruin. (1.) They shall come with a great deal of military force (v. 24), with chariots and wagons furnished with all necessary provisions for a camp, with arms and ammunition, bag and baggage, with a vast army, and well armed. (2.) They shall have justice on their side: "I will set judgment before them" (they shall have right with them as well as might; for the king of Babylon had just cause to make war upon the king of Judah, because he had broken his league with him), "and therefore they shall judge thee, not only according to God's judgments, as the instruments of his justice, to punish thee for the indignities done to him, but according to their judgments, according to the law of nations, to punish thee for thy perfidious dealings with them." (3.) They shall prosecute the war with a great deal of fury and resentment. It being a war of revenge, they shall deal with thee hatefully, v. 29. This will make the execution the more severe that their swords will be dipped in poison. Thou hatest them, and they shall deal hatefully with thee; those that hate will be hated and will be hatefully dealt with. (4.) God himself will lead them on, and his anger shall be mingled with theirs (v. 25): I will set my jealousy against thee; that shall kindle this fire, and then they shall deal furiously with thee. If men deal ever so hatefully, ever so furiously, with us, yet, if we have God on our side, we need not fear them; they can do us no real hurt. But if men deal furiously with us, and God set his jealousy against us too, what will become of us?

2. The particulars of the sentence here passed upon this notorious adulteress are, (1.) That all she has shall be seized on. The clothes and the fair jewels, with which she had endeavoured to recommend herself to her lovers, these she shall be stripped of, v. 26. All those things that were the ornaments of their state shall be taken away: "They shall take away all thy labour, all that thou hast gotten by thy labour, and shall leave thee naked and bare," v. 29. Both city and country shall be impoverished and all the wealth of both swept away. (2.) That her children shall go into captivity. "They shall take thy sons and thy daughters, and make slaves of them (v. 25); for they are children of whoredoms, unworthy the dignities and privileges of Israelites," Hos. ii. 4. (3.) That she shall be stigmatized and deformed: "They shall take away thy nose and thy ears, shall mark thee for a harlot, and render thee for ever odious," v. 25. This intimates the many cruelties of the Chaldean soldiers towards the Jews that fell into their hands, whom, it is probable, they used barbarously. Some will have this to be understood figuratively; and by the nose they think is meant the kingly dignity, and by the ears that of the priesthood. (4.) That she shall be exposed to shame: Thy lewdness and thy whoredoms shall be discovered (v. 29), as, when a malefactor is punished, all his crimes are ripped up, and repeated to his disgrace; what was secret then comes to light, and what was done long since is then called to mind. (5.) That she shall be quite cut off and ruined: "The remnant of thy people that have escaped the famine and pestilence shall fall by the sword; and the residue of thy houses that have not been battered down about thy ears shall be devoured by the fire," v. 25. And this shall be the end of Jerusalem.

III. Because she has trod in the steps of Samaria's sins, she must expect no other than Samaria's fate. It is common, in giving judgment, to have an eye to precedents; so has God in passing this sentence on Jerusalem (v. 31, &c.): "Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister, notwithstanding the warning thou hast had given thee, by the fatal consequences of her wickedness; and therefore I will give her cup, her portion of miseries, into thy hand, the cup of the Lord's fury, which will be to thee a cup of trembling." Now, 1. This cup is said to be deep and large, and to contain much (v. 32), abundance of God's wrath and abundance of miseries, the fruits of that wrath. It is such a cup as that which we read of, Jer. xxv. 15, 16. The cup of divine vengeance holds a great deal, and so those will find into whose hand it shall be put. 2. They shall be made to drink the very dregs of this cup, as the wicked are said to do (Ps. lxxv. 8): "Thou shalt drink it and suck it out, not because it is pleasant, but because it is forced upon thee (v. 34); thou shalt break the shreds thereof, and pluck off thy own breasts, for indignation at the extreme bitterness of this cup, being full of the fury of the Lord (Isa. li. 20), as men in great anguish tear their hair, and throw every thing from them. Finding there is no remedy, but it must be drank (for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God), thou shalt have no manner of patience in the drinking of it." 3. They shall be intoxicated by it, made sick, and be at their wits' end, as men in drink are, staggering, and stumbling, and ready to fall (v. 33): Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow. Note, Drunkenness has sorrow attending it, to such a degree that the utmost confusion and astonishment are here represented by it. Who would think that that which is such a force upon nature, such a scandal to it, which deprives men of their reason, disorders them to the last degree, and is therefore expressive of the greatest misery, should yet be with many a beloved sin, that they should damn their own souls to distemper their own bodies? Who has woe and sorrow like them? Prov. xxiii. 29. 4. Being so intoxicated, they shall become, as drunkards deserve to be, a laughing-stock to all about them (v. 32): Thou shalt be laughed to scorn and had in derision, as acting ridiculously in every thing thou goest about. When God is about to ruin a people he makes their judges fools and pours contempt on their princes, Job xii. 17, 21.

IV. In all this God will be justified, and by all this they will be reformed; and so the issue even of this will be God's glory and their good. 1. They have been bad, very bad, and that justifies God in all that is brought upon them (v. 30): I will do these things unto thee because thou hast gone a whoring after the heathen, and (v. 35) because thou hast forgotten me and cast me behind thy back. Note, Forgetfulness of God, and a contempt of him, of his eye upon us and authority over us, are at the bottom of all our treacherous adulterous departures from him. Therefore men wander after idols, because they forget God, and their obligations to him; nor could they look with so much desire and delight upon the baits of sin if they did not first cast God behind their back, as not worthy to be regarded. And those who put such an affront upon God, how can they think but that it should turn upon themselves at last? Therefore bear thou also thy lewdness and thy whoredoms; that is, thou shalt suffer the punishment of them, and thou alone must bear the blame. Men need no more to sink them than the weight of their own sins; and those who will not part with their lewdness and their whoredoms must bear them. 2. They shall be better, much better, and this fire, though consuming to many, shall be refining to a remnant (v. 27): Thus will I make thy lewdness to cease from thee. The judgments which were brought upon them by their sins parted between them and their sins, and taught them at length to say, What have we to do any more with idols? Observe, (1.) How inveterate the disease was: Thy whoredoms were brought from the land of Egypt. Their disposition to idolatry was early and innate, their practice of it was ancient, and had gained a sort of prescription by long usage. (2.) How complete the cure was notwithstanding: "Though it has taken root, yet it shall be made to cease, so that thou shalt not so much as lift up thy eyes to the idols again, nor remember Egypt with pleasure any more." They shall avoid the occasions of this sin, for they shall not so much as look upon an idol, lest their hearts should unawares walk after their eyes. And they shall abandon all inclinations to it: "They shall not remember Egypt; they shall not retain any of that affection for idols which they had from the very infancy of their nation." They got it, through the corruption of nature, in their bondage in Egypt, and lost it, through the grace of God, in their captivity in Babylon, which this was the blessed fruit of, even the taking away of sin, of that sin; so that whereas, before the captivity, no nation (all things considered) was more impetuously bent upon idols and idolatry than they were, after that captivity no nation was more vehemently set against idols and idolatry than they were, insomuch that at this day the image-worship which is practised in the church of Rome confirms the Jews as much as any thing in their prejudices against the Christian religion.

Israel and Judah Accused; Judgments Predicted. (b. c. 591.)

36 The Lord said moreover unto me; Son of man, wilt thou judge Aholah and Aholibah? yea, declare unto them their abominations; 37 That they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands, and with their idols have they committed adultery, and have also caused their sons, whom they bare unto me, to pass for them through the fire, to devour them. 38 Moreover this they have done unto me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths. 39 For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and, lo, thus have they done in the midst of mine house. 40 And furthermore, that ye have sent for men to come from far, unto whom a messenger was sent; and, lo, they came: for whom thou didst wash thyself, paintedst thy eyes, and deckedst thyself with ornaments, 41 And satest upon a stately bed, and a table prepared before it, whereupon thou hast set mine incense and mine oil. 42 And a voice of a multitude being at ease was with her: and with the men of the common sort were brought Sabeans from the wilderness, which put bracelets upon their hands, and beautiful crowns upon their heads. 43 Then said I unto her that was old in adulteries, Will they now commit whoredoms with her, and she with them? 44 Yet they went in unto her, as they go in unto a woman that playeth the harlot: so went they in unto Aholah and unto Aholibah, the lewd women. 45 And the righteous men, they shall judge them after the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women that shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands. 46 For thus saith the Lord God ; I will bring up a company upon them, and will give them to be removed and spoiled. 47 And the company shall stone them with stones, and dispatch them with their swords; they shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire. 48 Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness. 49 And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and ye shall bear the sins of your idols: and ye shall know that I am the Lord God .

After the ten tribes were carried into captivity, and that kingdom was made quite desolate, the remains of it by degrees incorporated with the kingdom of Judah, and gained a settlement (many of them) in Jerusalem; so that the two sisters had in effect become one again; and therefore, in these verses, the prophet takes those to task jointly who were thus conjoined: "Wilt thou judge Aholah and Aholibah together? v. 36. Wilt thou go about to frame an excuse for them? Thou seest the matter is so bad as not to bear an excuse." Or, rather, "Thou shalt now be employed, in God's name, to judge them, ch. xx. 4. The matter is rather worse than better since the union."

I. Let them be made to see the sins they are guilty of: Declare unto them openly and boldly their abominations. 1. They have been guilty of gross idolatry, here called adultery. With their idols they have committed adultery (v. 37), have broken their marriage-covenant with God, have lusted after the gratifications of a carnal sensual mind in the worship of God. This is the first and worst of the abominations he is to charge them with. 2. They have committed the most barbarous murders, in sacrificing their children to Moloch, a sin so unnatural that they deserve to hear of it upon all occasions: Blood is in their hands, innocent blood, the blood of their own children, which they have caused to pass through the fire (v. 37), not that they might be dedicated to the idols, but that they might be devoured, a sign that they loved their idols better than that which was dearest to them in the world. 3. They have profaned the sacred things with which God had dignified and distinguished them: This they have done unto me, this indignity, this injury, v. 38. Every contempt put upon that which is holy reflects upon him who is the fountain of holiness, and from a relation to whom whatever is called holy has its denomination. God had set up his sanctuary among them, but they defiled it, by making it a house of merchandise, a den of thieves; nay, and much worse; there they set up their idols and worshipped them, and there they shed the blood of God's prophets. God had revealed to them his holy sabbaths, but they profaned them, by doing all manner of servile work therein, or perhaps by sports and recreations on that day, not only practised, but allowed and encouraged by authority. They defiled the sanctuary on the same day that they profaned the sabbath. To defile the sanctuary was bad enough on any day, but to do it on the sabbath day was an aggravation. We commonly say, The better day the better deed; but here, the better day the worse deed. God takes notice of the circumstances of sin which add to the guilt. He shows (v. 39) what was their profanation both of the sanctuary and of the sabbath. They slew their children, and sacrificed them to their idols, to the great dishonour both of God and of human nature; and then came, on the same day, their hands imbrued with the blood of their children and their clothes stained with it, to attend in God's sanctuary, not to ask pardon for what they had done, but to present themselves before him, as other Israelites did, expecting acceptance with him, notwithstanding these villanies which they were guilty of; as if God either did not know their wickedness or did not hate it. Thus they profaned the sanctuary, as if that were a protection to the worst of malefactors; for thus they did in the midst of his house. Note, It is a profanation of God's solemn ordinances when those that are grossly and openly profane and vicious impudently and impenitently so intrude upon the services and privileges of them. Give not that which is holy unto dogs. Friend, how camest thou in hither? 4. They have courted foreign alliances, been proud of them, and reposed a confidence in them. This also is represented by the sin of adultery, for it was a departure from God, not only to whom alone they ought to pay their homage and not to idols, but in whom alone they ought to put their trust, and not in creatures. Israel was a peculiar people, must dwell alone and not be reckoned among the nations; and they profane their crown, and lay their honour in the dust, when they covet to be like them or in league with them. But this they have now done; they have entered into strict alliances with the Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Egyptians, the most renowned and potent kingdoms at that time; but they scorned alliances with the petty kingdoms and states that lay near them, which yet might have been of more real service to them. Note, Affecting an acquaintance and correspondence with great people has often been a snare to good people. Let us see how Jerusalem courts her high allies, thinking thereby to make herself considerable. (1.) She privately requested that a public embassy might be sent to her (v. 40): You sent a messenger for men to come from far. It seems, then, that the neighbours had no desire to come into a confederacy with Jerusalem, but she thrust herself upon them, and sent under-hand to desire them to court her: and, lo, they came. The wisest and best may be drawn unavoidably into company and conversation with profane and wicked people: but it is no sign either of wisdom or goodness to covet an intimacy with such and to court it. (2.) Great preparation was made for the reception of these foreign ministers, for their public entry and public audience, which is compared to the pains that an adulteress takes to make herself look handsome. Jezebel-like, thou paintedst thy face and deckedst thyself with ornaments, v. 40. The king and princes made themselves new clothes, fitted up the rooms of state, beautified the furniture, and made it look fresh. Thou sattest upon a stately bed (v. 41), a stately throne; a table was prepared, whereon thou has set my oil and my incense. This was either, [1.] A feast for the ambassadors, a noble treat, agreeable to the other preparations. There was incense to perfume the room and oil to anoint their heads. Or, [2.] An altar already furnished for the ambassadors' use in the worship of their idols, to let them know that the Israelites were not so strait-laced but that they could allow foreigners the free exercise of their religion among them, and furnish them with chapels, yea, and complimented them so far as to join with them in their devotions; though the law of their God was against it, yet they could easily dispense with themselves to oblige a friend. The oil and incense God calls his, not only because they were the gift of his providence, but because they should have been offered at his altar, which was an aggravation of their sin in serving idols and idolaters with them. See Hos. ii. 8. (3.) There was great joy at their coming, as if it were such a blessing as never happened to Jerusalem before (v. 42): A voice of a multitude being at ease was with her. The people were very easy, for they thought themselves very safe and happy now that they had such powerful allies; and therefore attended the ambassadors with loud huzzas and acclamations of joy. A great confluence of people there was to the court upon this occasion. The men of the common sort were there to grace the solemnity, and to increase the crowd; and with them were brought Sabeans from the wilderness. The margin reads it drunkards from the wilderness, that would drink healths to the prosperity of this grand alliance, and force them upon others, and be most noisy in shouting upon this occasion. Whoever they were, in honour of the ambassadors they put bracelets upon their hands and beautiful crowns upon their heads, which made the cavalcade appear very splendid. (4.) God by his prophets warned them against making these dangerous leagues with foreigners (v. 43): "Then said I unto her that was old in adulteries, that from the first was fond of leagues with the heathen, of matching with their families (Judg. iii. 6), and afterwards of making alliances with their kingdoms, and, though often disappointed therein, would never be dissuaded from it (this was the adultery she was old in), I said, Will they now commit whoredoms with her and she with them? Surely experience and observation will by this time have convinced both them and her that an alliance between the nation of the Jews and a heathen nation can never be for the advantage of either." They are iron and clay, that will not mix, nor will God bless such an alliance, or smile upon it. But, it seems, her being old in these adulteries, instead of weaning her from them, as one would expect, does but make her the more impudent and insatiable in them; for, though she was thus admonished of the folly of it, yet they went in unto her, v. 44. A bargain was soon clapped up, and a league made, first with this, and then with the other, foreign state. Samaria did so, Jerusalem did so, like lewd women. They could not rest satisfied in the embraces of God's laws and care, and the assurances of protection he gave them; they could not think his covenant with them security enough. But they must by treaties and leagues, politic ones (they thought) and well-concerted, throw themselves into the arms of foreign princes, and put their interests under their protection. Note, Those hearts go a whoring from God that take a complacency in the pomp of the world and put a confidence in its wealth, and in an arm of flesh, Jer. xvii. 5.

II. Let them be made to foresee the judgments that are coming upon them for these sins (v. 45): The righteous men, they shall judge them. Some make the instruments of their destruction to be the righteous men that shall judge them. The Assyrians that destroyed Samaria, the Chaldeans that destroyed Jerusalem, those were comparatively righteous, had a sense of justice between man and man and justly resented the treachery of the Jewish nation; however, they executed God's judgments, which, we are sure, are all righteous. Others understand it of the prophets, whose office it was, in God's name, to judge them and pass sentence upon them. Or we may take it as an appeal to all righteous men, to all that have a sense of equity; they shall all judge concerning these cities, and agree in their verdict, that forasmuch as they have been notoriously guilty of adultery and murder, and the guilt is national, therefore they ought to suffer the pains and penalties which by law are inflicted upon women in their personal capacity that shed blood and are adulteresses. Righteous men will say, "Why should bloody filthy cities escape any better than bloody filthy persons? Judge, I pray thee," Isa. v. 3. This judgment being given by the righteous men, the righteous God will award execution. See here, 1. What the execution will be, v. 46, 47. The same as before, v. 23, &c. God will bring a company of enemies upon them, who shall be made to serve his holy purposes even when they are serving their own sinful appetites and passions. These enemies shall easily prevail, for God will give them into their hands to be removed and spoiled; this company shall stone them with stones as malefactors, shall single them out and dispatch them with their swords; and, as was sometimes done in severe executions (witness that of Achan), they shall slay their children and burn their houses. 2. What will be the effects of it. (1.) Thus they shall suffer for their sins: Their lewdness shall be recompensed upon them (v. 49); and they shall bear the sins of their idols, v. 35, 49. Thus God will assert the honour of his broken law and injured government, and let the world know what a just and jealous God he is. (2.) Thus they shall be broken off from their sins: I will cause lewdness to cease out of the land, v. 27, 48. The destruction of God's city, like the death of God's saints, shall do that for them which ordinances and providences before could not do; it shall quite take away their sin, so that Jerusalem shall rise out of its ashes a new lump, as gold comes out of the furnace purified from its dross. (3.) Thus other cities and nations will have fair warning given them to keep themselves from idols. That all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness. This is the end of the punishment of malefactors, that they may be made examples to others, who will see and fear. Smite the scorner and the simple will beware. The judgments of God upon some are designed to teach others, and happy are those who receive instruction from them not to tread in the steps of sinners, lest they be taken in their snares; those who would be taught this must know God is the Lord (v. 49), that he is the governor of the world, a God that judges in the earth, and with whom there is no respect of persons.

CHAP. XXIII.

Ver. 1. THe Word of the Lord] See chap. 18.1.

Ver. 2. There were two women] This is the ſame in effect with chap. 16. but there more plainly, here parabolically expreſſed. Sermo eſt eruditus & elegans, Lavat. ſimul tamen ſpurcus & obſcoenus, to ſet forth the hatefulneſſe of idolatry, creature-confidence, and adultery.

The daughters of one mother] ſc. Synagogae, vel Sarae. Some think the Prophet alludeth to Jacobs two ſiſter-wives.

Ver. 3. And they committed whoredoms in Egypt] See chap. 20.8. Joſh. 24.14.

Pet. Satyr. They committed whoredoms in their youth] Like the Strumpet Quartilla in Petronius, who ſaid, Junonem ego meam iratam habeam, ſi unquam me meminerim virginem fuiſſe.

There were their breſts preſſed] Violatam virginitatem mammarum laxitas conſequitur.

Ver. 4. And the names of them were Aholah] i. e. Her Tent, not mine (ſo he calleth Samaria or the ten tribes) what have I to do with it or her? Confer 1 King. 12.16, 28, 31. She is gone to her Tent, and hath ſet her up Tabernacles, where to worſhip her golden idols.

The Elder] So called becauſe more numerous and potent then the other two tribes. She was alſo firſt in the defection.

And Aholibah] That is my tent is in her. So Jeruſalem is called, becauſe the Temple and Teſtimonies of Gods ſpecial preſence were there, as King Abijah well pleadeth it, 2 Chron. 13.10, 11.

Samariah is Aholah] In figure ſhe is: though ſome have held that theſe were the name of two notorious ſtrumpets in Egypt.

Ver. 5. And Aholah plaid the harlot when ſhe was mine] Fornicata eſt ſub me, under colour and covert of a marriage made with me. See what a fair gloſſe Jeroboam ſet upon his foul idolatry, 1 King. 12.28.

On the Aſſyrians her neighbours] So they were now become, by the conqueſt of Syria.

Ver. 6. Which were cloathed with blew] With rich and gorgeous attire. Veſtis luxuriae nidus.

Ver. 7. Thus ſhe committed her whoredoms with them] Heb. ſhe beſtowed her wheredomes upon them, ſhe was no niggard: a little intreaty ſerved turn: euilibet ſui copiam faciebat, ſuch was her idol-madneſſe.

Ver. 8. Neither left ſhe her idols brought from Egypt] Witneſſe her two golden calves brought therehence by Jeroboam, in imitation of Apis a calf dedicated by the Egyptians to Serapis their chief idol.

— Quis neſcit qualia demens Aegyptus portenta colat?Juvenal.

For in her youth] See on ver. 3.

And poured their whoredome upon her] This kind of language and the like is here and elſewhere uſed, not to teach men to ſpeak or do foul things, but the contrary. Of Petronius his Satyricon it is ſaid, Tolle obſcaena, & tollis omnia: and that he was impuriſſimus ſcriptor puriſſimae Latinitatis. Of our Prophet it may as truely be ſaid, Tolle ſancta & tollis omnia. See on ver. 2.

Ver. 9. Wherefore I have delivered her] 2 King. 17.23.

Per quod quis peccat, per idem punitur & ipſe.

Ver. 10. Theſe diſcovered her nakedneſſe] i. e. They have ſhamefully puniſhed her for a ſtinking ſtrumpet, as ver. 26.

And ſhe became famous] For her ſins and puniſhments, much talked of; Heb. a name.

Ver. 11. And when her ſiſter Aholibah ſaw this] And yet would not be warned; which was a juſt both preſage and deſert of her utter deſtruction.

She was mere corrupt] She was therefore the worſe, becauſe ſhe ſhould have been better.

Ver. 12. She doated] Amantes amentes. See ver. 5.

Ver. 13. Then I ſaw that ſhe was defiled] Whence it is that mans nature is ſo prone to idolatry, and why that ſin is compared to adultery, ſee Polanus upon this chapter, p. 538, 539, 540.

Ver. 14. For when ſhe ſaw men pourtrayed upon the wall] So unbrideled was her luſt, that ſhe fell a doating upon thoſe quos tantum per umbram & imaginem aspexerat, whoſe pictures only ſhe had beheld. In ſome Popiſh Churches there are to be ſeen wanton pictures: ſuch as do rather kindle luſt, then quicken devotion. An eyewitneſſe hath told us in print, that in ſome places they will aſſemble diverſe of the faireſt curtiſans (when they would draw a picture of the Virgin Mary, Spec. Eur. to draw the moſt modeſt beauty of a Virgin out of the flagrancy of harlots.

Ver. 15. Girded with girdles] Rich cloathes are oft but fine covers of the fouleſt ſhame. If every ſilken ſuit did cover a ſanctified ſoul, it would be brave.

Conciliatorem peccati oculum Talmudici nominant.Ver. 16. And as ſoon as ſhe ſaw them with her eyes] Here began the miſchief: Ʋt vidi ut perii! — O culi ſunt in amore duces. Many have dyed of the wound in the eye.

And ſent meſſengers unto them] Being themſelves therefore, not long after, ſent into captivity unto them, that they might have enough of them.

Ver. 17. Into the bed of love] Or, of breſts, which are the ſymboles of love, and ſeats of delight as Naturaliſts note. See Prov. 6.19. and 7.18.

And her mind was alienated from them] Heb. looſed or disjoynted, to do at another while upon the Egyptians. Etiam vota poſt uſum faſtidia ſunt.

Ver. 18. Then my mind was alienated from her] So Jer. 6.8. See there.

Ver. 19. In calling to minde the ſins of her youth] This was to recommit them; becauſe ſhe remembred them with delight. It argueth an unmortified frame, when recalling former evil acts proveth a ſnare.

Ver. 20. Whoſe fleſh is as the fleſh of aſſes] qui ſunt bene mentulati (hon[illegible: 1 letter]s ſit auribus) & qui ſemine abundant. Commodus the Emperour, who had never a good property in him, was for this called the Aſſe, as Hierom noteth.

Circum fluunt & exundant omni ſcelere & impietate copioſiſſi[illegible: 1 letter]e. And whoſe iſſue is as the iſſue of horſes] Fluxus equorum eſt fluxus corum, that is, they are extreamly libidinous and ſuperſtitious: ſo that there is no ho with them.

Ver. 21. Thus thou calledst to remembrance] See ver. 19.

Ver. 22. Therefore O Aholibah] Flagitium & flagellum ſunt ut acus & filum. Sin and puniſhment are unſeparable companions, they are tyed together with chaines of Adamant.

Ver. 23. Pekod and Shoah and Koa] The inhabitants of theſe ſeveral countryes, ſubject to the Babylonians. See Jer. 50.21. K[illegible: 1 letter]a is by Strabo called Gaugamela.

Ver. 24. I will ſet judgement before them] i. e. I will put thee into their hands to be puniſhed.

And they ſhall judge thee according to their judgement] Without mixture of mercy: whereas I uſe in the midſt of judgement to remember mercy.

Rhodigin. l. 24. cap. 45. Pet. Damiaen. l. 1. ep. 21. Ver. 25. And they ſhall take away thy noſe and thine eares] He ſeemeth to allude to the cuſtome of the Egyptians, which was to cut off the noſe and the eares of the adultereſſe. John a certain Antipope was ſerved in like ſort by the Romans. Paul the ſecond deſerved to be ſo ſerved; of whom it is recorded that he was ſo proud that he painted his face to pleaſe his Concubine: and that he was once in a mind to have taken to himſelf the name of Formoſus, Jac. Rev. de vit. Pont. but that he thought it was ominous; becauſe his predeceſſour of that name came to ſo ill an end.

Ver. 26. They ſhall alſo ſtrip thee out of thy cloaths] Wherein thou haſt ſo much prided thy ſelf.

And take away thy fair jewels] Inſtrumenta mundi tui, the inſtruments of thy decking, Iſa. 3.

Ver. 27. Then will I make thy leudneſſe to ceaſe from thee] Thy prepenſed wickedneſſe. This benefit thou ſhalt reap and receive of thine enemies cruelty.

Nor remember Egypt] Without regret.

Ver. 28. I will deliver thee] God hath an holy hand in all the evils that befall his people, by whomſoever.

Ver. 29. And they ſhall deal with thee hatefully] As ill as the wit of malice can deviſe to do.

All thy labour] i. e. All that thou haſt laboured for. Oh lay up grace, qua nec [illegible: 1 letter]ripi nec ſurripi poteſt.

And the nakedneſſe of thy whoredoms] Nuditas tua ſcortationibus dedita.

Piſcar.Ver. 30. Thou art polluted with their idols] Whereby thou thoughteſt to have purged away thy ſins, (as Papiſts alſo do) but it proveth otherwiſe.

Ver. 31. Therefore will I give her cup into thine hand] An alluſion to the manner of feaſts whereat the Sympoſiarch or Governour gave every gueſt his cup fitly tempered. God is the great Modimperator.

Ver. 32. Thou ſhalt drink of thy ſiſters cup deep and large] Yea though it have eternity to the bottom.

Ver. 33. Thou ſhalt be filled with drunkenneſſe and ſorrow] That dry drunkenneſſe; ut ſi catapotium bibas.

Ver. 34. And thou ſhalt break the ſheards thereof] i. e. Of the cup, which thou ſhalt caſt away with utmoſt indignation: but thou haſt thy bane.

And pluck of thine own breaſt] For a revenge of thy fornication therewith committed.

Ver. 35. Becauſe thou haſt forgotten me] This was the ſource of all their ſins; and cauſe of all their calamities.

And caſt me behind thy back] As an harlot loatheth her husband. It is laid to Davids charge that in that foul fall of his, he had deſpiſed Gods Commandement, 2 Sam. 12.9.

Ver. 36. Wilt thou judge] See chap. 20 4. & 22.2.

Ver. 37. And blood is in their hands] Adultery is the devils neſt-egge, and cauſeth many ſins to be laid one to and upon another: as here murther, idolatry, &c.

To devour them] Not only to purge, and to dedicate them.

Ver. 38. They have defiled my ſanctuary in the ſame day] When they had done evil as they could, they exerciſed mine external worſhip, that they might ſeem religious: So Iſa. 66.3.

Ver. 39. For when they had ſlain] When their hands were full of blood, and even reaking hot therewith. This was deteſtable impudency.

Then they came the ſame day into my Sanctuary] Citra conſcientiam, Eraſ. ep. lib. 16. ad obtrect. as if they had done God good ſervice. So Eraſmus telleth of a fierce Frier Auguſtin of Antwerp who openly in the Pulpit there Preaching to the people, wiſhed that Luther were preſent, that he might bite out his throat with his teeth:Fiducia in federibus. ſo doing he would nothing doubt to reſort to the altar with the ſame bloody teeth, and receive the body of Chriſt.

Ver. 40. Ye have ſent for men] Ye have truſted to forrein forces, and carnal combinations.

For whom thou didſt waſh thy ſelf] Omnino te comparas ut Thais impudentiſſima, ad pelliciendos & ineſcandos amatores; thou haſt acted the whore to the life, to inveigle thy paramours.

Ver. 41. And ſateſt] For entertainment-ſake.

Whereupon thou haſt ſet mine incenſe] So fighting againſt me, as it were with mine own weapons, and abuſing my beſt gifts to my greateſt diſhonour; contrary to Prov. 3.9.

Ver. 42. And a voyce of a multitude being at eaſe] Or being jolly and jocund, as at brothelhouſes.

And with the men of the common ſort] Heb. to the men: the baſeſt and moſt abject people alſo were taken into confederacy; even Arabians, Ethiopians, Tartars; ſo cheap didſt thou make thy ſelf; ſo fond waſt thou of their fopperies.

Ver. 43. To her that was old in adulteries] Inveteratae & detritae, withered and oreworn.

And ſhe with them] Is ſhe (as Helena was [non-Latin text not transcribed]) the ſame ſtill no changeling yet?

Ver. 44. Yet they went in unto her] They committed idolatry without mean or meaſure; being wofully hardened and habituated therein.

Ver. 45. And the righteous men] So the Chaldees are called: becauſe leſſe wicked then the Jews (as the Scythians were better then the Athenians, and now the Indians then the Spaniards) and becauſe they executed the righteous ſentence of God, upon thoſe flagitious Jews.

Ver. 46. I will bring up a company] A numerous army which ſhall make much havock and ſlaughter.

Ver. 47. And the company ſhall ſtone them] As by the law they did adultereſſes.

Ver. 48. Thus will I cauſe leudneſſe to ceaſe] Thus, if it may be done no otherwiſe. Thus ſtill if men will not mend by faire means, they are taken away by death, that they may ſin no more.

That all women may be taught] That all Cities and States may hear, and fear, and do no more ſo.

Exemplo alterius qui ſapit, ille ſapit.

Ver. 49. And ye ſhall bear the ſins] i. e. The puniſhment of your idolatry: neither ſhall ye have colour of cauſe to complain of my ſeverity.

And ye ſhall know that I am the Lord God] This comes in ever and anon, velut verſus intercalaris, and hath much weight in it to ſet on what is ſaid before.