Two Harlot Sisters
December 17, 2020
Commentary
To illustrate the nation’s unfaithfulness, the Lord used an allegory in which He compared Samaria and Jerusalem to two promiscuous sisters named Oholah and Oholibah (vv. 1-21). The sisters had been prostitutes from their youth in Egypt (vv. 1-4). Though belonging to the Lord (whether as wives or children is not clear), they courted the favor of foreign nations. Oholah sought alliances with the Assyrians. She is portrayed as lusting after the Assyrian soldiers and prostituting herself among their officers. Ironically, her lovers killed her and carried away her children. Oholah represented Samaria, and Oholibah represented Jerusalem. These two “sisters,” the capital cities of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, represented the people of those two kingdoms. The sin of Oholah, the older sister, was her (Samaria’s) association with the Assyrians (vv. 5-10).
The judgment of the older sister Oholah (Samaria) should have been a warning to the younger sister Oholibah (Jerusalem). Unfortunately she failed to heed the warning. In fact she was more depraved than her sister (vv. 11-18). Jerusalem followed the immoral course charted by her sister: she too lusted after the Assyrians. Judah curried the favor of Assyria rather than relying on her God. Israel and Syria had banded together to oppose Assyria, and they sought to bring Judah into the alliance. When King Ahaz refused, they attacked Judah hoping to dethrone Ahaz and to replace him with a king who would support their uprising. Rather than trusting in God for deliverance (as Isaiah the prophet urged him to do), Ahaz sent to Assyria to enlist her aid and protection. With that act Judah became a vassal of Assyria for the next century (2 Kings 16:5-9).
Jerusalem’s faithlessness cost her the only true protection she ever had. Yet instead of repenting of her sin, she sought additional human help, becoming more and more promiscuous. Her cycle of sin brought her back to the very nation with which she had originally been defiled and which had enslaved her-Egypt (vv. 19-21). To show his absolute disgust in this course of action, Ezekiel used coarse language (v. 20), not to be vulgar, but to portray graphically the utter spiritual degradation to which Judah had fallen.
Application
I can never trust myself but only the Lord to keep me spiritually pure as I stay close to Him
Ezekiel 23:1– 21 (NET)
1 The Lord’s message came to me: 2 “Son of man, there were two women who were daughters of the same mother. 3 They engaged in prostitution in Egypt; in their youth they engaged in prostitution. Their breasts were squeezed there; lovers fondled their virgin nipples there. 4 Oholah was the name of the older and Oholibah the name of her younger sister. They became mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.
5 “Oholah engaged in prostitution while she was mine. She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians —warriors 6 clothed in blue, governors and officials, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. 7 She bestowed her sexual favors on them; all of them were the choicest young men of Assyria. She defiled herself with all whom she desired —with all their idols. 8 She did not abandon the prostitution she had practiced in Egypt, for in her youth men went to bed with her, fondled her virgin breasts, and ravished her. 9 Therefore I handed her over to her lovers, the Assyrians for whom she lusted. 10 They exposed her nakedness, seized her sons and daughters, and killed her with the sword. She became notorious among women, and they executed judgments against her.
11 “Her sister Oholibah watched this, but she became more corrupt in her lust than her sister had been, and her acts of prostitution were more numerous than those of her sister. 12 She lusted after the Assyrians—governors and officials, warriors in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men. 13 I saw that she was defiled; both of them followed the same path. 14 But she increased her prostitution. She saw men carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans carved in bright red, 15 wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, the image of Babylonians whose native land is Chaldea. 16 When she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. 17 The Babylonians crawled into bed with her. They defiled her with their lust; after she was defiled by them, she became disgusted with them. 18 When she lustfully exposed her nakedness, I was disgusted with her, just as I had been disgusted with her sister. 19 Yet she increased her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth when she engaged in prostitution in the land of Egypt. 20 She lusted after her lovers there, whose genitals were like those of donkeys, and whose emission was like that of stallions. 21 This is how you assessed the obscene conduct of your youth, when the Egyptians fondled your nipples and squeezed your young breasts.