Reflections on Ezekiel 23

Ezekiel 23 (Contemporary English Version)
1. The LORD said:
   
2. Ezekiel, son of man, listen to this story about two sisters.
   
3. While they were young and living in Egypt, they became prostitutes.
   
4. The older one was named Oholah, which stands for Samaria; the younger one was Oholibah, which stands for Jerusalem. They became my wives and gave birth to my children.
   
5. Even though Oholah was my wife, she continued to be a prostitute and chased after Assyrian lovers.
   
6. She offered herself to soldiers in purple uniforms, to every handsome, high-ranking officer, and to cavalry troops.
   
7. She had sex with all the important Assyrian officials and even worshiped their disgusting idols.
   
8. Once she started doing these things in Egypt, she never stopped. Men slept with her, and she was always ready for sex.
   
9. So I gave Oholah to the Assyrian lovers she wanted so badly.
   
10. They ripped off her clothes, then captured her children and killed her. Women everywhere talked about what had happened to Oholah.
    
11. Oholibah saw all this, but she was more sinful and wanted sex more than her sister Oholah ever did.
    
12. Oholibah also chased after good-looking Assyrian officers, uniformed soldiers, and cavalry troops.
    
13. Just like her sister, she did vulgar things.
    
14. But Oholibah behaved worse than her sister. Oholibah saw images of Babylonian men carved into walls and painted red.
    
15. They had belts around their waists and large turbans on their heads, and they reminded her of Babylonian cavalry officers.
    
16. As soon as she looked at them, she wanted to have sex with them. And so, she sent messengers to bring them to her.
    
17. Men from Babylonia came and had sex with her so many times that she got disgusted with them.
    
18. She let everyone see her naked body and didn't care if they knew she was a prostitute. That's why I turned my back on her, just as I had done with her older sister.
    
19. Oholibah didn't stop there, but became even more immoral and acted as she had back in Egypt.
    
20. She eagerly wanted to go to bed with Egyptian men, who were famous for their sexual powers.
    
21. And she longed for the days when she was a young prostitute, when men enjoyed having sex with her.
    
22. The LORD God said: Oholibah, though you no longer want to be around your lovers, they will surround you like enemies, when I turn them against you.
    
23. I will gather all the handsome young officials and the high-ranking cavalry officers from Babylonia and Assyria, as well as from the Chaldean tribes of Pekod, Shoa, and Koa.
    
24. Their large armies will come from the north with chariots and wagons carrying weapons. They will wear shields and helmets and will surround you, and I will let them judge and sentence you according to their own laws.
    
25. I am angry with you, so I will let them be very cruel. They will cut off your nose and ears; they will kill your children and put to death anyone in your family who is still alive.
    
26. Your clothes and jewelry will be torn off.
    
27. I will stop your wickedness and the prostitution you started back in Egypt. You will never want to think about those days again.
    
28. I, the LORD God, am ready to hand you over to those hateful enemies that you find so disgusting.
    
29. They will cruelly take away everything you have worked for and strip you naked. Then everyone will see you for the prostitute you really are. Your own vulgar sins
    
30. have led to this. You were the one determined to have sex with men from other nations and to worship their idols.
    
31. You have turned out no better than your older sister, and now you must drink from the cup filled with my anger.
    
32. I, the LORD God, gave your sister a large, deep cup filled with my anger. And when you drink from that cup, you will be mocked and insulted.
    
33. You will end up drunk and devastated, because that cup is filled with horror and ruin.
    
34. But you must drink every drop! Then smash the cup to pieces and use them to cut your breasts in sorrow. I, the LORD God, have spoken.
    
35. You have completely rejected me, and so I promise that you will be punished for the disgusting things you did as a prostitute.
    
36. The LORD said: Ezekiel, son of man, it's time for you to tell Oholah and Oholibah that they are guilty. Remind them of their evil ways!
    
37. They have been unfaithful by worshiping idols, and they have committed murder by sacrificing my own children as offerings to idols.
    
38. They came into my temple that same day, and that made it unfit as a place to worship me. They have even stopped respecting the Sabbath.
    
39. (SEE 23:38)
    
40. They sent messengers to attract men from far away. When those men arrived, the two sisters took baths and put on eye shadow and jewelry.
    
41. They sat on a fancy couch, and in front of them was a table for the olive oil and incense that had belonged to me.
    
42. Their room was always filled with a noisy crowd of drunkards brought in from the desert. These men gave the women bracelets and beautiful crowns,
    
43. and I noticed that the men were eager to have sex with these women, though they were exhausted from being prostitutes.
    
44. In fact, the men had sex over and over with Oholah and Oholibah, the two sinful sisters.
    
45. But good men will someday accuse those two of murder and of being unfaithful, because they are certainly guilty.
    
46. So I, the LORD God, now say to these sisters: I will call together an angry mob that will abuse and rob you.
    
47. They will stone you to death and cut you to pieces; they will kill your children and burn down your houses.
    
48. I will get rid of sinful prostitution in this country, so that women everywhere will be warned not to act as you have.
    
49. You will be punished for becoming prostitutes and for worshiping idols, and you will know that I am the LORD God.
    
    

    ---

    
    Ezekiel's prophecies were aimed primarily at Judah, but in this chapter both Israel and Judah are involved, both depicted as sisters who turned to prostitution. However, Israel's inclusion is primarily as a comparison to give perspective to Judah's sin. Judah watched as Israel turned her back on God, turning to the nation of Assyria for the help she should have sought from God. Thus, the imagery of this chapter is of her prostituting herself to Assyria. Whereas chapter 16 was about Judah prosituting herself to idols, this chapter focuses on unfaithfulness with other nations. Since Israel turned to Assyria for the help she should have sought from God, God used Assyria for her punishment. After becoming a vassal of Assyria, Israel became disenchanted with the relationship and tried to disentangle herself from the alliance, turning this time to Syria and Egypt for help. This caused Assyria to turn her wrath on Israel, and thus the nation to which Israel had turned for help became the one to destroy her.
    
    Having watched Israel's sin and demise, Judah should have known better, but she instead followed in Israel's footsteps, sinking even lower than Israel. In the beginning, Judah also curried the favor of the Assyrians rather than relying on God. Meanwhile, Israel had banded together with Syria in an attempt to oppose Assyria. Thus, Israel tried to bring Judah into the alliance with Syria against Assyria. When Judah refused, Israel and Syria attack her, causing Judah to go to Assyria for help. In so doing, Judah became a vassal of Assyria, having followed directly in the footsteps of Israel. After a century of oppression at the hands of Assyria, Judah turned to Babylon for help, eventually becoming a vassal of Babylon. She found Babylon to be a harder taskmaster than Assyria and tried to escape Babylon's dominance which led to Babylon's attack on Jerusalem and the final destruction of Judah, which is the focus of Ezekiel's prophecies.
    
    Ultimately, the nations to which both Israel and Judah turned to for help became the source of their demise. God's orchestration of our punishment for sin is often simply to allow our sin to take its natural course. Sin can, and usually is, its own punishment. As obedient followers of God we are still prone to sin, but through repentance and seeking God's help, He helps us out of the sin and its outcomes. But without turning from the sin or seeking God's help, we are left to the downward spiral sin takes in our lives. Unless we at some point turn to God, this spiral will take us to the bottom and our own destruction. This is well documented in the histories of Israel and Judah.