16 And as soon as she saw H4758 them with her eyes, H5869 she doted H5689 upon them, and sent H7971 messengers H4397 unto them into Chaldea. H3778
Thou hast moreover multiplied H7235 thy fornication H8457 in the land H776 of Canaan H3667 unto Chaldea; H3778 and yet thou wast not satisfied H7646 herewith. H2063
But G1161 I G1473 say G3004 unto you, G5213 That G3754 whosoever G3956 looketh G991 on a woman G1135 to G4314 lust after G1937 her G846 hath committed adultery G3431 with her G846 already G2235 in G1722 his G846 heart. G2588
And when the woman H802 saw H7200 that the tree H6086 was good H2896 for food, H3978 and that it H1931 was pleasant H8378 to the eyes, H5869 and a tree H6086 to be desired H2530 to make one wise, H7919 she took H3947 of the fruit thereof, H6529 and did eat, H398 and gave H5414 also H1571 unto her husband H376 with her; and he did eat. H398
That the sons H1121 of God H430 saw H7200 the daughters H1323 of men H120 that they H2007 were fair; H2896 and they took H3947 them wives H802 of all which they chose. H977
And it came to pass after H310 these things, H1697 that his master's H113 wife H802 cast H5375 her eyes H5869 upon Joseph; H3130 and she said, H559 Lie H7901 with me.
And it came to pass in an eveningtide, H6153 H6256 that David H1732 arose H6965 from off his bed, H4904 and walked H1980 upon the roof H1406 of the king's H4428 house: H1004 and from the roof H1406 he saw H7200 a woman H802 washing H7364 herself; and the woman H802 was very H3966 beautiful H2896 to look upon. H4758
In his days H3117 Nebuchadnezzar H5019 king H4428 of Babylon H894 came up, H5927 and Jehoiakim H3079 became his servant H5650 three H7969 years: H8141 then he turned H7725 and rebelled H4775 against him.
Lust H2530 not after her beauty H3308 in thine heart; H3824 neither let her take H3947 thee with her eyelids. H6079
And furthermore, H637 that ye have sent H7971 for men H582 to come H935 from far, H4801 unto whom a messenger H4397 was sent; H7971 and, lo, they came: H935 for whom thou didst wash H7364 thyself, paintedst H3583 thy eyes, H5869 and deckedst H5710 thyself with ornaments, H5716 And satest H3427 upon a stately H3520 bed, H4296 and a table H7979 prepared H6186 before H6440 it, whereupon thou hast set H7760 mine incense H7004 and mine oil. H8081
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Ezekiel 23
Commentary on Ezekiel 23 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 23
This long chapter (as before ch. 16 and 20) is a history of the apostasies of God's people from him and the aggravations of those apostasies under the similitude of corporal whoredom and adultery. Here the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, the ten tribes and the two, with their capital cities, Samaria and Jerusalem, are considered distinctly. Here is,
And all that is written for warning against the sins of idolatry, and confidence in an arm of flesh, and sinful leagues and confederacies with wicked people (which are the sins here meant by committing whoredom), is that others may hear and fear, and not sin after the similitude of the transgressions of Israel and Judah.
Eze 23:1-10
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,
Eze 23:11-21
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. 11:12, 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. 4:15, 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. 16:51), Neither has Samaria committed half of thy sins.
Eze 23:22-35
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.
Eze 23:36-49
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. 20:4. The matter is rather worse than better since the union.'