18 So she discovered H1540 her whoredoms, H8457 and discovered H1540 her nakedness: H6172 then my mind H5315 was alienated H3363 from her, like as my mind H5315 was alienated H5361 from her sister. H269
When God H430 heard H8085 this, he was wroth, H5674 and greatly H3966 abhorred H3988 Israel: H3478
Be thou instructed, H3256 O Jerusalem, H3389 lest my soul H5315 depart H3363 from thee; lest I make H7760 thee desolate, H8077 a land H776 not inhabited. H3427
Were they ashamed H3001 when they had committed H6213 abomination? H8441 nay, they were not at all H954 ashamed, H954 neither could H3045 they blush: H3637 therefore shall they fall H5307 among them that fall: H5307 in the time H6256 of their visitation H6486 they shall be cast down, H3782 saith H559 the LORD. H3068
Therefore thus saith H559 the Lord H136 GOD; H3069 Because ye have made your iniquity H5771 to be remembered, H2142 in that your transgressions H6588 are discovered, H1540 so that in all your doings H5949 your sins H2403 do appear; H7200 because, I say, that ye are come to remembrance, H2142 ye shall be taken H8610 with the hand. H3709
And when the LORD H3068 saw H7200 it, he abhorred H5006 them, because of the provoking H3708 of his sons, H1121 and of his daughters. H1323
The Lord H136 hath cast off H2186 his altar, H4196 he hath abhorred H5010 his sanctuary, H4720 he hath given up H5462 into the hand H3027 of the enemy H341 the walls H2346 of her palaces; H759 they have made H5414 a noise H6963 in the house H1004 of the LORD, H3068 as in the day H3117 of a solemn feast. H4150
Thus saith H559 the Lord H136 GOD; H3069 Because thy filthiness H5178 was poured out, H8210 and thy nakedness H6172 discovered H1540 through thy whoredoms H8457 with thy lovers, H157 and with all the idols H1544 of thy abominations, H8441 and by the blood H1818 of thy children, H1121 which thou didst give H5414 unto them;
When I would have healed H7495 Israel, H3478 then the iniquity H5771 of Ephraim H669 was discovered, H1540 and the wickedness H7451 of Samaria: H8111 for they commit H6466 falsehood; H8267 and the thief H1590 cometh in, H935 and the troop H1416 of robbers spoileth H6584 without. H2351
I hate, H8130 I despise H3988 your feast days, H2282 and I will not smell H7306 in your solemn assemblies. H6116
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.'