23:2 Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one a
mother:
(a) Meaning, Israel and Judah who both came out of one
family.
23:3 And they committed harlotries in b Egypt; they committed
harlotries in their youth: there were their breasts
pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their
virginity.
(b) They became idolaters after the manner of the
Egyptians.
23:4 And the names of c them [were] Aholah the elder, and
Aholibah her sister: and they were mine, and they bore sons
and daughters. Thus [were] their names; Samaria [is]
Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah.
(c) Aholah signifies a mansion or dwelling in herself,
meaning Samaria, which was the royal city of Israel and
Aholibah signifies my mansion in her, by which is meant
Jerusalem, where God's temple was.
23:5 And Aholah played the harlot when d she was mine; and she
doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians [her] neighbours,
(d) When the Israelites were named the people of God, they
became idolaters and forsook God, and put their trust
in the Assyrians.
23:8 Neither left she her harlotries [brought] from Egypt: for
in her youth they e lay with her, and they bruised the
breasts of her virginity, and poured their immorality upon
her.
(e) The Holy Spirit uses these terms which seem strange to
chaste ears, to cause this wicked vice of idolatry to
be so abhorred that no one could stand to hear the name
of it.
23:10 These uncovered her nakedness: they took her sons and her
daughters, and slew her with the sword: and she became a
byword among women; for f they had executed judgment
upon her.
(f) Meaning the Assyrians.
23:14 And [that] she increased her harlotries: for when she saw
men g portrayed upon the wall, the images of the
Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion,
(g) This declares that no words are able to sufficiently
express the rage of idolaters and therefore the Holy
Spirit here compares them to those who in their raging
love and filthy lusts dote on the images and paintings
of them after whom they lust.
23:23 The Babylonians, and all the Chaldeans, h 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.
(h) These were the names of certain princes and captains
under Nebuchadnezzar.
23:25 And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall
deal furiously with thee: they shall take away thy i
nose and thy ears; and thy remnant shall fall by the
sword: they shall take thy sons and thy daughters; and thy
remnant shall be devoured by the fire.
(i) They will destroy your princes and priests with the
rest of your people.
23:29 And they shall deal with thee in hatred, and shall take
away all thy k labour, and shall leave thee naked and
bare: and the nakedness of thy harlotries l shall be
uncovered, both thy lewdness and thy harlotries.
(k) All your treasures and riches which you have gotten by
labour.
(l) All the world will see your shameful forsaking of God
to serve idols.
23:31 Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister; therefore will
I give her m cup into thy hand.
(m) I will execute the same judgments and vengeance
against you and that with greater severity.
23:33 Thou shalt be filled with n drunkenness and sorrow, with
the cup of horror and desolation, with the cup of thy
sister Samaria.
(n) Meaning that it's afflictions would be so great that
they would cause them to lose their senses and reason.
23:37 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 bore to me, to
pass for them through [the fire], to o devour [them].
(o) That is, to be sacrifices to their idols, read
(Eze 16:20).
23:40 And furthermore, that ye have sent for men to come from
p far, to whom a messenger [was] sent; and, lo, they
came: for whom thou didst wash thyself, didst paint thy
eyes, and didst deck thyself with ornaments,
(p) They sent into other countries to have such as would
teach the service of their idols.
23:41 And satest q upon a stately bed, and a table prepared
before it, upon which thou hast set my incense and my oil.
(q) He means the altar that was prepared for the idols.
23:42 And a voice of a multitude being at ease [was] with her:
and with the men of the common sort [were] brought r
Sabeans from the wilderness, who put bracelets upon their
hands, and beautiful crowns upon their heads.
(r) Who would teach the manner of worshipping their gods.
23:45 And the righteous men, they shall judge them after the
manner of s adulteresses, and after the manner of women
that shed blood; because they [are] adulteresses, and
blood [is] in their hands.
