CHAPTER 23

(593 B.C.)

PARABLE OF TWO SISTERS; AHOLAH (SAMARIA) AND AHOLIBAH (JERUSALEM)

¹The Word of the LORD came again unto me, saying (this Chapter clearly and graphically illustrates the sin and wickedness of both the Northern and the Southern Kingdoms of Samaria and Judah),

²Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother (pictures both Kingdoms, Samaria and Judah. The phrase, The daughters of one mother, refers to Sarah, who gave birth to Isaac, who sired Jacob, from whom sprang the twelve sons representing the Twelve Tribes of Israel):

³And they committed whoredoms in Egypt; they committed whoredoms in their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their virginity. (This Chapter reviews their conduct from Egypt to the final destruction of their city and the nation. Thus, under this lengthened test of about 1,100 years was demonstrated the incurable idolatry of mans fallen nature. Idolatry continues today in the realm of Believers making something other than the Cross of Christ the object of their faith.)

⁴And the names of 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. (Aholibah in the Hebrew means Shalibah, and refers to Jerusalem and means My tent is in her. The elder, referring to Aholah [Samaria], probably would have been better translated the greater, because, at least at the beginning, the power of the Northern Kingdom of the Ten Tribes was greater, because they greatly outnumbered the population of the Two Tribes of Judah.)

AHOLAHS IDOLATRY AND PROSTITUTION

⁵And Aholah played the harlot when she was Mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours (And Aholah played the harlot, refers to her adopting the gods of the Assyrians. This was probably the worship of Ishtar [Ashtoreth] as the Queen of Heaven. When she was Mine, refers to the whole of Israel belonging to the Lord by the Mosaic Covenant, which the Lord had made with them, and caused them to become His Wife by Covenant relationship [Isa. 54:5]),

⁶Which were clothed with blue, Captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses. (This Passage brings before us the magnificent array of the Assyrian Cavalry a force in which Israel, throughout its history, was deficient [Judg. 5:10; Zech. 9:9; Isa. 36:8].)

⁷Thus she committed her whoredoms with them, with all them who were the chosen men of Assyria, and with all on whom she doted: with all their idols she defiled herself. (This refers to the Northern Kingdom of Samaria being enamored by the power and pomp of the Assyrians. With all their idols she defiled herself, proclaims her attempting to gain the plaudits of these chosen men of Assyria by accepting their idols.)

⁸Neither left she her whoredoms brought from Egypt: for in her youth they lay with her, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured their whoredom upon her. (This tells us that the worship of Egyptian idols was never completely expunged from Samaria. As well, the presence of this wickedness made it much easier to accept the Assyrian idols.)

⁹Wherefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted. (What Believers want, if they insist upon it, the Lord will ultimately allow them to have, whether good or bad.)

¹⁰These discovered her nakedness: they took her sons and her daughters, and slew her with the sword: and she became famous among women; for they had executed Judgment upon her. (To be naked meant to be open to the Judgment of God, which would allow heathen nations to have their way, as with Assyria. She became famous among women, actually means that she became infamous, because of the Judgment of God upon her, among the surrounding nations.)

JUDAHS GREATER SINS WITH ASSYRIA AND BABYLON

¹¹And when her sister Aholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in her whoredoms. (Judgment, having already destroyed Samaria in sweeping its people into captivity, now a similar doom is impending over Jerusalem. She, far from taking warning from the fate of her northern sister, plunged deeper into the abominations of idolatry.

There was no moral difference between these sisters. The same conduct showed the same nature. The heart at the close was the same as at the beginning. They both were idolaters.)

¹²She doted upon the Assyrians her neighbours, Captains and rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men. (Jerusalem, as her northern sister, courted the alliance of the kings of Assyria, as in the case of Ahaz [II Ki. 16:7-10] and Tiglath-Pileser. Even Hezekiah followed in the same line, though his trust was in Egypt and afterwards rebelled. Manasseh too paid tribute and made Jerusalem the scene of a confluent idolatry, which included that of Assyria.)

¹³Then I saw that she was defiled, that they took both one way (this refers to the way of disobedience rather than Gods Way),

¹⁴And that she increased her whoredoms: for when she saw men pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion (this pertains to pictures of gods, which were painted on the walls in various government buildings in Babylon),

¹⁵Girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes to look to, after the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their nativity (when Judah began to lose her way, because of pulling farther and farther away from Jehovah, they lost the Presence of God, and then the glitter of other nations became very enticing):

¹⁶And as soon as she saw them with her eyes, she doted upon them, and sent messengers unto them into Chaldea. (This refers to Judah actively seeking alliances with the Babylonians, which was not at all pleasing to the Lord. The idea is: the Believer must put total and complete Trust and Faith in the Lord, and for all things. If we look to man, we get what man can supply, which is nothing. If we look to God, we get what God can supply, which is everything!)

¹⁷And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with them, and her mind was alienated from them. (All of these terms, such as whoredom, etc., pertained to Judah being unfaithful to the Lord, and doing so by worshipping idols. And her mind was alienated from them, is a strange statement! It means that what she thought she was getting, she did not receive. Impure love usually ends in open hatred. So Israel, in the end, hated the Egyptians, the Assyrians, and the Babylonians, and they hated her.)

¹⁸So she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered her nakedness: then My Mind was alienated from her, like as My Mind was alienated from her sister. (Because of her sin, the Mind of the Lord was alienated from Judah. Whether Judah or a lone Believer, the end result of such disposition on the part of God is catastrophic.)

¹⁹Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, in calling to remembrance the days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt. (Recalling old sins frequently leads to a resumption of them.)

²⁰For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses. (For she doted upon their paramours, refers to the Egyptian princes, whose favor Judah courted. She threw herself into the idolatrous ritual of Egypt with an almost orgiastic passion.

The last phrase is likened to a wife who, in her unfaithfulness, not only commits adultery with a man, but has sexual relations with an animal. He uses such as an example to portray Judah leaving His Presence for the presence of the idol worshipping heathen.)

²¹Thus you called to remembrance the lewdness of your youth, in bruising your teats by the Egyptians for the paps of your youth. (The harlot nation returned, as it were, to her first love and renewed the whoredoms of her youth, actually, the very whoredoms from which she was delivered [II Pet. 2:20-22].)

BABYLON, GODS INSTRUMENT OF WRATH AGAINST JERUSALEM (AHOLIBAH)

²²Therefore, O Aholibah, thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I will raise up your lovers against you, from whom your mind is alienated, and I will bring them against you on every side (the Passage refers to the Babylonians and others, which would turn against Judah. In other words, the very safety and protection she thought she was securing would turn out to be the very opposite!);

²³The Babylonians, and all the Chaldeans, 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. (Pekod, Shoa, and Koa were eastern nations. They are all named in the Babylonian inscriptions. Riding upon horses, refers to something which once greatly impressed Judah; but now they ride over her in destruction.)

²⁴And they shall come against you with chariots, wagons, and wheels, and with an assembly of people, which shall set against you buckler and shield and helmet round about: and I will set Judgment before them, and they shall judge you according to their judgments. (The Passage refers to the fact that no pity will be shown whatsoever to hapless Judah.)

²⁵And I will set My Jealousy against you, and they shall deal furiously with you: they shall take away your nose and your ears; and your remnant shall fall by the sword: they shall take your sons and your daughters; and your residue shall be devoured by the fire. (The phrase, They shall take away your nose and your ears, refers to the manner in which the Babylonians mutilated their prisoners by cutting off their nose and ears. They slaughtered others, or even burned them alive. Others, they stripped of their property and clothes, making them slaves.)

²⁶They shall also strip you out of your clothes, and take away your fair jewels.

²⁷Thus will I make your lewdness to cease from you, and your whoredom brought from the land of Egypt: so that you shall not lift up your eyes unto them, nor remember Egypt any more. (The fact that Israel was an idolater in Egypt is again recalled, because she had never fully overcome the propensity toward this evil.)

²⁸For thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I will deliver you into the hand of them whom you hate, into the hand of them from whom your mind is alienated (refers to a former love for Babylon that had now passed into loathing. They will now receive with disgust their fill of that for which they had once so ardently sought):

²⁹And they shall deal with you hatefully, and shall take away all your labour, and shall leave you naked and bare: and the nakedness of your whoredoms shall be discovered, both your lewdness and your whoredoms. (All of this speaks of them forsaking Jehovah and resorting to idols.)

³⁰I will do these things unto you, because you have gone a whoring after the heathen, and because you are polluted with their idols. (And because you are polluted with their idols, refers to what always happens to the Child of God concerning involvement with the world. It always brings spiritual pollution.)

³¹You have walked in the way of your sis ter; therefore will I give her cup into your hand. (This refers to the Northern Kingdom of Samaria, with her way referring to idol worship and, above all, the way of the world instead of the Way of God.)

³²Thus says the Lord GOD; You shall drink of your sisters cup deep and large: you shall be laughed to scorn and had in derision; it contains much. (You shall drink of your sisters cup deep and large, pertains to the Judgment being far more severe than anyone contemplated.

The phrase, You shall be laughed to scorn and had in derision, refers to them laughing at the Prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, who had been sent by the Lord. Now, in turn, the surrounding nations will do the same to Judah upon her fall.

It contains much, refers to them answering the Prophets by saying that it contained little!)

³³You shall be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of your sister Samaria. (The drunkenness of the first phrase does not refer to alcohol inebriation, but instead the drunkenness of anguish an anguish so great as to cause the captives to beat their bosoms in despair.)

³⁴You shall even drink it and suck it out, and you shall break the sherds thereof, and pluck off your own breasts: for I have spoken it, says the Lord GOD. (You shall even drink it and suck it out, refers to not only the entire cup being drunk, but the bitter dregs at the bottom being consumed, as well. The mutilation of your own breasts refers to the anguish being so severe that many would take a shard, a fragment of brittle substance, and cut themselves with it.)

³⁵Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Because you have forgotten Me, and cast Me behind your back, therefore bear you also your lewdness and your whoredoms. (The first phrase pertains to Judah forsaking the Word of God and, thereby, forsaking God. The latter phrase refers to idol worship with all its attendant demon spirits.)

GODS JUDGMENT ON AHOLAH (SAMARIA) AND AHOLIBAH (JERUSALEM)

³⁶The LORD said moreover unto me; Son of man, will you judge Aholah and Aholibah? yes, declare unto them their abominations (the phrase, Yes, declare unto them their abominations, pertains to the sins being named, which they were);

³⁷That 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 unto Me, to pass for them through the fire, to devour them. (They have committed adultery, refers to idol worship, because the Lord looks at Judah as His Wife and He, her husband [Isa. 54:5]. The phrase, To pass for them through the fire, to devour them, had to do with Judah offering up her sons in human sacrifice to the hideous god, Molech.)

³⁸Moreover this they have done unto Me: they have defiled My Sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned My Sabbaths. (The phrase, Moreover this they have done unto Me, proclaims the truth that the deepest depth of evil is the association of idolatry with God, which these Judahites did!)

³⁹For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into My Sanctuary to profane it; and, lo, thus have they done in the midst of My House. (In other words, they would offer up their children as sacrifice in the morning [which is horrible beyond contemplation], and then they would take a lamb to the Temple that afternoon and offer it up in Sacrifice.)

⁴⁰And furthermore, that you have sent for men to come from far, unto whom a messenger was sent; and, lo, they came: for whom you did wash yourself, painted your eyes, and decked yourself with ornaments (this refers to ambassadors which had been sent from time to time by both Samaria and Jerusalem to Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon, seeking alliances; to secure those alliances, they embraced the idol worship of each respective country),

⁴¹And sat upon a stately bed, and a table prepared before it, whereupon you have set My Incense and My Oil. (And sat upon a stately bed, has reference to the Altar, or Table of worship, which sat before the Veil immediately in front of the Holy of Holies. There the Priests would offer up Incense after partaking of idol worship.)

⁴²And a voice of a multitude being at ease was with her: and with the men of the common sort were brought Sabeans from the wilderness, which put bracelets upon their hands, and beautiful crowns upon their heads. (And a voice of a multitude [tumult] being at ease was with her, refers to the fact that Jerusalem had strayed so far from God that now the heathen were at ease with her. The reason: Judahs religion was no different than theirs!)

⁴³Then said I unto her who was old in adulteries, Will they now commit whoredoms with her, and she with them? (This pertains to the heathen nations which Judah courted, and which had been long in debauchery actually all of their existence.)

⁴⁴Yet they went in unto her, as they go in unto a woman who plays the harlot: so went they in unto Aholah and unto Aholibah, the lewd women. (Here the Lord calls Samaria and Jerusalem, the lewd women.)

⁴⁵And the righteous men, they shall judge them after the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women who shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands. (The idea of Verses 45 through 49 is that inasmuch as Jerusalem is both a murderess and an adulteress, she shall suffer the punishment of stoning, which the Law commanded for such [Lev. 20:10; Deut. 22:22, 24]. It refers to a sentence of death, which the Babylonians carried out!)

⁴⁶For thus says the Lord GOD; I will bring up a company upon them, and will give them to be removed and spoiled. (The phrase, And will give them to be removed and spoiled, refers to the people being removed from the Promised Land.)

⁴⁷And the company shall stone them with stones, and dispatch them with their swords; they shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire. (As stated, the sentence was death!)

⁴⁸Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness. (The lewdness refers to idolatry, which would be made to cease out of the land. And thats exactly what ultimately happened!

That all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness, refers to the heathen nations who were supposed to have been taught about the Lord by Judah, but instead were taught otherwise. Therefore, at least in part, they abrogated their very reason for existing.)

⁴⁹And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and you shall bear the sins of your idols: and you shall know that I Am the Lord GOD. (Jerusalem suffered the just doom of an adulteress; her walls were beaten down with stones, her houses burned with fire, and her children slain with the sword. This fearful doom was occasioned by their own conduct; it could not be ascribed to Divine injustice.

And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, refers to her receiving the very opposite of what she thought she would receive by her alliances with these heathen nations.)