Ezekiel 23

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Ezekiel 23 is an allegory of two sisters, Oholah and Oholibah, who stand for Samaria and Jerusalem. Both prostituted themselves in Egypt in their youth; Oholah then lusted after the Assyrians, and God handed her over to them, who stripped and killed her. Oholibah saw it and went further, chasing the Assyrians, then the Babylonians whose pictures on a wall aroused her, then Egypt again. So God will bring her lovers against her from every side to mutilate her, seize her children, and burn what is left; she will drink her sister's cup of ruin. The chapter closes with the charges against both, adultery, child sacrifice, and the profaning of God's sanctuary, and the sentence: a mob will stone and burn them, so that all women learn not to imitate them.

فتح تفسير الإصحاح

Ezekiel 23 is a chapter many Bibles print without comment and many readers skip, and it is meant to be unbearable. The prophet, living among the exiles in Babylon, tells the story of two sisters who were prostitutes from their youth in Egypt. Their names are Oholah and Oholibah, and the prophet leaves no doubt who they are: Samaria and Jerusalem, the two capitals of God's people. Oholah, the elder, threw herself at the Assyrian officers in their blue uniforms, and God let those very lovers strip and kill her, which is how Samaria fell in 722. Her sister watched and learned nothing. Oholibah wanted the Assyrians too, then saw pictures of Babylonian officers painted on a wall and sent for them, then, sickened by them, turned back to Egypt, the lover of her youth. Every one of these affairs is a treaty: Ezekiel sees Judah's century of playing the great powers against each other as a marriage betrayed again and again, because every alliance meant bowing to the ally's gods. So God will send the lovers back as executioners, and the sentence is described with a violence the prophet does not soften, ending with a cup, the same cup her sister drank, deep and wide and full of horror. In the last section the imagery gives way to a charge sheet: adultery, children burned as food for idols, and the sanctuary defiled on the same day. Under all of it is one sentence, the real accusation: you have forgotten me and thrown me behind your back.

مقاطع رئيسية

Ezekiel 23:1-4 Ezekiel 23:11-21 Ezekiel 23:22-35 Ezekiel 23:36-49 Ezekiel 16:1-14 Hosea 2:2-13

Historical and literary context

Ezekiel prophesied among the exiles in Babylon between 593 and 571 BC, and this oracle belongs to the years before Jerusalem's fall in 587. The sisters' names, roughly "her tent" and "my tent is in her," contrast the northern kingdom's self-made worship with the temple in Jerusalem. Samaria had courted Assyria and fallen to it in 722; Judah had wavered between Assyria, Babylon, and Egypt for a century, and Ezekiel reads every alliance as adultery, since treaties involved acknowledging the partner's gods. The wall paintings of Chaldean officers reflect Babylonian art. Child sacrifice to Molech in the Hinnom valley is documented by Jeremiah and Kings. The mutilation of noses and ears was a known ancient punishment for adultery.

How the chapter unfolds

Verses 1 to 4 introduce the two sisters, their youth in Egypt, and their identities. Verses 5 to 10 tell Oholah's affair with Assyria and her destruction. Verses 11 to 21 tell Oholibah's worse career with Assyria, Babylon, and Egypt. Verses 22 to 35 pronounce her sentence: her lovers turned against her, the stripping, the mutilation, the cup of her sister, and the reason, "you have forgotten Me." Verses 36 to 45 restate the charges as a legal case: adultery, child sacrifice, defiling the sanctuary, and luring lovers from afar. Verses 46 to 49 give the final judgment by a mob, with the closing formula, "then you will know that I am the Lord GOD."

Why this chapter matters

The chapter, with its companion in Ezekiel 16 and Hosea 1 to 3, is the Bible's most extended use of marriage and adultery as a picture of the covenant and its betrayal, and it lies behind the New Testament's language of the church as bride and of friendship with the world as adultery. Its political theology, that trusting foreign powers is unfaithfulness to God, is the prophetic tradition at its sharpest. The line "you have forgotten Me and cast Me behind your back" names the root of the sin beneath all the imagery. The cup passed from sister to sister became the cup of wrath that Jesus asked to have taken from him.

Interpretive tension to watch

The chapter is the most sexually explicit in the Bible and describes violence against women in detail, and readers, especially in the last generation, have asked whether an allegory that pictures God's people as a woman to be stripped and mutilated can be read without harm; interpreters answer variously that the imagery is aimed at male political elites, that it reflects its culture's brutality, and that its shock is intentional. Ancient rabbis debated whether the chapter should be read in public at all. The historical detail, Oholibah turning from Babylon back to Egypt, corresponds to Zedekiah's revolt. And the chapter ends in judgment without the promise of restoration that Ezekiel 16 adds.

أسئلة لهذا الفصل

Ezekiel treats political alliances as adultery against God. What do communities today trust instead of God, and what does that trust cost?
The root charge is "you have forgotten Me." How does forgetting God happen gradually, before any dramatic betrayal?
This chapter is deliberately shocking. What does it say about God that he uses such language about being betrayed?

Study with context

Use this as a chapter guide, then press deeper into the text itself. The goal is to slow down observation, notice structure, and ask better questions before jumping to conclusions.

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1 耶和华的话又临到我说： 2 「人子啊，有两个女子，是一母所生， 3 她们在埃及行邪淫，在幼年时行邪淫。她们在那里作处女的时候，有人拥抱她们的怀，抚摸她们的乳。 4 她们的名字，姊姊名叫阿荷拉，妹妹名叫阿荷利巴。她们都归于我，生了儿女。论到她们的名字，阿荷拉就是撒马利亚，阿荷利巴就是耶路撒冷。 5 「阿荷拉归我之后行邪淫，贪恋所爱的人，就是她的邻邦亚述人。 6 这些人都穿蓝衣，作省长、副省长，都骑着马，是可爱的少年人。 7 阿荷拉就与亚述人中最美的男子放纵淫行，她因所恋爱之人的一切偶像，玷污自己。 8 自从在埃及的时候，她就没有离开淫乱，因为她年幼作处女的时候，埃及人与她行淫，抚摸她的乳，纵欲与她行淫。 9 因此，我将她交在她所爱的人手中，就是她所恋爱的亚述人手中。 10 他们就露了她的下体，掳掠她的儿女，用刀杀了她，使她在妇女中留下臭名，因他们向她施行审判。 11 「她妹妹阿荷利巴虽然看见了，却还贪恋，比她姊姊更丑；行淫乱比她姊姊更多。 12 她贪恋邻邦的亚述人，就是穿极华美的衣服，骑着马的省长、副省长，都是可爱的少年人。 13 我看见她被玷污了，她姊妹二人同行一路。 14 阿荷利巴又加增淫行，因她看见人像画在墙上，就是用丹色所画迦勒底人的像， 15 腰间系着带子，头上有下垂的裹头巾，都是军长的形状，仿照巴比伦人的形象；他们的故土就是迦勒底。 16 阿荷利巴一看见就贪恋他们，打发使者往迦勒底去见他们。 17 巴比伦人就来登她爱情的床，与她行淫玷污她。她被玷污，随后心里与他们生疏。 18 这样，她显露淫行，又显露下体；我心就与她生疏，像先前与她姊姊生疏一样。 19 她还加增她的淫行，追念她幼年在埃及地行邪淫的日子， 20 贪恋情人身壮精足，如驴如马。 21 这样，你就想起你幼年的淫行。那时，埃及人拥抱你的怀，抚摸你的乳。」 22 阿荷利巴啊，主耶和华如此说：「我必激动你先爱而后生疏的人来攻击你。我必使他们来，在你四围攻击你。 23 所来的就是巴比伦人、迦勒底的众人、比割人、书亚人、哥亚人，同着他们的还有亚述众人，乃是作省长、副省长、作军长有名声的，都骑着马，是可爱的少年人。 24 他们必带兵器、战车、辎重车，率领大众来攻击你。他们要拿大小盾牌，顶盔摆阵，在你四围攻击你。我要将审判的事交给他们，他们必按着自己的条例审判你。 25 我必以忌恨攻击你；他们必以忿怒办你。他们必割去你的鼻子和耳朵；你遗留的人必倒在刀下。他们必掳去你的儿女；你所遗留的必被火焚烧。 26 他们必剥去你的衣服，夺取你华美的宝器。 27 这样，我必使你的淫行和你从埃及地[染]来的淫乱止息了，使你不再仰望亚述，也不再追念埃及。 28 主耶和华如此说：我必将你交在你所恨恶的人手中，就是你心与他生疏的人手中。 29 他们必以恨恶办你，夺取你一切劳碌得来的，留下你赤身露体。你淫乱的下体，连你的淫行，带你的淫乱，都被显露。 30 人必向你行这些事；因为你随从外邦人行邪淫，被他们的偶像玷污了。 31 你走了你姊姊所走的路，所以我必将她的杯交在你手中。」 32 主耶和华如此说：你必喝你姊姊所喝的杯；那杯又深又广，盛得甚多，使你被人嗤笑讥刺。 33 你必酩酊大醉，满有愁苦，喝干你姊姊撒马利亚的杯，就是令人惊骇凄凉的杯。 34 你必喝这杯，以致喝尽。 [杯破]又啃杯片，撕裂自己的乳；因为这事我曾说过。这是主耶和华说的。 35 主耶和华如此说：「因你忘记我，将我丢在背后，所以你要担当你淫行和淫乱[的报应]。」 36 耶和华又对我说：「人子啊，你要审问阿荷拉与阿荷利巴吗？当指出她们所行可憎的事。 37 她们行淫，手中有[杀人的]血，又与偶像行淫，并使她们为我所生的儿女经[火]烧[给偶像]。 38 此外，她们还有向我所行的，就是同日玷污我的圣所，干犯我的安息日。 39 她们杀了儿女献与偶像，当天又入我的圣所，将圣所亵渎了。她们在我殿中所行的乃是如此。 40 「况且你们二妇打发使者去请远方人。使者到他们那里，他们就来了。你们为他们沐浴己身，粉饰眼目，佩戴妆饰， 41 坐在华美的床上，前面摆设桌案，将我的香料膏油摆在其上。 42 在那里有群众安逸欢乐的声音，并有粗俗的人和酒徒从旷野同来，把镯子戴在[二妇]的手上，把华冠戴在她们的头上。 43 「我论这行淫衰老的妇人说：现在人还要与她行淫，她也要[与人]行淫。 44 人与阿荷拉，并阿荷利巴二淫妇苟合，好像与妓女苟合。 45 必有义人，照审判淫妇和流人血的妇人之例，审判她们；因为她们是淫妇，手中有[杀人的]血。」 46 主耶和华如此说：「我必使多人来攻击她们，使她们抛来抛去，被人抢夺。 47 这些人必用石头打死她们，用刀剑杀害她们，又杀戮她们的儿女，用火焚烧她们的房屋。 48 这样，我必使淫行从境内止息，好叫一切妇人都受警戒，不效法你们的淫行。 49 人必照着你们的淫行报应你们；你们要担当[拜]偶像的罪，就知道我是主耶和华。」