Ezekiel 23:7

Thus she committed her whoredoms with them, with all them that were the chosen men of Assyria, and with all on whom she doted: with all their idols she defiled herself.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(7) With all their idols.—The reality breaks through the figure, and leaves no doubt of the meaning of the allegory.

Benson Commentary

Ezekiel 23:7-10. Thus she committed whoredoms with them — She defiled herself with idols, as the sense is more plainly expressed at the end of the verse. Neither left she her whoredoms brought from Egypt — She added new idolatries to those she had formerly committed: see Ezekiel 23:3. Wherefore I delivered her into the hand of her lovers — God made these very Assyrians the executioners of his judgments upon the ten tribes, many of them being carried away captive by Pul, king of Assyria, afterward by Tiglath-pileser, and at length the whole country was subdued and depopulated by Shalmaneser: see the margin. The kings of Babylon were likewise styled kings of Assyria, 2 Kings 23:29; 2 Chronicles 33:11. Lovers mean the same with allies; those whose friendship and assistance the Jews courted, by complying with them in their idolatries, Ezekiel 16:37. These discovered her nakedness: they took her sons and her daughters — These stripped her of every thing, and carried her and her children away captive: see the margin, and Ezekiel 23:29. And slew her with the sword — Those that were not led captive were slain in the field of battle, or in the siege of Samaria, 2 Kings 17:5. And she became famous among women — The Hebrew reads, She became a nation among women: as she had been formerly renowned among the heathen for her beauty, (Ezekiel 16:14,) so now she was everywhere talked of as a remarkable instance of God’s vengeance, and set forth for an example to other cities and nations, to deter them from the like abominations.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

23:1-49 A history of the apostacy of God's people from him, and the aggravation thereof. - In this parable, Samaria and Israel bear the name Aholah, her own tabernacle; because the places of worship those kingdoms had, were of their own devising. Jerusalem and Judah bear the name of Aholibah, my tabernacle is in her, because their temple was the place which God himself had chosen, to put his name there. The language and figures are according to those times. Will not such humbling representations of nature keep open perpetual repentance and sorrow in the soul, hiding pride from our eyes, and taking us from self-righteousness? Will it not also prompt the soul to look to God continually for grace, that by his Holy Spirit we may mortify the deeds of the body, and live in holy conversation and godliness?

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The army of the Assyrians is described. War-horses formed an important part in the armies of Assyria and Egypt; Israel was deficient in this respect Isaiah 36:8.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

7. all their idols—There was nothing that she refused to her lovers.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Thus, by the eye and familiar converse, she fell to idolatry. Committed her whoredoms: see Ezekiel 23:3.

With all them; she embraced the friendship and religion of all of them, and relied on the Assyrian’s idols for deliverance and peace.

And with all, i.e. other nations with whom she had commerce and made leagues,

on whom she doted; like an adulterous wife, she was mad in her love to them, to their persons, customs, idols, and religion, with all which she polluted herself.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Thus she committed her whoredoms with them,.... Entered into alliance with them, and joined them in their idolatrous worship:

with all them that were the chosen men of Assyria; before described by their habit, office, and age:

and with all on whom she doted; had an insatiable desire and lust after:

with all their idols she defiled herself; worshipped all the idols the Assyrians did; and which were defiling, as they must needs be, since, as the word used signifies, they were dunghill gods.

Geneva Study Bible

Thus she committed her whoredoms with them, with all them that were the chosen men of Assyria, and with all on whom she doted: with all their idols she defiled herself.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

7. with all their idols] The alliance with Assyria brought in Assyrian idolatry, cf. 2 Kings 23:11, where horses and chariots of the sun are mentioned, and also the altars on the roofs, where incense was burnt to the host of heaven, Ezekiel 23:12, Jeremiah 19:13.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 7-10. - The next two verses paint the consequence of the alliance first with Assyria and then with Egypt. She adopted the religion of Assyria, probably in the form of the worship of Ishtar (Ashtoreth) as the queen of heaven. Having done this, the kings of Israel sought to play off one kingdom against the other (see Hosea 7:11; 2 Kings 17:4). It was, in fact, the discovery of Hoshea's treachery in this matter that led Shalmaneser to besiege Samaria. The result of that siege is described in general terms in Ver. 10. She, the city of Samaria, was slain with the sword, tier sons and daughters were taken into exile. So she became famous (i.e. infamous, like the Latin famosus), literally, a name among women, so. among the neighboring nations. Ezekiel 23:7

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Samaria's Whoredom and Punishment

Ezekiel 23:5. And Oholibah played the harlot under me, and burned towards her lovers, even as far as Assyria, standing near; Ezekiel 23:6. Clothed in purple, governors and officers, all of them choice men of good deportment, horsemen riding upon horses. Ezekiel 23:7. And she directed her whoredom toward them, to the choice of the sons of Assyria all of them, and with all towards whom she burned, with all their idols she defiled herself. Ezekiel 23:8. Also her whoredom from Egypt she did not give up; for they had lain with her in her youth, and they had handled her virgin bosom, and had poured out their lust upon her. Ezekiel 23:9. Therefore I have given her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the sons of Assyria, towards whom she was inflamed. Ezekiel 23:10. They uncovered her nakedness, took away her sons and her daughters, and slew her with the sword, so that she became a legend among the women, and executed judgments upon her. - Coquetting and whoring with Assyria and Egypt denote religious and political leaning towards and connection with these nations and kingdoms, including idolatry and the formation of alliances with them, as in Ezekiel 16. תּחתּי is to be interpreted in accordance with תּחת אישׁהּ (Ezekiel 16:32). עגּב, which only occurs in Ezekiel and once in Jeremiah, denotes the eager desire kindled by passionate love towards any one. By the words אל־אשּׁוּר the lovers are more precisely defined. קרובים without an article is not an adjective, belonging to מאהביה, but in apposition, which is continued in the next verse. In these appositions the particular features, which excited the ardent passion towards the lovers, are pointed out. קרוב is not to be taken in an outward or local sense, but as signifying inward or spiritual nearness: standing near, equivalent to inwardly related, as in Psalm 38:12; Job 19:14. The description given of the Assyrians in Ezekiel 23:6 contains the thought that Israel, dazzled by Assyria's splendour, and overpowered by the might of that kingdom, had been drawn into intercourse with the Assyrians, which led her astray into idolatry. The predicate, clothed in purple, points to the splendour and glory of this imperial power; the other predicates, to the magnitude of its military force. פחות וּסגנים are rulers of higher and lower grades (cf. Jeremiah 51:57). "Here the expression is a general one, signifying the different classes of office-bearers in the kingdom" (Hvernick). With regard to פּחה, see my comm. on Haggai 1:1; and for סגן, see Delitzsch on Isaiah 41:25. "Riding upon horses" is added to פּרשׁים to denote the noblest horsemen, in contrast to riders upon asses and camels (cf. Isaiah 21:7). In Ezekiel 23:7 בּכּל־גּלּוּליהםhem is in apposition to בּכל אשׁר־עגבה, and defines more precisely the instigation to pollution: with all towards whom she burned in love, namely, with all their (the lovers') idols. The thought is as follows: it was not merely through her intercourse with the Assyrians that Israel defiled herself, but also through their idols. At the same time, Samaria did not give up the idolatry which it had derived from Egypt. It was from Egypt that the worship of God under the image of the golden calves had been imported. The words are much too strong for us to understand them as relating simply to political intercourse, as Hitzig has done. We have already observed at Ezekiel 20:7, that even in Egypt itself the Israelites had defiled themselves with Egyptian idolatry, as is also stated in Ezekiel 23:8. - Ezekiel 23:9, Ezekiel 23:10. As a punishment for this, God gave Samaria into the power of the Assyrians, so that they executed judgment upon the harlot. In Ezekiel 23:10 the prophecy passes from the figure to the fact. The uncovering of the nakedness consisted in the transportation of the sons and daughters, i.e., the population of Samaria, into exile by the Assyrians, who slew the woman herself with the sword; in other words, destroyed the kingdom of Samaria. Thus did Samaria become a name for women; that is to say, her name was circulated among the nations, her fate became an object of conversation and ridicule to the nations, not "a nickname for the nations," as Hvernick supposes (vid., Ezekiel 36:3). שׁפוּטים, a later form for שׁפטים (cf. Ezekiel 16:41).