Ezekiel 23 personifies Samaria and Jerusalem as sisters Oholah and Oholibah. It is one of the most, if not the most, graphic descriptions in all the Bible.
Oholah and Oholibah began their lives of perverse behavior at a young age. While living in the land of Egypt, they embraced the gods and practices of the Egyptians. Their idolatry is spiritual adultery and is described as literal adultery throughout the chapter.
Oholah continued her lewd behavior as an adult and gave herself to Assyrians. Seeing that her path of adultery only grew with intensity, the Lord delivered her into the hands of her lovers. Her lovers became her destroyers.
Having known the destruction of her older sister, Oholibah does not change her ways but instead grew even more vile than her sister! Oholibah not only committed adultery with Assyria but pursued adulterous relations with Chaldea. When all these lovers could not satisfy her, she returned to the adultery of her youth in Egypt. The message for Oholibah is that if Oholah faced judgment for her idolatry, how much more shall Oholibah face?
The point for the reader is to understand that God’s judgment against Samaria and Jerusalem are not over-reactions! The punishment does fit the crime. The application for the reader is repentance! Have we not all committed spiritual adultery? Do we not all deserve judgment? Let us thank the Lord for His grace today, turn from our own collection of idols, and love Him with all our hearts!
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