Ezekiel 23
Book of Ezekiel 30:13–18 in an English manuscript from early 13th century, MS. Bodl. Or. 62, fol. 59a. A Latin translation appears in the margins with further interlineations above the Hebrew.
BookBook of Ezekiel
CategoryNevi'im
Christian Bible partOld Testament
Order in the Christian part26

Ezekiel 23 is the twenty-third chapter of the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies spoken by the prophet Ezekiel, and is a part of the Books of the Prophets.[1][2]

Text

Textual versions

Some most ancient manuscripts containing this chapter in Hebrew language:

Ancient translations in Koine Greek:

Structure

NKJV groups this chapter into:

Contents

Ezekiel 23 is written in the form of a message delivered by God to Ezekiel. It presents an extended metaphor in which Samaria and Jerusalem are compared to sisters named Oholah (Samaria) and Oholibah (Jerusalem), who are the wives of God and accused of "playing the whore" in Egypt (Ezekiel 23:1-4).[5] The metaphor of Israel and Judah as sisters married to God has attracted the attention of feminist scholars[6][7][8] In Ezekiel 23 their disapproval sexual relations in Egypt occur when they are young, before they are married to God. In Ezekiel 16, a text with some similarities but important differences as well, the metaphorical women belongs to God from puberty, with her sexual offenses occurring only later.[9] The reference to promiscuity in Egypt could refer to earlier political alliances.[10]

Ohalah is accused of adultery with Assyrian soldiers, and of worshipping their gods (verses 5-7). This metaphorically refers to an earlier alliance between the Northern Kingdom of Samaria and Assyria.[10] God punishes her relations with Assyria by giving her over to Assyrian control: they strip her naked, take her children, and kill her (9-10). This is a reference to the conquest of Israel by Assyria and the deportations of inhabitants[11] which occurred in 722.

Knowing about her sisters punishment but disregarding it, Oholibah (Jerusalem, the capital city of the Southern Kingdom) continues her "whoring"[12] with the Assyrians, and then with Babylonians as well (11-17). God abandons her in disgust, but she continues her "whorings" with her lovers, who are described in the text as having horse-sized genitalia (18-21).

As a result, God proclaims that he will send Babylonian soldiers to conquer Oholibah, to disfigure her, take her children, and burn her people (22-35). God then orders Ezekiel to announce this judgment to Oholibah (36), and accuses the Judahites of committing "adultery" by worshipping idols and practicing child sacrifice (37), polluting the temple and desecrating the Sabbath by simultaneously worshipping the god of Israel and idols (39). God compares this to prostitution (40-45) and calls for their punishment (46-49).

Verse 2

"Son of man, there were two women,
The daughters of one mother." (NKJV)[13]

Verse 4

Their names: Oholah the elder and Oholibah her sister;
They were Mine,
And they bore sons and daughters.
As for their names,
Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem is Oholibah. (NKJV)[17]

Verse 45

But righteous men will judge them after the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands. (NKJV)[20]

See also

Notes and references

  1. ^ J. D. Davis. 1960. A Dictionary of The Bible. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House.
  2. ^ Therodore Hiebert, et.al. 1996. The New Intrepreter's Bible: Volume: VI. Nashville: Abingdon.
  3. ^ Timothy A. J. Jull; Douglas J. Donahue; Magen Broshi; Emanuel Tov (1995). "Radiocarbon Dating of Scrolls and Linen Fragments from the Judean Desert". Radiocarbon. 38 (1): 14. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  4. ^ Ulrich 2010, p. 588-589.
  5. ^ New Revised Standard Version
  6. ^ For an example and bibliographic information on other authors, see Kalmanofsky, Amy. “The Dangerous Sisters of Jeremiah and Ezekiel.” Journal of Biblical Literature, vol. 130, no. 2, 2011, pp. 299–312. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41304202.
  7. ^ Van Dijk-Hemmes, Fokkelien. “The Metaphorization of Woman in Prophetic Speech: An Analysis of Ezekiel XXIII.” Vetus Testamentum, vol. 43, no. 2, 1993, pp. 162–170. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1519350.
  8. ^ Gale A. Yee (2003). Poor Banished Children of Eve: Woman as Evil in the Hebrew Bible. Fortress Press. p. 111. ISBN 978-1-4514-0822-5.
  9. ^ Sharon Moughtin (5 June 2008). Sexual and Marital Metaphors in Hosea, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel. OUP Oxford. p. 158. ISBN 978-0-19-923908-5.
  10. ^ a b c Adele Berlin; Marc Zvi Brettler (17 October 2014). The Jewish Study Bible: Second Edition. Oxford University Press. p. 2350. ISBN 978-0-19-939387-9.
  11. ^ Thomas L. Thompson (5 August 2008). The Mythic Past: Biblical Archaeology And The Myth Of Israel. Basic Books. p. 297. ISBN 978-0-7867-2517-5.
  12. ^ Ezekiel 23:11, New Revised Standard Version
  13. ^ Ezekiel 23:2
  14. ^ Bromiley 1995, p. 574.
  15. ^ Brown, 1994 & "אִשָּׁה".
  16. ^ Gesenius, 1979 & "אִשָּׁה".
  17. ^ Ezekiel 23:4
  18. ^ The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, Augmented Third Edition, New Revised Standard Version, Indexed. Michael D. Coogan, Marc Brettler, Carol A. Newsom, Editors. Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 2007. p. 1211-1213 Hebrew Bible. ISBN 978-0195288810
  19. ^ Notes [a] and [b] in New King James Version on Ezekiel 23:4.
  20. ^ Ezekiel 23:45
  21. ^ Gesenius, 1979 & "צַדִּיק".

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