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Ezekiel calls the Kingdom of Israel, God’s Bride, and proclaims her unfaithful. The prophet describes the affair of Israel’s two kingdoms or houses as two sisters, Oholah (the North in Samaria) and Oholibah (the South, in Jerusalem), both sisters of the same mother, or greater kingdom, who is backslidden Israel. Ezekiel warns the South (Oholibah) that they will be judged for having seen how their elder sister Kingdom (Oholah) had been judged, but continuing in idolatry anyway.
2 “Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother. 3 They played the whore in Egypt; they played the whore in their youth; there their breasts were pressed and their virgin bosoms handled. 4 Oholah was the name of the elder and Oholibah the name of her sister. They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem. 5 “Oholah played the whore while she was mine, and she lusted after her lovers the Assyrians, warriors 6 clothed in purple, governors and commanders, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. 7 She bestowed her whoring upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them, and she defiled herself with all the idols of everyone after whom she lusted. 8 She did not give up her whoring that she had begun in Egypt; for in her youth men had lain with her and handled her virgin bosom and poured out their whoring lust upon her. 9 Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, after whom she lusted. 10 These uncovered her nakedness; they seized her sons and her daughters; and as for her, they killed her with the sword; and she became a byword among women, when judgment had been executed on her. 11 “Her sister Oholibah saw this, and she became more corrupt than her sister in her lust and in her whoring, which was worse than that of her sister. 12 She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and commanders, warriors clothed in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men. 13 And I saw that she was defiled; they both took the same way. 14 But she carried her whoring further. She saw men portrayed on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion, 15 wearing belts on their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them having the appearance of officers, a likeness of Babylonians whose native land was Chaldea. 16 When she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. 17 And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoring lust. And after she was defiled by them, she turned from them in disgust. 18 When she carried on her whoring so openly and flaunted her nakedness, I turned in disgust from her, as I had turned in disgust from her sister. 19 Yet she increased her whoring, remembering the days of her youth, when she played the whore in the land of Egypt 20 and lusted after her lovers there, whose members were like those of donkeys, and whose issue was like that of horses. 21 Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians handled your bosom and pressed your young breasts.”
22 Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I will stir up against you your lovers from whom you turned in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side:
31 You have gone the way of your sister; therefore I will give her cup into your hand. 32 Thus says the Lord God: “You shall drink your sister’s cup that is deep and large; you shall be laughed at and held in derision, for it contains much; 33 you will be filled with drunkennessand sorrow. A cup of horror and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria; 34 you shall drink it and drain it out, and gnaw its shards, and tear your breasts;
Ezekiel 23:2-22,31-34 ESV
The Bible tells us the harlot sisters are the northern and southern kingdom, and their mother is a harlot, similar to Hosea 1. She is the nation of Israel as a single entity, who came out of Egypt and then defiled herself as she broke apart into separate offspring. God wants us to see Him as King, and He desires to cloth us in riches, but we instead look elsewhere, not realizing we are wretched, blind, and naked without Him (Rev 3:17). The abomination described in Ezekiel is that the people tried to live in both worlds. They worshipped God on one day, then gave their children to Molech/Baal the next. They are directionless, rutter-less, lukewarm believers with blood on their hands for not heeding God’s warnings. We continue with Chapter 23:
“35 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, you yourself must bear the consequences of your lewdness and whoring.” 36The Lord said to me: “Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Declare to them their abominations. 37 For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. With their idols they have committed adultery, and they have even offered up to them for food the children whom they had borne to me. 38 Moreover, this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and profaned my Sabbaths. 39 For when they had slaughtered their children in sacrifice to their idols, on the same day they came into my sanctuary to profane it. And behold, this is what they did in my house.”
Ezekiel 23:35-39 ESV
We will go into detail later on, but take note of how God detests those who worship other gods one day, then dare to visit His temple the same day. God would rather they be cold than lukewarm, then at least their standing would be made known. We see parallels between these people who live in both worlds and those apostate believers of the church of Laodicea in Rev 3:14-17:
14 “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation. 15 “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
Revelation 3:14-17 ESV
Zephaniah is another prophet from c. 640-609BCE to the remaining southern tribes. Similar to Jeremiah and Ezekiel, he warns them that judgement is coming for those who are complacent, and think themselves safe. This warning is also echoed in Deuteronomy, where we read, “19 one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’ This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike.” (Deut 29:19 ESV). In this light, Zephaniah writes:
1The word of the Lord that came to Zephaniah the son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah. 4 “I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off from this place the remnant of Baal and the name of the idolatrous priests along with the priests. 7 Be silent before the Lord God! For the day of the Lord is near; the Lord has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated his guests. 12 At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are complacent, those who say in their hearts, ‘The Lord will not do good, nor will he do ill.’
Zephaniah 1:1,4,7,12 ESV
For Judah’s treachery, God will bring destruction upon Jerusalem and seize the prey (see Is 10:6, Zech 14:2). He does so because His promise must be kept. He will gather His elect from the nations, who are the dispersed ones, and the southern tribes will be His instrument as they bring in Christ according to the promise to gather the lost sheep. Similar to how apostate Israel and Jerusalem are described in Revelation 18:7 and Isaiah 47:8-9, we see the mother Israel described as sitting like a queen, accepting no correction, seeing no sorrow, proud, and denying she is a widow of her husband (who is God). In addition, we see references to seizing the prey and anger from God (Is 10:6, Zech 14:2) and being brought low off the mountains, similar to descriptions of God’s highway: Is 11:16,40:3,35:8,49:11-12, Zech 14:1-9, Acts 1:8-9, Rev 21:2.
1Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled, the oppressing city! 2 She listens to no voice; she accepts no correction. She does not trust in the Lord; she does not draw near to her God. 8 “Therefore wait for me,” declares the Lord, “for the day when I rise up to seize the prey. For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them my indignation, all my burning anger; for in the fire of my jealousy all the earth shall be consumed. 9 “For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the Lord and serve him with one accord. 10 From beyond the rivers of Cush my worshipers, the daughter of my dispersed ones, shall bring my offering. 11 “On that day you shall not be put to shame because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against me; for then I will remove from your midst your proudly exultant ones, and you shall no longer be haughty in my holy mountain. 12 But I will leave in your midst a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord, 13those who are left in Israel; they shall do no injustice and speak no lies, nor shall there be found in their mouth a deceitful tongue. For they shall graze and lie down, and none shall make them afraid.” 14 Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! 15 The Lord has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil. 16 On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. 17 The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. 18 I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival, so that you will no longer suffer reproach. 19 Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth. 20 At that time I will bring you in, at the time when I gather you together; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes,” says the Lord.
Zephaniah 3:1-2,8-20 ESV
Despite the prophetic warnings, ~136 years after the fall of the Northern House of Israel and their capital, Samaria in ~722BCE, the southern House of Judah and their capital, Jerusalem, are conquered by Babylon in 586BCE for their continued defiance of God. The Babylonian Empire then became the 3rd empire to control Israel, after Egypt and Assyria. We read in scripture of the south’s demise at the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon:
“At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city while his servants were besieging it, and Jehoiachin the king of Judah gave himself up to the king of Babylon, himself and his mother and his servants and his officials and his palace officials. The king of Babylon took him prisoner in the eighth year of his reign and carried off all the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold in the temple of the Lord, which Solomon king of Israel had made, as the Lord had foretold. He carried away all Jerusalem and all the officials and all the mighty men of valor, 10,000 captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths. None remained, except the poorest people of the land.”
2 Kings 24:10-14 ESV
17 “Israel is a hunted sheep driven away by lions. First the king of Assyria devoured him, and now at last Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has gnawed his bones.
Jeremiah 50:17 ESV
21 In the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, a fugitive from Jerusalem came to me and said, “The city has been struck down.”
Ezekiel 33:21 ESV
The book of Lamentations is likely written by Jeremiah, but the author is unknown. We see the same parallels as other prophetic writings, which describe Jerusalem and Judah as fallen to the Babylonians. We see that Jerusalem and Judah sit in exile like a lonely widow, once great, now a city in judgement as that of Sodom, having committed worse sins than her harlot sister, the north.
How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow has she become, she who was great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces has become a slave. 2 She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has none to comfort her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies. 3 Judah has gone into exile because of affliction and hard servitude; she dwells now among the nations, but finds no resting place; her pursuers have all overtaken her in the midst of her distress.
Lamentations 1:1-3 ESV
Recall that God’s people, Israel, is described as the harlot mother, and the northern and southern houses as her daughters
5 Those who once feasted on delicacies perish in the streets; those who were brought up in purple embrace ash heaps. 6 For the chastisement of the daughter of my people has been greater than the punishment of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, and no hands were wrung for her. 16 The Lord himself has scattered them; he will regard them no more; no honor was shown to the priests, no favor to the elders.
Lamentations 4:5-6,16 ESV
We will discuss later the role of Israel as the mother of harlots, but for this section, realize that Judah was punished by God through Babylon in 586BC, some 150yrs after her sister house, the north, was conquered by Assyria in 722BC. In this case, however, just as Hosea’s prophecy foretells, the South is shown mercy in order to bring in Christ.
Next Section: The South Shown Mercy