Ezekiel Chapter 23: The Meaning Behind That Shocking Language and the Whole Metaphor Involving Prostitution
Now, warning before I go further: This is going to be a breakdown of one of the most sexually explicit and vile sounding parts of the Bible. I am referring to that infamous chapter of Ezekiel where there is a story of two prostitutes (who were stand-ins for Israel and Judah, the two wings of God's chosen people post splitting after the reign of King Solomon) and they are described with all sorts of language doing things that are obscene and the whole thing comes off so crass it's going from PG to NC-17 on the rating scale compared to most other parts of the Bible.
I'm using the New English translation version of this Bible chapter, courtesy of The SWORD Project.
(My comments will be in bold, the original verses cited will be in italics)
1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 "Son of man, there were two women who were daughters of the same mother. 3 They engaged in prostitution in Egypt; in their youth they engaged in prostitution. Their breasts were squeezed there; lovers fondled their virgin nipples there. 4 Oholah was the name of the older and Oholibah the name of her younger sister. They became mine, and gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah is Samaria and Oholibah is Jerusalem.
Right off the bat, the language dips into "um wow, pretty racy for the Bible territory", but this is intentional: First off, the female characters in this metaphor of a story are basically described as prostitutes and the dirty language is to leave no doubt it's a depraved business to whore yourself.
There is also a history lesson in this metaphor. This refer to when the Israelite people were in Egypt before being liberated up to the point they split into two kingdoms post-King Solomon, the verses even identify Samaria (capital of Israel, the northern half) and Jerusalem (capital of Judah, the southern half)
5 "Oholah engaged in prostitution while she was mine. She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians - warriors 6 clothed in blue, governors and officials, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. 7 She bestowed her sexual favors on them; all of them were the choicest young men of Assyria. She defiled herself with all whom she desired - with all their idols. 8 She did not abandon the prostitution she had practiced in Egypt; for in her youth men had sex with her, fondled her virgin breasts, and ravished her. 9 Therefore I handed her over to her lovers, the Assyrians for whom she lusted. 10 They exposed her nakedness, seized her sons and daughters, and killed her with the sword. She became notorious among women, and they executed judgments against her.
This is basically a rather vulgar sounding Cliff Notes version of how the northern half of the chosen people of God nigh immediately forsook God and kept running with prostituting themselves to foreign idols instead of the Lord. Idol worship is deliberately equal to to being a whore in this metaphor, as the male being referred to as having been married to the women in the metaphor is God.
Basically, God is describing how Israel was unfaithful to him in jilted husband lingo and these verses end with him remarking how he let the Assyrians finish off Israel for good.
11 "Her sister Oholibah watched this, but she became more corrupt in her lust than her sister had been, and her acts of prostitution were more numerous than those of her sister. 12 She lusted after the Assyrians - governors and officials, warriors in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men. 13 I saw that she was defiled; both of them followed the same path. 14 But she increased her prostitution. She saw men carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans carved in bright red, 15 wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, the image of Babylonians whose native land is Chaldea. 16 When she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. 17 The Babylonians crawled into bed with her. They defiled her with their lust; after she was defiled by them, she became disgusted with them. 18 When she lustfully exposed her nakedness, I was disgusted with her, just as I had been disgusted with her sister. 19 Yet she increased her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth when she engaged in prostitution in the land of Egypt. 20 She lusted after their genitals - as large as those of donkeys, and their seminal emission was as strong as that of stallions. 21 This is how you assessed the obscene conduct of your youth, when the Egyptians fondled your nipples and squeezed your young breasts.
This is the part that is most often cited when people remark on this chapter of the Bible, especially the part where male endowments are described being as large as the endowments of donkeys and horses. To a non-Christian, this might sound like some back-handed compliment of a sort on the size of their male adornments, but that's not the point. The point is that the men Judah (the woman these verses refer to) is whoring themselves to are being directly compared to having sex with animals, as that was a crime God had a "kill on sight" rule for because bestiality was especially disgusting in his eyes. As applied to this metaphor for idolatry being directly equivalent to prostitution, this is more jilted husband lingo by God saying this woman was so unfaithful to him it was not only the humiliation of being cuckolded, it was like watching himself be cucked by his wife having sex with animals
Basically, God took Judah doubling down on what caused Israel's fall to ruin really personally and felt even more deeply hurt and betrayed they chose foreign idols over him, hence the angry husband lingo mentioned above.
It's also a history lesson on how after Israel fell, while Judah held out for awhile before they too were destroyed, it was their destruction by their dealing with the Babylonians that was the last straw for God.
22 "Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the sovereign LORD says: Look here, I am about to stir up against you the lovers with whom you were disgusted; I will bring them against you from every side: 23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, desirable young men, all of them governors and officials, officers and nobles, all of them riding on horses. 24 They will attack you with weapons, chariots, wagons, and with a huge army; they will array themselves against you on every side with large shields, small shields, and helmets. I will assign them the task of judgment; they will punish you according to their laws. 25 I will direct my jealous anger against you, and they will deal with you in rage. They will cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors will die by the sword. They will seize your sons and daughters, and your survivors will be consumed by fire. 26 They will strip your clothes off you and take away your beautiful jewelry. 27 So I will put an end to your obscene conduct and your prostitution which you have practiced in the land of Egypt. You will not seek their help or remember Egypt anymore.
These verses are basically God saying "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF BEING CHEATED ON BY THOSE WHO FORSAKE ME FOR THE WORSHIP OF OTHER GODS!"
28 "For this is what the sovereign LORD says: Look here, I am about to deliver you over to those whom you hate, to those with whom you were disgusted. 29 They will treat you with hatred, take away all you have labored for, and leave you naked and bare. Your nakedness will be exposed, just as when you engaged in prostitution and obscene conduct. 30 I will do these things to you because you engaged in prostitution with the nations, polluting yourself with their idols. 31 You have followed the ways of your sister, so I will place her cup of judgment in your hand. 32 "This is what the sovereign LORD says: "You will drink your sister's deep and wide cup; you will be scorned and derided, for it holds a great deal. 33 You will be overcome by drunkenness and sorrow. The cup of your sister Samaria is a cup of horror and desolation. 34 You will drain it dry, gnaw its pieces, and tear out your breasts, for I have spoken, declares the sovereign LORD.
This is the followup, directly addressing how Judah was an even more unfaithful wife to God and how it will come back to haunt her worse than what happened to Israel for their own unfaithfulness to worship of God.
35 "Therefore this is what the sovereign LORD says: Because you have forgotten me and completely disregarded me, you must bear now the punishment for your obscene conduct and prostitution."
We are getting to the part where God starts laying out how he's angry and he wants it known that the people he chose abandoned him for idol worship and prostituted themselves before foreign gods instead of being faithful to Him, and now, they will pay for it.
36 The LORD said to me: "Son of man, are you willing to pronounce judgment on Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominable deeds! 37 For they have committed adultery and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols, and their sons, whom they bore to me, they have passed through the fire as food to their idols. 38 Moreover, they have done this to me: In the very same day they desecrated my sanctuary and profaned my Sabbaths. 39 On the same day they slaughtered their sons for their idols, they came to my sanctuary to desecrate it. This is what they have done in the middle of my house.
God is super mad here, ticking off how when the unfaithful to him worship idols they did all sorts of sick things like burning their own children alive, turning his house of worship into a frat house for all sorts of things he said not to do, and like anyone who comes home to the house they left others to manage and finds it defiled, he's pretty steamed at the mess that was left.
40 "They even sent for men from far away; when the messenger arrived, those men set out. For them you bathed, painted your eyes, and decorated yourself with jewelry. 41 You sat on a magnificent couch, with a table arranged in front of it where you placed my incense and my olive oil. 42 The sound of a carefree crowd accompanied her, including all kinds of men; even Sabeans were brought from the desert. The sisters put bracelets on their wrists and beautiful crowns on their heads. 43 Then I said about the one worn out by adultery, 'Now they will commit immoral acts with her.' 44 They had sex with her as one does with a prostitute. In this way they had sex with Oholah and Oholibah, promiscuous women. 45 But upright men will punish them appropriately for their adultery and bloodshed, because they are adulteresses and blood is on their hands.
This is God basically saying "You, Isreal and Judah, you went so far out of your way to be unfaithful to me you whored yourself to every other god but me, despite knowing the consequences, and for jilting the one who loved you and yet was given betrayal after betrayal, you will be turned over to those who will reward your unfaithfulness with the sword.
46 "For this is what the sovereign LORD says: Bring up an army against them and subject them to terror and plunder. 47 That army will pelt them with stones and slash them with their swords; they will kill their sons and daughters and burn their houses. 48 I will put an end to the obscene conduct in the land; all the women will learn a lesson from this and not engage in obscene conduct. 49 They will repay you for your obscene conduct, and you will be punished for idol worship. Then you will know that I am the sovereign LORD."
And God sums up nicely how he's going to make the penalty paid for forsaking him so high that his people will NEVER think idol worship is a good idea, and if he has to let them be destroyed and killed in droves like happened in the final days of Israel and Judah, so be it, so long as they learn God is NEVER to be cheated on by way of idol worship EVER AGAIN.
Given what happened post-Babylonian invasion, it's pretty safe to say the message sunk in and stuck that God was not going to be treated like a faithful man forsaken by unfaithful wives ever again.
I'm using the New English translation version of this Bible chapter, courtesy of The SWORD Project.
(My comments will be in bold, the original verses cited will be in italics)
1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 "Son of man, there were two women who were daughters of the same mother. 3 They engaged in prostitution in Egypt; in their youth they engaged in prostitution. Their breasts were squeezed there; lovers fondled their virgin nipples there. 4 Oholah was the name of the older and Oholibah the name of her younger sister. They became mine, and gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah is Samaria and Oholibah is Jerusalem.
Right off the bat, the language dips into "um wow, pretty racy for the Bible territory", but this is intentional: First off, the female characters in this metaphor of a story are basically described as prostitutes and the dirty language is to leave no doubt it's a depraved business to whore yourself.
There is also a history lesson in this metaphor. This refer to when the Israelite people were in Egypt before being liberated up to the point they split into two kingdoms post-King Solomon, the verses even identify Samaria (capital of Israel, the northern half) and Jerusalem (capital of Judah, the southern half)
5 "Oholah engaged in prostitution while she was mine. She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians - warriors 6 clothed in blue, governors and officials, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. 7 She bestowed her sexual favors on them; all of them were the choicest young men of Assyria. She defiled herself with all whom she desired - with all their idols. 8 She did not abandon the prostitution she had practiced in Egypt; for in her youth men had sex with her, fondled her virgin breasts, and ravished her. 9 Therefore I handed her over to her lovers, the Assyrians for whom she lusted. 10 They exposed her nakedness, seized her sons and daughters, and killed her with the sword. She became notorious among women, and they executed judgments against her.
This is basically a rather vulgar sounding Cliff Notes version of how the northern half of the chosen people of God nigh immediately forsook God and kept running with prostituting themselves to foreign idols instead of the Lord. Idol worship is deliberately equal to to being a whore in this metaphor, as the male being referred to as having been married to the women in the metaphor is God.
Basically, God is describing how Israel was unfaithful to him in jilted husband lingo and these verses end with him remarking how he let the Assyrians finish off Israel for good.
11 "Her sister Oholibah watched this, but she became more corrupt in her lust than her sister had been, and her acts of prostitution were more numerous than those of her sister. 12 She lusted after the Assyrians - governors and officials, warriors in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men. 13 I saw that she was defiled; both of them followed the same path. 14 But she increased her prostitution. She saw men carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans carved in bright red, 15 wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, the image of Babylonians whose native land is Chaldea. 16 When she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. 17 The Babylonians crawled into bed with her. They defiled her with their lust; after she was defiled by them, she became disgusted with them. 18 When she lustfully exposed her nakedness, I was disgusted with her, just as I had been disgusted with her sister. 19 Yet she increased her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth when she engaged in prostitution in the land of Egypt. 20 She lusted after their genitals - as large as those of donkeys, and their seminal emission was as strong as that of stallions. 21 This is how you assessed the obscene conduct of your youth, when the Egyptians fondled your nipples and squeezed your young breasts.
This is the part that is most often cited when people remark on this chapter of the Bible, especially the part where male endowments are described being as large as the endowments of donkeys and horses. To a non-Christian, this might sound like some back-handed compliment of a sort on the size of their male adornments, but that's not the point. The point is that the men Judah (the woman these verses refer to) is whoring themselves to are being directly compared to having sex with animals, as that was a crime God had a "kill on sight" rule for because bestiality was especially disgusting in his eyes. As applied to this metaphor for idolatry being directly equivalent to prostitution, this is more jilted husband lingo by God saying this woman was so unfaithful to him it was not only the humiliation of being cuckolded, it was like watching himself be cucked by his wife having sex with animals
Basically, God took Judah doubling down on what caused Israel's fall to ruin really personally and felt even more deeply hurt and betrayed they chose foreign idols over him, hence the angry husband lingo mentioned above.
It's also a history lesson on how after Israel fell, while Judah held out for awhile before they too were destroyed, it was their destruction by their dealing with the Babylonians that was the last straw for God.
22 "Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the sovereign LORD says: Look here, I am about to stir up against you the lovers with whom you were disgusted; I will bring them against you from every side: 23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, desirable young men, all of them governors and officials, officers and nobles, all of them riding on horses. 24 They will attack you with weapons, chariots, wagons, and with a huge army; they will array themselves against you on every side with large shields, small shields, and helmets. I will assign them the task of judgment; they will punish you according to their laws. 25 I will direct my jealous anger against you, and they will deal with you in rage. They will cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors will die by the sword. They will seize your sons and daughters, and your survivors will be consumed by fire. 26 They will strip your clothes off you and take away your beautiful jewelry. 27 So I will put an end to your obscene conduct and your prostitution which you have practiced in the land of Egypt. You will not seek their help or remember Egypt anymore.
These verses are basically God saying "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF BEING CHEATED ON BY THOSE WHO FORSAKE ME FOR THE WORSHIP OF OTHER GODS!"
28 "For this is what the sovereign LORD says: Look here, I am about to deliver you over to those whom you hate, to those with whom you were disgusted. 29 They will treat you with hatred, take away all you have labored for, and leave you naked and bare. Your nakedness will be exposed, just as when you engaged in prostitution and obscene conduct. 30 I will do these things to you because you engaged in prostitution with the nations, polluting yourself with their idols. 31 You have followed the ways of your sister, so I will place her cup of judgment in your hand. 32 "This is what the sovereign LORD says: "You will drink your sister's deep and wide cup; you will be scorned and derided, for it holds a great deal. 33 You will be overcome by drunkenness and sorrow. The cup of your sister Samaria is a cup of horror and desolation. 34 You will drain it dry, gnaw its pieces, and tear out your breasts, for I have spoken, declares the sovereign LORD.
This is the followup, directly addressing how Judah was an even more unfaithful wife to God and how it will come back to haunt her worse than what happened to Israel for their own unfaithfulness to worship of God.
35 "Therefore this is what the sovereign LORD says: Because you have forgotten me and completely disregarded me, you must bear now the punishment for your obscene conduct and prostitution."
We are getting to the part where God starts laying out how he's angry and he wants it known that the people he chose abandoned him for idol worship and prostituted themselves before foreign gods instead of being faithful to Him, and now, they will pay for it.
36 The LORD said to me: "Son of man, are you willing to pronounce judgment on Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominable deeds! 37 For they have committed adultery and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols, and their sons, whom they bore to me, they have passed through the fire as food to their idols. 38 Moreover, they have done this to me: In the very same day they desecrated my sanctuary and profaned my Sabbaths. 39 On the same day they slaughtered their sons for their idols, they came to my sanctuary to desecrate it. This is what they have done in the middle of my house.
God is super mad here, ticking off how when the unfaithful to him worship idols they did all sorts of sick things like burning their own children alive, turning his house of worship into a frat house for all sorts of things he said not to do, and like anyone who comes home to the house they left others to manage and finds it defiled, he's pretty steamed at the mess that was left.
40 "They even sent for men from far away; when the messenger arrived, those men set out. For them you bathed, painted your eyes, and decorated yourself with jewelry. 41 You sat on a magnificent couch, with a table arranged in front of it where you placed my incense and my olive oil. 42 The sound of a carefree crowd accompanied her, including all kinds of men; even Sabeans were brought from the desert. The sisters put bracelets on their wrists and beautiful crowns on their heads. 43 Then I said about the one worn out by adultery, 'Now they will commit immoral acts with her.' 44 They had sex with her as one does with a prostitute. In this way they had sex with Oholah and Oholibah, promiscuous women. 45 But upright men will punish them appropriately for their adultery and bloodshed, because they are adulteresses and blood is on their hands.
This is God basically saying "You, Isreal and Judah, you went so far out of your way to be unfaithful to me you whored yourself to every other god but me, despite knowing the consequences, and for jilting the one who loved you and yet was given betrayal after betrayal, you will be turned over to those who will reward your unfaithfulness with the sword.
46 "For this is what the sovereign LORD says: Bring up an army against them and subject them to terror and plunder. 47 That army will pelt them with stones and slash them with their swords; they will kill their sons and daughters and burn their houses. 48 I will put an end to the obscene conduct in the land; all the women will learn a lesson from this and not engage in obscene conduct. 49 They will repay you for your obscene conduct, and you will be punished for idol worship. Then you will know that I am the sovereign LORD."
And God sums up nicely how he's going to make the penalty paid for forsaking him so high that his people will NEVER think idol worship is a good idea, and if he has to let them be destroyed and killed in droves like happened in the final days of Israel and Judah, so be it, so long as they learn God is NEVER to be cheated on by way of idol worship EVER AGAIN.
Given what happened post-Babylonian invasion, it's pretty safe to say the message sunk in and stuck that God was not going to be treated like a faithful man forsaken by unfaithful wives ever again.
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