The Treason of Covenant Adultery Text: Ezekiel 23:5-10
Introduction: The Covenant as Marriage
The prophet Ezekiel is given a task that would make a modern pastor blush, and that is precisely the point. God does not use sterile, clinical, or abstract language to describe our sin. He uses language that is raw, visceral, and deeply personal, because sin is all of those things. In this chapter, God commands Ezekiel to lay out the spiritual condition of Israel and Judah using the metaphor of two adulterous sisters, Oholah and Oholibah. The northern kingdom of Israel, with its capital in Samaria, is Oholah. The southern kingdom of Judah, with its capital in Jerusalem, is Oholibah.
This is not just a clever literary device. It is a theological sledgehammer. The relationship between God and His people is a covenant, and the Bible consistently describes this covenant in terms of a marriage. God is the husband, and His people are the bride. This is why idolatry is never treated as a mere intellectual error, a simple mistake in comparative religion. It is always treated as adultery. It is spiritual harlotry. It is the deepest form of betrayal, a violation of the most intimate bond imaginable.
We live in a therapeutic age that wants to rebrand sin as a sickness, a dysfunction, or a regrettable mistake. But the Bible calls it treason. It is cosmic infidelity. When we seek our security, our identity, our pleasure, or our meaning from any source other than the God who made us and bought us, we are committing spiritual adultery. We are playing the harlot. This passage is a graphic depiction of that sin, and in it, we see not only the nature of our rebellion but the logic of God's righteous judgment.
Ezekiel is forcing the exiles in Babylon to look in the mirror and see the unvarnished ugliness of their sin. They were not in Babylon because of a geopolitical accident or because Nebuchadnezzar was simply a superior military strategist. They were there because they had been unfaithful to their covenant husband, and He had finally given them over to the brutal consequences of their lusts.
The Text
Oholah played the harlot while she was Mine; and she lusted after her lovers, after the Assyrians, her neighbors, who were clothed in purple, governors and officials, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. She gave her harlotries to them, all of them the choicest men of Assyria; and with all whom she lusted after, with all their idols she defiled herself. She did not forsake her harlotries from the time in Egypt; for in her youth men had lain with her, and they handled her virgin bosom and poured out their harlotry on her. Therefore, I gave her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, after whom she lusted. They uncovered her nakedness; they took her sons and her daughters, but they killed her with the sword. Thus she became a despised name among women, and they executed judgments on her.
(Ezekiel 23:5-10 LSB)
The Aggravation of the Sin (v. 5)
We begin with the foundational charge against Oholah, who represents Samaria, the northern kingdom.
"Oholah played the harlot while she was Mine; and she lusted after her lovers, after the Assyrians, her neighbors," (Ezekiel 23:5)
The first clause here is crucial: "while she was Mine." This is what makes the sin so heinous. This is not the action of an unattached pagan nation that knows no better. This is the infidelity of a wife. God had entered into a covenant with Israel. He had redeemed her from Egypt, betrothed her at Sinai, and lavished His love and protection upon her. Her harlotry was committed under the very roof of her husband. This is the height of treachery.
And who were her lovers? The Assyrians. This was not just a spiritual affair with some abstract idol. The harlotry took the form of political and military alliances. Instead of trusting in her covenant husband, Yahweh, for protection, Israel looked to the geopolitical strongman of the day. She saw the might, the splendor, and the power of Assyria and lusted after it. This is a perennial temptation for the people of God: to trust in the arm of the flesh, to seek security in political power, military might, or cultural cachet, rather than in the living God. Every time the church cozies up to the world, seeking its approval or mimicking its methods for success, she is playing Oholah.
Notice the word "lusted." This is not a calculated, pragmatic decision. It is a matter of the affections. It is a deep-seated desire. Sin is not just about breaking rules; it is about misdirected love. We were made to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. When we love anything else in that ultimate way, we are committing idolatry, which is adultery.
The Allure of the World (v. 6-7)
The prophet then describes the specific attractions that drew Israel into this adulterous affair.
"who were clothed in purple, governors and officials, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. She gave her harlotries to them, all of them the choicest men of Assyria; and with all whom she lusted after, with all their idols she defiled herself." (Ezekiel 23:6-7 LSB)
The description is one of worldly pomp and power. Purple was the color of royalty and wealth. The Assyrians were impressive. They were organized, with governors and officials. They were attractive, "desirable young men." They were powerful, "horsemen riding on horses." The world always puts on a good show. It markets itself with glamour, sophistication, and strength. It looks successful. It looks like a winner.
And Oholah bought it completely. She "gave her harlotries to them." This was not a passive seduction; it was an active pursuit. She prostituted herself to gain what they had. But notice the inevitable consequence. In seeking an alliance with Assyria, she also embraced their gods. "With all their idols she defiled herself." This is a package deal. You cannot enter into an intimate alliance with the world without becoming defiled by its idolatry. To seek security in the state is to begin to worship the state. To seek validation from the culture is to begin to worship the culture. Political entanglement always leads to spiritual defilement. The two are inextricably linked.
The Root of the Rebellion (v. 8)
This was not a new problem. This infidelity had deep historical roots.
"She did not forsake her harlotries from the time in Egypt; for in her youth men had lain with her, and they handled her virgin bosom and poured out their harlotry on her." (Ezekiel 23:8 LSB)
God is saying that Israel's heart was never fully His. Even from her "youth," back in Egypt, she had a wandering eye. Before God had even redeemed her from slavery, she was already spiritually entangled with the idolatries of Egypt. We see this break out at the foot of Sinai with the golden calf, which was an Egyptian deity. This is a humbling reminder that our sinful nature runs deep. The seeds of our greatest betrayals are often present from the very beginning. This is why salvation must be a radical act of re-creation, a new birth. It is not about turning over a new leaf; it is about getting a new heart.
This verse shows that the affair with Assyria was not an isolated incident but the latest manifestation of a chronic condition of spiritual lust. She went from the idols of Egypt to the idols of Canaan to the idols of Assyria. The lovers changed, but the adulterous heart remained the same.
The Logic of Divine Judgment (v. 9-10)
The consequences of this covenant betrayal are severe, but they are not arbitrary. The punishment fits the crime with a terrible and righteous irony.
"Therefore, I gave her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, after whom she lusted. They uncovered her nakedness; they took her sons and her daughters, but they killed her with the sword. Thus she became a despised name among women, and they executed judgments on her." (Ezekiel 23:9-10 LSB)
Here we see a profound principle of divine judgment. God often punishes sin by giving the sinner over to his sin. Paul describes this in Romans 1: "Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts" (Romans 1:24). Oholah lusted after the Assyrians for security and pleasure. So God said, in effect, "You want them? You can have them." He gave her into the hand of her lovers.
And what did these lovers do? They did what lovers in a transactional, adulterous affair always do. They used her, abused her, and destroyed her. The very ones she sought for protection became her destroyers. The Assyrians, her paramours, turned on her with fury. They "uncovered her nakedness," a metaphor for total humiliation, conquest, and shame. They took her children into exile and "killed her with the sword," signifying the end of her national existence in 722 B.C.
The judgment is a perfect reflection of the sin. She sought worldly power, and that very power crushed her. She defiled herself with idols, so God allowed her to be utterly defiled by her pagan lovers. She sought a name for herself among the nations, and she "became a despised name among women." This is the logic of hell. Hell is not a place where God arbitrarily zaps people He doesn't like. Hell is God's final confirmation of a person's lifelong choice. It is God saying, "Thy will be done." He gives the sinner exactly what he has lusted after for a lifetime: a universe without God. And it is a universe of torment.
The final phrase, "they executed judgments on her," is key. The Assyrians were not acting on their own. They were the sword in God's hand. They were the unwitting executioners of a divine sentence. God is sovereign over the affairs of nations, and He will use even wicked, pagan empires as the rod of His anger to discipline His unfaithful people (Isaiah 10:5).
Conclusion: The Faithful Husband
This is a grim and graphic passage. It is meant to be. It is a warning to us. The church in every age is tempted to play the harlot. We are tempted to lust after the approval of the world, to make alliances with worldly power structures, and to adopt the idols of our age, whether they be materialism, sexual autonomy, or political utopianism.
But the story does not end with Oholah's judgment. This graphic depiction of adultery and its consequences is designed to drive us to the only faithful husband, the Lord Jesus Christ. The entire history of Israel is a story of an unfaithful bride and a relentlessly faithful husband. God's covenant love is not defeated by our harlotry.
On the cross, Jesus took the shame of our spiritual adultery upon Himself. He was stripped naked so that we might be clothed in His righteousness. He was given into the hands of His enemies so that we might be delivered from ours. He was killed with the sword of God's wrath so that we, the guilty bride, might be forgiven, cleansed, and welcomed back to the marriage feast.
The warning of this passage is severe, but the grace it points to is greater still. God's standard is absolute covenant faithfulness. Our performance is chronic spiritual adultery. The only solution is the gospel, where the faithful husband dies in the place of His unfaithful bride, so that He might "present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish" (Ephesians 5:27). Our only hope is to turn from our worldly lovers and cast ourselves upon the mercy of our true husband, who loved us and gave Himself for us.