Commentary - Ezekiel 23:22-35

Bird's-eye view

In this section of Ezekiel's prophecy, the Lord pronounces a sentence that is as severe as it is just. The chapter thus far has detailed the covenant infidelity of two sisters, Oholah (Samaria) and Oholibah (Jerusalem), using the stark and frankly offensive metaphor of harlotry. This is not pornography; it is covenant theology with the gloves off. God is detailing His covenant lawsuit against His people. They have played the whore with foreign powers, trusting in chariots and horsemen instead of in their covenant Husband, Yahweh. Now, in our text, the sentence is passed. The very lovers they lusted after will become their executioners. This is a fundamental principle of God's judgments: He frequently makes the sin the punishment. The instruments of Judah's sin will become the instruments of her destruction. God's holy jealousy, a righteous and consuming fire, will be unleashed, and the consequences will be brutal, public, and utterly devastating. This is theology that bites back.

The passage moves from the general indictment to the specific agents of judgment, the Babylonians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians. These were the very empires Jerusalem flirted with, seeking security and prestige. God will now arouse them against her, and the passion they once shared will curdle into hatred and wrath. The punishment is described in graphic detail: mutilation, enslavement of children, plunder, and public stripping. This is not to be glossed over. The shame is a necessary part of the judgment. The chapter culminates with the image of the cup of wrath, the same cup her sister Samaria drank. It is a cup of horror and desolation, and she will be made to drink it to the dregs. The reason for all this is stated plainly: "you have forgotten Me and cast Me behind your back." This is the root of all covenant unfaithfulness.

Outline

Clause-by-Clause Commentary

v. 22 “Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Behold, I will arouse your lovers against you, those with whom your soul was disgusted, and I will bring them against you from every side:

The word "Therefore" links the sentence directly to the sin just described. This is not arbitrary. This is covenantal justice. Oholibah, representing Jerusalem, is addressed directly. The Lord Yahweh Himself is speaking, leaving no doubt as to the authority behind this verdict. The first stroke of judgment is a bitter irony. God will "arouse" her former lovers against her. The very ones she pursued for pleasure and security will be stirred up to become her tormentors. Notice the psychological insight here: "those with whom your soul was disgusted." This is how lust works. The initial infatuation gives way to loathing and disgust, both for the object of lust and for oneself. Jerusalem had her fill of these foreign alliances and now found them repulsive, but it is too late. God will not let her simply walk away from the consequences. He will bring them "from every side," a total and inescapable siege.

v. 23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them; desirable choice men, governors and officials, all of them, officers and men of renown, all of them riding on horses.

Here the "lovers" are named. It is a roll call of the Mesopotamian powers that Judah had alternately courted and feared. The Babylonians and Chaldeans are front and center, as they would be the ultimate agents of Jerusalem's destruction. The mention of Pekod, Shoa, and Koa likely refers to specific Chaldean or Aramean tribes, emphasizing the breadth of the coalition. The Assyrians are included, reminding us of the long history of this spiritual adultery. And what was their appeal? They were "desirable choice men," powerful, prestigious, well-equipped. They had governors, officials, officers, and renowned warriors, "all of them riding on horses." This was the worldly pomp and military might that made Judah's head turn. She was impressed by the swagger, the horsepower, the earthly glory. She forsook the invisible King for the very visible and impressive cavalries of the heathen. And now that very impressive force is being turned against her.

v. 24 They will come against you with weapons, chariots and wagons, and with an assembly of peoples. They will set themselves against you on every side with large shield and shield and helmet; and I will give the judgment to them, and they will judge you according to their judgments.

The military might is described in detail. This is not a small skirmish. It is a massive, organized invasion with "weapons, chariots and wagons." An "assembly of peoples" underscores the overwhelming nature of the force. They are fully armed, with every kind of shield and helmet. They will surround her "on every side." There will be no escape. And then comes the truly terrifying part: "I will give the judgment to them." Yahweh, the righteous judge, hands the gavel over to pagan nations. He is not abdicating His throne; He is ordaining them as His instrument. But they will not judge by God's law. They will judge "according to their judgments", the brutal, merciless, self-serving judgments of a conquering pagan army. When God's people refuse to live by His merciful judgments, He will deliver them over to the merciless judgments of their enemies.

v. 25 And I will set My jealousy against you, that they may deal with you in wrath. They will remove your nose and your ears; and your survivors will fall by the sword. They will take your sons and your daughters; and your survivors will be consumed by the fire.

Here is the engine driving the whole affair: God's jealousy. We must not think of this as the petty, sinful jealousy of a jilted lover. This is the holy, righteous, and white-hot zeal of a covenant God for His own name and for the purity of His bride. His jealousy is not a flaw; it is an attribute of His holiness. Because He is jealous, He gives them over to be dealt with "in wrath." The punishments are graphic. The removal of the nose and ears was a common, humiliating punishment for adulteresses in the ancient Near East. God is making the punishment fit the crime in a visceral, public way. She played the harlot, and she will be marked as one. Beyond this mutilation, there is total destruction. Survivors of the initial assault will be killed, the children taken into slavery, and what remains will be burned.

v. 26 They will also strip you of your clothes and take away your beautiful jewelry.

The humiliation continues. The fine clothes and beautiful jewelry were the accessories of her harlotry. They were the gifts from her lovers (Hosea 2:5), the very things she used to make herself attractive to the nations. Now they are stripped away. This is a public shaming. All the false glory, all the borrowed splendor, all the gaudy trinkets she prized more than her relationship with God, will be violently removed, leaving her exposed and disgraced.

v. 27 Thus I will make your lewdness and your harlotry brought from the land of Egypt to cease from you, so that you will not lift up your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.’

This horrific judgment has a purpose, and it is a purifying one. God's goal is to put a stop to her sin. He will "make your lewdness... to cease." The judgment is a severe mercy, a divine surgery to cut out the cancer of idolatry. Her whoring began right at the beginning, "from the land of Egypt," and has been a persistent pattern. This judgment will be so complete, so traumatic, that she will not even "lift up your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore." The allure will be broken. The memory will be one of pain and desolation, not desire. God will burn the temptation out of her.

v. 28 For thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Behold, I will give you into the hand of those whom you hate, into the hand of those with whom your soul was disgusted.

This verse repeats the sentiment of verse 22 for emphasis. The love affair has run its course. Infatuation has turned to hatred and disgust. But there is no clean break. God will ensure she has to deal with the ugly consequences. He will give her over to the very ones she now despises. Sin always promises more than it delivers, and in the end, it leaves a soul filled with revulsion for the very thing it once craved. God formalizes this reality in His judgment.

v. 29 They will deal with you in hatred, take all the fruit of your labor, and leave you naked and bare. And the nakedness of your harlotries will be uncovered, both your lewdness and your harlotries.

The feeling is mutual. Her former lovers will now deal with her "in hatred." All the accumulated wealth, the "fruit of your labor," will be plundered. The result is to be left "naked and bare." This is both literal and spiritual. The nation will be stripped of its resources, and its people of their dignity. And in this state, her sin will be fully exposed. "The nakedness of your harlotries will be uncovered." There will be no hiding it, no explaining it away. Her sin, in all its lewdness, will be on public display for all to see. This is the great uncovering that judgment brings.

v. 30 These things will be done to you because you have played the harlot with the nations, because you have defiled yourself with their idols.

Lest there be any confusion, God states the reason again. This is not random violence. This is the direct consequence of her actions. The charge is twofold, but it is two sides of the same coin. She "played the harlot with the nations," which means she sought political and military security apart from God. And this political infidelity was inseparable from religious infidelity: she "defiled yourself with their idols." To trust in Assyria was to trust in Assyria's gods. To trust in Babylon was to bow the knee to Marduk. You cannot serve two masters, and you cannot be married to Yahweh while sleeping with the pantheon of the nations.

v. 31 You have walked in the way of your sister; therefore I will give her cup into your hand.’

Jerusalem (Oholibah) had the benefit of seeing what happened to her sister Samaria (Oholah) when she went down this path. Samaria had been destroyed by the Assyrians a century and a half earlier. But Judah did not learn. She "walked in the way of your sister." Since she chose her sister's path, she will receive her sister's reward. The metaphor shifts here to one of the most potent images of judgment in Scripture: the cup of wrath. Samaria already drank it. Now it is Judah's turn. "Therefore I will give her cup into your hand."

v. 32 Thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘You will drink your sister’s cup, Which is deep and wide. You will be laughed at and held in derision; It contains much.

The Lord describes this cup. It is "deep and wide." This speaks of the immensity of the wrath it contains. It is not a small sip of judgment; it is a vast quantity. Drinking it will lead to public humiliation: "You will be laughed at and held in derision." The nations will mock her downfall. And the final, ominous statement: "It contains much." This is a divine understatement. The cup contains the full measure of God's righteous anger against covenant-breaking.

v. 33 You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, The cup of horror and desolation, The cup of your sister Samaria.

The effect of drinking this cup is not a pleasant intoxication. It is a stupor of "drunkenness and sorrow." The drinker is overwhelmed, disoriented, and plunged into grief. It is explicitly called "the cup of horror and desolation." These are the defining characteristics of God's judgment on sin. And again, it is identified as the very same cup Samaria drank, driving home the point that the same sin leads to the same end.

v. 34 You will drink it and drain it. Then you will gnaw its fragments And tear your breasts; for I have spoken,’ declares Lord Yahweh.

There is no escape. She will "drink it and drain it." Every last drop of wrath must be consumed. The image then becomes even more grotesque. In a frenzy of madness and despair, she will "gnaw its fragments," trying to get every last bit, or perhaps in a fit of rage against the vessel of her misery. She will "tear your breasts," an act of extreme mourning and self-mutilation. This is the final state of those who drink the unmixed cup of God's wrath: utter, self-destroying despair. And the reason this is certain is because God Himself has decreed it: "for I have spoken." This is a divine performative utterance. When God speaks the sentence, the sentence is executed.

v. 35 Therefore, thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Because you have forgotten Me and cast Me behind your back, bear now the punishment of your lewdness and your harlotries.’ ”

The passage concludes with another "Therefore," bringing the entire sentence back to its root cause. What is the ultimate sin? It is not just the political alliances or the idol worship in themselves. The foundational sin is this: "you have forgotten Me and cast Me behind your back." This is a crime of cosmic treason. To forget the God who redeemed you from Egypt, who made a covenant with you, who is the source of your life and breath, is the ultimate offense. To treat Him as a negligible factor, to be cast behind your back like a piece of trash, is to invite this kind of ferocious response. And so the final command is given: "bear now the punishment." The time for warnings is over. The time for judgment has come.

Application

We read a passage like this and our modern sensibilities are immediately shocked. The language is harsh, the imagery violent. We are tempted to file this away under "Old Testament God" and move on to more palatable things. But that is a grave error. The God of Ezekiel 23 is the same God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The principle of covenant faithfulness and the consequences of infidelity are perennial.

The church today is the bride of Christ. We have been brought into a new and better covenant, sealed with His own blood. But are we not tempted to play the harlot? Do we not look to political powers for our security? Do we not flirt with the idols of our age, wealth, comfort, relevance, power, approval? We chase after the "desirable choice men" of our culture, hoping their prestige will rub off on us. We trust in our programs, our budgets, and our political savvy, our chariots and horsemen, instead of in the living God.

This passage is a bucket of ice water for a drowsy church. It reminds us that God is jealous for His bride. He will not tolerate rivals. When we forget Him and cast Him behind our backs, we invite judgment. And the principle still holds that He often makes the sin the punishment. The political solutions we trust in will turn on us. The cultural approval we crave will become a snare that humiliates us. The wealth we hoard will be plundered.

But the central message of the Bible is that there is one who drank this cup for us. The cup of horror and desolation, deep and wide, was placed in the hands of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. He asked if it might pass from Him, but it could not. He drank it and drained it on the cross. He bore the wrath, the shame, the nakedness, and the desolation that we deserved for our spiritual harlotry. Because He drank that cup, all who are in Him by faith are offered the cup of salvation instead. This passage should therefore drive us to Christ in repentance and gratitude. Let us confess our own covenant unfaithfulness and cling to the one who was faithful for us, lest we be given over to the lovers who will hate us, and be forced to drink the cup that ends in madness.