---
title: "Clarke"
description: "detestation of the crime against which he inveighs. NOTES ON CHAP. XXIII Verse Ezekiel 23:2. Son of man, there were two women — All the Hebrews were deriv"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/ezekiel/23"
---

*detestation of the crime against which he inveighs.*
NOTES ON CHAP. XXIII

Verse [Ezekiel 23:2](../../../kjv/ezekiel/23/2). ***Son of man, there were two women*** — All the Hebrews were derived from *one source*, Abraham and Sarah; and, till the schism under Rehoboam, formed but one people: but as these ten tribes and a half separated from Judah and Benjamin, they became two distinct people under different kings; called the kingdom of Judah, and the kingdom of Israel. They are called here, because of their consanguinity, *two sisters*. The elder, Samaria, (for there was the *seat of government* for the kingdom of Israel,) was called אהלה *aholah*, "a tent." The younger, Judah, was called אהליבה *aholibah*, "my tent is in her," because the temple of God was in Jerusalem, the seat of the government of the kingdom of Judah.

Verse [Ezekiel 23:5](../../../kjv/ezekiel/23/5). ***And Aholah played the harlot*** — Without entering into detail here, or following the *figures*, they both became idolatrous, and received the impure rites of the Egyptians, Assyrians, and Chaldeans, of which connexion the prophet speaks here as he did in [Ezekiel 16:15](../../../kjv/ezekiel/16/15) c., which see.
In this chapter there are many of what we would call indelicate expressions, because a parallel is run between *idolatry* and *prostitution*, and the circumstances of the latter illustrate the peculiarities of the former. In such cases, perhaps, the *matter* alone was given to the prophet, and he was left to use his own language, and amplify as he saw good. *Ezekiel* was among the *Jews* what *Juvenal* was among the Romans,-a rough reprover of the most abominable vices. They both spoke of things as they found them stripped vice naked, and scourged it publicly. The original is still more rough than the translation; and surely there is no need of a *comment* to explain imagery that is but too generally understood. I have said enough on [Ezekiel 16:15](../../../kjv/ezekiel/16/15) c,, and to that I must refer the reader. It is true that there are a few things here in the shade that might be illustrated by *anatomy* and it would not be difficult to do it: but they are not necessary to salvation, and I shall not take off the covering. They were sufficiently understood by those for whose use they were originally designed.

Verse [Ezekiel 23:6](../../../kjv/ezekiel/23/6). ***Clothed with blue*** — The *purple* dye was highly valued among the ancients, and at first was only used by kings, at last it was used among the military, particularly by officers of high rank in the country.

Verse [Ezekiel 23:14](../../../kjv/ezekiel/23/14). ***Men pourtrayed upon the wall*** — See on [Ezekiel 8:10](../../../kjv/ezekiel/8/10).

Verse [Ezekiel 23:20](../../../kjv/ezekiel/23/20). ***She doted upon their paramours*** — פלגשיהם *pillagsheyhem*, their *harlots* or *concubines*. Anciently *harlot* meant in our language either the *male* or *female* prostitute.
***Whose flesh*****is as*****the flesh of asses*** — See on [Ezekiel 16:25](../../../kjv/ezekiel/16/25).

Verse [Ezekiel 23:23](../../../kjv/ezekiel/23/23). ***Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa*** — פקוד ושוע וקוע. These names have been thought to designate certain people bordering on the Chaldeans; but no geographer has ever been able to find them out.
In our old translations these names were considered *appellatives - rulers, mighty men*, and *tyrants*. Others, following the literal import of the words, have translated, *visiting,* *shouting*, and *retreating*. Others have applied them to the *habits* of the Chaldean soldiers. *Pekod* signifying the *muster* or *review* of armies; *Shoa*, the *magnificence* of their *uniform* and arms; and *Koa*, the marks or *embroidery* of the clothes of the captains and generals. *Grotius* thought that they might be names of contiguous nations: *Pekod*, the *Bactrians*; *Shoa*, a people of *Armenia*; and *Boa*, the *Medes*. I have nothing to add that would satisfy myself, or be edifying to my readers.

Verse [Ezekiel 23:25](../../../kjv/ezekiel/23/25). ***Shall take away thy nose*** — A punishment frequent among the Persians and Chaldeans, as ancient authors tell. Adulteries were punished in this way; and to this *Martial* refers: -
Quis tibi persuasit nares abscindere moecho?
"Who has counselled thee to cut off the adulterer's nose?"
Women were thus treated in Egypt. See *Calmet*.

Verse [Ezekiel 23:26](../../../kjv/ezekiel/23/26). ***They shall also strip thee*** — See on [Ezekiel 16:39](../../../kjv/ezekiel/16/39).

Verse [Ezekiel 23:32](../../../kjv/ezekiel/23/32). ***Thou shalt drink of thy sister's cup*** — Thou shalt be ruined and desolated as Samaria was.

Verse [Ezekiel 23:34](../../../kjv/ezekiel/23/34). ***Thou shalt - pluck off thine own breasts*** — Thou shalt *tear them*; a frequent action in extreme sorrow and desolation. *Weeping, tearing the bosom, and beating the breasts*.
Tunc vero rupique sinus, et pectora planxi.
OVID'S Ep. 5.

Verse [Ezekiel 23:38](../../../kjv/ezekiel/23/38). ***They have defiled my sanctuary*** — By placing idols there.

Verse [Ezekiel 23:40](../../../kjv/ezekiel/23/40). ***Thou didst wash thyself, paintedst thy eyes, and**********deckedst thyself with ornaments.*** — This is exactly the way in which a loose female in Bengal adorns herself to receive guests. She first bathes, then rubs black paint around her eyes, and then covers her body with ornaments.-WARD'S *Customs*.

Verse [Ezekiel 23:41](../../../kjv/ezekiel/23/41). ***And satest upon a stately bed*** — Hast raised a stately altar to thy idols; probably alluding to that which Ahaz ordered to be made, after the similitude of that which he saw at Damascus. The bed here is in allusion to the *sofas* on which the ancients were accustomed to recline at their meals; or to the couches on which they place Asiatic brides, with incense pots and sweetmeats on a table before them.

Verse [Ezekiel 23:42](../../../kjv/ezekiel/23/42). ***And a voice of a multitude*** — This seems to be an account of an idolatrous festival, where a riotous multitude was assembled, and fellows of the baser sort, with *bracelets* on their arms and *chaplets* on their heads, performed the religious rites.

Verse [Ezekiel 23:45](../../../kjv/ezekiel/23/45). ***And the righteous men*** — אנשים צדיקים *anashim tsaddikim*. The Chaldeans, thus called because they are appointed by God to *execute judgment* on these criminals.

Verse [Ezekiel 23:47](../../../kjv/ezekiel/23/47). ***Shall stone them with stones*** — As they did adulteresses under the law. See [Leviticus 20:10](../../../kjv/leviticus/20/10); [Deuteronomy 22:22](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/22/22), compared with [John 8:3](../../../kjv/john/8/3).

Verse [Ezekiel 23:48](../../../kjv/ezekiel/23/48). ***Thus will I cause lewdness to cease*** — *Idolatry*; and from that time to the present day the Jews never relapsed into idolatry.

Verse [Ezekiel 23:49](../../../kjv/ezekiel/23/49). ***Ye shall bear the sins of your idols*** — The punishment due to your adultery; your apostasy from God, and setting up idolatry in the land.

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