Thus I will put an end to your lewdness and your whoring begun in the land of Egypt, so that you shall not lift up your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.
Ezekiel 23 tells of two sisters: Oholah stands for Samaria in the north, and Oholibah for Jerusalem. God calls their chase after foreign nations prostitution, and verse 27 promises a cure for a craving that began in Egypt.
The sin traced back to its source
The verse reaches past Babylon and Assyria to name Egypt as the origin. One writer follows that trail from its first step to its last:
William KellyThe idols that seduced them in Egypt exposed them at last to Assyria and to Babylon. In Egypt they showed their lewdness, and their old age matched the sins of their youth.
Why Egypt appears at the end of the story
Jerusalem's new passion for Babylon burned hot but died fast:
Numerical Bible NotesThis passion, as we know from their history, did not last long, except in its consequences. It was, as so often happens, as short-lived as it was sudden. Oholibah returned to her old passion for Egypt, and this brought on her doom.
From lovers to executioners
The same nations Jerusalem courted are the ones God musters against her. Notice what becomes of the very qualities she admired:
Numerical Bible NotesThe same qualities appear again — the energy and ability that once carried away the hearts of the Israelites. But now they work in the opposite interest. How a man's old attractions face him in the day of visitation that comes for each one! They do as they please without mercy, though God declares they are only the instruments of His judgment.
This is no accident of history. God ties sin to its judgment to wake man up:
Numerical Bible NotesMen's vices hatch the hordes that prey on them... God would wake man up by this constant connection of sin with its judgment. Man's pleasant vices are the whips that scourge him.
The purpose behind the stripping
Verse 27 is where the sentence turns. God names the effect all this harshness is meant to have:
Numerical Bible NotesYet all this severity is not, on God's part, mere judgment. The effect, as He puts it here, is to make Oholibah's lewdness cease. She will turn with loathing from the things that once attracted her. One must come to oneself before coming to God, and this is the process God was now bringing Israel through. What a terrible thing to face! One stands stripped bare, with nothing left. Everything is gone that once made one look and feel rich to others, even while one was squandering it. ... The true blessing, if anywhere, lies in this despair at oneself. But the chapter before us does not go on to that; it ends with judgment.
How far the cure went
God kept His word. Israel lost her appetite for idols after Babylon. But nothing ever filled the empty space:
J. G. BellettThis captivity produced a reformation among them. From that time to this, "the unclean spirit," as the Lord Himself also puts it, has been "out." They have not practised idolatry since then. But though the Jewish house stands empty and swept, no one has furnished it with its true wealth and ornament.
Another writer marks the difference between a spirit that leaves and a spirit driven out, and says what that leaves open:
Numerical Bible NotesUp to the time of the Babylonian captivity this was Israel's besetting sin. After it, this unclean spirit did go out of them, according to the Lord's words — but it was not cast out, nor was the house occupied by One stronger than he. So the house is ready to be occupied by him afresh. This will happen in the last days, when idolatry is set up again in the very temple of God, among those who have returned to their own land.
Summary
- Root. The sin judged here did not start in Jerusalem. The idols taken up in Egypt later exposed the nation to Assyria and Babylon. Her old age matched the sins of her youth.
- Relapse. The craze for Babylon burned out fast. The return to the old passion for Egypt brought Jerusalem's doom.
- Recoil. God summons her own lovers as her judges. The traits that once attracted her now turn against her. A person's pleasant vices become the whips that scourge him.
- Remedy. Verse 27 names the aim of all that severity. God does not only punish. He ends the appetite itself, so that the old attraction now disgusts her. One must come to oneself before coming to God.
- Result. The promise held: idolatry never revived after the captivity. But commentators note that the house was only swept out, never furnished. The craving went, and the true Occupant never moved in — so the house stands open to be filled again.