They even sent for men to come from afar, to whom a messenger was sent; and behold, they came. For them you bathed yourself, painted your eyes, and adorned yourself with ornaments.
Ezekiel is telling the story of two sisters, and at verse 40 the charge shifts to what she began herself. Why does God describe a nation's politics as a woman dressing for her lovers?
Which Sister This Is
The two sisters in this chapter stand for Samaria and Jerusalem, and their names carry the point. Both belonged to God, but only one had God's own dwelling in her.
William KellyThe elder sister is named Aholah, and her sister Aholibah. The first name means "her own tent," the second, "my tent is in her." The reader will not fail to notice how fitting these names are. Samaria's worship came from self-will. At best it was an imitation, but really it was independence from the Lord. In Jerusalem, though, the Lord Himself arranged the worship as His own appointment. Yet both sisters were His, not one only. "They were mine, and they had sons and daughters."
Politics Described As Adultery
The men she sends for stand for foreign nations. So is this sin about politics, or about God?
F. W. GrantOthers have rightly said that this chapter, compared with the earlier one, speaks of political rather than spiritual departure from God. Yet that only shows more clearly how closely the two are tied together. Religion is by nature the strongest bond that unites people... Where the nations ruled, their gods had to rule too. So losing national independence threatened the loss of everything else.
She Sent For Them
The verse never says anyone approached her first. She sent the messenger, and she dressed for the arrival. That reversal is what makes the verse so damning.
F. W. GrantThey had not simply been the victims of others. Others had not merely enticed them. They themselves did the enticing. They worked to bring in, from far away, people who could only pollute them with their detestable practices. And they put on the ornaments God had given them, in order to welcome the very men who corrupted them!
What The Painted Eyes Were
The painted eyes are not just poetry. They describe a real cosmetic, and one other woman in the Bible is remembered for using it.
Morrish Bible DictionaryJezebel "painted her eyes," as 2 Kings 9:30 should read. Israel is compared to a lewd woman who painted her eyes. Ezek. 23:40... They painted the eyelids and eyebrows with antimony or some other pigment, and this made the eyes look larger. Small bottles and the short sticks used to apply the moistened powder have been found in the tombs of Egypt.
Holy Things Spent On Strangers
What she set out for her guests was not hers. The incense and the oil belonged to the worship of God. And she would reach very low for company.
William KellyThey left no means untried to entice outsiders, to the dishonour of the Lord, wrongly using on them the Lord's incense and the Lord's oil. Jerusalem had sought strangers from afar. She even stooped to court the most vulgar drunkards from the desert.
Why God Uses This Language
Readers flinch at this imagery. God chose it on purpose, and He built it on something good.
F. W. GrantGod has taken up the closest relationships in human life. He does it to show us how full His love for people is. He also shows how near His heart delights to bring us to Himself. So the sin that breaks through such love is all the greater. No wonder the foulest of human sins becomes a shadow of the sin pictured here. We shrink from these descriptions. See how fully God would teach us by them to loathe what in His sight is so much worse! The human symbol is only a shadow of the greater sin.
Summary
- Relationship first. Aholibah means "my tent is in her." God Himself arranged her worship, so her sin is unfaithfulness, not just folly.
- She sent. Foreigners did not seduce her. She sent for them, and worked to bring in people from far away who could only defile her.
- She dressed. The bathing, the painted eyes and the ornaments are the props of a lewd woman — the same paint Jezebel used.
- She spent God's things. The incense and oil she set out belonged to the Lord. She used them to entice outsiders — even drunkards from the desert.
- Why it disgusts. God's love brings people as close as marriage. That is why unfaithfulness here is the foulest of sins, and why the picture is meant to make us loathe what God loathes.