Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 23:1-10
God had often spoken to Ezekiel, and by him to the people, to this effect, but now his word comes again; for God speaks the same thing once, yea, twice, yea, many a time, and all little enough, and too little, for man perceives it not. Note, To convince sinners of the evil of sin, and of their misery and danger by reason of it, there is need of line upon line, so loth we are to know the worst of ourselves. The sinners that are here to be exposed are two women, two kingdoms, sister-kingdoms, Israel and Judah, daughters of one mother, having been for a long time but one people. Solomon's kingdom was so large, so populous, that immediately after his death it divided into two. Observe, 1. Their…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Ezekiel 23:8
whoredoms brought from Egypt--the calves set up in Dan and Beth-el by Jeroboam, answering to the Egyptian bull-formed idol Apis. Her alliances with Egypt politically are also meant (Isa 30:2-3; Isa 31:1). The ten tribes probably resumed the Egyptian rites, in order to enlist the Egyptians against Judah (Ch2 12:2-4).
Adam Clarke on 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.
John Gill on Ezekiel 23:8
Neither left she her idols brought from Egypt,.... Though the Israelites took in the gods of the Assyrians into their worship, they did not relinquish the golden calves set up at Dan and Bethel, in imitation of the Egyptian deities; the idolatrous worship of which they learned in Egypt, and brought from thence:
for in her youth they lay with her; the Egyptians enticed the Israelites to idolatry when among them, as soon as they began to be a people; See Gill on Ezekiel 23:3,
and they bruised the breasts of her virginity; who before retained the pure worship of God, and was like a chaste virgin:
and poured their whoredom upon her; expressive of the numerous acts of idolatry committed togeth…
