Ezekiel 23:17

17 The Babylonians came to her to lie down and make love with her, defiling her with their seductions. But once she had defiled herself with them, she recoiled from them in disgust.

Ezekiel 23:17 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 23:17

And the Babylonians came to her in the bed of love
Entered into alliance with the Jews, and worshipped together in the same idols' temple. Jarchi thinks this refers to the messengers of the king of Babylon to Hezekiah; who were gladly received by him, and to whom he showed all the treasures of his house: and they defiled her with their whoredom;
or with their idols, as the Targum; they drew them into their idolatrous practices; which were defiling them, and by which they were corrupted from the simplicity of the true worship of God: and she was polluted with them, and her mind was alienated from them:
or "plucked", or "disjoined from them" F25; the Chaldeans, broke league and covenant with them, hating them as much as before they doted upon them; this was done in the times of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, who rebelled against the king of Babylon, ( 2 Kings 24:1 2 Kings 24:20 ) as it often is the case with lewd women, when they have satisfied their lust with their gallants, loath and despise them, and cast them off.


FOOTNOTES:

F25 (Mhm hvpn eqtw) "avulsa est", Munster; "et luxata est anima ipsius ab eis", Junius & Tremellius, Polanus.

Ezekiel 23:17 In-Context

15 wearing only loincloths around their hips and flowing headbands on their heads. All of them had the appearance of warriors of the third rank, the likeness of Babylonians whose native land is Chaldea.
16 Aroused just by looking at them, she sent messengers to them in Chaldea.
17 The Babylonians came to her to lie down and make love with her, defiling her with their seductions. But once she had defiled herself with them, she recoiled from them in disgust.
18 When her seductions became known and her nakedness exposed, I recoiled from her just as I had recoiled from her sister.
19 But she added to her promiscuities, bringing to mind her youthful days when she was a prostitute in the land of Egypt.
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