Ezekiel 23:15

15 wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like officers of the Babylonians in Chaldea, ^[a] the land of their birth.

Ezekiel 23:15 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 23:15

Girded with girdles upon their loins
As a token of dignity and authority; see ( Isaiah 11:5 ) , which was the peculiar custom of the Babylonians, as Kimchi, from the Talmudists, observes: "exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads"; having turbans of various colours upon their heads, after the manner of the Persians: all of them princes to look to;
bore the resemblance of kings, princes, and the great men of the earth, and whose images indeed they were; even of such who in their lifetime were famous for military exploits, or for some excellency or another, either real or pretended, and after death reckoned among the gods, and worshipped: after the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their
nativity;
either where these heroes were born whose images were portrayed; or where Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, was born, and so called from thence the land of their nativity; putting them in mind of their original, and of the idolatries of their ancestors, which they were now returning to.

Ezekiel 23:15 In-Context

13 And I saw that she too had defiled herself; both of them had taken the same path.

14 But Oholibah carried her prostitution even further. She saw the men portrayed on the wall, images of the Chaldeans, engraved in vermilion,

15 wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like officers of the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their birth.

16 At the sight of them, she lusted for them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.

17 Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. But after she had been defiled by them, she turned away in disgust.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or Babylonia; also in verse 16