Ezekiel 23:3

3 and they played the prostitute in Egypt; they played the prostitute in their youth; there were their breasts pressed, and there was handled the bosom of their virginity.

Ezekiel 23:3 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 23:3

And they committed whoredoms in Egypt
When they were but one body, one nation; and while they sojourned as strangers in that land they learned and practised the idolatries of it, ( Joshua 24:14 ) , and so the Targum,

``and they erred in Egypt, after the worship of their idols they erred, and there they corrupted their works:''

they committed whoredoms in their youth;
as soon as they were come out of Egypt, and were formed into a political and ecclesiastical state, had the law of God given them, and promised obedience to him, and were espoused by him, which times are called the days of their youth and espousal, ( Jeremiah 2:2 ) ( Hosea 2:15 ) , and then were they guilty of whoredom, or spiritual adultery, which idolatry, in making and worshipping the golden calf, after the manner of Egypt; and in joining themselves to Baalpeor, the god of the Moabites, ( Exodus 32:1-4 ) ( Numbers 25:2 Numbers 25:3 ) ; there were their breasts pressed, there they bruised the teats of their
virginity;
that is, the Egyptians, who drew them into idolatry, and with whom they committed it; which is expressed by the actions of adulterous persons, suggesting that, before this, they were as chaste and pure virgins to God, adhered to his worship, and served him only, and were not defiled with the superstition and idolatry of the Heathens: or, "they made ^F12 the teats or paps of their virginity"; that is, made them swell and increase, being impregnated by them, and their idolatry completed; or to move and heave being pressed.

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FOOTNOTES:

F12 (ydd wve) "fecerant mammas", Starckius; "fecerent ut earam mammae agrerent", Gussetius; "sese commovendo scilicet, in contentione libidinis aestuantes, et pectoris anheli reciprocationem sequentes", ib. p. 652. "ibi subagitarunt ubera virginum", Coeccius.

Ezekiel 23:3 In-Context

1 The word of Yahweh came again to me, saying,

2 Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother:

3 and they played the prostitute in Egypt; they played the prostitute in their youth; there were their breasts pressed, and there was handled the bosom of their virginity.

4 The names of them were Oholah the elder, and Oholibah her sister: and they became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem Oholibah

5 Oholah played the prostitute when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians [her] neighbors,