Ezekiel 23:5

5 Therefore Oholah did fornication on me, and was wild on her lovers, on Assyrians nighing, (And then Oholah did fornication against me, and was mad for her lovers, yea, for the Assyrians, who were nearby,)

Ezekiel 23:5 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 23:5

And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine
His married wife, and so ought to have cleaved to him alone: or, under me {o}; under his cover, power, and protection, and therefore it was their interest to serve him only: or, "instead of me" ^F16; or, as the Syriac version, "besides me": they worshipped other gods in the room of the true God, or other gods besides him. The Targum is,

``and Aholah erred from my worship;''

the ten tribes fell into idolatry, when they were God's professing people: and she doted on her lovers;
whom she loved even to madness; she was mad with love, to the idols, temples, altars, and idolatrous worship of the Heathens; particularly doted "on the Assyrians her neighbours"; who were become so by the conquest of Syria; and these they treated as their neighbours, and sought to have them to be their allies and confederates; courted their help and assistance, and gave them much money for that purpose; as Menahem gave to Pul king of Assyria a thousand talents of silver, to confirm the kingdom in his hand, ( 2 Kings 15:19 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 (ytxt) "sub me", Pagninus, Montanus, Munster, Tigurine version. Piscator, Cocceius, Starckius.
F16 "Exteros excipiens loco meo", Junius & Tremellius, Polanus.

Ezekiel 23:5 In-Context

3 and did fornication in Egypt; in their young waxing age they did fornication; there the breasts of them were made low, and the teats of the time of marriage of them were broken.

4 Forsooth the names of them be, Oholah, the more sister, and Oholibah, the less sister of her. And I had them, and they childed sons and daughters; certainly the names of them be Samaria Oholah, and Jerusalem Oholibah. (And their names be, Oholah, the elder sister, and Oholibah, her younger sister. And I had them, and they gave birth to sons and daughters; yea, their names be Samaria Oholah, and Jerusalem Oholibah.

5 Therefore Oholah did fornication on me, and was wild on her lovers, on Assyrians nighing, (And then Oholah did fornication against me, and was mad for her lovers, yea, for the Assyrians, who were nearby,)

6 (who were) clothed with jacinth, princes, and magistrates, young men of covetousness, all knights (all of them horsemen), (yea,) riders of horses.

7 And she gave her fornications on them, on all the chosen sons of Assyrians; and in all on which she was wild, she was defouled in the uncleanness of them. (And she did her fornications with them, with all the chosen sons of the Assyrians; and with all whom she was mad for, she was defiled in their uncleanness.)