1321 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey,.... The king and his nobles, those of the first rank and quality, who ought to have protected the persons and property of the meaner sort; these were like "wolves" themselves, subtle, voracious, and cruel, preying upon harmless persons, as those creatures do upon the sheep and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar,.... Palliated their sins, declared it to be right to shed the blood they did; and seize on the estates of men; but this, though it might for a while satisfy the consciences of these princes, and stop the clamours of the people against them; yet would not last long, but be like the building...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The people of the land have used oppression,.... The common people, the more powerful among them, such as were in greatest authority in cities and towns, in neighbourhoods and families, the richest among them; these oppressed the poor, and those that were under them, the servants of them, and tenants to them, and who were not able to defend...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I sought for a man among them,.... among the princes, priests, prophets, and people of the land, who acted the part as above described; for otherwise, no doubt, there were good people in the land, as Jeremiah, Baruch, and others, but not among these: that should make up the hedge; that was broken down by the transgressions of the people, who...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them,.... Like a mighty torrent, carrying all before it: I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath; by the sword, famine, pestilence, and captivity: their own way have I recompensed on their heads, saith the Lord; brought just punishment upon them, such as their ways and works deserved; "the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Ezekiel 23 In this chapter the idolatries of Israel and Judah are represented under the metaphor of two harlots, and their lewdness. These harlots are described by their descent; by the place and time in which they committed their whoredoms; by their names, and which are explained, Ezekiel 23:1, the idolatries of Israel, or the ten...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The word of the Lord came unto me,.... The word of prophecy, as the Targum; another prophecy, one upon the same subject, as in Ezekiel 16:1, saying; as follows:
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Son of man, there were two women,.... Or two nations and kingdoms, the kingdom of Israel or the ten tribes, and the kingdom of Judah or the two tribes. So the Targum, "son of man, prophesy concerning two provinces, which are as two women:'' the daughters of one mother; either Sarah the wife of Abraham, from whom they sprung; or because they were...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the names of them were Aholah the elder,.... Or, "the greater" (m) meaning the ten tribes of Israel, which were more in number than Judah, and greater in power and riches; their name, Aholah, signifies "her tent or tabernacle", which was entirely their own, and not the Lord's: their worship, and places of worship, were of their own appointing,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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" (p); or, as the Syriac version, "besides me": they worshipped other gods in the room of the true God,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Which were clothed with blue,.... A colour the Assyrians were fond of, and clothed their soldiers in, and was taking to the eye; and is mentioned, because that men, finely clothed find beautifully arrayed, are more engaging to women, who are fond of dress: captains and rulers; men of power and authority in military and civil affairs, either in the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thus she committed her whoredoms with them,.... Entered into alliance with them, and joined them in their idolatrous worship: with all them that were the chosen men of Assyria; before described by their habit, office, and age: and with all on whom she doted; had an insatiable desire and lust after: with all their idols she defiled herself;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Wherefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers,.... To destruction; their persons, families, riches, and kingdom itself: into the hand of the Assyrians, on whom she doted; first into the hands of Pul, then Tiglathpileser, then Shalmaneser, all kings of Assyria, by whom they were spoiled or carried captive; by the two first in part, by...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
These discovered her wickedness,.... That is, stripped them of all their substance: they took her sons and her daughters; and carried them captive: and slew her with the sword; put an end to the kingdom of Israel, or the ten tribes, and which was never recovered to this day: and she became famous among women; or among the provinces, as the Targum;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when her sister Aholibah saw this,.... The two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, when, they saw the idolatries the ten tribes fell into, and the destruction which came upon them for the same; instead of receiving instruction, and taking caution by all this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she; in courting the friendship, alliance,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
She doted upon the Assyrians her neighbours,.... As in the times of Ahaz, who sent to Tiglathpileser, king of Assyria, for help; and from whence he took the pattern of an altar, and had one built like it at Jerusalem, and offered upon it, 2 Kings 16:7, captains and rulers clothed most gorgeously; or "perfectly" (q); with all kind of precious...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then I saw that she was defiled,.... With idols, and the worship of them, Ezekiel 23:7: that they took both one way; the same way of idolatry; worshipped the same idols, lived the same course of life, were guilty of the same sin, both Israel and Judah.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And that she increased her whoredoms,.... Added to the number of her idols, increased her idols, and even was guilty of more than her sister: for when she saw men portrayed on the wall; of the temple, as idols were, Ezekiel 8:10 or upon the wall of a private house, where they were worshipped as household gods: the images of the Chaldeans portrayed...