서론
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英文原文
This long chapter (as before Eze 16:1-62,20:1-44) is a history of the apostasies of God's people from him and the aggravations of those apostasies under the similitude of corporal whoredom and adultery. Here the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, the ten tribes and the two, with their capital cities, Samaria and Jerusalem, are considered distinctly. Here is, I. The apostasy of Israel and Samaria from God (Eze 23:1-8) and their ruin for it, Eze 23:9,10. II. The apostasy of Judah and Jerusalem from God (Eze 23:11-21) and sentence passed upon them, that they shall in like manner be destroyed for it, Eze 23:22-35. III. The joint wickedness of them both together (Eze 23:36-44) and the joint ruin of them both, Eze 23:45-49. And all that is written for warning against the sins of idolatry, and confidence in an arm of flesh, and sinful leagues and confederacies with wicked people (which are the sins here meant by committing whoredom), is that others may hear and fear, and not sin after the similitude of the transgressions of Israel and Judah.
1-10
The Sins of Samaria and Jerusalem (591 BC)
撒馬利亞與耶路撒冷的罪（主前591年）
¹ 耶和華的話又臨到我說： ² 人子啊，有兩個女子，是一母所生， ³ 她們在埃及行邪淫，在幼年時行邪淫；在那裏她們的乳被撫摸，在那裏她們處女的胸乳被壓傷。 ⁴ 她們的名字，姐姐名叫阿荷拉，妹妹名叫阿荷利巴；她們都歸於我。她們生了兒女。她們的名字至此：撒馬利亞就是阿荷拉，耶路撒冷就是阿荷利巴。 ⁵ 阿荷拉歸我以後就行淫亂，貪戀她所愛的人，就是她的鄰舍亞述人； ⁶ 這些人都穿藍衣，作省長、副省長，都是可喜悅的少年人，騎着馬的騎兵。 ⁷ 阿荷拉就與亞述人中最美的男子行淫，凡她所愛的，她都用他們一切偶像玷污了自己。 ⁸ 她沒有離棄從埃及帶來的淫行；因為他們在幼年時與她同寢，壓傷她處女的胸，又將淫亂傾倒在她身上。 ⁹ 因此我將她交在她所愛的人手中，交在她所貪戀的亞述人手中。 ¹⁰ 這些人露了她的下體，擄去她的兒女，用刀殺了她；她就在婦女中留了臭名，因他們已經在她身上施行審判。
神曾屢次對以西結如此說，並藉他對百姓如此說，如今他的話又來；因為神將同樣的事說了一次，又說兩次，甚至多次，而這一切仍嫌太少——人卻不理會。請注意，要使罪人知罪的邪惡、並因此罪的悲慘與危險，需要命上加命——我們何等不願知道自己的真相。此處要揭露的罪人是兩個女子——兩個國，姐妹之國，以色列和猶大，一母所生，因他們長久以來只是一個民族。所羅門的國如此廣大、人口如此眾多，以致他死後立即分裂為二。請注意：1. 他們合而為一時的品格（結23:3）：她們在埃及行邪淫——她們在那裏犯了拜偶像的罪，正如我們前面所見（結20:8）。以淫亂之罪來代表那些最惹神憤怒、最能毀滅一國的罪，明明暗示污穢不潔是何等極重的罪，何等可憎，何等具毀滅性。它本身無疑是最壞的罪之一，因為別的最壞的罪在此處及別處常被拿來與它相比；這應當增加我們對各樣肉體的情慾——其一切形跡和接近之處——的憎惡和畏懼，因為它們與靈魂爭戰，使罪人昏昧，迷惑他們，使他們的心思遠離神和一切美善，使良心墮落，使自己在純潔聖潔的神眼中成為可憎，至終將他們淹沒在毀滅和沉淪之中。2. 他們成為二國時的名字（結23:4）。以色列國被稱為姐姐，因為它首先破壞，從神所立定的王室和祭司家族中分離出來——是長姊（原文如此），因為十支派屬於那國，只有兩支派屬於另一國。神論他們兩人說：她們都歸於我——因為他們是朋友亞伯拉罕的後裔、揀選的雅各的後裔；他們與神立約，帶着割禮的記號——那約的印記。她們都歸於我；因此他們的背道是最高程度的不義。這是侵佔神的產業，對最好的恩主最卑劣的忘恩，是對最神聖承諾的背信棄義的違背。請注意，那些在認信上作神子民、卻背離他的人，要比那些從未如此認信的人多負許多責任。「她們都歸於我；她們許配給我，並為我生了兒女」——他們中間有許多獻身於神榮耀、受僱於他事奉的人，是這些國度的力量和美飾，正如兒女是他們所生之家的力量和美飾。在這比喻中，撒馬利亞和以色列國要稱為阿荷拉——她自己的帳幕，因為那國所設的敬拜之處是他們自己所籌劃、自己所揀選的，敬拜本身也是他們自己發明的；神從未承認它。她的帳幕歸她自己（有人如此譯）；「讓她拿去，盡其所用。」耶路撒冷和猶大國稱為阿荷利巴——我的帳幕在她裏面，因為他們的聖殿是神自己揀選作他名所在之處。他承認這是他的，並以他同在的記號尊榮他們。請注意，在那些與神有關係、認信他名的人中，有的比別人有更大的特權和優勢；享有更大的，因此若背離神就更無可推諉；享有較少的，也不會因此就可推諉。3. 以色列國對神的背信離棄（結23:5）：阿荷拉歸我以後就行淫亂。十支派雖然離棄了大衛家，神卻仍承認他們為自己的；雖然耶羅波安設立金牛犢，犯了罪，又使以色列陷在罪裏，但只要他們仍只拜以色列的神——雖然藉着偶像——他並沒有完全棄絕他們。但犯罪的路是下坡路。阿荷拉行淫亂，引進了巴力的崇拜（王上16:31），設立了那位別神——那位糞堆之神——與耶和華爭競（王上18:21），如同卑賤的淫婦貪戀她的情人，因為他們衣著華美、引人注目，因為他們年輕俊美（結23:6），穿藍衣，作省長副省長，可喜悅的少年人——文雅、被視為體面的人；照樣她貪戀她的鄰舍，特別是亞述人——他們已把征服伸展到她附近；她羨慕他們的偶像並敬拜，羨慕他們宮廷的排場和軍事力量，不惜任何代價尋求與他們結盟，彷彿自己的神不足以信靠。我們看見以色列的一個王給亞述王一千他連得，為要使他附和自己的利益（王下15:19）。她貪戀亞述的精選之人，以為他們配受信任、可受僱於國事（結23:7），並貪戀他們的一切偶像，她用這一切玷污了自己。請注意，我們所貪戀、所進貢、所倚靠的任何受造之物，我們都把它當作偶像；我們所當作偶像的，我們必因之玷污自己。如今這定罪又追溯到這民族起初之處：她沒有離棄從埃及帶來的淫行（結23:8）。他們在埃及拜偶像一事永不可忘——他們竟在常常懼怕埃及的暴君和督工之時，仍鍾愛埃及的偶像！但是（如有人觀察到的）因此，當撒但誇口說他已走遍全地、一切屬己之時，為反駁他的主張，神沒有說：你曾察看我的僕人以色列人嗎？（因他們已成了拜偶像的，不足誇口），卻說：你曾察看我的僕人約伯嗎？他們初被組成一個民族時這種腐敗的性情，正預表我們生而具有、編入我們本性中的原罪——一種對世界和肉體的強烈偏向，如同以色列人之於拜偶像；這是與生俱來的，並在許久以後仍被指控：他們沒有離棄從埃及帶來的淫行。這雖因埃及於他們為奴役之家，卻不能從肉中除掉。照樣我們帶到世上來的腐敗情感和傾向，我們並未失去或擺脫，仍舊存留，雖然我們生而有的罪乃是一切人生災禍之源。4. 以色列國因背道於神而被毀（結23:9,10）：我已將她交在她所愛的人手中。神先公義地把她交給她的私慾（以法蓮與偶像聯合，任憑他吧），然後把她交給她的情人。鄰國，她所效法其拜偶像、所信賴其友誼、並在兩樣上都觸犯神的，如今被用作她毀滅的工具。她所貪戀的亞述人不久就窺見了那地的赤裸，發現了她可攻擊的弱點，剝去她一切的裝飾和防禦，使她赤露，使她赤身露體，擄去她的兒女到被擄之地，用刀殺了她，徹底毀滅那國並終結之。其詳情見王下17:6等處，那裏顯明那曾繁盛的國被亞述人所滅的緣由，在於他們離棄了以色列的神、敬畏別神、行外邦人的律例；正因這事，神大大向他們發怒，從自己眼前趕出他們（結23:18）。他們所鍾愛的亞述人竟被用來在他們身上施行審判，這十分引人注目，並表明神在公義審判中，常使罪人所過度傾心的成為刑罰他們的鞭子。魔鬼對如今聽從他、附和他作為試探者的那些不悔改的罪人，永遠是折磨者。撒馬利亞因此成了婦女中的臭名——或說惡名；她成了一個名（原文如此）；她不但成了談論的題材、人所談論的對象——正如城邑國度的荒涼充滿報章——她更因拜偶像如此被毀，作為警告——警告萬民慎勿照樣行；正如當眾處決聲名狼藉的罪犯，使他們成為那樣的名——那樣的惡名——可以驚嚇別人，使他們遠離那些引他們到悲慘羞愧下場的惡道。申21:21，以色列眾人聽見都要害怕。
英文原文
The Sins of Samaria and Jerusalem (591 BC)
¹ The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
² Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother:
³ And they committed whoredoms in Egypt; they committed whoredoms in their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their virginity.
⁴ And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her sister: and they were mine, and they bare sons and daughters. Thus were their names; Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah.
⁵ And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours,
⁶ Which were clothed with blue, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses.
⁷ Thus she committed her whoredoms with them, with all them that were the chosen men of Assyria, and with all on whom she doted: with all their idols she defiled herself.
⁸ Neither left she her whoredoms brought from Egypt: for in her youth they lay with her, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured their whoredom upon her.
⁹ Wherefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted.
¹⁰ These discovered her nakedness: they took her sons and her daughters, and slew her with the sword: and she became famous among women; for they had executed judgment upon her.
God had often spoken to Ezekiel, and by him to the people, to this effect, but now his word comes again; for God speaks the same thing once, yea, twice, yea, many a time, and all little enough, and too little, for man perceives it not. Note, To convince sinners of the evil of sin, and of their misery and danger by reason of it, there is need of line upon line, so loth we are to know the worst of ourselves. The sinners that are here to be exposed are two women, two kingdoms, sister-kingdoms, Israel and Judah, daughters of one mother, having been for a long time but one people. Solomon's kingdom was so large, so populous, that immediately after his death it divided into two. Observe, 1. Their character when they were one (Eze 23:3): They committed whoredoms in Egypt, for there they were guilty of idolatry, as we read before, Eze 20:8. The representing of those sins which are most provoking to God and most ruining to a people by the sin of whoredom plainly intimates what an exceedingly sinful sin uncleanness is, how offensive, how destructive. Doubtless it is itself one of the worst of sins, for the worst of other sins are compared to it here and often elsewhere, which should increase our detestation and dread of all manner of fleshly lusts, all appearances of them and approaches to them, as warring against the soul, infatuating sinners, bewitching them, alienating their minds from God and all that is good, debauching conscience, rendering them odious in the eyes of the pure and holy God, and drowning them at last in destruction and perdition. 2. Their names when they became two, Eze 23:4. The kingdom of Israel is called the elder sister, because that first made the breach, and separated from the family both of kings and priests that God had appointed—the greater sister (so the word is), for ten tribes belonged to that kingdom and only two to the other. God says of them both, They were mine, for they were the seed of Abraham his friend and of Jacob his chosen; they were in covenant with God, and carried about with them the sign of their circumcision, the seal of the covenant. They were mine; and therefore their apostasy was the highest injustice. It was alienating God's property, it was the basest ingratitude to the best of benefactors, and a perfidious treacherous violation of the most sacred engagements. Note, Those who have been in profession the people of God, but have revolted from him, have a great deal to answer for more than those who never made any such profession. "They were mine; they were espoused to me, and to me they bore sons and daughters;" there were many among them that were devoted to God's honour, and employed in his service, and were the strength and beauty of these kingdoms, as children are of the families they are born in. In this parable Samaria and the kingdom of Israel shall bear the name of Aholah—her own tabernacle, because the places of worship which that kingdom had were of their own devising, their own choosing, and the worship itself was their own invention; God never owned it. Her tabernacle to herself (so some render it); "let her take it to herself, and make her best of it." Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah bear the name of Aholibah—my tabernacle is in her, because their temple was the place which God himself had chosen to put his name there. He acknowledged it to be his, and honoured them with the tokens of his presence in it. Note, Of those that stand in relation to God, and make profession of his name, some have greater privileges and advantages than others; and, as those who have greater are thereby rendered the more inexcusable if they revolt from God, so those who have less will not thereby be rendered inexcusable. 3. The treacherous departure of the kingdom of Israel from God (Eze 23:5): Aholah played the harlot when she was mine. Though the ten tribes had deserted the house of David, yet God owned them for his still; though Jeroboam, in setting up the golden calves, sinned, and made Israel to sin, yet, as long as they worshipped the God of Israel only, though by images, he did not quite cast them off. But the way of sin is down-hill. Aholah played the harlot, brought in the worship of Baal (1Ki 16:31), set up that other god, that dunghill-god, in competition with Jehovah (1Ki 18:21), as a vile adulteress dotes on her lovers, because they are well dressed and make a figure, because they are young and handsome (Eze 23:6), clothed with blue, captains and rulers, desirable young men, genteel, and that pass for men of honour, so she doted upon her neighbours, particularly the Assyrians, who had extended their conquests near them; she admired their idols and worshipped them, admired the pomp of their courts and their military strength and courted alliances with them upon any terms, as if her own God were not sufficient to be depended upon. We find one of the kings of Israel giving a thousand talents to the king of Assyria, to engage him in his interests, 2Ki 15:19. She doted on the chosen men of Assyria, as worthy to be trusted and employed in the service of the state (Eze 23:7), and on all their idols with which she defiled herself. Note, Whatever creature we dote upon, pay homage to, and put a confidence in, we make an idol of that creature; and whatever we make an idol of we defile ourselves with. And now again the conviction looks back as far as the original of their nation: Neither left she her whoredoms which she brought from Egypt, Eze 23:8. Their being idolaters in Egypt was a thing never to be forgotten—that they should be in love with Egypt's idols even when they were continually in fear of Egypt's tyrants and task-masters! But (as some have observed) therefore, at that time, when Satan boasted of his having walked through the earth as all his own, to disprove his pretensions God did not say, Hast thou considered my people Israel in Egypt? (for they had become idolaters, and were not to be boasted of), but, Hast thou considered my servant Job in the land of Uz? And this corrupt disposition in them, when they were first formed into a people, is an emblem of that original corruption which is born with us and is woven into our constitution, a strong bias towards the world and the flesh, like that in the Israelites towards idolatry; it was bred in the bone with them, and was charged upon them long after, that they left not their whoredoms brought from Egypt. It would never out of the flesh, though Egypt had been a house of bondage to them. Thus the corrupt affections and inclinations which we brought into the world with us we have not lost, nor got clear of, but still retain them, though the iniquity we were born in was the source of all the calamities which human life is liable to. 4. The destruction of the kingdom of Israel for their apostasy from God (Eze 23:9,10): I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers. God first justly gave her up to her lust (Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone), and then gave her up to her lovers. The neighbouring nations, whose idolatries she had conformed to and whose friendship she had confided in, and in both had affronted God, are now made use of as the instruments of her destruction. The Assyrians, on whom she doted, soon spied out the nakedness of the land, discovered her blind side, on which to attack her, stripped her of all her ornaments and all her defences, and so uncovered her, and made her naked and bare, carried her sons and daughters into captivity, slew her with the sword, and quite destroyed that kingdom and put an end to it. We have the story at large 2Ki 17:6, etc., where the cause of the ruin of that once flourishing kingdom by the Assyrians is shown to be their forsaking the God of Israel, fearing other gods, and walking in the statutes of the heathen; it was for this that God was very angry with them and removed them out of his sight, Eze 23:18. And that the Assyrians, whom they had been so fond of, should be employed in executing judgments upon them was very remarkable, and shows how God, in a way of righteous judgment, often makes that a scourge to sinners which they have inordinately set their hearts upon. The devil will for ever be a tormentor to those impenitent sinners who now hearken to him and comply with him as a tempter. Thus Samaria became famous among women, or infamous rather; she became a name (so the word is); not only she came to be the subject of discourse, and much talked of, as the desolations of cities and kingdoms fill the newspapers, but she was thus ruined for her idolatries in terrorem—for warning to all people to take heed of doing likewise; as the public execution of notorious malefactors makes them such a name, such an ill name, as may serve to frighten others from those wicked courses which have brought them to a miserable and shameful end. De 21:21, All Israel shall hear and fear.
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The Sins of Samaria and Jerusalem (591 BC)
撒瑪利亞和耶路撒冷的罪（主前591年）
¹¹ 她妹妹阿霍利巴雖然看見了，卻比她姐姐更加淫亂，戀愛之情勝過她姐姐，行淫也勝過她姐姐。 ¹² 她貪戀鄰近的亞述人，就是穿極華美衣服的省長和軍長，都是騎馬的，都是俊美的少年人。 ¹³ 我看見她被玷污了；她們姊妹同走一條路。 ¹⁴ 她又加增淫行；因為她看見牆上畫的人像，就是用丹色畫的迦勒底人像， ¹⁵ 腰間帶著帶子，頭上戴著下垂的裹頭巾，都是軍長的樣式，仿照巴比倫迦勒底人的樣式；他們的本地就是迦勒底地。 ¹⁶ 她一看見他們，眼睛就戀慕他們，就打發使者到迦勒底去見他們。 ¹⁷ 巴比倫人就來到她愛情的床上，以淫行玷污她；她被玷污後，心就與他們生疏。 ¹⁸ 這樣，她顯露淫行，又顯露下體；我的心就與她生疏，正如我的心先前與她姐姐生疏一樣。 ¹⁹ 她還加增淫行，追念她幼年在埃及地行邪淫的日子。 ²⁰ 她貪戀那些情人，他們的肉體如驢肉，他們的精如馬精。 ²¹ 這樣，你就追念你年少的淫蕩，在埃及人懷中撫弄你幼年的乳房。
先知何西阿在他的時代觀察到，當十個支派已經背道之時，兩個支派在很大程度上仍持守正直（Ho 11:12：「以法蓮用謊話圍繞我，猶大卻仍與神同行，向聖者誠實」；這也是理所當然對他們的期望：Ho 4:15：「以色列啊，你雖然行淫，猶大卻不可犯罪」）；但這並未持久。藉著大衛家和亞哈家之間一些不幸的聯姻，巴力的敬拜被引入了猶大國，卻被改革的君王重新清除；在十個支派被擄的時候——那是在希西家年間——情況尚好：但這並未持久。在瑪拿西年間，猶大國剛剛看見以色列國的毀滅之後不久，他們在偶像的狂戀中變得比以色列更敗壞（Eze 23:11）。他們非但沒有因那毀滅所發的警告而變好，反而因之變得更壞，好像他們「因耶和華向以色列所作的破壞而不悅」，因而對他和他的事奉心生反感。他們非但沒有因此敬畏他為「忌邪的神」，反而與他疏遠，更喜歡那些允許有同伴的神。當注意：那些不因神在別人身上的審判受警告的人，正當期望神的審判也臨到自己——他們在別人身上看見罪的結局，卻仍輕看罪。但那些被那本當使他們變好的事反而變得更壞的人——他們的情慾被那設計用來壓制和降服情慾的事物所激怒和加劇——他們的光景確實很糟。耶路撒冷「在她的淫行中」變得比她妹妹撒瑪利亞「在她的淫行中」更壞。這事從前已經提過（Eze 16:51）：「撒瑪利亞也沒有犯你一半的罪。」
I. 耶路撒冷，那本是「忠信的城」，「變成了妓女」（Isa 1:21）。她「也貪戀亞述人」（Eze 23:12），與他們結盟，與他們一同敬拜，漸漸愛上他們的「軍長和省長」，稱讚他們比以色列地所出過的任何人都更精緻、更有教養。「看他們穿得多麼華麗整潔——『穿極華美的衣服』；他們騎術多好——他們是『騎馬的』；他們看起來多麼迷人——他們『都是俊美的少年人』。」如此他們漸漸愛慕一切外來的事物，輕視自己的國家；連自己的宗教也顯得粗陋簡樸，不能與異教廟宇的精巧和華美相比。如此她「加增了她的淫行」；她愛上了迦勒底人，與他們結盟。連希西家在這方面也有過失——當他因巴比倫王對他的朝見而驕傲，向巴比倫的使臣炫耀自己的一切財寶時（Isa 39:2）。這癖好還增加了（Eze 23:14）；她貪戀巴比倫軍長的畫像（Eze 23:15-16），與那國結盟，邀請他們來耶路撒冷定居，好改良猶太民族的氣質，使其更加文雅；不，他們還索取他們偶像、祭壇和廟宇的樣式，在自己的敬拜中使用。如此她「被她的淫行玷污了」（Eze 23:17），藉此「暴露了自己的淫行」（Eze 23:18）——自己對偶像崇拜的強烈傾向。當她對迦勒底人厭倦了、想要與他們斷絕盟約時（如約雅敬和西底家所行的），「她的心既與他們生疏」，她就轉而追求「埃及人」，「貪戀那些情人」（Eze 23:20），要與他們結盟；為加強盟約，她要與他們一同拜偶像，然後倚靠他們保護自己不受一切別國的侵害；因為埃及國如此智慧、如此富庶、如此強大，又在偶像崇拜上達到如此完美的地步，以至於如今沒有一個國家能像埃及那樣使他們如此滿意。如此他們「追念她幼年的日子」（Eze 23:19），「她幼年的淫蕩」（Eze 23:21）。1. 他們以追念為樂。當他們開始將心轉向埃及時，他們鼓勵自己信靠那國，因為他們與它有舊交，好像他們仍保留了在那裏吃過的「韭菜和蔥」的味道，或更確切地說，在那裏學到並帶出來的偶像崇拜的味道。當他們開始與埃及結交時，他們追念他們的祖先從前如何快樂地敬拜金牛犢——他們在埃及學的那種把戲有多少音樂和舞蹈；他們盼望如今可以有正當的藉口重新回到那裏。如此她「加增了她的淫行」，重複從前的淫行，並藉著追念「她幼年的日子」來鼓勵自己接受眼前的試探。當注意：那些不以憂傷和羞愧回顧從前之罪，反以喜悅和驕傲回顧的人，因此招致新的罪咎，加強自己的敗壞，實際上是向悔改挑戰。這就是「狗轉過來吃自己所吐的」。2. 他們稱之為「神的追念」，並惹他追念這事來對付他們。神確曾說過他要為「金牛犢」——「埃及的偶像」（Ex 32:34）——與他們算賬；但他的忍耐如此之大，以致他似乎已忘記了，直到他們如今與埃及人結盟對抗迦勒底人，才好像提醒了他；在他「追討的日子，他如今」必照他所說的，「為那事追討」。這淫婦如何更換情人，十分可觀：她先是貪戀亞述人；然後覺得迦勒底人更好，就去追求他們；過了不久，她的心又與他們生疏，覺得埃及人更有勢力（Eze 23:20），就去與他們親近。這表明了（1）肉體情慾的愚昧：它們若被放縱，就變得任性而易變，很快膩味卻永不滿足；它們需要變化，今日所愛的明日就嫌惡。（2）偶像崇拜的愚昧：那些以為一位神太少的人，不會以為一百位就夠了，卻仍要繼續嘗試更多，發現一切都不足。（3）向受造之物求助的愚昧：我們從一個轉到另一個，卻在所有的上面都失望，永不能安息，直到我們以以色列的神為我們的幫助。
II. 信實的神公義地向這如今已「變成了妓女」的不忠之城遞出休書。他的忌邪很快揭發了她的淫蕩（Eze 23:13）：「我看見她被玷污了」——她已經敗壞，我也看見她的傾向往哪裏去——「姊妹兩個同走一條路」，耶路撒冷比撒瑪利亞更壞。因為「我們若向陌生的神伸手，神豈不查究這事嗎？」無疑他必查究；他既發現了，豈能喜悅嗎？不（Eze 23:18）：「那時我的心就與她生疏，正如先前與她姐姐生疏一樣。」純潔聖潔的神怎能再在一個如此淫蕩的世代中得著喜樂呢？當注意：罪使神的心與罪人生疏——這是公義的，因為這是罪人的心與神生疏；但禍哉，千萬禍哉，臨到那些神的心與之生疏的人；因為他所轉臉不顧的，他必轉而攻擊。
英文原文
The Sins of Samaria and Jerusalem (591 BC)
¹¹ And when her sister Aholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in her whoredoms.
¹² She doted upon the Assyrians her neighbours, captains and rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men.
¹³ Then I saw that she was defiled, that they took both one way,
¹⁴ And that she increased her whoredoms: for when she saw men portrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion,
¹⁵ Girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes to look to, after the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their nativity:
¹⁶ And as soon as she saw them with her eyes, she doted upon them, and sent messengers unto them into Chaldea.
¹⁷ And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with them, and her mind was alienated from them.
¹⁸ So she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered her nakedness: then my mind was alienated from her, like as my mind was alienated from her sister.
¹⁹ Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, in calling to remembrance the days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt.
²⁰ For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.
²¹ Thus thou calledst to remembrance the lewdness of thy youth, in bruising thy teats by the Egyptians for the paps of thy youth.
The prophet Hosea, in his time, observed that the two tribes retained their integrity, in a great measure, when the ten tribes had apostatized (Ho 11:12, Ephraim indeed compasses me about with lies, but Judah yet rules with God and is faithful with the saints; and this was justly expected from them: Ho 4:15, Though thou Israel play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend); but this lasted not long. By some unhappy matches made between the house of David and the house of Ahab the worship of Baal had been brought into the kingdom of Judah, but had been by the reforming kings worked out again; and at the time of the captivity of the ten tribes, which was in the reign of Hezekiah, things were in a good posture: but it lasted not long. In the reign of Manasseh, soon after the kingdom of Judah had seen the destruction of the kingdom of Israel, they became more corrupt than Israel had been in their inordinate love of idols, Eze 23:11. Instead of being made better by the warning which that destruction gave them, they were made worse by it, as if they were displeased because the Lord had made that breach upon Israel, and for that reason became disaffected to him and to his service. Instead of being made to stand in awe of him as a jealous God, they therefore grew strange to him, and liked those gods better that would admit of partners with them. Note, Those may justly expect God's judgments upon themselves who do not take warning by his judgments upon others, who see in others what is the end of sin and yet continue to make a light matter of it. But it is bad indeed with those who are made worse by that which should make them better, and have their lusts irritated and exasperated by that which was designed to suppress and subdue them. Jerusalem grew worse in her whoredoms than her sister Samaria had been in her whoredoms. This was observed before (Eze 16:51), Neither has Samaria committed half of thy sins.
I. Jerusalem, that had been a faithful city, became a harlot, Isa 1:21. She also doted upon the Assyrians (Eze 23:12), joined in league with them, joined in worship with them, grew to be in love with their captains and rulers, and cried them up as finer and more accomplished gentlemen than any that ever the land of Israel produced. "See how richly, how neatly, they are dressed, clothed most gorgeously; how well they sit a horse; they are horsemen riding on horses; how charmingly they look, all of them desirable young men." And thus they grew to affect every thing that was foreign and to despise their own nation; and even the religion of it was mean and homely, and not to be compared with the curiosity and gaiety of the heathen temples. Thus she increased her whoredoms; she fell in love, fell in league, with the Chaldeans. Hezekiah himself was faulty this way when he was proud of the court which the king of Babylon made to him and complimented his ambassadors with the sight of all his treasures, Isa 39:2. And the humour increased (Eze 23:14); she doted upon the pictures of the Babylonian captains (Eze 23:15,16), joined in alliance with that kingdom, invited them to come and settle in Jerusalem, that they might refine the genius of the Jewish nation and make it more polite; nay, they sent for patterns of their images, altars, and temples, and made use of them in their worship. Thus was she polluted with her whoredoms (Eze 23:17), and thereby she discovered her own whoredom (Eze 23:18), her own strong inclination to idolatry. And when she had had enough of the Chaldeans, and grew tired of them and disposed to break her league with them, as Jehoiakim and Zedekiah did, her mind being alienated from them, she courted the Egyptians, doted upon their paramours (Eze 23:20), would come into an alliance with them, and, to strengthen the alliance, would join with them in their idolatries and then depend upon them to be their protectors from all other nations; for so wise, so rich, so strong, was the Egyptian nation, and came to such perfection in idolatry, that there was no nation now which they could take such satisfaction in as in Egypt. Thus they called to remembrance the days of their youth (Eze 23:19), the lewdness of their youth, Eze 23:21. 1. They pleased themselves with the remembrance of it. When they began to set their affections upon Egypt, they encouraged themselves to put a confidence in that kingdom, because of the old acquaintance they had with it, as if they still retained the gust and relish of the leeks and onions they ate there, or rather of the idolatrous worship they learned there, and brought up with them thence. When they began an acquaintance with Egypt they remembered how merrily their fathers worshipped the golden calf, what music and dancing they had at that sport, which they learned in Egypt; and they hoped they should now have a fair pretence to come to that again. Thus she multiplied her whoredoms, repeated her former whoredoms, and encouraged herself to close with present temptations, by calling to remembrance the days of her youth. Note, Those who, instead of reflecting upon their former sins with sorrow and shame, reflect upon them with pleasure and pride, contract new guilt thereby, strengthen their own corruptions, and in effect bid defiance to repentance. This is returning with the dog to his vomit. 2. They called it God's remembrance, and provoked him to remember it against them. God had said indeed that he would reckon with them for the golden calf, that idol of Egypt (Ex 32:34); but such was his patience that he seemed to have forgotten it till they, by their league now with the Egyptians against the Chaldeans, did, as it were, put him in mind of it; and in the day when he visits he will now, as he has said, visit for that. It is very observable how this adulteress changes her lovers: she dotes first on the Assyrians; then she thought the Chaldeans finer and courted them; after a while her mind was alienated from them, and she thought the Egyptians more powerful (Eze 23:20) and she must contract an intimacy with them. This shows the folly, (1.) Of fleshly lusts; when they are indulged they grow humoursome and fickle, are soon surfeited but never satisfied; they must have variety, and what is loved one day is loathed the next. Unius adulterium matrimonium vocant—One adultery is called marriage, as Seneca observes. (2.) Of idolatry. Those who think one God too little will not think a hundred sufficient, but will still be for trying more, as finding all insufficient. (3.) Of seeking to creatures for help; we go from one to another, but are disappointed in them all, and can never rest till we have made the God of Israel our help.
II. The faithful God justly gives a bill of divorce to this now faithless city, that has become a harlot. His jealousy soon discovered her lewdness (Eze 23:13): I saw that she was defiled, that she was debauched, and saw which way her inclination was, that the two sisters both took one way, and that Jerusalem grew worse than Samaria. For, if we stretch out our hand to a strange god, will not God search this out? No doubt he will; and when he has found it can he be pleased with it? No (Eze 23:18): Then my mind was alienated from her, as it was from her sister. How could the pure and holy God any longer take delight in such a lewd generation? Note, Sin alienates God's mind from the sinner, and justly, for it is the alienation of the sinner's mind from God; but woe, and a thousand woes, to those from whom God's mind is alienated; for whom he turns from he will turn against.
22-35
The Punishment of Jerusalem (591 BC)
耶路撒冷的刑罰（主前591年）
²² 主耶和華如此說：阿荷利巴啊，看哪，我必激動你先所愛、而後心裏生疏的那些人來攻擊你；我必使他們從四圍來攻擊你。 ²³ 他們就是巴比倫人、迦勒底的眾人、比割人、書亞人、哥亞人，又同著他們一切的亞述人；他們都是俊美的少年人，是作省長、副省長、都作軍長、有名望的，全都騎著馬。 ²⁴ 他們必帶戰車、輜重車和兵丁來攻擊你；又有一大隊民從四圍擺列盾牌、擋牌、頭盔來攻擊你；我必將審判的事交在他們手中，他們要按自己的條例審判你。 ²⁵ 我必以忌恨待你；他們必以忿怒辦你：他們必割去你的鼻子和耳朵；你必剩下的餘民倒在刀下；他們必擄去你的兒女；你剩下的餘民必被火所吞滅。 ²⁶ 他們必剝去你的衣服，奪取你華美的寶器。 ²⁷ 這樣，我必使你的淫行從你中間止息，使你從埃及地帶出來的淫亂不再發生；以致你不再仰望他們，也不再記念埃及。 ²⁸ 主耶和華如此說：看哪，我必將你交在你所恨惡的人手中，交在你心裏所生疏的人手中。 ²⁹ 他們必以恨惡待你，奪去你一切勞碌得來的，留你赤身露體；你淫亂的下體和你的淫行並邪淫都必顯露出來。 ³⁰ 我向你行這些事，因為你在各國中隨從外邦人行淫，又因你被他們的偶像玷污了。 ³¹ 你走你姐姐所行的路，所以我必將她的杯交在你手中。 ³² 主耶和華如此說：你必喝你姐姐的杯，那杯又深又廣，盛得甚多，使你被人嗤笑譏刺。 ³³ 你必滿受酩酊愁苦，喝那使人驚駭荒涼的杯，就是你姐姐撒瑪利亞的杯。 ³⁴ 你必喝盡這杯，甚至從渣滓中吸出來；又必打碎那杯的瓦片，揪自己的乳頭；因為這是我說的。這是主耶和華說的。 ³⁵ 主耶和華如此說：因你忘記我，將我丟在背後，所以你要擔當你的淫行和淫亂。
耶路撒冷以「阿荷利巴」之名被起訴，因她作為天上的神—她至高的主—的虛謊叛徒，眼中不畏懼祂，卻被魔鬼的煽動所驅使，背叛了對祂的效忠，圖謀要擺脫祂的統治，一直與祂的仇敵、以及那些妄稱神明者保持往來並結盟，藐視祂的王冠和尊嚴。對這起訴她辯稱無罪：「我沒有被玷污；我沒有隨從巴力。」但憑著那眾所周知的事實證據，對她的定罪成立，她也因之被定罪，沒有任何實質理由可提出為何不應依法判決和執行刑罰。因此，在這些經文中我們看到了判決。
I. 她昔日的盟友必成為她的行刑者；那些她曾討好、引導她犯罪的，如今將被用作懲罰她的工具（Eze 23:22）：「我必激動你的先所愛的人來攻擊你」，就是迦勒底人—你從前如此仰慕、如此渴望與之結交，但後來你的心與他們疏遠，又背信棄義地廢棄了與他們所立的約。他們被稱為「你的先所愛的人」（Eze 23:22），卻又是你所恨惡的（Eze 23:28）。請注意，罪中之愛很快就會化為仇恨，正如暗嫩之於他瑪。任性而不講理的人，往往對不久前他們還狂熱擁護的人和事變得極其激烈地反對。愚妄人走極端；不僅如此，就是智慧人有時也有理由改變看法。因此，正如我們當喜樂也當哀哭，卻如同不喜樂不哀哭一般；我們當愛也當恨，卻如同不愛不恨一般。Ita ama tanquam osurus—愛時當想到日後或許有理由厭棄。
II. 將要臨到她的刑罰極其可怕。
1. 她的仇敵必「從四圍」來攻擊她（Eze 23:22），就是組成迦勒底軍隊的各國人馬（Eze 23:23），他們全是「有名的軍長」、「大有名望的人」，其排場、威儀和華美的外表，在他們以朋友身分來保護和庇護耶路撒冷時使他們看來更可親，但當他們來懲罰耶路撒冷的背叛、決意將其傾覆時，卻使他們更為可畏。(1) 他們將以強大的軍事力量來到（Eze 23:24），帶著配備一切營地所需物資的「戰車和輜重車」，帶著軍械彈藥、糧草輜重，以及一支龐大而裝備精良的軍隊。(2) 他們有正義在己方：「我必將審判的事交在他們手中」（他們有理也有力；因為巴比倫王有正當理由向猶大王開戰，因為他違背了與他所立的盟約），「因此他們要審判你，不僅按著神的審判，作為祂公義的工具來懲罰你對祂的侮辱，而且按著他們的條例，按著萬國的法律來懲罰你對他們的背信棄義。」(3) 他們將以極大的烈怒和怨恨進行這場戰爭。這是一場報復性的戰爭，他們「必以恨惡待你」（Eze 23:29）。這將使刑罰更加嚴厲，因為他們的劍彷彿蘸了毒藥。你恨他們，他們也必以恨惡待你；恨人的必被恨惡，也必被惡待。(4) 神自己必親自率領他們，祂的怒氣必與他們的怒氣交織（Eze 23:25）：「我必以忌恨待你」；這忌恨要點燃這火，然後「他們必以忿怒辦你」。若人以極大的恨惡和烈怒待我們，但只要神站在我們這邊，我們就不必懼怕他們；他們不能真正傷害我們。但若人以烈怒待我們，而神也以祂的忌恨對付我們，我們將如何是好呢？
2. 對這聲名狼藉的淫婦所判的具體刑罰是：(1) 她所有的一切都將被沒收。她用以向情人推薦自己的「衣服」和「華美的寶器」，必被剝去（Eze 23:26）。他們國家榮華的一切裝飾都將被奪走：「他們必奪去你一切勞碌得來的，就是一切你辛勤得來的，又留你赤身露體」（Eze 23:29）。城鄉都必荒涼，兩者的財富盡被席捲。(2) 她的兒女必被擄去。「他們必擄去你的兒女，使他們為奴」（Eze 23:25）；因為他們是「淫亂所生的兒女」，不配得以色列人的尊榮和特權」（Ho 2:4）。(3) 她必受凌辱並被毀容：「他們必割去你的鼻子和耳朵，必給你打上妓女的記號，使你永遠被人憎惡」（Eze 23:25）。這暗示了迦勒底士兵對落入他們手中的猶太人施行的許多殘酷行為，他們很可能以野蠻的方式對待他們。有人認為這是象徵性的解釋：鼻子代表王權，耳朵代表祭司的尊榮。(4) 她必被暴露於羞辱之中：「你的淫行和淫亂必顯露」（Eze 23:29），正如罪犯受刑時，他一切的罪行都被翻出來重述，以加重其恥辱；那時隱密的事都見了光，那時很久以前所作的也被記起。(5) 她必被徹底剪除和毀滅：「逃脫了饑荒和瘟疫的餘民必倒在刀下；未被攻塌在你頭上的房屋的餘數必被火所吞滅」（Eze 23:25）。這將是耶路撒冷的結局。
III. 因為她追隨了撒瑪利亞犯罪的腳步，她必不能期望別的命運，唯有撒瑪利亞的結局。在宣判時參考先例是常見的；神在對耶路撒冷宣判時也是如此（Eze 23:31等）：「你走你姐姐所行的路，不顧你已得到的警告—她罪惡所招致的致命後果；因此我必將她的杯，就是她那份苦難，交在你手中，是耶和華烈怒的杯，對你將是使人驚惶的杯。」如今：1. 這杯被稱為「又深又廣」、「盛得甚多」（Eze 23:32），盛滿了神的忿怒和那忿怒所結的許多苦難。這杯正如我們所讀到的（Jer 25:15-16）。神烈怒的杯盛得極多，落入其手的人必將發現如此。2. 他們必被迫喝盡這杯的渣滓，正如惡人被說成要喝的（Ps 75:8）：「你必喝盡這杯，甚至從渣滓中吸出來」，不是因為甘甜，而是因為被迫（Eze 23:34）；「你又必打碎那杯的瓦片，揪自己的乳頭」，因這杯極度的苦澀而憤怒，因為它「滿了耶和華的烈怒」（Isa 51:20），正如人在極大痛苦中揪自己的頭髮，將一切東西拋開。發現毫無辦法，必須喝下（因為「這是我說的，主耶和華說的」），你在喝的時候必毫無忍耐。3. 他們必被這杯灌醉，變得生病，不知所措，如同醉酒的人，步履蹣跚，東倒西歪，隨時會跌倒（Eze 23:33）：「你必滿受酩酊愁苦。」請注意，醉酒必有愁苦相伴，程度之大，以至於這裏以極度的混亂和驚駭來形容它。誰會想到，那對天性如此強暴、對人性如此羞辱的事—剝奪人的理智，使人極度混亂，因此表達了極大的痛苦—竟然會是許多人所鍾愛的罪，他們竟寧可毀滅自己的靈魂來麻醉自己的身體？「誰有禍患？誰有愁苦？」（Pr 23:29）。4. 既然如此沉醉，他們必成為周圍一切人的笑柄，正如醉漢活該被嘲笑（Eze 23:32）：「你必被人嗤笑譏刺」，彷彿你所行的一切都荒唐可笑。當神要毀滅一個民族時，祂「使她們的官長成為愚昧人」，「將君王藐視」（Job 12:17, 21）。
IV. 在這一切中神必顯為公義，藉著這一切他們必被煉淨；因此這事的結局終究是神的榮耀和他們的益處。1. 他們壞到極處，這證明了神所加於他們的一切都是公義的（Eze 23:30）：「我向你行這些事，因為你在各國中隨從外邦人行淫」，又（Eze 23:35）「因為你忘記我，將我丟在背後」。請注意，忘記神、輕看神—忘記祂的眼目鑒察我們和祂對我們的權柄—是一切對祂背信棄義、如淫婦般離棄祂的根源。人所以隨從偶像，是因為他們忘記了神和他們對祂的義務；他們若不是先將神「丟在背後」，視為不值得顧念的，怎能以如此多的貪戀和喜悅注視罪的餌呢？那些如此侮辱神的人，怎能以為這不至終反過來臨到自己呢？「所以你要擔當你的淫行和淫亂」；就是說，你必「受其刑罰」，並且你必獨自「承擔罪責」。人要沉淪，不需要別的，只需自己罪孽的重量；那些不肯放棄淫行和淫亂的人，必須擔當它們。2. 他們必變得更好、好得多，這火雖然吞噬了許多人，卻必煉淨餘民（Eze 23:27）：「這樣，我必使你的淫行止息。」因他們的罪而臨到的審判，使他們與自己的罪分離了，終於教導他們說：「我們與偶像還有甚麼關係呢？」請注意：(1) 這病何等根深蒂固：「你從埃及地帶出來的淫亂。」他們拜偶像的傾向既早又與生俱來，他們拜偶像的行為由來已久，又因長期的習慣而彷彿取得了某種特權。(2) 然而這醫治是何等徹底：「雖然已經生根，卻必被止息，使你甚至不再仰望偶像，也不再以喜悅的心記念埃及。」他們必遠避這罪的機會，因為他們甚至不再看偶像一眼，免得他們的心不知不覺地「隨從眼目而行」。他們必放棄對它的一切傾向：「他們必不再記念埃及；他們必不再保留從他們國家嬰兒時期就有的對偶像的任何感情。」他們在埃及為奴時因本性敗壞而染上了它，又在巴比倫被擄時因神的恩典而失去了它—這正是被擄所結的蒙福果子，就是「除掉罪」、「那罪」；因此，在被擄之前，沒有一個民族（考慮到一切因素）比他們更猛烈地追逐偶像和偶像崇拜，而在被擄之後，也沒有一個民族比他們更激烈地反對偶像和偶像崇拜，以至於時至今日，羅馬教會中所行的形象崇拜，比任何事物更堅定了猶太人對基督教信仰的偏見。
英文原文
The Punishment of Jerusalem (591 BC)
²² Therefore, O Aholibah, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy mind is alienated, and I will bring them against thee on every side;
²³ The Babylonians, and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them: all of them desirable young men, captains and rulers, great lords and renowned, all of them riding upon horses.
²⁴ And they shall come against thee with chariots, waggons, and wheels, and with an assembly of people, which shall set against thee buckler and shield and helmet round about: and I will set judgment before them, and they shall judge thee according to their judgments.
²⁵ And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall deal furiously with thee: they shall take away thy nose and thine ears; and thy remnant shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons and thy daughters; and thy residue shall be devoured by the fire.
²⁶ They shall also strip thee out of thy clothes, and take away thy fair jewels.
²⁷ Thus will I make thy lewdness to cease from thee, and thy whoredom brought from the land of Egypt: so that thou shalt not lift up thine eyes unto them, nor remember Egypt any more.
²⁸ For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will deliver thee into the hand of them whom thou hatest, into the hand of them from whom thy mind is alienated:
²⁹ And they shall deal with thee hatefully, and shall take away all thy labour, and shall leave thee naked and bare: and the nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be discovered, both thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.
³⁰ I will do these things unto thee, because thou hast gone a whoring after the heathen, and because thou art polluted with their idols.
³¹ Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister; therefore will I give her cup into thine hand.
³² Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou shalt drink of thy sister's cup deep and large: thou shalt be laughed to scorn and had in derision; it containeth much.
³³ Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of thy sister Samaria.
³⁴ Thou shalt even drink it and suck it out, and thou shalt break the sherds thereof, and pluck off thine own breasts: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
³⁵ Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast forgotten me, and cast me behind thy back, therefore bear thou also thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.
Jerusalem stands indicted by the name of Aholibah, for that she, as a false traitor to her sovereign Lord the God of heaven, not having his fear before her eyes, but moved by the instigation of the devil, had revolted from her allegiance to him, had compassed and imagined to shake off his government, had kept up a correspondence had joined in confederacy with his enemies, and the pretenders to a deity, in contempt of his crown and dignity. To this indictment she has pleaded, Not guilty: I am not polluted; I have not gone after Baalim. But it is found against her by the notorious evidence of the fact, and she stands convicted of it, nor has any thing material to offer why judgment should not be given and execution awarded according to law. In these verses, therefore, we have the sentence.
I. Her old confederates must be her executioners; and those whom she had courted to be her leaders in sin are now to be employed as instruments of her punishment (Eze 23:22): "I will raise up thy lovers against thee, the Chaldeans, whom formerly thou didst so much admire and covet an acquaintance with, but from whom thy mind is since alienated and with whom thou hast perfidiously broken covenant." They are called thy lovers (Eze 23:22) and yet (Eze 23:28) those whom thou hatest. Note, It is common for sinful love soon to turn into hatred; as Amnon's to Tamar. Those of headstrong and unreasonable passions are often very hot against those persons and things that a little before they were as hot for. Fools run into extremes; nay, and wise men may see cause to change their sentiments. And therefore, as we should rejoice and weep as if we rejoiced not and wept not, so we should love and hate as if we loved not and hated not. Ita ama tanquam osurus—Love as one who may have cause to feel aversion.
II. The execution to be done upon her is very terrible.
1. Her enemies shall come against her on every side (Eze 23:22), those of the several nations that constituted the Chaldean army (Eze 23:23), all of them great lords and renowned, whose pomp, and grandeur, and splendid appearance made them look the more amiable when they came as friends to protect and patronise Jerusalem, but the more formidable when they came to chastise its treachery and aimed at no less than its ruin. (1.) They shall come with a great deal of military force (Eze 23:24), with chariots and wagons furnished with all necessary provisions for a camp, with arms and ammunition, bag and baggage, with a vast army, and well armed. (2.) They shall have justice on their side: "I will set judgment before them" (they shall have right with them as well as might; for the king of Babylon had just cause to make war upon the king of Judah, because he had broken his league with him), "and therefore they shall judge thee, not only according to God's judgments, as the instruments of his justice, to punish thee for the indignities done to him, but according to their judgments, according to the law of nations, to punish thee for thy perfidious dealings with them." (3.) They shall prosecute the war with a great deal of fury and resentment. It being a war of revenge, they shall deal with thee hatefully, Eze 23:29. This will make the execution the more severe that their swords will be dipped in poison. Thou hatest them, and they shall deal hatefully with thee; those that hate will be hated and will be hatefully dealt with. (4.) God himself will lead them on, and his anger shall be mingled with theirs (Eze 23:25): I will set my jealousy against thee; that shall kindle this fire, and then they shall deal furiously with thee. If men deal ever so hatefully, ever so furiously, with us, yet, if we have God on our side, we need not fear them; they can do us no real hurt. But if men deal furiously with us, and God set his jealousy against us too, what will become of us?
2. The particulars of the sentence here passed upon this notorious adulteress are, (1.) That all she has shall be seized on. The clothes and the fair jewels, with which she had endeavoured to recommend herself to her lovers, these she shall be stripped of, Eze 23:26. All those things that were the ornaments of their state shall be taken away: "They shall take away all thy labour, all that thou hast gotten by thy labour, and shall leave thee naked and bare," Eze 23:29. Both city and country shall be impoverished and all the wealth of both swept away. (2.) That her children shall go into captivity. "They shall take thy sons and thy daughters, and make slaves of them (Eze 23:25); for they are children of whoredoms, unworthy the dignities and privileges of Israelites," Ho 2:4. (3.) That she shall be stigmatized and deformed: "They shall take away thy nose and thy ears, shall mark thee for a harlot, and render thee for ever odious," Eze 23:25. This intimates the many cruelties of the Chaldean soldiers towards the Jews that fell into their hands, whom, it is probable, they used barbarously. Some will have this to be understood figuratively; and by the nose they think is meant the kingly dignity, and by the ears that of the priesthood. (4.) That she shall be exposed to shame: Thy lewdness and thy whoredoms shall be discovered (Eze 23:29), as, when a malefactor is punished, all his crimes are ripped up, and repeated to his disgrace; what was secret then comes to light, and what was done long since is then called to mind. (5.) That she shall be quite cut off and ruined: "The remnant of thy people that have escaped the famine and pestilence shall fall by the sword; and the residue of thy houses that have not been battered down about thy ears shall be devoured by the fire," Eze 23:25. And this shall be the end of Jerusalem.
III. Because she has trod in the steps of Samaria's sins, she must expect no other than Samaria's fate. It is common, in giving judgment, to have an eye to precedents; so has God in passing this sentence on Jerusalem (Eze 23:31, etc.): "Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister, notwithstanding the warning thou hast had given thee, by the fatal consequences of her wickedness; and therefore I will give her cup, her portion of miseries, into thy hand, the cup of the Lord's fury, which will be to thee a cup of trembling." Now, 1. This cup is said to be deep and large, and to contain much (Eze 23:32), abundance of God's wrath and abundance of miseries, the fruits of that wrath. It is such a cup as that which we read of, Jer 25:15,16. The cup of divine vengeance holds a great deal, and so those will find into whose hand it shall be put. 2. They shall be made to drink the very dregs of this cup, as the wicked are said to do (Ps 75:8): "Thou shalt drink it and suck it out, not because it is pleasant, but because it is forced upon thee (Eze 23:34); thou shalt break the shreds thereof, and pluck off thy own breasts, for indignation at the extreme bitterness of this cup, being full of the fury of the Lord (Isa 51:20), as men in great anguish tear their hair, and throw every thing from them. Finding there is no remedy, but it must be drank (for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God), thou shalt have no manner of patience in the drinking of it." 3. They shall be intoxicated by it, made sick, and be at their wits' end, as men in drink are, staggering, and stumbling, and ready to fall (Eze 23:33): Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow. Note, Drunkenness has sorrow attending it, to such a degree that the utmost confusion and astonishment are here represented by it. Who would think that that which is such a force upon nature, such a scandal to it, which deprives men of their reason, disorders them to the last degree, and is therefore expressive of the greatest misery, should yet be with many a beloved sin, that they should damn their own souls to distemper their own bodies? Who has woe and sorrow like them? Pr 23:29. 4. Being so intoxicated, they shall become, as drunkards deserve to be, a laughing-stock to all about them (Eze 23:32): Thou shalt be laughed to scorn and had in derision, as acting ridiculously in every thing thou goest about. When God is about to ruin a people he makes their judges fools and pours contempt on their princes, Job 12:17,21.
IV. In all this God will be justified, and by all this they will be reformed; and so the issue even of this will be God's glory and their good. 1. They have been bad, very bad, and that justifies God in all that is brought upon them (Eze 23:30): I will do these things unto thee because thou hast gone a whoring after the heathen, and (Eze 23:35) because thou hast forgotten me and cast me behind thy back. Note, Forgetfulness of God, and a contempt of him, of his eye upon us and authority over us, are at the bottom of all our treacherous adulterous departures from him. Therefore men wander after idols, because they forget God, and their obligations to him; nor could they look with so much desire and delight upon the baits of sin if they did not first cast God behind their back, as not worthy to be regarded. And those who put such an affront upon God, how can they think but that it should turn upon themselves at last? Therefore bear thou also thy lewdness and thy whoredoms; that is, thou shalt suffer the punishment of them, and thou alone must bear the blame. Men need no more to sink them than the weight of their own sins; and those who will not part with their lewdness and their whoredoms must bear them. 2. They shall be better, much better, and this fire, though consuming to many, shall be refining to a remnant (Eze 23:27): Thus will I make thy lewdness to cease from thee. The judgments which were brought upon them by their sins parted between them and their sins, and taught them at length to say, What have we to do any more with idols? Observe, (1.) How inveterate the disease was: Thy whoredoms were brought from the land of Egypt. Their disposition to idolatry was early and innate, their practice of it was ancient, and had gained a sort of prescription by long usage. (2.) How complete the cure was notwithstanding: "Though it has taken root, yet it shall be made to cease, so that thou shalt not so much as lift up thy eyes to the idols again, nor remember Egypt with pleasure any more." They shall avoid the occasions of this sin, for they shall not so much as look upon an idol, lest their hearts should unawares walk after their eyes. And they shall abandon all inclinations to it: "They shall not remember Egypt; they shall not retain any of that affection for idols which they had from the very infancy of their nation." They got it, through the corruption of nature, in their bondage in Egypt, and lost it, through the grace of God, in their captivity in Babylon, which this was the blessed fruit of, even the taking away of sin, of that sin; so that whereas, before the captivity, no nation (all things considered) was more impetuously bent upon idols and idolatry than they were, after that captivity no nation was more vehemently set against idols and idolatry than they were, insomuch that at this day the image-worship which is practised in the church of Rome confirms the Jews as much as any thing in their prejudices against the Christian religion.
36-49
Israel and Judah Accused; Judgments Predicted (591 BC)
以色列和猶大被控告；審判的預告（主前591年）
³⁶ 耶和華又對我說：人子啊，你要審判阿荷拉和阿荷利巴嗎？當將她們所行可憎之事指示她們。 ³⁷ 她們行了淫亂，手中有殺人的血；又與偶像行淫，又將自己所生的兒女—就是為我生的—焚燒獻給偶像為祭。 ³⁸ 她們又向我行了這事：同日玷污我的聖所，干犯我的安息日。 ³⁹ 她們殺了兒女獻給偶像，當日又進入我的聖所褻瀆它；看哪，她們在我殿中如此行。 ⁴⁰ 況且你們打發人從遠方來；使者奉差遣到你們這裏，正如你們所求的；看哪，他們來了；你們為他們沐浴、畫眼、披戴裝飾。 ⁴¹ 坐在華美的床上，面前擺設陳設的桌子，其上擺放我的香和我的油。 ⁴² 眾人安逸的聲音在她那裏；從曠野與平庸之徒同來的 Sabaeans，將鐲子戴在他們手上，將美冠戴在他們頭上。 ⁴³ 我對那在淫亂中老練的婦人說：他們如今還與她行淫嗎？她也與他們行淫嗎？ ⁴⁴ 但他們與她同寢，如同人與妓女同寢；他們就這樣與阿荷拉和阿荷利巴這兩個淫婦同寢。 ⁴⁵ 必有義人審判她們，按淫婦和流人血之婦人的條例審判她們；因為她們是淫婦，手中有血。 ⁴⁶ 主耶和華如此說：我必使一隊人上來攻擊她們，使她們成為驚惶和掠物。 ⁴⁷ 這隊人必用石頭打死她們，用刀劍殺滅她們；又必殺她們的兒女，用火焚燒她們的房屋。 ⁴⁸ 這樣，我必使淫行從這地止息，使一切婦人受警戒，不再效法你們的淫行。 ⁴⁹ 他們必將你們的淫行報應在你們頭上，你們也必擔當你們偶像的罪；你們就知道我是主耶和華。」
十支派被擄之後，那國完全荒涼，其餘剩下的人漸漸與猶大國合併，許多人在耶路撒冷定居；所以這「兩姐妹」實際上又成為「一個」了；因此，在這些經文中，先知將如此聯合的人一併審問：「你要審判阿荷拉和阿荷利巴嗎？」（Eze 23:36）。你要為她們找藉口嗎？你看到這事壞到不能容忍藉口了。或者更確切地說：「你如今要奉神的名去審判她們」（Eze 20:4）。這事在聯合之後更壞而非更好了。」
I. 讓她們看見自己所犯的罪：「公開而大膽地將她們所行可憎之事指示她們。」1. 她們犯了明顯的拜偶像之罪，此處稱為「淫亂」。「她們與偶像行淫」（Eze 23:37），背棄了與神所立的婚約，在敬拜神中追求屬肉體感官之心的滿足。這是他要控告她們的第一個、也是最壞的可憎之事。2. 她們犯了最野蠻的謀殺—將兒女獻給摩洛，這罪如此違背天性，她們理當在一切場合聽見：「手中有血」，無辜的血，她們自己兒女的血，她們使之「經火」（Eze 23:37），不是為了將他們獻給偶像，而是為了吞噬他們—這表明她們愛偶像勝過世上最親愛的。3. 她們褻瀆了神用以尊榮和分別她們的聖物：「她們向我行了這事」，如此侮辱、如此傷害（Eze 23:38）。對聖物的一切輕視都歸於那聖潔的源頭，一切被稱為聖的，都是因與祂的關係而得名。神在他們中間設立了祂的聖所，他們卻褻瀆了它—使之成為買賣之地、賊窩；不，更壞的是；他們在那裏設立偶像並敬拜，在那裏流了神先知的血。神向他們啟示了祂的聖安息日，他們卻褻瀆了它—在裏面作各樣奴役的工，或者也許在那日以體育和娛樂，不僅被實行，更被權柄允許和鼓勵。他們在「褻瀆安息日」的「同一日」「玷污了聖所」。在任何日子玷污聖所已經夠壞了，但在安息日如此行更是加重。我們常說「日子越好事越好」；但此處是日子越壞事更壞。神留意罪的加重情節。祂指出（Eze 23:39）他們對聖所和安息日的褻瀆是甚麼。「他們殺了自己的兒女，獻給偶像」，大大羞辱了神和人性；然後在「同一天」來到「神的聖所」—雙手沾滿兒女的血、衣服染著血跡—不是為所行的求赦免，而是如同其他以色列人一樣來到祂面前，期望得蒙悅納，儘管他們犯了這些惡行；彷彿神要麼不知道他們的邪惡，要麼不恨惡它。如此他們「褻瀆了聖所」，彷彿那是最壞罪犯的保護；因為他們「在祂的殿中如此行了」。請注意，當那些明顯而公然不敬虔邪惡的人厚顏無恥、不知悔改地強行闖入神莊嚴條例的事奉和特權時，就是褻瀆了神的條例。「不要把聖物給狗。」「朋友，你怎麼到這裏來呢？」4. 她們追求外邦聯盟，以此為榮，並在其中寄予信靠。這也被以淫亂之罪來代表，因為這是離棄神—不僅單單當向祂而非偶像效忠，更當單單在祂裏面而非受造物中寄予信靠。以色列是獨特的子民，必須「獨居」，不「列在萬民中」；當他們渴慕像他們一樣或與他們結盟時，就是褻瀆了他們的冠冕，將自己的尊榮拋在塵土中。但他們如今行了這事；他們與亞述人、迦勒底人和埃及人—當時最負盛名和最強大的國家—訂立了嚴格的盟約；卻輕看與鄰近小國小邦的結盟，而那些本可以對他們有更大的實際幫助。請注意，渴慕與大人物交往通信，往往是敬虔之人的網羅。讓我們看看耶路撒冷如何追求她的高位盟友，以此以為自己可觀。(1) 她私下請求差遣正式使節到她這裏（Eze 23:40）：你們「打發使者去請遠方的人來」。看來鄰舍並不渴望與耶路撒冷結盟，但她強加於他們，暗中派人去求他們來追求她：「看哪，他們來了。」最智慧和最好的人也可能無可避免地被捲入與不敬虔邪惡之人的交往；但渴慕與他們親密並追求這樣的交往，卻不是智慧或善的記號。(2) 為接待這些外國使節—他們的公開入城和公開覲見—作了大量的預備，被比作淫婦為使自己看來美麗而費的工夫。如耶洗別那樣，你「畫了眼」、「披戴了裝飾」（Eze 23:40）。君王和首領為自己做了新衣，佈置了國事廳，美化傢具，使之煥然一新。你「坐在華美的床上」（Eze 23:41），莊嚴的寶座上；「擺設了桌子，其上擺放了我的香和我的油」。這或者，[1] 為大使們設的筵席，一頓與其他預備相稱的豐盛宴席。有香使房間芬芳，有油膏他們的頭。或者，[2] 一座已經為大使們在他們偶像的敬拜中備好的壇，讓他們知道以色列人並不那麼拘謹，可以容許外國人在他們中間自由行使他們的宗教，並為他們提供禮拜堂，甚至如此奉承他們以至於加入他們的敬拜；雖然他們神的律法反對，他們卻能輕易放過自己來遷就朋友。神稱那油和香為「祂的」，不僅因為那是祂護理的恩賜，更因為那本當獻在祂的壇上，這加重了他們用來事奉偶像和拜偶像者之罪（Ho 2:8）。(3) 他們的來到帶來極大的歡樂，彷彿耶路撒冷從未有過如此福氣（Eze 23:42）：「眾人安逸的聲音在她那裏。」百姓非常安逸，因為如今有了如此強大的盟友，他們以為自己非常安全幸福；因此以響亮的歡呼和喜樂的呼喊迎接使節。為此場合有大量的人湧入宮廷。「平庸之徒」在那裏為莊嚴的場合增光，增加人群；「與他們同來的還有從曠野來的 Sabaeans」。旁註讀作「從曠野來的酒徒」，他們要為這大聯盟的昌盛乾杯，並強迫別人也如此行，在這場合最為喧嚷。無論他們是誰，為了向使節致敬，他們將「鐲子戴在他們手上，美冠戴在他們頭上」，使行列看來十分壯觀。(4) 神藉著先知警告他們不要與外邦人訂立這些危險的盟約（Eze 23:43）：「那時我對那在淫亂中老練的婦人說」，她從起初就喜歡與外邦人結盟、與他們聯姻（Jdg 3:6），後來又與他們的國家結盟，雖多次在其中失望，卻從不肯被勸阻（這就是她在其中老練的淫亂），我說：「*他們如今還與她行淫，她也與他們行淫嗎？*想必到如今經驗和觀察已經使雙方都相信，猶太國與外邦國之間的聯盟絕不能對任何一方有利。」他們是「鐵和泥」，不能混合，神也不會賜福這樣的聯盟或對之微笑。但看來她在這些淫亂中的老練，非但沒有如人所料使她厭棄，反而使她在其中更加無恥和貪得無厭；因為雖然她被警戒了這事的愚昧，「他們卻與她同寢」（Eze 23:44）。交易很快達成，先是與這個、然後與那個外國訂立了盟約。撒瑪利亞如此行，耶路撒冷也如此行，如同淫婦。她們不能安於神律法和眷顧的懷抱中，不能安於祂所賜的保護之保證；她們不能認為祂與她們所立的約是足夠的安全保障。她們必須藉條約和盟約—她們認為是精明的、精心策劃的—將自己投入外國君王的懷抱，將她們的利益置於他們的保護之下。請注意，那些以世界的奢華為樂、信靠世界的財富和「肉体的膀臂」（Jer 17:5）的心，是從神那裏行了淫亂。
II. 讓她們預見因這些罪將臨到她們的審判（Eze 23:45）：「必有義人審判她們。」有人將毀滅她們的工具理解為那要審判她們的義人。毀滅撒瑪利亞的亞述人、毀滅耶路撒冷的迦勒底人，相對而言是義的，在人與人之間有正義感，公正地怨恨猶太民族的背信棄義；然而他們執行了神的審判，我們確知那些都是公義的。也有人理解為先知，他們的職分是奉神的名審判她們、宣告判決。或者我們可以將此理解為向一切義人—一切有正義感的人—的上訴；他們都要審判這些城，並在判決上意見一致：既然她們明顯犯了淫亂和謀殺之罪，且罪責是全國性的，因此她們理當承受法律對個人身分行淫和殺人的婦人所施加的刑罰。義人必說：「流血污穢的城為何比流血污穢的人受罰更輕呢？」「我請你審判」（Isa 5:3）。義人如此判決之後，公義的神必下令執行。請看：1. 執行的內容（Eze 23:46-47），與先前（Eze 23:23等）相同。神要使「一隊」仇敵「上來攻擊她們」，那些仇敵即使在服事自己罪惡的情慾和私慾時，也必被用來服事祂聖潔的旨意。這些仇敵必輕易得勝，因為神要將她們「交在他們手中成為驚惶和掠物」；這隊人要像對待罪犯一樣「用石頭打死她們」，要將她們「挑出來」「用刀劍殺滅」；又如在嚴厲處決中有時所行的（如亞干的例子），他們要「殺她們的兒女，焚燒她們的房屋」。2. 其效果。(1) 她們要為自己的罪受罰：她們的「淫行必報應在她們頭上」（Eze 23:49）；她們也要「擔當她們偶像的罪」（Eze 23:35, 39）。如此神要維護祂被違犯之律法的尊榮和受損之治理的尊嚴，並讓世界知道祂是何等公義而嫉邪的神。(2) 她們要與自己的罪斷絕：「我必使淫行從這地止息」（Eze 23:27, 48）。神對自己城的毀滅，如同對聖徒之死一般，要為她們成就條例和先前的護理所不能成就的事；要完全除掉她們的罪，使耶路撒冷從灰燼中升起成為新團，如同金子從爐中出來時已從渣滓中煉淨。(3) 其他城邑和國家將因此得到清楚的警告遠離偶像：「使一切婦人受警戒，不再效法你們的淫行。」這就是懲罰罪犯的目的—使他們成為別人的鑑戒，使別人「看見而懼怕」。「責備褻慢人，愚蒙人就會謹慎」。神對一些人的審判是為了教導別人；那些從中領受教訓、不蹈罪人腳步、免得陷入他們網羅的人是有福的；那些要受此教導的人必「知道我是耶和華」（Eze 23:49），知道祂是世界的治理者，是在地上施行審判的神，在祂「並不偏待人」。
英文原文
Israel and Judah Accused; Judgments Predicted (591 BC)
³⁶ The LORD said moreover unto me; Son of man, wilt thou judge Aholah and Aholibah? yea, declare unto them their abominations;
³⁷ That they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands, and with their idols have they committed adultery, and have also caused their sons, whom they bare unto me, to pass for them through the fire, to devour them.
³⁸ Moreover this they have done unto me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths.
³⁹ For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it; and, lo, thus have they done in the midst of mine house.
⁴⁰ And furthermore, that ye have sent for men to come from far, unto whom a messenger was sent; and, lo, they came: for whom thou didst wash thyself, paintedst thy eyes, and deckedst thyself with ornaments,
⁴¹ And satest upon a stately bed, and a table prepared before it, whereupon thou hast set mine incense and mine oil.
⁴² And a voice of a multitude being at ease was with her: and with the men of the common sort were brought Sabeans from the wilderness, which put bracelets upon their hands, and beautiful crowns upon their heads.
⁴³ Then said I unto her that was old in adulteries, Will they now commit whoredoms with her, and she with them?
⁴⁴ Yet they went in unto her, as they go in unto a woman that playeth the harlot: so went they in unto Aholah and unto Aholibah, the lewd women.
⁴⁵ And the righteous men, they shall judge them after the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women that shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands.
⁴⁶ For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will bring up a company upon them, and will give them to be removed and spoiled.
⁴⁷ And the company shall stone them with stones, and dispatch them with their swords; they shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire.
⁴⁸ Thus will I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness.
⁴⁹ And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and ye shall bear the sins of your idols: and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
After the ten tribes were carried into captivity, and that kingdom was made quite desolate, the remains of it by degrees incorporated with the kingdom of Judah, and gained a settlement (many of them) in Jerusalem; so that the two sisters had in effect become one again; and therefore, in these verses, the prophet takes those to task jointly who were thus conjoined: "Wilt thou judge Aholah and Aholibah together? Eze 23:36. Wilt thou go about to frame an excuse for them? Thou seest the matter is so bad as not to bear an excuse." Or, rather, "Thou shalt now be employed, in God's name, to judge them, Eze 20:4. The matter is rather worse than better since the union."
I. Let them be made to see the sins they are guilty of: Declare unto them openly and boldly their abominations. 1. They have been guilty of gross idolatry, here called adultery. With their idols they have committed adultery (Eze 23:37), have broken their marriage-covenant with God, have lusted after the gratifications of a carnal sensual mind in the worship of God. This is the first and worst of the abominations he is to charge them with. 2. They have committed the most barbarous murders, in sacrificing their children to Moloch, a sin so unnatural that they deserve to hear of it upon all occasions: Blood is in their hands, innocent blood, the blood of their own children, which they have caused to pass through the fire (Eze 23:37), not that they might be dedicated to the idols, but that they might be devoured, a sign that they loved their idols better than that which was dearest to them in the world. 3. They have profaned the sacred things with which God had dignified and distinguished them: This they have done unto me, this indignity, this injury, Eze 23:38. Every contempt put upon that which is holy reflects upon him who is the fountain of holiness, and from a relation to whom whatever is called holy has its denomination. God had set up his sanctuary among them, but they defiled it, by making it a house of merchandise, a den of thieves; nay, and much worse; there they set up their idols and worshipped them, and there they shed the blood of God's prophets. God had revealed to them his holy sabbaths, but they profaned them, by doing all manner of servile work therein, or perhaps by sports and recreations on that day, not only practised, but allowed and encouraged by authority. They defiled the sanctuary on the same day that they profaned the sabbath. To defile the sanctuary was bad enough on any day, but to do it on the sabbath day was an aggravation. We commonly say, The better day the better deed; but here, the better day the worse deed. God takes notice of the circumstances of sin which add to the guilt. He shows (Eze 23:39) what was their profanation both of the sanctuary and of the sabbath. They slew their children, and sacrificed them to their idols, to the great dishonour both of God and of human nature; and then came, on the same day, their hands imbrued with the blood of their children and their clothes stained with it, to attend in God's sanctuary, not to ask pardon for what they had done, but to present themselves before him, as other Israelites did, expecting acceptance with him, notwithstanding these villanies which they were guilty of; as if God either did not know their wickedness or did not hate it. Thus they profaned the sanctuary, as if that were a protection to the worst of malefactors; for thus they did in the midst of his house. Note, It is a profanation of God's solemn ordinances when those that are grossly and openly profane and vicious impudently and impenitently so intrude upon the services and privileges of them. Give not that which is holy unto dogs. Friend, how camest thou in hither? 4. They have courted foreign alliances, been proud of them, and reposed a confidence in them. This also is represented by the sin of adultery, for it was a departure from God, not only to whom alone they ought to pay their homage and not to idols, but in whom alone they ought to put their trust, and not in creatures. Israel was a peculiar people, must dwell alone and not be reckoned among the nations; and they profane their crown, and lay their honour in the dust, when they covet to be like them or in league with them. But this they have now done; they have entered into strict alliances with the Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Egyptians, the most renowned and potent kingdoms at that time; but they scorned alliances with the petty kingdoms and states that lay near them, which yet might have been of more real service to them. Note, Affecting an acquaintance and correspondence with great people has often been a snare to good people. Let us see how Jerusalem courts her high allies, thinking thereby to make herself considerable. (1.) She privately requested that a public embassy might be sent to her (Eze 23:40): You sent a messenger for men to come from far. It seems, then, that the neighbours had no desire to come into a confederacy with Jerusalem, but she thrust herself upon them, and sent under-hand to desire them to court her: and, lo, they came. The wisest and best may be drawn unavoidably into company and conversation with profane and wicked people: but it is no sign either of wisdom or goodness to covet an intimacy with such and to court it. (2.) Great preparation was made for the reception of these foreign ministers, for their public entry and public audience, which is compared to the pains that an adulteress takes to make herself look handsome. Jezebel-like, thou paintedst thy face and deckedst thyself with ornaments, Eze 23:40. The king and princes made themselves new clothes, fitted up the rooms of state, beautified the furniture, and made it look fresh. Thou sattest upon a stately bed (Eze 23:41), a stately throne; a table was prepared, whereon thou has set my oil and my incense. This was either, [1.] A feast for the ambassadors, a noble treat, agreeable to the other preparations. There was incense to perfume the room and oil to anoint their heads. Or, [2.] An altar already furnished for the ambassadors' use in the worship of their idols, to let them know that the Israelites were not so strait-laced but that they could allow foreigners the free exercise of their religion among them, and furnish them with chapels, yea, and complimented them so far as to join with them in their devotions; though the law of their God was against it, yet they could easily dispense with themselves to oblige a friend. The oil and incense God calls his, not only because they were the gift of his providence, but because they should have been offered at his altar, which was an aggravation of their sin in serving idols and idolaters with them. See Ho 2:8. (3.) There was great joy at their coming, as if it were such a blessing as never happened to Jerusalem before (Eze 23:42): A voice of a multitude being at ease was with her. The people were very easy, for they thought themselves very safe and happy now that they had such powerful allies; and therefore attended the ambassadors with loud huzzas and acclamations of joy. A great confluence of people there was to the court upon this occasion. The men of the common sort were there to grace the solemnity, and to increase the crowd; and with them were brought Sabeans from the wilderness. The margin reads it drunkards from the wilderness, that would drink healths to the prosperity of this grand alliance, and force them upon others, and be most noisy in shouting upon this occasion. Whoever they were, in honour of the ambassadors they put bracelets upon their hands and beautiful crowns upon their heads, which made the cavalcade appear very splendid. (4.) God by his prophets warned them against making these dangerous leagues with foreigners (Eze 23:43): "Then said I unto her that was old in adulteries, that from the first was fond of leagues with the heathen, of matching with their families (Jdg 3:6), and afterwards of making alliances with their kingdoms, and, though often disappointed therein, would never be dissuaded from it (this was the adultery she was old in), I said, Will they now commit whoredoms with her and she with them? Surely experience and observation will by this time have convinced both them and her that an alliance between the nation of the Jews and a heathen nation can never be for the advantage of either." They are iron and clay, that will not mix, nor will God bless such an alliance, or smile upon it. But, it seems, her being old in these adulteries, instead of weaning her from them, as one would expect, does but make her the more impudent and insatiable in them; for, though she was thus admonished of the folly of it, yet they went in unto her, Eze 23:44. A bargain was soon clapped up, and a league made, first with this, and then with the other, foreign state. Samaria did so, Jerusalem did so, like lewd women. They could not rest satisfied in the embraces of God's laws and care, and the assurances of protection he gave them; they could not think his covenant with them security enough. But they must by treaties and leagues, politic ones (they thought) and well-concerted, throw themselves into the arms of foreign princes, and put their interests under their protection. Note, Those hearts go a whoring from God that take a complacency in the pomp of the world and put a confidence in its wealth, and in an arm of flesh, Jer 17:5.
II. Let them be made to foresee the judgments that are coming upon them for these sins (Eze 23:45): The righteous men, they shall judge them. Some make the instruments of their destruction to be the righteous men that shall judge them. The Assyrians that destroyed Samaria, the Chaldeans that destroyed Jerusalem, those were comparatively righteous, had a sense of justice between man and man and justly resented the treachery of the Jewish nation; however, they executed God's judgments, which, we are sure, are all righteous. Others understand it of the prophets, whose office it was, in God's name, to judge them and pass sentence upon them. Or we may take it as an appeal to all righteous men, to all that have a sense of equity; they shall all judge concerning these cities, and agree in their verdict, that forasmuch as they have been notoriously guilty of adultery and murder, and the guilt is national, therefore they ought to suffer the pains and penalties which by law are inflicted upon women in their personal capacity that shed blood and are adulteresses. Righteous men will say, "Why should bloody filthy cities escape any better than bloody filthy persons? Judge, I pray thee," Isa 5:3. This judgment being given by the righteous men, the righteous God will award execution. See here, 1. What the execution will be, Eze 23:46,47. The same as before, Eze 23:23, etc. God will bring a company of enemies upon them, who shall be made to serve his holy purposes even when they are serving their own sinful appetites and passions. These enemies shall easily prevail, for God will give them into their hands to be removed and spoiled; this company shall stone them with stones as malefactors, shall single them out and dispatch them with their swords; and, as was sometimes done in severe executions (witness that of Achan), they shall slay their children and burn their houses. 2. What will be the effects of it. (1.) Thus they shall suffer for their sins: Their lewdness shall be recompensed upon them (Eze 23:49); and they shall bear the sins of their idols, Eze 23:35,39. Thus God will assert the honour of his broken law and injured government, and let the world know what a just and jealous God he is. (2.) Thus they shall be broken off from their sins: I will cause lewdness to cease out of the land, Eze 23:27,48. The destruction of God's city, like the death of God's saints, shall do that for them which ordinances and providences before could not do; it shall quite take away their sin, so that Jerusalem shall rise out of its ashes a new lump, as gold comes out of the furnace purified from its dross. (3.) Thus other cities and nations will have fair warning given them to keep themselves from idols. That all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness. This is the end of the punishment of malefactors, that they may be made examples to others, who will see and fear. Smite the scorner and the simple will beware. The judgments of God upon some are designed to teach others, and happy are those who receive instruction from them not to tread in the steps of sinners, lest they be taken in their snares; those who would be taught this must know God is the Lord (Eze 23:49), that he is the governor of the world, a God that judges in the earth, and with whom there is no respect of persons.
這章篇幅較長的經文（如前 結 16:1-62，20:1-44），是神百姓背棄神的歷史，並以肉身淫亂和姦淫的比方來描繪這些背道的加重情節。在此，以色列和猶大兩國——十支派與兩支派——以及它們的京城撒馬利亞和耶路撒冷，是分開來論的。在本章：一、以色列和撒馬利亞背棄神（結 23:1-8），並因此傾覆，結 23:9,10。二、猶大和耶路撒冷背棄神（結 23:11-21），以及對他們的判決——他們也要照樣因此被毀，結 23:22-35。三、他們兩者一同行的惡（結 23:36-44），以及兩者一同的傾覆，結 23:45-49。這一切寫下來，作為對偶像之罪、倚靠血肉之膀臂之罪，以及與惡人結盟締約之罪（這些就是此處所謂「行淫」所指的罪）的警戒，都是為要叫別人聽見而懼怕，不再照以色列和猶大犯罪的樣式去犯罪。