Ezekiel 23
McGeeEzekiel 23:1
PARABLE OF TWO SISTERSOnce again, in chapter 23, Ezekiel goes way out on a limb, he goes way out into left field, and he tells the people another strange parable. It is the parable of two sisters: one was named Aholah, and the other was Aholibah. I think that when he began to give this parable, the people actually smiled and said, “Where in the world is this fellow going with a story like that?” Ezekiel didn’t make this story upGod gave him this message.
Ezekiel 23:2
The two sisters were no longer virgins but had become harlots. What in the world is Ezekiel talking about?
Ezekiel 23:4
“Samaria is Aholah"that is, the northern kingdom of Israel is Aholah. “And Jerusalem Aholibah"Jerusalem and Judah in the south is Aholibah. The meaning of Aholibah (Jerusalem and Judah) is, “My tent is in her.” Who is saying this? God is saying, “My tent is in her.” In other words, in the southern kingdom, in Jerusalem, was the wonderful temple of Solomon. It was patterned after the tabernacle in the wilderness, and it was the place where the people approached God. That was wonderful. Aholah means “her own tent.” The northern kingdom rebelled and separated from the southern part of Israel. Old King Jeroboam put up two golden calves, one in Bethel and one in Samaria, and tried to keep his people from going south to worship in Jerusalem. It was very easy for the prophets and the people of the southern kingdom to say that God will judge those golden calves in the northand He surely did. However, He is going to judge the southern kingdom also, because they were going through the ritual of a dead religion; they thought they were right with God, but they actually were living in sin. One of the things that is cutting the nerve of the spiritual life even of fundamental Christians and fundamental churches today is the lives of some church members. Of course you are saved by gracethat is the only way you and I can ever be saved. If God is not going to save by grace, then I couldn’t possibly be saved, but that does not mean that I am not to live for Him. That doesn’t mean that He will not judge you and me. That does not mean that our lives cannot kill the spiritual life in a church. Ezekiel attracted a little attention with his story about these two girls, Aholah and Aholibah. This incident reminds me of the whimsical story which comes out of my southland about a poor tenant farmer who had a little donkey. He hitched the donkey up to a wagon in which one line was leather and the other was a cotton rope. One day he was going to give a friend a ride into town. The friend got into the wagon, but the farmer went and got a two-by-four out of the wagon, took it up to the front, and hit his donkey on the head! The friend was thunderstruck; he couldn’t believe what he saw. “Why in the world did you do that?” he asked. “Well,” the farmer said. “I always have to get his attention before I start.” Ezekiel was dealing with a lot of hardheaded people, and he tells this parable to get their attention.
Sometimes preachers are criticized for using sensational subjects for their messages, but I have great sympathy for them. How else are you going to get people to listen today? Ezekiel used some unusual methods.
Ezekiel 23:12
This refers to a historical event which took place when Old King Ahaz was on the throne in the southern kingdom. He went up to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, and he saw there an altar he thought was the prettiest altar he’d ever seen. So he sent Urijah the priest to get the pattern of it in order to make one just like it (2Ki_16:10-18). He wanted to “improve the worship,” you knowhe went in for that type of thing. Well, God took note of that, and He judged the northern kingdom for it. Now the Babylonian invasion of the southern kingdom is about to take placethere’s no alternative in it. God is judging both the northern and the southern kingdoms because they have turned away from the living and true God; one went brazenly into idolatry, and the other pretended to worship the Lord. My friend, it might be well for all of God’s people to heed Paul’s warning: “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith …” (2Co_13:5). Someone may ask, “Don’t you believe in the security of the believer?” Yes, I do, but I also believe in the insecurity of make-believers. We need to examine ourselves. When you go to church do you really worship God? Do you draw close to the person of Christ? Do you really love Him? He doesn’t want your service unless you do. In John 21 He asked Peter, “Lovest thou me?” When Peter could say that he did, then the Lord said, “Feed my sheep.” Only then could the Lord use him.