Ezekiel 23:37

35 “Therefore thus says the Lord God:
‘Because you ^ahave forgotten Me and ^bcast Me behind your back,
Therefore you shall bear the penalty
Of your lewdness and your harlotry.’ ”

Both Sisters Judged

36 The Lord also said to me: “Son of man, will you ^ajudge Oholah and Oholibah? Then ^bdeclare to them their abominations.

37 For they have committed adultery, and ^ablood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols, and even sacrificed their sons ^bwhom they bore to Me, passing them through the fire, to devour them.

38 Moreover they have done this to Me: They have ^adefiled My sanctuary on the same day and ^bprofaned My Sabbaths.

39 For after they had slain their children for their idols, on the same day they came into My sanctuary to profane it; and indeed ^athus they have done in the midst of My house.

40 “Furthermore you sent for men to come from afar, ^ato whom a messenger was sent; and there they came. And you ^bwashed yourself for them, ^cpainted your eyes, and adorned yourself with ornaments.

41 You sat on a stately ^acouch, with a table prepared before it, ^bon which you had set My incense and My oil.

42 The sound of a carefree multitude was with her, and¹ Sabeans were brought from the wilderness with men of the common sort, who put bracelets on their² wrists and beautiful crowns on their heads.

43 Then I said concerning her who had grown old in adulteries, ‘Will they commit harlotry with her now, and she with them?’

44 Yet they went in to her, as men go in to a woman who plays the harlot; thus they went in to Oholah and Oholibah, the lewd women.

45 But righteous men will ^ajudge them after the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses, and ^bblood is on their hands.

46 “For thus says the Lord God: ^a‘Bring up an assembly against them, give them up to trouble and plunder.

47 ^aThe assembly shall stone them with stones and¹ execute them with their swords; ^bthey shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn their houses with fire.

Commentaries:

Forerunner Commentary
What is the Forerunner Commentary?

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What Does Ezekiel 23:37 Mean?

Ezekiel 23:36-39

What vile things these people were committing on God's holy Sabbath days! They worshipped idols, sacrificed their children, even burning them in the fire, and afterward, they presented themselves at the Temple services. That is horrifying! God specifically mentions that they did these things on the Sabbath—on His day. It shows how far idolatry will take a person, imposing its will on the actions of an individual.

We need to be very careful about this. These people were guilty of the common Israelitish sin of idolatry—syncretism, the blending of the world's way with God's way. God, of course, does not accept it as true worship. How could He? The Israelites would attend services, supposedly in honor and out of respect for the Creator God after killing their children in the fires of Molech!

In Ezekiel 20-23, where a brief overview of the relationship between God and Israel is presented, idolatry and profaning the Sabbath are specifically named nine times as the major reasons God drove Israel into captivity.

John W. Ritenbaugh
Sabbathkeeping (Part 1)

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