King James Bible Study – [And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. – Mark 8:34]
Date: Wednesday, September 03, 2025
Chapters: Ezekiel 23-24
Message: Ezekiel: Aholah and Aholibah
Hello My Friend,
As we continue in the reading of Ezekiel we learn that God will alienate His mind from those whom have turned on Him until they either repent or He takes them out completely, [Ephesians 4:17-23 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: 19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. 20 But ye have not so learned Christ; 21 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;]
Think about it, some of us crawl at a turtles pace when it comes to our faithfulness to God and His Word, but there ought to be some change in us. If there is no change, this is where a deep look into the heart needs to be addressed. Those whom have come to the knowledge of Christ and accept Him as their Saviour are no longer alienated from Him, but if they choose to remain living in their sin, then they will suffer greatly until they repent.
[Colossians 1:19-23 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; 20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. 21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled 22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: 23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;]
As we have been reading through Ezekiel we have been getting more insight into what took place while Nebuchadnezzar had taken Judah captive and king Zedekiah and his men did everything they could to keep themselves from being taken to Babylon. It was quite apparent that the Jews did not learn anything about God sending judgment upon them and could care less about turning from their sin. At one time, Israel, was one nation under God, but after Solomon died, it split into two nations. God, saw the split nation as two sisters whom He espoused, Aholah, meaning, her tabernacle, which was Samaria (Israel) and Aholibah, meaning, my tabernacle, which was Jerusalem (Judah). First, He speaks about Aholah and how she had never been faithful to Him.
[Ezekiel 23:2-5,8-9 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, 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.]
Samaria, fell into idolatry rather quickly because they were not really faithful to Him since the Exodus and only when their bellies were fed so to speak. In fact, Jeroboam, was guilty of creating the two golden calves that they would worship in the same way that God had instructed them to worship Him, [1 Kings 12:28,32 Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 32 And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.]
God, is incredibly merciful and long suffering in that we can mess up a thousand times a day, but as long as we are repentant, He is faithful and just to forgive us, and even forget that it ever happened. If one continues in our sin though, or even worse, denies that they have sinned, God, will turn that thing desired into something that is despised. Now God goes on to address Aholibah, who had become more corrupt than her sister.
[Ezekiel 23:11,13-14,16-18 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. 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 pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion, 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.]
[Alienated; cause someone to feel isolated or estranged; transfer ownership of property rights to another person or group.] Think about how God worded this, first, He addresses their becoming estranged from Him and then goes on to address how He pretty much gave His ownership rights to them over to their enemies. God, goes on to tell Judah how and why He alienated them.
[Ezekiel 23:22-23,25-27 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. 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.]
Point blank, Godly sorrow from His sometimes harsh chastening, leads to repentance, [2 Corinthians 7:10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.]. We often wonder why the wicked can get away with the things they have done without one peep out of God, but the truth is, God does not need to lift one finger to send judgment upon them because they do it to themselves. God, goes on to say why Judah’s judgment was harsher than Samaria’s.
[Ezekiel 23:31-35 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.]
This is why unrepentant Christians face so much chastening, and why Jesus says, [Revelation 2:2,4 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: 4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.]
We all mess up, even the most faithful and obedient Christian messes up, but at least when they do, they have an advocate who has their back and God will actually make a purpose out of that mess when they come to Him. However, many times the reason faithful Christians fall has to do with their not being spiritually fed and that comes their either not being in church or the church itself is not feeding them spiritually. God, is not only angry at the congregation that will not repent, He is also angry at the churches themselves. As God continues to address His anger toward Judah, He goes on to address what the priests are allowing it in the sanctuary.
[Ezekiel 23:37-39,46-48 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. 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.]
God, is referring to other nations who will see that God has judged Israel, fear Him, and turn to Him. The fear of God use to be what drew people to Him, but it is actually getting harder as the Church is losing their fear of Him. Think about it, who would seek Christ if the one proclaiming Him is more wicked than their world? While God can and really does intervene in our lives more than we think, He allows the suffering in order to purify our heart and remove that desire to walk in the flesh, [2 Corinthians 7:11 For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.]
Even if we are saved sin will separate us from God, and while He is faithful and just to forgive us and reconcile with us over and over again when we sincerely confess our sin, unrepentant sin will defile us until we do. As God continues, He literally describes sin as scum, and to give us a picture of what He does to remove that scum He has Ezekiel boil some meat in a pot of water over a hot fire.
[Ezekiel 24:1-6 Again in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, write thee the name of the day, even of this same day: the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem this same day. 3 And utter a parable unto the rebellious house, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Set on a pot, set it on, and also pour water into it: 4 Gather the pieces thereof into it, even every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones. 5 Take the choice of the flock, and burn also the bones under it, and make it boil well, and let them seethe the bones of it therein. 6 Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is therein, and whose scum is not gone out of it! bring it out piece by piece; let no lot fall upon it.]
If anyone has boiled a pot of meat with bones on top of the stove then they have seen the blood that rises to the top as it cooks and it looks quite disgusting. That is the way we look to God if we remain living in our sin and God goes on to describe how He will put His people in the fire to remove that scum.
[Ezekiel 24:9-14 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city! I will even make the pile for fire great. 10 Heap on wood, kindle the fire, consume the flesh, and spice it well, and let the bones be burned. 11 Then set it empty upon the coals thereof, that the brass of it may be hot, and may burn, and that the filthiness of it may be molten in it, that the scum of it may be consumed. 12 She hath wearied herself with lies, and her great scum went not forth out of her: her scum shall be in the fire. 13 In thy filthiness is lewdness: because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee. 14 I the LORD have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent; according to thy ways, and according to thy doings, shall they judge thee, saith the Lord GOD.]
This was not some cheap meat, this was the best of the best, so this was in a sense God’s people and we need to understand that this is not your average sin nature sins here, it is deliberate, uncontrollable behavior. The second that we receive Christ as our Saviour we are new creatures, and therefore we are not to be running back to sin, we are to be moving forward to distance ourselves from it. Jesus, removes all the scummy sin from our lives through the fiery trials we face, and while it is not pretty before He takes us to the boiling point, once He skims it off we are fit for His use, [2 Timothy 2:21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.]
There are two types of saved, born again Christians that God gets angry with, the worldly Christian, who uses their salvation to justify their sin. And the ignorant Christian, who seeks nothing, but salvation with no desire to learn of the Word of God. They face sorrow after sorrow, yet refuse to repent to the point where God has had enough and ignores their cries. What about the faithful Christian? Well, sometimes they are stuck in the middle while God will use them to show the unfaithful the err of their ways. God, told Ezekiel that he was going to lose the love of his life, but what He commanded him to do was something that may seem a little heartless.
[Ezekiel 24:16-19 Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke: yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down. 17 Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the tire of thine head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover not thy lips, and eat not the bread of men. 18 So I spake unto the people in the morning: and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded. 19 And the people said unto me, Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us, that thou doest so?]
This always reminds me of when my brother passed away, I did not have time to grieve or cry as I had to take care of things since my mother was doing all the grieving. Of course, we are going to feel some sadness for our loved ones whom have gone on to be with the LORD, but we are not to mourn for them because they are in a much better place than we are, [2 Corinthians 5:6-9 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: 7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) 8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. 9 Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.]
Anyone who receives Christ as their Saviour is accepted of God, and quite frankly because they have the Holy Spirit in them they gravitate to the things of God. Nevertheless, we are human and God knows that, which is why He chastens us now to remove the scum, [Hebrews 12:5-7 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?]
Now, those who are not saved, that is an entirely different story, they are in hell and there is nothing that we can do about it. However, this is the opportune time for both the unrepentant saved and unsaved to reconcile with God. God, goes on to explain this.
[Ezekiel 24:21-24 Speak unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the excellency of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pitieth; and your sons and your daughters whom ye have left shall fall by the sword. 22 And ye shall do as I have done: ye shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men. 23 And your tires shall be upon your heads, and your shoes upon your feet: ye shall not mourn nor weep; but ye shall pine away for your iniquities, and mourn one toward another. 24 Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign: according to all that he hath done shall ye do: and when this cometh, ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.]
In order for one to truly see the need for Christ they need to come to the realization that their sin will send them to hell, [Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.] As for those who are saved, the sin may not send them to hell, but they may as well face hell on earth. I have seen way too many Christians who would not let go of the love of their idols die tragic deaths, [1 John 5:17-18 All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death. 18 We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.]
Today’s Prayer: God, We love You because You first loved us. You love us so much that You gave Your one and only Son to take the punishment we deserve for our sins so that we could escape hell. Thank You, for salvation by grace. Lord, as our relationship with You grows, give us Your love, mercy, grace, and strength to remain faithful to you no matter who or what tries to get in between us. Search our heart, see if there is any wicked way in us, and if there is, lead us to repentance. Let us not become so proud that we become forgetful of all that You have done for us. Let us never forget just how much You love us, and use us to be a Godly testimony to draw the lost to You. In ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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