Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 23:23
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.
23. On these peoples cf. Del. Parad., pp. 182, 236, 240. According to this writer the names appear in the inscriptions as Pukdu, Sutu or Su and Kutu or Ku, and are names of peoples lying east of the Tigris and on the confines of Elam or Persia.
“Captains and rulers,” governors and satraps, Eze 23:6 ; Eze 23:12. “Great lords,” heroes, Eze 23:15.
and renowned ] Perhaps: chiefs. The word is parallel to “princes” Num 1:16, lit. “called men,” cf. Amo 6:1.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa – Possibly words expressive of rank, or names of small Chaldaean tribes, selected for their resemblance to expressive Hebrew words.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Eze 23:23
Thou shalt drink of thy sisters cup.
The cup of wrath
I. the symbol suggested.
1. The cup is sometimes the emblem of joy and gladness (Psa 23:5); but here of indignation and wrath, in allusion probably to a very ancient method of punishing criminals–a poisoned cup.
2. The cup is sometimes afflictive dispensations (Psa 73:10); and though the Lords people are made to drink deeply of it, yet the dregs only are reserved for the wicked (Psa 75:8).
3. The cup is significant of future and eternal misery, hence called the cup of wrath (Rev 16:19). The wrath of God and of the Lamb is put into it; the cup has been filling for many years; it will never be emptied. It is also called the cup of fury, as containing the inexpressible fierceness of Divine indignation (Jer 25:15).
II. The description afforded–Much.
1. It contains all the sins that we have ever committed, and these, if not now repented of, will fill us with ceaseless remorse.
2. It contains all the curses of that law which we have violated.
3. It is the everlasting vengeance of God. A lost estate, lost liberty, or lost friends may be regained; but the loss of the soul is irreparable. (Homilist.)
.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 23. Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa] . These names have been thought to designate certain people bordering on the Chaldeans; but no geographer has ever been able to find them out.
In our old translations these names were considered appellatives – rulers, mighty men, and tyrants. Others, following the literal import of the words, have translated, visiting, shouting, and retreating. Others have applied them to the habits of the Chaldean soldiers. Pekod signifying the muster or review of armies; Shoa, the magnificence of their uniform and arms; and Koa, the marks or embroidery of the clothes of the captains and generals. Grotius thought that they might be names of contiguous nations: Pekod, the Bactrians; Shoa, a people of Armenia; and Boa, the Medes. I have nothing to add that would satisfy myself, or be edifying to my readers.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The Babylonians and Chaldeans; these are known.
Pekod, & c.: some reckon these the titles of some of the great commanders in this army, which come against Jerusalem, but they are names of distinct countries or provinces under the Babylonish government; and so Pekod is the province between Tigris and Lycus rivers, in this was old Nineveh, and was the principal province of the kingdom; though some others think Pekod was Bactriana, now called Usbeck, and Corassan, fierce, thievish, and barbarous of old.
Shoa; either Sia in Armenia, or the Sohai, among which were the Adiabeni; and this contained the middle part of the kingdom of Babylon, and was Assyria Mediana.
Koa bordered on Media; the inhabitants were called Kohai, and dwelt about Arbel, or Arbelis, or Arbela, and comprehended Ganyamela, where a fortress Ganga looks like this Koa, being easily changed from Koa to Ganga by change of the original letters into “G,” and into “G”; a people too like enough to be cruel and barbarous by their very situation.
And all; all these sons or subjects of the Assyrian monarchy, or confederates.
Desirable young men, & c.: most of these are already explained Eze 23:6, where they were objects of love, now they are objects of terror; so God turns the occasions of mens sins into occasions of greater terror and punishment.
Renowned, Heb. called, or invited, first by the Jews to sin with them, Eze 23:16, now called of God to punish their fellow sinners.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
23. Pekod, c. (Jer50:21). Not a geographical name, but descriptive of Babylon.”Visitation,” peculiarly the land of “judgment”in a double sense: actively, the inflicter of judgment onJudah; passively, as about to be afterwards herself the objectof judgment.
Shoa . . . Koa“rich. . . noble”; descriptive of Babylon in her prosperity, havingall the world’s wealth and dignity at her disposal. MAURERsuggests that, as descriptive appellatives are subjoined to theproper name, “all the Assyrians” in the second hemistich ofthe verse (as the verse ought to be divided at “Koa”), soPekod, Shoa, and Koa must be appellatives descriptive of “TheBabylonians and . . . Chaldeans” in the first hemistich; “Pekod”meaning “prefects”; Shoa . . . Koa, “rich . . .princely.”
desirable young menstrongirony. Alluding to Eze 23:12,these “desirable young men” whom thou didst so “doteupon” for their manly vigor of appearance, shall by that veryvigor be the better able to chastise thee.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The Babylonians, and all the Chaldeans,…. Both the inhabitants of the city of Babylon, called in the Hebrew text the children of Babylon, and all the inhabitants of the several parts of the country of Chaldean, of which Babylon was the metropolis:
Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa; the Vulgate Latin version, and so Jerom, take these words to be appellatives, and render them noblemen, tyrants, and princes; as some mentioned by Jarchi do, governors, princes, and rulers; and Kimchi b thinks they are the titles of the Babylonian princes spoken of in Jeremiah, as Nebuzaradan. Nebushasban, Rabsaris, Rabmag, c. Jer 39:3, but with others they are the proper names of persons or places: and so the Targum calls them, Pekodaites, Shoaites, and Koaites that is, the inhabitants of places so called; and certain it is that Pekod was a province of Babylon, Jer 50:21: which, according to Junius, lay between the two rivers Tigris and Lycus, and in which was the famous city of Nineveh; and, according to him, Shoa, or the Shoaites, lay between the rivers Lycus and Gorgus, among where were the Adiabeni, and the town called Siai by Ptolemy; and the Koaites were situated in the inward part of Assyria, by Arbelitis, where formerly was the fortified town of Koah, by historians called Gauga; and by Strabo Gaugamela. Grotius thinks that Pekod are the Bactriani; and that Shoa is Siai in Armenia with Ptolemy; and that Koa is Choana of Media, with the same Ptolemy; but, be they who they will, they were such people as were to come with the Chaldean army against the Jews:
and all the Assyrians with them: which were now one people with the Chaldeans and Babylonians, by whom formerly the ten tribes were carried captive:
all of them desirable young men, captains and rulers, great lords and renowned, all of them riding upon horses; persons of high rank and dignity, in chief offices at court or in the camp, all in the bloom and strength of youth; men of name and renown for their honour and valour; and all well mounted, a famous cavalry of them; and who before were lovely on these accounts, when they were their gallants and lovers, their confederates and allies, but now formidable and terrible being their enemies; see Eze 23:5.
b So R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 51. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(23) Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa.These words were taken as proper names by our translators, and are still considered by some as indicating small Chaldan tribes; but it is better, with the Vulg. and most modern commentators, to understand them as the names of officers, rulers, lords, and nobles. Shoa is translated crying in Isa. 22:5, liberal in Isa. 32:5, and rich in Job. 34:19; while Pekod is rendered visitation in the margin of Jer. 50:21.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
FOR ALL THIS WILDNESS OF LUST A FIERCE PUNISHMENT SHALL BE EXACTED. THESE TITLED WARRIORS IN BLUE UNIFORMS SHALL TURN AGAINST HER WITH THEIR WEAPONS AND THE HORSES WHICH SHE HAD SO ADMIRED (Eze 23:12; Eze 23:23-24), AND ALL HER OTHER LOVERS, MAD WITH JEALOUSY AND DISGUST, SHALL JOIN WITH THEM IN MISTREATING HER, Eze 23:22-26.
23. Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa These are supposed to be abbreviated names of various tribes among the Chaldeans or which lived neighbor to them. Pekod is very like the Pu-ku-du of the monuments (see also Jer 50:21), while Shoa and Koa have been identified with the Kutu and the Sutu which are often mentioned together in the cuneiform inscriptions (Schrader, Orelli).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Eze 23:23 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.
Ver. 23. Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa. ] The inhabitants of these several countries, subject to the Babylonians. See Jer 50:21 . Koa is by Strabo called Gaugamela.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Pekod . . . Shea . . . Roo. These Eastern peoples are all named in the inscriptions,
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Babylonians: Eze 21:19-27, 2Ki 20:14-17, 2Ki 25:1-3
the Chaldeans: 2Ki 24:2, Job 1:17, Isa 23:13, Act 7:4
Pekod: Jer 50:21
the Assyrians: Gen 2:14, Gen 25:18, Ezr 6:22
desirable: Eze 23:6, Eze 23:12
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 23:23. This verse gives a list of the heathen peoples with whom Judah had committed idolatry (spiritual adultery) at one time or another. Most of them had been swallowed op by the great Babylonian Empire at the time of Judahs captivity.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
23:23 The Babylonians, and all the Chaldeans, {h} 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.
(h) These were the names of certain princes and captains under Nebuchadnezzar.