Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 23:19
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.
19. Judah being situated between the two great empires of Babylon and Egypt and coveted by both, was naturally a hotbed of intrigue by partizans on both sides. The influence of the Egyptian party was great even in the Assyrian age (Isaiah 30-31), and the imposing and pretentious power of the Nile valley continued to delude the politicians of Judah throughout the period of Chaldean supremacy (ch. 29 32; Jer 2:18; Jer 37:5 seq.; Lam 4:17).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Egypt – The kings of Judah played alternately Egypt against Babylon, and Babylon against Egypt. Jehoahaz was displaced by Necho for Jehoiakim, who then turned to the Chaldaeans, and afterward rebelling sought aid from Egypt. So Zedekiah was continually meditating help from Egypt, against which Jeremiah and Ezekiel were continually protesting.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Yet, Heb. And.
Multiplied; added more and greater to her former sins of idolatry and whoredoms, and persisted in them.
In calling to remembrance: this may refer either to the Jewish nation remembering their idolatries in Egypt, their alliances with and reliance upon it in days past, which she now resolves to act over again; or it may refer to God, who, by these continued courses of Judahs lewdness is provoked to remember and punish old perfidious and idolatrous practices.
The days of her youth: see Eze 23:3.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
19. Israel first “called”her lusts, practised when in Egypt, “to her (fond) remembrance,“and then actually returned to them. Mark the danger of suffering thememory to dwell on the pleasure felt in past sins.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Yet she multiplied her whoredoms,…. Though the Lord frowned upon the Jews in the times of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, yet still they went on, and increased their alliances and idolatries with the Heathen nations:
in calling to remembrance the days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt; they called to mind with pleasure the idolatries of their fathers in Egypt, and committed the same themselves; they sent ambassadors to Egypt, in the times of Zedekiah, for help and assistance, and to enter into alliance with them, when they renewed among them the idolatries of that nation; see Eze 17:15.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
19. Yet she multiplied her whoredoms She was not true to her new Babylonian paramour, nor did she return to her rightful husband, but ever courted other foreign alliances, especially with Egypt. (See Eze 16:32; Isaiah 30, 31.) Calling to remembrance the days of her youth See notes Eze 5:3. It is only natural that during the centuries which Israel spent in Egypt she should have been impressed with the rich and splendid ritual. A new light has been thrown upon the worship of the golden calf in the wilderness by the discovery of an Egyptian text which states that a silver calf of six hundred pounds weight was yearly offered to the great god of Pithom the city which the Israelites built (Exo 1:11), and which was situated on the edge of the land of Goshen, where they lived.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, remembering the days of her youth in which she had played the harlot in Egypt, and she doted on their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.”
Through all the centuries Israel had not changed. She behaved now as she had in Egypt before God had delivered her. Israel’s heart had never really become free from idolatry, and the licentiousness and evil behaviour that went with it. She delighted in all that was offered to her by these sophisticated and depraved nations and took it to her heart, filled with admiration at what they could offer, and not recognising how it degraded her. Asses and horses were highly prized, and were proverbial for their strong sexual drive (compare Jer 2:24; Jer 5:8; Jer 13:27), and the picture is one of admiration and appreciation.
The reference to Egypt may have had in mind the current attempts at alliance (Jer 37:5), but is mainly to emphasise that Israel’s behaviour had an essential part of her from the beginning. The concentration, however, is on Babylon (Eze 23:23). Babylon, and all the evil and worldliness that it represented, was in her heart.
It was a Babylonish garment which was one of the prized possessions that tempted Achan to sin (Jos 7:21), and it was Babylon that was ‘the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride’ (Isa 13:19). It was Babel where man’s arrogance was displayed (Gen 11:1-9). ‘Babylon the Great’ was the symbol of all that stood against God (Dan 4:30; Rev 17:5).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eze 23:19. Yet she multiplied, &c. Instead of one calf they would have two; and so favourite a superstition were the calves of Dan and Beth-el, that they kept their ground against all those general reformations which divers of their better kings had made to purge the land from idolatry. See Div. Leg. vol. 3:
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 23:19 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.
Ver. 19. In calling to mind the sins of her youth. ] This was to recommit them, because she remembered them with delight. It argueth an unmortified frame when recalling former evil acts proveth a snare.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
calling to remembrance. Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of the Cause), App-6, for the desiring of her former idolatries.
harlot. Put for idolatress.
in. Some codices read “from”, as in Eze 23:8 and Eze 23:27.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
multiplied: Eze 23:14, Eze 16:25, Eze 16:29, Eze 16:51, Amo 4:4
in calling: Eze 23:3, Eze 23:8, Eze 23:21, Eze 16:22, Eze 20:7
Reciprocal: Gen 38:24 – played the harlot Jer 2:2 – the kindness Jer 5:6 – because Eze 16:26 – with the Eze 16:57 – thy wickedness Eze 23:27 – and thy
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 23:19. Some women will recall with shame their “youthful follies and will try to make amends by a virtuous life in later years. But this wife recalled with pleasure those disgraceful years and sought to repeat them.