Ezekiel 23 essentially takes up where Ezekiel 16 left off. The latter chapter is perhaps the most sexual explicit in the entire Bible, as its theme is to present Jerusalem and Judah as a whore to telegraph her spiritual betrayal of Yahweh. In this chapter both the defunct Northern kingdom (Israel/Samaria) and the remaining Southern kingdom (Judah/Jerusalem) are portrayed as sister prostitutes (Oholah and Oholibah), soliciting every man they can find. The names of the sisters convey the focus well: Israel went into apostasy, and her sister followed her path. And that means the remaining sister, Jerusalem, will come to the same end as Samaria did.
Sign up for the newsletter and get access in Issue #11 to two scholarly articles about explicit language in the Bible:
* Marvin, Pope, "Euphemism and Dysphemism in the Bible" (Anchor Bible Dictionary)
* Ullendorff, "The Bawdy Bible," Bulletin of the School of African and Oriental Studies 42:3 (1979): 425-456
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The episode is now live.
In Naked Bible Podcast Episode 137, Dr. Michael Heiser leads listeners through the raw and unsettling terrain of Ezekiel 23—a chapter notorious for its graphic sexual metaphor used to depict the covenantal infidelity of Samaria and Jerusalem. Building on themes first introduced in Ezekiel 16, this episode highlights how Ezekiel uses the imagery of prostitution not for shock value alone, but as a devastating indictment of Israel and Judah’s political and religious apostasies.
Dr. Heiser carefully walks through the historical references embedded in the chapter—such as Ahaz’s alliance with Assyria, Josiah’s tragic death at Megiddo, and Judah’s shifting political loyalty from Assyria to Babylon to Egypt. He also explains the significance of the sisterly names Oholah (Samaria) and Oholibah (Jerusalem), both derived from the Hebrew for “tent,” symbolizing apostate worship systems that defile sacred space.
The podcast draws heavily from scholarly commentary, especially Daniel Block and Taylor’s Tyndale Commentary, and references two articles—“Euphemism and Dysphemism in the Bible” and “The Bawdy Bible”—offered via Heiser’s newsletter, underscoring the prophetic function of the chapter’s stark and uncomfortable language.
Listeners will find this episode to be a deep dive into prophetic literature that blends theological metaphor, historical context, and spiritual application. The episode serves as a sobering reminder of how seriously Scripture treats the betrayal of divine covenant, and how such betrayal inevitably leads to catastrophic judgment—a lesson just as relevant for the modern church.
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