Then I saw that she was defiled, that they took both one way,
Ezekiel 23:13 belongs to a chapter that exposes the fearful, awful sins of Judah and Israel as spiritual unfaithfulness under the figure of fornication by a lewd woman. That unfaithfulness is charged as forsaking God and seeking help from Egypt, an act of rebellion. The verse presents Israel and Judah as two adulterous, backsliding harlot women who are defiled and have become alike by taking the same corrupt way.
The adultery and defilement represent apostasy by God's covenant people, a departure from His law and testimony and worship and a turning to worldly powers and ways so as to become like the heathen. This turning is seen especially in seeking help from Egypt and in alliance with the Assyrians and Babylonians. The unlawful alliance meant is with idolatrous or false religious groups. In prophetic symbolism the defiled, corrupt woman denotes a corrupt church, opposite to a pure woman denoting a true church.
A church's use of civil laws for temporal matters is not what is described by that unlawful alliance. The verse gives searching moral instruction and illustrates how unfaithful communities can ensnare people and corrupt nations. The material belongs with passages best read in private, although some passages in it may properly be read anywhere.
The chapter is connected with the king of Babylon's attack on Jerusalem and the removal of the diadem from Israel's wicked prince, with the kingdom overturned until the rightful ruler comes. This event is dated to 593 BC as part of the scattering of Israel that began with the Babylonian destruction and may have continued until the Roman destruction of Jerusalem. The description of Chaldean figures and imagery has a visual parallel in the palace murals and inscriptions of the ancient Near East.
Ezekiel 23:13 belongs to a chapter that exposes the fearful, awful sins of Judah and Israel as spiritual unfaithfulness under the figure of fornication by a lewd woman. That unfaithfulness is charged as forsaking God and seeking help from Egypt, an act of rebellion. The verse presents Israel and Judah as two adulterous, backsliding harlot women who are defiled and have become alike by taking the same corrupt way.
The adultery and defilement represent apostasy by God's covenant people, a departure from His law and testimony and worship and a turning to worldly powers and ways so as to become like the heathen. This turning is seen especially in seeking help from Egypt and in alliance with the Assyrians and Babylonians. The unlawful alliance meant is with idolatrous or false religious groups. In prophetic symbolism the defiled, corrupt woman denotes a corrupt church, opposite to a pure woman denoting a true church.
A church's use of civil laws for temporal matters is not what is described by that unlawful alliance. The verse gives searching moral instruction and illustrates how unfaithful communities can ensnare people and corrupt nations. The material belongs with passages best read in private, although some passages in it may properly be read anywhere.
The chapter is connected with the king of Babylon's attack on Jerusalem and the removal of the diadem from Israel's wicked prince, with the kingdom overturned until the rightful ruler comes. This event is dated to 593 BC as part of the scattering of Israel that began with the Babylonian destruction and may have continued until the Roman destruction of Jerusalem. The description of Chaldean figures and imagery has a visual parallel in the palace murals and inscriptions of the ancient Near East.