Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother:
The two women, daughters of one mother, are Samaria and Jerusalem, representing Israel and Judah as one people under the figure of two daughters. The verse opens a plain rebuke that points out the fearful sins of Judah and Israel in forsaking God, including seeking help elsewhere. It exposes their awful sins by showing Israel and Judah as two daughters of one mother under the form of lewd women.
The harlotry and lewdness in the figure represent spiritual apostasy and backsliding, especially turning from God's law and worship to idolatrous or false religious groups and to heathen ways. Though bound to God as a wife is bound to her husband, the two desired the Assyrians and Babylonians and joined themselves to heathen ways, picturing the unfaithfulness of the churches to God. A lewd woman is here used to represent the Jewish church in a state of backsliding.
A corrupt woman here illustrates the principle that a woman can symbolize a corrupt or apostate church. The verse gives searching moral instruction and is best read in private, although some passages joined to it are fit to be read anywhere.
The two women, daughters of one mother, are Samaria and Jerusalem, representing Israel and Judah as one people under the figure of two daughters. The verse opens a plain rebuke that points out the fearful sins of Judah and Israel in forsaking God, including seeking help elsewhere. It exposes their awful sins by showing Israel and Judah as two daughters of one mother under the form of lewd women.
The harlotry and lewdness in the figure represent spiritual apostasy and backsliding, especially turning from God's law and worship to idolatrous or false religious groups and to heathen ways. Though bound to God as a wife is bound to her husband, the two desired the Assyrians and Babylonians and joined themselves to heathen ways, picturing the unfaithfulness of the churches to God. A lewd woman is here used to represent the Jewish church in a state of backsliding.
A corrupt woman here illustrates the principle that a woman can symbolize a corrupt or apostate church. The verse gives searching moral instruction and is best read in private, although some passages joined to it are fit to be read anywhere.