And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours,
Aholah is Samaria, that is Israel, who belonged to God before she became unfaithful to Him. Her doting on her lovers, the Assyrians her neighbours, was forsaking God and turning to neighboring foreign and worldly powers for help, and that seeking was rebellion against Him and betrayal of His covenant. Her playing the harlot denotes an unlawful religious alliance, a departure from God's law and worship for idolatrous and false religious associations, not a church's use of civil law to manage temporal affairs.
In symbolic prophecy a woman represents a church, an assemblage of people called out and united for a spiritual purpose, whether good or evil, and a harlot or corrupt woman represents an evil or corrupt church. Aholah playing the harlot is an example of that corrupt unfaithfulness. The verse stands among the scriptures where backsliding Israel and Judah are likened to harlots who have ensnared souls and corrupted the nations of the earth.
The chapter containing the verse prophesies that Babylon would come against Jerusalem and that the kingdom of Israel would be overturned. That Babylonian destruction began Israel's scattering, which followed the people's disobedience to God's commandments. The chapter presents the awful sins of Israel and Judah under the figure of a lewd woman and gives searching moral instruction. It is best read in private, though some passages in it are properly read anywhere.
Aholah is Samaria, that is Israel, who belonged to God before she became unfaithful to Him. Her doting on her lovers, the Assyrians her neighbours, was forsaking God and turning to neighboring foreign and worldly powers for help, and that seeking was rebellion against Him and betrayal of His covenant. Her playing the harlot denotes an unlawful religious alliance, a departure from God's law and worship for idolatrous and false religious associations, not a church's use of civil law to manage temporal affairs.
In symbolic prophecy a woman represents a church, an assemblage of people called out and united for a spiritual purpose, whether good or evil, and a harlot or corrupt woman represents an evil or corrupt church. Aholah playing the harlot is an example of that corrupt unfaithfulness. The verse stands among the scriptures where backsliding Israel and Judah are likened to harlots who have ensnared souls and corrupted the nations of the earth.
The chapter containing the verse prophesies that Babylon would come against Jerusalem and that the kingdom of Israel would be overturned. That Babylonian destruction began Israel's scattering, which followed the people's disobedience to God's commandments. The chapter presents the awful sins of Israel and Judah under the figure of a lewd woman and gives searching moral instruction. It is best read in private, though some passages in it are properly read anywhere.