Chapter 23 in Yechezkel is the parable of the two sisters: Oholah, who is Shomron, and Oholibah, who is Yerushalayim. Both are daughters of one mother; both strayed unfaithfully from their Husband, which means they turned away from the path of Hashem and attached themselves to the nations and their idolatry. In the section before us, the prophet transitions from depicting the sin to describing the punishment: how those very "lovers" - Egypt, Ashur, and Bavel - will themselves become the rod of wrath, measure for measure. We will follow the order of the pesukim following the Malbim, adding the explanations of Rashi, Radak, Abarbanel, and Targum as presented in the shiur.
בְּנֵי בָבֶל וְכׇל כַּשְׂדִּים פְּקוֹד וְשׁוֹעַ וְקוֹעַ כׇּל בְּנֵי אַשּׁוּר אוֹתָם, בַּחוּרֵי חֶמֶד פַּחוֹת וּסְגָנִים כֻּלָּם שָׁלִשִׁים וּקְרוּאִים רֹכְבֵי סוּסִים כֻּלָּם׃ - The Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, desirable young men, governors and commanders all of them, captains and nobles, all of them riding on horses.
Who are "Pekod, Shoa, and Koa"? According to Targum Yonatan, cited also by Rashi, these are names of provinces - nations that were subject to the rule of Bavel. Rashi also brings an alternative explanation: that they refer to officers, ministers, and rulers. "All the Assyrians with them [otam]" - "otam" here is used in the sense of "itam" (with them). The Assyrians will also join them, for they too will remember their former connection and bond with Israel, and they too will seemingly seek to revive the past romance.
Therefore, the prophet repeats and enumerates the very same descriptions mentioned earlier at the time of the sin: "desirable young men, governors and commanders all of them, captains and nobles, all of them riding on horses." These are the very titles and traits that attracted her to them, seeing them as men of nobility and stature - and now those same distinguished men are coming upon her, ostensibly to rekindle their former love.
וּבָאוּ עָלַיִךְ הֹצֶן רֶכֶב וְגַלְגַּל וּבִקְהַל עַמִּים, צִנָּה וּמָגֵן וְקוֹבַע יָשִׂימוּ עָלַיִךְ סָבִיב, וְנָתַתִּי לִפְנֵיהֶם מִשְׁפָּט וּשְׁפָטוּךְ בְּמִשְׁפְּטֵיהֶם׃ - And they shall come against you with armor, chariots, and wheels, and with an assembly of peoples; large shield, buckler, and helmet they shall set against you all around, and I will place the judgment before them, and they shall judge you according to their judgments.
What is "hotzen"? The Malbim explains: types of chariots and war equipment. The word is related to "chotzen," as in "and they will bring your sons in their arms [ve-heviu vanayikh be-chotzen]," where the Malbim likewise explains that it denotes a type of chariot - they will transport them in chariots. On the other hand, the Radak cites in the name of his father that "chotzen" denotes an arm, and from this also an army or force, since an armed force is referred to as an "arm," as in "the arms of the south," referring to military forces. According to this, "and they shall come against you with hotzen" means they will advance against you with military forces. "Chariots and wheels, and with an assembly of peoples" - they will march with overwhelming power.
"Large shield, buckler, and helmet" - these are weapons of war that grant an advantage on the battlefield: the large shield (tzinah) protects against the sword and envelops the warrior from three sides; the buckler (magen) protects against arrows from the front; and the helmet (kova) is a copper helmet placed upon the head. "They shall set against you all around" - they will lay siege to you from every side.
"And I will place the judgment before them" - the Babylonian army will serve, as it were, as the judges, while the Holy One, blessed be He, is the plaintiff and prosecutor who submits our case before them for having rebelled against Him. We find a similar idea in Yirmeyahu Chapter 1: "And they shall come and set each one his throne at the entrance of the gates of Yerushalayim... and I will utter My judgments against them regarding all their wickedness." Here, then, are two types of judgment. The first is a judgment from the standpoint of the Holy One, blessed be He, as the prosecutor, where the ruling and punishment follow the laws of Hashem, which follow the claimant. The second is the judgment of the judges themselves, whose laws are different; they will punish her according to their customs, statutes, and pagan practices. Regarding the first it is said, "and I will place the judgment before them," and regarding the second, "and they shall judge you according to their judgments." Thus, she is struck twice over: receiving the punishment due to her according to the Torah, as well as the punishment due to her according to the laws of the nations.
וְנָתַתִּי קִנְאָתִי בָּךְ וְעָשׂוּ אוֹתָךְ בְּחֵמָה, אַפֵּךְ וְאׇזְנַיִךְ יָסִירוּ וְאַחֲרִיתֵךְ בַּחרֶב תִּפּוֹל, הֵמָּה בָּנַיִךְ וּבְנוֹתַיִךְ יִקָּחוּ וְאַחֲרִיתֵךְ תֵּאָכֵל בָּאֵשׁ׃ - And I will set My jealousy against you, and they will deal with you in fury; they will remove your nose and your ears, and your remnant shall fall by the sword; they will take your sons and your daughters, and your remnant shall be consumed by fire.
"And I will set My jealousy against you" - like a man who is jealous over his wife who committed adultery under him; and this corresponds to "and I will set judgment before them," the punishment according to the laws of the Torah. "And they will deal with you in fury" - corresponding to "and they shall judge you according to their judgments," meaning they will execute judgment upon you in an angry and furious manner according to their own laws, so that her punishment is doubled.
And corresponding to "And I will set My jealousy against you," it is said: "they shall remove your nose and your ears." This was the customary practice with a woman who committed adultery under her husband - they would cut off her nose and her ears. This is a permanent blemish that remains forever, guaranteeing that no man will ever look at her again, and she will be loathsome in the eyes of her paramours. And it is all measure for measure: because she was brazen-faced and inclined her ear to words of lust and illicit desire.
"And your remnant shall fall by the sword" - the Abarbanel explains that this refers to the remnants of her garments, that they will cut the edges of her garments with the sword. This was the greatest disgrace inflicted on such women: exposing their posteriors and dressing them in a shameful manner, which was a constant humiliation that displayed their promiscuity. While today there are those who dress this way intentionally, in those days it was considered a form of profound shame and disgrace.
And corresponding to "and they will deal with you in fury," the judgment they inflict of their own accord, it says: "they shall take your sons and your daughters" - this is beyond what I decree upon you: they will take the sons and daughters into captivity. "And your remnant shall be devoured by fire" - the burning of the Beis HaMikdash. Thus we find here two additional punishments: captivity in perpetual disgrace, and the burning of the Temple.
The dynamic here operates measure for measure. The people of Israel clung to the nations and sought salvation in Egypt and Babylonia. Concerning this, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: "Where are their gods, the rock in whom they trusted, who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their libations? Let them rise up and help you, let them be your shield!" And so writes the Chovos HaLevavos: when a person relies upon someone else, the Holy One, blessed be He, delivers him into the hands of the one he relied upon. You relied on Egypt? Here is Egypt; see what they will do to you - a crushed reed of a staff, which pierces the palm of anyone who leans on it.
Therefore, the punishment comes specifically through those very nations with whom they allied themselves. You thought you could join with them and separate whenever you wished - but as we saw earlier, "Behold, I will arouse your lovers against you": they will not let you break away so easily. Then it will become clear that this was never love, but terrible hatred: "And I will set My jealousy against you, and they will deal with you in fury; they shall remove your nose and your ears... they shall take your sons and your daughters, and your remnant shall be devoured by fire." For had you relied on the Holy One, blessed be He, you would have had all salvations, success, and blessing. But since you said, "We have other nations to lean on" - it is from them that you will suffer.
And are those nations righteous? Certainly not. All of them ultimately answered for their actions. The Holy One, blessed be He, exacts retribution through a nation, and afterward exacts retribution from that nation. Egypt oppressed us, and ultimately received their plagues. Babylonia tormented and afflicted us, and it was said of her: "O daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction! Praiseworthy is he who seizes and dashes your infants against the rock," and these words were fulfilled before our very eyes. What remains of Babylonia? What remains of ancient Egypt? What remains of all the nations that afflicted us? Nothing at all remains of them. In the end, each nation pays the full price for everything it has done.
וְהִפְשִׁיטוּךְ אֶת בְּגָדָיִךְ וְלָקְחוּ כְּלֵי תִפְאַרְתֵּךְ׃ - They shall strip you of your garments and take away your glorious vessels.
"They shall strip you of your garments" - the precious garments; Rashi explains allegorically that this refers to the priestly vestments. "And take away your glorious vessels" - the holy vessels of the Beis HaMikdash. Likewise, every precious thing they possessed by virtue of being the people of Hashem - of all of this they will be stripped bare.
וְהִשְׁבַּתִּי זִמָּתֵךְ מִמֵּךְ וְאֶת זְנוּתֵךְ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם, וְלֹא תִשְׂאִי עֵינַיִךְ אֲלֵיהֶם וּמִצְרַיִם לֹא תִזְכְּרִי עוֹד׃ - Thus I will bring an end to your lewdness from you and your promiscuity from the land of Egypt, so that you shall not lift up your eyes to them, nor remember Egypt anymore.
"Zimah" (depravity) - as we explained, refers to the deeper contemplation of harlotry, namely clinging to heresy and idolatry through intellectual investigation and philosophy. "And I will put an end to your depravity from you" - for once they were exiled to Babylon, they no longer served idols. And as for what is written, "And there you will serve other gods, of wood and stone," Chazal expound that this does not mean they literally served other gods, but rather that they served worshippers of other gods; and because you were subjugated before idol worshippers, it was reckoned to you as though you had worshipped idols. The reason is that the Men of the Great Assembly had already abolished the evil inclination for idolatry, and once prophecy ceased, it too ceased.
"And your harlotry brought from the land of Egypt" - from this point forward they would no longer put their trust in Egypt. "You shall not lift up your eyes to them" - toward depravity and idolatry. "Nor remember Egypt anymore" - for Egypt too ultimately fell, and those people of Judah who went down to Egypt to be saved, after the prophet warned them not to go down, were killed along with them.
כִּי כֹה אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה, הִנְנִי נֹתְנָךְ בְּיַד אֲשֶׁר שָׂנֵאת בְּיַד אֲשֶׁר נָקְעָה נַפְשֵׁךְ מֵהֶם׃ - For thus said the Lord Hashem: Behold, I am delivering you into the hand of those you hate, into the hand of those from whom your soul was alienated.
At first it was said, "Behold, I am stirring up your lovers" - that they go out, so to speak, out of a pact of love, to renew the bond and bring you back into their service. But when I place you into their hand, it will be "into the hand of those you hate": when they see that you are no longer willing to maintain this connection, hatred will flare in their hearts, and they will treat you as enemies and oppressors - and then it will be utterly destructive.
וְעָשׂוּ אוֹתָךְ בְּשִׂנְאָה וְלָקְחוּ כׇּל יְגִיעֵךְ וַעֲזָבוּךְ עֵירֹם וְעֶרְיָה, וְנִגְלָה עֶרְוַת זְנוּנַיִךְ וְזִמָּתֵךְ וְתַזְנוּתָיִךְ׃ - And they will deal with you in hatred and take away all your toil, leaving you naked and bare; and the nakedness of your harlotries, and your depravity, and your promiscuity shall be uncovered.
"And they will deal with you in hatred" - no longer out of former love, but out of their current hatred, because you are unwilling to return and serve them. "And take away all your toil" - all that you toiled for, and they will leave you naked and bare, destroying everything and leaving nothing behind. Then they will have no pity on you whatsoever. The Malbim analyzes the precision of these three terms: "zenunayich" (your harlotries) refers to the act of harlotry; "zimasech" (your depravity) refers to immersion in the contemplation of harlotry, for they connected to idolatry not merely through external actions, but also delved into its philosophy; "taznutayich" (your promiscuity) is in the causative form, indicating that they were not content with their own worship alone, but caused others to worship idols as well.
עָשֹׂה אֵלֶּה לָךְ בִּזְנוֹתֵךְ אַחֲרֵי גוֹיִם עַל אֲשֶׁר נִטְמֵאת בְּגִלּוּלֵיהֶם׃ - These things shall be done to you because of your straying after the nations, because you were defiled with their idols.
Why will this great punishment befall you? "Because of your straying after the nations" - in that you went down to Egypt to seek their aid rather than trusting in Hashem. "Because you were defiled with their idols" - and not only that, but you arrived there, served idols just like them, and engaged in their abominations.
בְּדֶרֶךְ אֲחוֹתֵךְ הָלָכְתְּ וְנָתַתִּי כוֹסָהּ בְּיָדֵךְ׃ - You walked in the way of your sister; therefore I will place her cup into your hand.
"You walked in the way of your sister" - you saw Oholah's path, you saw her punishment and her exile, yet you did not take heed. Therefore, "I will place her cup into your hand" - that very cup of poison that Oholah drank, you will drink as well.
כֹּה אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה, כּוֹס אֲחוֹתֵךְ תִּשְׁתִּי הָעֲמֻקָּה וְהָרְחָבָה, תִּהְיֶה לִצְחֹק וּלְלַעַג מִרְבָּה לְהָכִיל׃ - Thus said the Lord God: You shall drink your sister's cup, deep and wide; it shall be for laughter and derision, large in capacity.
"You shall drink your sister's cup" - you will be exiled just as she was. "Deep and wide" - do not think that the cup was emptied when your sister drank from it; this cup is deep and wide, containing a great deal of drink, and there is still poison left in it for you as well. It still contains bitter waters to make you drink - like the bitter water that tests the sotah, corresponding to how she strayed from the path of Hashem.
"It shall be for laughter and derision, large in capacity" - corresponding to the three stages. Just as Shomron drank the cup three times, during the three exiles brought by Sancheiriv, so too Yerushalayim drank three times, being exiled by Nevuchadnezzar three times, as it is written in Yeshayahu: "Every head is sick..." etc. The first time, it was for laughter. The Malbim explains that derision is worse than laughter, for a person can laugh at his fellow behind his back, whereas derision is generally to his face. And the third time, "large in capacity" - derision so immense that it can no longer be contained, which is complete devastation.
שִׁכָּרוֹן וְיָגוֹן תִּמָּלֵאִי, כּוֹס שַׁמָּה וּשְׁמָמָה כּוֹס אֲחוֹתֵךְ שֹׁמְרוֹן׃ - You shall be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, a cup of desolation and ruin, the cup of your sister Shomron.
The first time: "You shall be filled with drunkenness and sorrow" - not wine from which a person becomes intoxicated and arrives at joy, but a drink that intoxicates, deprives one of their senses, and brings a person to sorrow. Many who get drunk subsequently begin to cry, falling into depression as a result of their drunkenness. The second time: "A cup of desolation and ruin" - the entire land will be desolate. And the third time: "The cup of your sister Shomron" - complete destruction, just as occurred with her sister Shomron, who was totally ruined.
וְשָׁתִית אוֹתָהּ וּמָצִית וְאֶת חֲרָשֶׂיהָ תְּגָרֵמִי וְשָׁדַיִךְ תְּנַתֵּקִי, כִּי אֲנִי דִבַּרְתִּי נְאֻם אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה׃ - You shall drink it and drain it out, and gnaw its sherds, and tear off your breasts; for I have spoken, says the Lord God.
Once again, there are three levels: The first time, "and you shall drink." The second time, "and drain it out" - you will extract the very dregs, sucking it dry so that not a drop remains, even whatever is left at the edges. And the third time, "and gnaw its sherds" - tegarmi is related to "and he shall break their bones" (ve'atzmoteihem yegarem); when people would eat and leave nothing behind, they would break even the bones and suck the marrow from within them. So too here: after she has drunk and drained it, they will still take the earthenware sherds and shatter them to pieces in order to suck out the liquid absorbed inside them. That is to say: you will receive the retribution in the fullest possible measure.
And the deeper meaning: the nation as a whole was consumed, and only Yerushalayim, which is the vessel, still had drink left in it - and he says that this vessel will be shattered to pieces. Yerushalayim will crumble, and even though it has been reduced to fragments, it will still be burned and destroyed. Blow after blow, so that even what remains in the broken pieces will be sucked dry and extracted.
The Malbim explains: with the broken sherds, you will tear off your breasts. Yerushalayim is in the position of a mother nursing her children, through whom spiritual and physical abundance flowed to the entire world. The Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh writes that had the nations known how much abundance reached them from the Beis HaMikdash, they would have stationed guards and armies to protect Yerushalayim and the Beis HaMikdash so that it would not be destroyed. And when the mother tears her breasts away from the infant so that he may no longer nurse, it turns out that all that immense abundance that existed in Yerushalayim - the monarchy, the Kehunah, the Avodah, and prophecy - will be severed from them. "For I have spoken, says the Lord God" - thus have I spoken, and ultimately the prophecy will be fulfilled and realized.
There is also an additional interpretation here: Rashi compares the cup of retribution from which Yisrael drinks to an earthenware vessel. When a metal vessel breaks, it can be melted down and fashioned anew, but once an earthenware vessel breaks, it has no remedy - for could one crumble it and make sand out of it? There is already sand outside! Therefore, "and gnaw its sherds" is a favorable promise: that earthenware vessel from which you drank the cup of poison will be shattered, and no further retribution will come. In contrast, regarding the nations it says, "Bavel was a golden cup in the hand of Hashem, making all the earth drunk" (Yirmeyahu 51) - a golden cup, even if it is dented and broken, can be melted down and filled again, meaning they will drink and drink again. But Yisrael is an earthenware cup, which is shattered into pieces and cannot be restored.
לָכֵן כֹּה אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה, יַעַן שָׁכַחַתְּ אוֹתִי וַתַּשְׁלִיכִי אוֹתִי אַחֲרֵי גַוֵּךְ, וְגַם אַתְּ שְׂאִי זִמָּתֵךְ וְאֶת תַּזְנוּתָיִךְ׃ - Therefore thus said the Lord God: Because you have forgotten Me and cast Me behind your back, you too must bear your lewdness and your harlotries.
Here it summarizes and says that the root cause of all this is that you forgot Me completely, like a straying wife who deserted her husband and forgot him entirely. "And you too must bear your depravity" - just as I bore disgrace on your account, for you were Hashem's people, and when you abandoned Him it brought great disgrace and a desecration of Hashem's Name, as though it were not worthwhile to serve Hashem, as you said, "It is useless to serve God; what have we gained by keeping His charge?" and you went and chose new gods for yourselves - so too must you bear disgrace for your deeds.
וַיֹּאמֶר יְהֹוָה אֵלַי, בֶּן אָדָם הֲתִשְׁפּוֹט אֶת אׇהֳלָה וְאֶת אׇהֳלִיבָה, וְהַגֵּד לָהֶן אֵת תּוֹעֲבוֹתֵיהֶן׃ - And Hashem said to me: Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholivah, and declare to them their abominations?
The Holy One, blessed be He, says to him: Are you yourself prepared to judge? Hashem's judgments are entirely righteous, both regarding Oholah and regarding Oholivah. It is My desire that you judge them and declare to them their abominations.
כִּי נִאֵפוּ וְדָם בִּידֵיהֶן וְאֶת גִּלּוּלֵיהֶן נִאֵפוּ, וְגַם אֶת בְּנֵיהֶן אֲשֶׁר יָלְדוּ לִי הֶעֱבִירוּ לָהֶם לְאׇכְלָה׃ - For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands, and with their idols they have committed adultery; and even their children whom they bore to Me they caused to pass through for them to be devoured.
The Radak explains that here it is no longer an allegory. Until now adultery was an allegory for idolatry, but "for they have committed adultery" here is literal - that they committed adultery with their neighbors' wives. After all, the First Temple was destroyed on account of three sins: idolatry, illicit relations, and bloodshed. "And blood is on their hands" - as Yeshayahu said, "Your hands are full of blood," which is why Jerusalem is called "Woe to the city of blood." "And with their idols they have committed adultery" - this is by way of allegory, that just as a wife who strays from her husband takes strangers, so they took idols for themselves. Thus, all three cardinal sins are mentioned in a single verse as the transgressions that brought calamity upon them.
"And even their children whom they bore to Me" - the Radak explains: whom they bore for My service. And how do we know they were for My service? Because at eight days from their birth they brought them into the covenant and circumcised them, which is the King's seal designating them for the service of Hashem. And afterward, "they caused to pass through for them to be devoured" - they passed them through to the Molech so that the fire would devour them. And the Malbim explains "whom they bore to Me" - those whom they had consecrated to Heaven and to the study of Torah, these they passed through to the Baal to be consumed by fire. We saw this similarly earlier in Yechezkel 16:20: "And you took your sons and your daughters whom you bore to Me, and you sacrificed them to be devoured; were your harlotries too little?"
Imagine: the priest of Molech arrives and says, "What is going on with you? So-and-so's family has already offered their child, such-and-such family has already offered even their second child, and you haven't contributed a single child yet." They say, "Indeed, we really must do something. Whom shall we send? Reuven? No, Reuven is in the army. Shimon? No, Shimon just landed a high-tech job. Yehudah? No, Yehudah has very important business affairs. You know what - Aharon, he is in yeshivah, take Aharon." Whom did they send to the Molech? The sons they had consecrated to Heaven and to the study of Torah.
We already cited the parable regarding chapter 16 about a woman who "burned his dish," referring to a bad wife: whatever got burned, she tells her husband, "Yours burned," while the upper part that did not burn - that is mine. So too here: they went and burned the dish of the Holy One, blessed be He; the children of the Master of the Universe they passed through to the Molech.
This offers a great lesson in mussar for us. Often a person needs to take care of an urgent matter - to go to the bank, the municipality, the National Insurance Institute, or the health clinic. In the morning he cannot, for there is work. But in the afternoon there is only kollel anyway, so he goes then. And in the evening there is a shiur, so he has more time. What does he take to the Molech? The time dedicated to Torah, the portion belonging to the Master of the Universe. Regarding this the Holy One, blessed be He, says, "And even their children whom they bore to Me they caused to pass through for them to be devoured" - precisely the part that should be the most precious and sacred, which one must not touch, is what a person takes for his mundane affairs.
עוֹד זֹאת עָשׂוּ לִי, טִמְּאוּ אֶת מִקְדָּשִׁי בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא וְאֶת שַׁבְּתוֹתַי חִלֵּלוּ׃ - Moreover, this they have done to Me: they defiled My Sanctuary on that day, and profaned My Sabbaths.
On the very same day that they sacrificed their children to Molech, they would go to the Beis HaMikdash to offer a sacrifice in order to desecrate the Sanctuary, and they deliberately chose to do this specifically on Shabbat, in order to desecrate the Shabbat as well. Thus, the Malbim explains, they desecrated the three central dimensions of the entire world, which are referred to in Sefer Yetzirah by the acronym Oshan (עש"ן) - Olam (space/world), Shanah (time/year), and Nefesh (soul/person). The most sanctified realm of space is the Beis HaMikdash, and they defiled it. The most sanctified realm of time is Shabbat, and they profaned it. And the most sanctified realm of soul is the son designated for Torah study, whom they passed through the fire to Molech. They damaged the three pillars upon which all spiritual reality stands: space, time, and man.
וּבְשַׁחֲטָם אֶת בְּנֵיהֶם לְגִלּוּלֵיהֶם וַיָּבֹאוּ אֶל מִקְדָּשִׁי בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא לְחַלְּלוֹ, וְהִנֵּה כֹה עָשׂוּ בְּתוֹךְ בֵּיתִי׃ - For when they had slaughtered their children to their idols, they came on that day into My Sanctuary to profane it; and behold, thus have they done in the midst of My house.
And this is the final sin: on the day they slaughtered their children, they would come to the Sanctuary, and because they entered the House of Hashem immediately after the slaughter, the Holy One, Blessed is He, considers it as if they slaughtered their children to idolatry within the Beis HaMikdash itself. This is the gravest sin imaginable. The Malbim notes that this resembles a wife who commits adultery right in front of her husband in his own home, harboring no fear of him whatsoever - and this is the very thing that arouses the fiercest jealousy and wrath.
וְאַף כִּי תִשְׁלַחְנָה לַאֲנָשִׁים בָּאִים מִמֶּרְחָק אֲשֶׁר מַלְאָךְ שָׁלוּחַ אֲלֵיהֶם וְהִנֵּה בָאוּ, לַאֲשֶׁר רָחַצְתְּ כָּחַלְתְּ עֵינַיִךְ וְעָדִית עֶדִי׃ - And furthermore, that you sent for men to come from afar, to whom a messenger was sent, and behold, they came, for whom you bathed yourself, painted your eyes, and adorned yourself with ornaments.
The verse continues to expose the sheer audacity of her depravity, committing harlotry directly before her husband: like a wayward woman who openly sends emissaries to men arriving from afar, dispatching a messenger summoning them to come, and going out to receive them. For this purpose, "you bathed" - preparing herself in the bath; "painted your eyes" - as was the custom of harlots who applied kohl to their eyes to find favor in the eyes of their adulterers; "and adorned yourself with ornaments" - putting on her jewelry. Radak explains the allegory: she sent honorable missives and delivered gifts to draw the nations close, mingle with them, and learn from their ways.
וְיָשַׁבְתְּ עַל מִטָּה כְבוּדָּה וְשֻׁלְחָן עָרוּךְ לְפָנֶיהָ, וּקְטׇרְתִּי וְשַׁמְנִי שַׂמְתְּ עָלֶיהָ׃ - And you sat on a stately couch with a table set before it, upon which you placed My incense and My oil.
She sat upon an honorable couch to receive the visitors, with a table set before it filled with all kinds of food, and on the table, oil and incense for a pleasant fragrance. The verse emphasizes "My incense and My oil" - the very oil and incense that her husband had given her. It is as if the Holy One, Blessed is He, is saying: "That which I bestowed upon her, she went and burned as incense to the Baalim and to her paramours - to those nations who came here, from whom we learned the corruption of idolatry and all other perversions."
וְקוֹל הָמוֹן שָׁלֵו בָהּ, וְאֶל אֲנָשִׁים מֵרֹב אָדָם מוּבָאִים סׇבָאִים מִמִּדְבָּר, וַיִּתְּנוּ צְמִידִים אֶל יְדֵיהֶן וַעֲטֶרֶת תִּפְאֶרֶת עַל רָאשֵׁיהֶן׃ - And the sound of a carefree multitude was with her; and to men from the multitude of people, drunkards from the wilderness were brought, who placed bracelets upon their hands and crowns of splendor upon their heads.
"And the sound of a carefree multitude was with her" - around this bed was heard the voice of a multitude of people in total ease. The Malbim explains that this is the complete opposite of the typical manner of those who commit adultery with a married woman, who are never at ease and are constantly terrified that the husband will appear. Here, not only do they harbor no fear, but they even raise their voices loudly and show no dread at all.
"And to men from the multitude of people, they were brought" - many people went out to bring these paramours here. And who were they? "Drunkards from the wilderness" - the Malbim explains that sava'im means drunkards, as in "Do not be among wine guzzlers (sove'ei yayin)," men who guzzled vast amounts of wine and came from the desert - wild, nomadic savages. That is to say, they imported the lowest dregs of humanity. "Who placed bracelets upon their hands and crowns of splendor upon their heads" - those who brought them showered them with bracelets and crowns, treating these savages as if they were distinguished, noble ministers. You invited base, lowly men to your presence and exalted them, honoring them with crowns and bracelets so as to commit adultery with them, and all of this openly and boisterously. Such is the enormity of Oholivah's sin.
There are additional interpretations of "Sabeans" (Sova'im): Rashi explains that this is not from the term for wine guzzlers (sovei yayin), but rather refers to those who dwell around her, from the word saviv (surrounding). Radak explains that "Seba" is the name of a nation, as in "Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah" (Bereishit 10:7), among the descendants of Cush. Either way, the meaning is that you brought here the dregs of humanity in order to adopt their practices and their forms of idolatry, and to cling to them.
וָאֹמַר לַבָּלָה נִאוּפִים, עַתָּה יִזְנוּ תַזְנוּתֶהָ וָהִיא׃ - And I said of her who is worn out by adulteries: Now will they commit harlotries with her, even with her?
Rashi explains: My heart said to me regarding this one who has worn out and grown old in adulteries, I thought that now "they will commit harlotries" (yiznu taznuteha) - meaning that the harlotry would stray and depart from her. For the root of znut (harlotry) denotes departing and straying from the straight path onto a crooked path after idols; hence the Targum translates the word zonah (harlot) as nafkat bara ("she who goes outside"), an expression of departure. I thought that since she had already grown worn out, she would distance herself from the path of harlotry, "and she" (vahi) - but I see that she remains just as she was from the beginning, for even after she grew worn out and aged in adulteries, she did not change her ways.
Malbim interprets this in a fascinating way: The husband says, I thought that these adulteries which the fornicators now commit would lead "to rotting away" (le-valah) - that the harlotry would wear away and decompose those who consort with her, balah being from the root of decay or wearing out, "her harlotries and she" (taznuteha vahi), both those who commit harlotry with her and she herself. And what is this balah? Malbim explains that it is a general term for the affliction resembling tzara'at that infects adulterers and wastes away their flesh and bones, like the "French disease" of recent centuries - as it was known that among the French, who were notorious for promiscuity, such an illness was widespread. These are the known venereal diseases that strike people through promiscuity; today AIDS is known, in earlier times syphilis was widespread, along with various other forms. This was the curse: that the wasting disease clinging to adulterers would come upon her and upon her paramours, and whoever committed harlotry with her would be infected by that same wasting affliction.
וַיָּבוֹא אֵלֶיהָ כְּבוֹא אֶל אִשָּׁה זוֹנָה, כֵּן בָּאוּ אֶל אׇהֳלָה וְאֶל אׇהֳלִיבָה אִשֹּׁת הַזִּמָּה׃ - And they went in unto her, as they go in unto a harlot; so went they in unto Oholah and unto Oholibah, the lewd women.
And now, says Malbim, the curse was fulfilled: this wasting disease came upon her and infected her, just as it always comes upon a harlot and clings to her. So it came upon Oholah and upon Oholibah, the two rebellious women who represent Samaria and Jerusalem. "Ishet ha-zimmah" (women of lewdness) - read here as the plural of esh (fire): a feverish illness that attacks them like fire, a burning fever ablaze because of lewdness and excessive adultery, a disease consuming from bone to flesh.
וַאֲנָשִׁים צַדִּיקִם הֵמָּה יִשְׁפְּטוּ אוֹתְהֶם מִשְׁפַּט נֹאֲפוֹת וּמִשְׁפַּט שֹׁפְכוֹת דָּם, כִּי נֹאֲפֹת הֵנָּה וְדָם בִּידֵיהֶן׃ - And righteous men, they shall judge them with the judgment of adulteresses, and with the judgment of women that shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands.
This harlot who was stricken with this wasting illness will also be judged as a shedder of blood, and the reasoning is straightforward: anyone who engaged with her caught her disease, and the disease kills and consumes both her and those who consort with her; thus, through her harlotry, she brings about loss of life. Therefore, righteous men will come and judge them for two sins: the sin of harlotry and the sin of bloodshed - for Jerusalem was indeed called the "city of blood." "Because they are adulteresses, and blood is in their hands."
And who are these "righteous men"? Targum Yonatan translates: Zaka'in kevallahon - relative to the deeds of these harlots, the nations are more righteous than they. That is, they are righteous in a relative sense. It can also be explained that they were considered righteous in comparison to them because they never received the Torah and were not commanded concerning all these matters as Israel was, and therefore they were chosen to come and judge Israel.
כִּי כֹּה אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה, הַעֲלֵה עֲלֵיהֶם קָהָל וְנָתֹן אֶתְהֶן לְזַעֲוָה וְלָבַז׃ - For thus said the Lord God: Bring up an assembly against them, and give them over to terror and plunder.
"Bring up an assembly against them" - that they shall gather to purge their evil from the world, referring to the nations who will come to wage war against Jerusalem. "And make them a terror" - by reason of the distress that will come upon them, an expression of wrath and trembling. "And a spoil" - on account of the adultery they committed.
וְרָגְמוּ עֲלֵיהֶן אֶבֶן קָהָל וּבָרֵא אוֹתְהֶן בְּחַרְבוֹתָם, בְּנֵיהֶם וּבְנוֹתֵיהֶם יַהֲרֹגוּ וּבָתֵּיהֶן בָּאֵשׁ יִשְׂרֹפוּ׃ - And the assembly shall pelt them with stones and cut them down with their swords; they shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn their houses with fire.
Radak explains: The assembly of nations that will come will pelt them with stones, following the law of adulteresses who are stoned. The practical reality underlying this metaphor was the siege wall built against the city, from which they hurled ballista stones at the city and battered down the wall. "And cut them down with their swords" - livro is an expression of cutting down, meaning they will cut them down with their swords, just as the Targum translates: they shall pierce them with the sword.
The Malbim explains that they will be judged with the four judicial execution methods of the court (arba mitot beit din), and the verse mentions three of them here: stoning (sekilah) - "and the assembly shall pelt them with stones"; the sword (hereg) - "with their swords"; and burning (sereifah) - "and burn their houses with fire." He asks: Where is strangulation (chenek)? He answers that there was no need to mention it, as strangulation is the unspecified death penalty mentioned generally in the Torah, and the most lenient of them all, which is the well-known judgment for any married woman who commits adultery. It is obvious that they would be condemned to it, and Scripture comes to teach that three additional deaths were added to them. Furthermore, one could explain that "and burn their houses with fire" also encompasses strangulation, for death in a fire is not always caused by the flames themselves; frequently, people die from smoke inhalation, which is a form of suffocation and strangulation.
וְהִשְׁבַּתִּי זִמָּה מִן הָאָרֶץ, וְנִוַּסְּרוּ כׇּל הַנָּשִׁים וְלֹא תַעֲשֶׂינָה כְּזִמַּתְכֶנָה׃ - Thus I will cause depravity to cease from the land, that all women may take warning and not act according to your depravity.
The outcome that will emerge from all of this: I will eradicate depravity in general, for all women will take warning - they will learn the lesson and be chastised by this - and thereby will no longer commit depravity such as that woman committed.
וְנָתְנוּ זִמַּתְכֶנָה עֲלֵיכֶן וַחֲטָאֵי גִלּוּלֵיכֶן תִּשֶּׂאינָה, וִידַעְתֶּם כִּי אֲנִי אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה׃ - And they shall bring your depravity upon you, and you shall bear the sins of your idols; and you shall know that I am the Lord Hashem.
Until now, the retribution for depravity rested upon the collective, since it was practiced on a community-wide level and therefore the claim was against the entire collective. But after I judge you, the iniquity and punishment will remain only upon the individuals, upon the specific sinners: "And they shall bring your depravity upon you" - the punishment will fall solely upon you, and not upon the collective; and "you shall bear the sins of your idols" - you alone will bear them. "And you shall know that I am Hashem" - for when I proclaim in advance that I will do so, and ultimately all see that it came to pass, through this everyone will know that I am Hashem, that I have spoken and fulfilled My words.
In this section of the chapter, the prophet depicts the punishment of Oholivah - Jerusalem - measure for measure: the very "lovers" in whom she trusted and to whom she clung are the ones who march against her with an army, chariots, and weapons of war, judging her with a twofold sentence - both according to the judgments of Hashem and according to their own harsh ways. The cup of horror of Samaria passes into her hand and is drained to the dregs, down to gnawing its sherds and cutting off the divine bounty that used to flow into the world through Jerusalem. The prophet enumerates the sins: adultery, bloodshed, and idolatry; passing children dedicated to Heaven and Torah study through the fire to Molech; and the desecration of world, time, and soul (olam, shanah, nefesh) - the Beit HaMikdash, Shabbat, and the sanctified child. From this emerges a profound lesson for our own generation: where a person "saves" his time, and what he abandons for mundane pursuits. Ultimately, the measure turns against the nations as well, for the Holy One, blessed be He, exacts punishment through a nation and ultimately exacts retribution from that very nation. In the end, depravity will cease from the land, each sinner will bear only their own sin, and all will know that I am Hashem - I have spoken and I have acted.