“For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.”
My Notes
What Does Ezekiel 23:20 Mean?
This verse appears in one of the most graphic allegories in the entire Bible. Ezekiel 23 personifies Samaria and Jerusalem as two sisters — Oholah and Oholibah — who are unfaithful wives. The allegory depicts Israel and Judah's political and spiritual alliances with foreign powers as sexual unfaithfulness to God.
The crude, explicit language is intentional. Ezekiel is using shock to convey the severity of Judah's betrayal. The prophetic tradition sometimes employed graphic imagery precisely because polite language had failed to get through. The people had become numb to ordinary warnings.
The "paramours" are the nations Judah sought alliances with instead of trusting God. The sexual language describes political and spiritual adultery — chasing after foreign powers and their gods instead of remaining faithful to the covenant.
This is difficult, uncomfortable text. It's meant to be. Ezekiel wasn't writing devotional literature. He was delivering a prophetic indictment to a nation that had exhausted every gentler warning. The graphic language reflects the depth of God's grief over betrayal, not a gratuitous impulse.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Why do you think God used such graphic language through Ezekiel instead of more measured warnings?
- 2.What does it reveal about God's heart that he describes his people's unfaithfulness in terms of marriage betrayal?
- 3.What are the modern equivalents of 'chasing after foreign powers' — the substitutes we pursue instead of trusting God?
- 4.How do you engage with parts of Scripture that make you uncomfortable rather than skipping over them?
Devotional
This is one of those verses that makes people do a double-take — "that's in the Bible?" Yes. It is. And it's there for a reason.
Ezekiel wasn't trying to be provocative for its own sake. He was trying to break through to people who had stopped listening. The nation had been warned politely, warned firmly, warned repeatedly — and nothing worked. So God sent a prophet who spoke in images no one could ignore.
The allegory is about chasing after things that aren't God. The graphic sexual imagery represents what it looks like from God's perspective when his people pursue substitutes — not just other gods in the ancient sense, but anything that takes the place of ultimate trust and devotion.
It's uncomfortable to read because it's meant to be. God's heartbreak over unfaithfulness isn't polite or tidy. It's raw, jealous love — the kind that refuses to be calm about losing the one it loves.
You don't have to be comfortable with this verse. But it might be worth asking: what's so important to God that he'd speak this bluntly about losing it?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
For she doted upon their paramours,.... Or "concubines" (z); the neighbouring nations and allies of the Egyptians, whose…
She doted upon their paramours - פלגשיהם pillagsheyhem, their harlots or concubines. Anciently harlot meant in our…
The prophet Hosea, in his time, observed that the two tribes retained their integrity, in a great measure, when the ten…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture