What is the meaning of Ezekiel 23:3? and they played in Egypt “They prostituted themselves in Egypt” (Ezekiel 23:3). • Ezekiel pictures Samaria and Jerusalem as two sisters who “played” the harlot while still in Egypt (Ezekiel 23:2). • The word “played” paints deliberate, repeated action—it wasn’t an accident but a chosen lifestyle. • While Israel groaned under slavery, many adopted Egyptian gods and practices (Exodus 32:1–6; Joshua 24:14). • The verse affirms that spiritual compromise begins when God’s people flirt with the world’s idols (James 4:4; 1 John 2:15–16). prostituting themselves from their youth “engaging in prostitution from their youth” (23:3). • The problem started early. Even before the Exodus, Israel’s heart was divided (Ezekiel 20:7–8; Isaiah 63:8–10). • Youthful patterns harden into adult habits; Israel carried Egyptian idolatry into the wilderness and later into the Promised Land (Numbers 11:4–6; 2 Kings 17:7–17). • God had called them “out of Egypt” to be a holy nation (Exodus 19:5–6), yet they kept looking back, like Lot’s wife (Luke 17:32). Their breasts were fondled there “In that land their breasts were fondled” (23:3). • The imagery is blunt—Ezekiel wants listeners to feel the shame of intimate betrayal (Ezekiel 16:26–34). • Idolatry is not a harmless flirtation; it is a violation of covenant love (Hosea 2:5–13). • Egypt’s “fondling” shows how the world will exploit God’s people when they yield to its allure (Proverbs 7:21–23; Revelation 17:1–2). and their virgin bosoms caressed “and their virgin bosoms caressed” (23:3). • Israel was intended to be a pure bride for the Lord (Jeremiah 2:2; 31:3). • By surrendering their “virgin bosoms” to Egypt, they forfeited the innocence that should have belonged exclusively to God (2 Corinthians 11:2). • The verse underscores that sin always costs more than advertised; it robs God’s people of the freshness of first love (Revelation 2:4). summary Ezekiel 23:3 confronts us with Israel’s earliest compromises in Egypt—deliberate, persistent, intimate acts of spiritual adultery that began in youth, deepened over time, and robbed God’s people of covenant purity. The passage warns that unfaithfulness, no matter how small or early, invites bondage and exploitation, but it also calls us back to the exclusive, wholehearted devotion the Lord has always desired for His people. |
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