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Oholah and Oholibah

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

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OHOLAH AND OHOLIBAH (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] Aholah , Aholibah ). Two sisters who were harlots ( Ezekiel 23:1-49 ). The words appear to mean ‘tent’ and ‘tent in her,’ the allusion being to the tents used for idolatrous purposes. The passage is figurative, the two harlots representing, the one Samaria and the other Jerusalem. Though both were wedded to Jehovah, they were seduced by the gallant officers of the East, Samaria being led astray by Assyria and Jerusalem by Babylon. The whole of the allegory is a continuation of ideas already expounded in chs. 16 and 20, and is intended as a rebuke against Israel for her fondness for alliances with the great Oriental empires, which was the occasion of new forms and developments of idolatry. The main idea of the allegory seems to have been borrowed from Jeremiah 3:6-13 .

T. A. Moxon.