the Week of Proper 26 / Ordinary 31
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Bible Encyclopedias
Aholah
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or (Hebrew Oholah', אָהַלָה, i. q. אָהַלָהּ, she has her own tent, i e. tabernacle, for lascivious rites; Sept. Ο᾿ολά v. r. Ο᾿λλά, Ο᾿ολλά; Vulg. Oolla), the name of an imaginary harlot, used by Ezekiel (Ezekiel 23:4-5; Ezekiel 23:36; Ezekiel 23:44) as a symbol of the idolatry of the northern kingdom, the apostate branch of Judah being designated, by a paronomasia, AHOLIBAH (See AHOLIBAH) (q.v.). These terms indicate respectively that, while the worship at Samaria had been self-invented, and never sanctioned by Jehovah, that at Jerusalem was divinely instituted and approved, so long as pure, but now degraded and abandoned for foreign alliances (Henderson, Comment. in loc.). They are both graphically described as sisters who became lewd women, adulteresses, prostituting themselves to the Egyptians and the Assyrians, in imitating their abominations and idolatries; wherefore Jehovah abandoned them to those very people for whom they showed such inordinate and impure affection. They were, carried into captivity, and reduced to the severest servitude. But the crime of Aholibah was greater than that of Aholah, for she possessed more distinguished privileges, and refused to be instructed by the awful example of her sister's ruin. The allegory is an epitome of the history of the Jewish Church. (See IDOLATRY).
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Aholah'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/a/aholah.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
