Ezekiel 23:2

Eze 23:2 Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother:

Ver. 2. There were two women.] This is the same in effect with Eze 16:1-63, but there more plainly, here parabolically expressed. Sermo est eraditus et elegans, simul tamen spurcas et obscaenus, {a} to set forth the hatefulness of idolatry, creature confidence, and adultery.

The daughters of one mother,] scil., Synagogae, vel Sarce. Some think the prophet alludeth to Jacob’s two wives who were sisters.

{a} Lavat.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eze 23:2-3. There were two women, daughters of one mother — Judah and Israel, two kingdoms. “Countries are commonly represented as mothers of their people, and the inhabitants as their children: so the daughters of Syria signify the inhabitants of that country, Eze 16:57. Thus Samaria and Jerusalem are described in this chapter as sisters, the offspring of the same land, or country.” And they committed whoredoms in Egypt — The Israelites first learned idolatry in Egypt, for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were wholly free from it. They committed whoredoms in their youth — The time when the Israelites were in Egypt, or were lately departed out of it, is called their youth in the prophets, because that was the time when God first owned them for his people. There were their breasts pressed — “There they served idols, and there they corrupted their ways,” as the Chaldee paraphrase expresses the sense. The reader must observe, “The style of this chapter, like that of chap. 16., is adapted to persons among whom, at that time, no refinement subsisted. Large allowance must be made for language addressed to an ancient eastern people, in the worst period of their history; all whose ideas were sensual; and whose grand inducement to idolatry seems to have been the brutal impurities which it encouraged.” — Bishop Newcome. The Scripture commonly calls idolatrous churches and nations by the name of harlots: and in like manner honours those, who preserve their allegiance to God pure and undefiled, with the title of chaste wives, or virgins.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

23:2 sisters . . . daughters of the same mother: They were descendants of the same nation, and their lives were essentially parallel. Even their names, Oholah and Oholibah, sound similar.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Meaning, Israel and Judah, which came both out of one family.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 2. Son of man, there were two women] All the Hebrews were derived from one source, Abraham and Sarah; and, till the schism under Rehoboam, formed but one people: but as these ten tribes and a half separated from Judah and Benjamin, they became two distinct people under different kings; called the kingdom of Judah, and the kingdom of Israel. They are called here, because of their consanguinity, two sisters. The elder, Samaria, (for there was the seat of government for the kingdom of Israel,) was called אהלה aholah, "a tent." The younger, Judah, was called אהליבה aholibah, "my tent is in her," because the temple of God was in Jerusalem, the seat of the government of the kingdom of Judah.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

2. The two kingdoms are already called sisters, Jer_3:7. Cf. Eze_16:46.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Son of man, there were two women,.... Or two nations and kingdoms, the kingdom of Israel or the ten tribes, and the kingdom of Judah or the two tribes. So the Targum,

"son of man, prophesy concerning two provinces, which are as two women:''

the daughters of one mother; either Sarah the wife of Abraham, from whom they sprung; or because they were originally one kingdom and nation; so they were when they came out of Egypt, and during the times of the judges, and in the reigns of David and Solomon; but became two in the days of Rehoboam the son of Solomon, from whom ten tribes revolted, and set up a separate kingdom, with Jeroboam at the head of it.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Of one mother - Israel and Judah were branches of the same stock.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Two women; Judah and Israel, the two kingdoms.

Daughters of one mother; sprung from Sarah; or, as some, daughters of the synagogue. They rose from one family; these two were daughters, that is parts, and the mother is the whole posterity of the twelve tribes.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Two women - Judah, and Israel, two kingdoms.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

two women Two states, which are like two women.

the daughters of one mother The two of them were from one nation, separated into two in the days of Rehoboam.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.