Yehezkel 23

Perek 23 surveys the history of the nation of Israel from the exile in Egypt until the time of the prophet, in a way similar to the historical surveys in perakim 16 and 20. This survey is based on an allegory which describes two sisters- Judah and Israel. The ancient connection to Egypt recurs throughout the perek, along with the influence of political ties and idol worship from foreign lands.  In this perek we find some of the most shocking and horrendous descriptions in this book of the sins and punishments of the people. The perek opens with an introduction which descibes two young women in Egypt (1-4), after which it turns to a description of the way that Israel has prostituted itself with Assyria and the punishment for that (5-10), followed by a description of the harlotry of Judah with Assyria and Babylonia (11-21), and its future punishment (22-35). In the last section of the perek (36-49) the prophet summarizes the abominations in the temple, the harlotry and the punishments.