The older was named Oholah, and her sister was Oholibah. They were mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem. – Ezekiel 23:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 13, 2017) Ezekiel 23

The Woman with the Handbag (Hans Runesson)

On April 13, 1985, (today in history) a woman named Danuta Danielsson was photographed hitting a neo-Nazi with her purse. Not much is known about Danuta. She had no desire to come out and speak to journalists after the incident, but we do know a couple of things about her that may have influenced the events revealed in the picture. First, Danuta is of Polish decent. Poland experienced firsthand the abuse and tyranny of Adolph Hitler and Nazi Germany. Second, Danuta’s mother had spent time in a concentration camp during the Second World War. Danuta wasn’t born until a couple of years after the Second World War had ended, but she had heard the stories told by her mother. Neo-Nazism is an ideology that tries to put a positive spin on the Nazi movement of Adolph Hitler during the Second World War. Holocaust denial and the denial of the evil of the concentration camps is also a central feature of the movement. And for a daughter of a prisoner in one of those Nazi concentration camps, some things are just not okay. Thus the overwhelming urge to hit someone on the part of Danuta.

This passage of Ezekiel is graphic and has often been called both vulgar and rude, but it is important not to miss the point. Ezekiel was a master communicator who often got his point across with what we might call “inappropriate conversation.” But in this passage, the stress is on what is not okay. What Ezekiel saw as the prostitution of Judah and Israel was about to destroy the nation. And Ezekiel’s hope was that the people would not miss the reason why their demise was on its way.

So Ezekiel tells this story of Oholah and Oholibah, two sisters who were prostitutes. He is clear; the story is an allegory about Samaria, or the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and Jerusalem, representing the Southern Kingdom of Judah. The names he gives these sisters are similar, but not identical. Oholah means “her tent,” likely a reference to the practice of the Northern tribes to worship gods that they had created. This was the problem with the Northern Kingdom, and God was not okay with the worship that Samaria had given to her created gods during the lifespan of the nation. Oholibah means “my tent is in her,” likely referencing that Judah had followed Israel into the practice of worshipping created gods. There were good kings in Judah, but most had followed the pattern of their Northern brothers. The message that Ezekiel hopes that his readers receive is that the worship of the Northern Kingdom had never been accepted by the God of Israel. The rude way of expressing the message? Well, that was Ezekiel’s handbag.    

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 25