Shiur #234 Chapter 23(10-12), June 29, 2026

This is Yechezkel's shiur, l'ilvim yishmothom Ephraim Shmo ben Avraham Ariyar Cohen, Chai Etol Vasaleh Ezim Mendel Cohen and we're in chapter 23 of Yechezkel and we're up to verse 10 verse 10, the prophet has been discussing the end of the northern kingdom this is a chapter about the comparatives between the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Israel who generally speaking did not like each other at all spent a lot of years in conflict with each other but now God is going to give us a description of the end of the northern kingdom which he calls Ohola its own tent it had its own tent as opposed to the southern kingdom which he describes as Oholiva Oholi my tent but is in her meaning the base of Midrash the temple was in that in the southern kingdom so this is the description of the end of the northern kingdom as it took place by or was committed by the Assyrian empire so this is verse 10 they meaning the Assyrians uncovered her nakedness they took her sons and her daughters and they slew her with the sword but he sheim lanoshim and she meaning the northern kingdom became an example of women u'shfutim osubot and they executed judgments against her so let's just analyse this is very sort of poetic stuff from Yechezko dark poetry Hema the verse starts off with Hema gilui ervotha they uncovered her nakedness the Assyrians uncovered her nakedness so the Matudus David explains here that in the ancient world a woman that was found to be an adulteress or a prostitute was punished by being undressed and paraded through the streets and that's the language or that's the descriptive language here that Yechezkel uses that Assyria dragged its Israelite captives and the population of the Northern Kingdom which is its unfaithful lover.

You remember the Northern Kingdom tried to at the end of its relationship with the Assyrian Empire tried to form an alliance with various countries including Egypt so it's described as an unfaithful lover to the Assyrian empire so the Assyrians dragged the Israelite captives, the Jews into exile in a public display of disgust designed to cause them maximum humiliation and embarrassment and then the verse says they took their sons and daughters and then they slew her with the sword Now, the Assyrian exile of the ten northern tribes, Ohola, which God calls Ohola, the ten northern tribes, or Shomron, or Ephraim, it's got multiple names.