Aholibah
“My tent is in her (referring to God's tabernacle)”
Summary
A symbolic name used by Ezekiel to represent Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah, depicting her as worse than her sister Aholah (Samaria) because she witnessed Samaria's punishment yet continued in even greater unfaithfulness.
☩Identity and Meaning
Aholibah is the symbolic name given to Jerusalem in Ezekiel's allegory of the two sisters. Her name means 'my tent is in her,' signifying that God's tabernacle was truly in Jerusalem and His worship was divinely appointed there, unlike her sister Samaria's self-devised worship.
☩Greater Guilt
Though Aholibah had greater privileges than Aholah, she became worse in her unfaithfulness. She saw her sister's judgment at the hands of the Assyrians yet refused to learn from it. Instead, she corrupted herself with the Babylonians, exceeding her sister in profligacy.
☩Judgment Foretold
Ezekiel pronounced God's judgment: the Babylonians whom Aholibah had loved would become the instruments of her punishment. The allegory is an epitome of the history of the Jewish church, showing that the instrument of sin becomes the instrument of punishment.
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Aholibah," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. I (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Aholibah," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. I (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 3.George Morrish, "Aholibah," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).