Two sisters share one long chapter in Ezekiel, and the Lord himself says who they are: “Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah.” Aholah, the elder, stands for the northern kingdom, and Aholibah for Judah’s capital. Both are pictured as women who were “mine” and then went after other lovers, here the Assyrians next door. The language is blunt and painful on purpose, because the prophet is describing a people who walked away from the God who had claimed them. Both names belong to this one chapter, Ezekiel 23, so that is the place to read it whole.
4 verses
And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her sister: and they were mine, and they bare sons and daughters. Thus were their names; Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah.
And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours,
The LORD said moreover unto me; Son of man, wilt thou judge Aholah and Aholibah? yea, declare unto them their abominations;
Yet they went in unto her, as they go in unto a woman that playeth the harlot: so went they in unto Aholah and unto Aholibah, the lewd women.
Matthew George Easton, 1897
She has her own tent, a name used by Ezekiel (23:4, 5, 36, 44) as a symbol of the idolatry of the kingdom of Israel. This kingdom is described as a lewdwoman, an adulteress, given up to the abominations and idolatries of the Egyptians and Assyrians. Because of her crimes, she was carried away captive, and ceased to be a kingdom. (Comp. Ps. 78:67-69; 1 Kings 12:25-33; 2 Chr. 11:13-16.)