Aholah

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

("her own tent".) i.e., "she (Samaria, or the northern kingdom of Israel) has a tabernacle of her own"; namely, Jeroboam's golden calves of Dan and Bethel; "will worship" ( Colossians 2:23). See Ezekiel 23: Aholibah (Aholah's sister). "My (Jehovah's) tent is in her," Judah: so far superior to Aholah that her worship was not self devised but God appointed. Compare  Psalms 78:67-69;  1 Kings 12:25-33;  1 Chronicles 11:13-16. But both were false to Jehovah their true husband ( Isaiah 54:5).

Aholah (Samaria) gave her heart to the Assyrians, trusting in their power, and imitating their splendid luxury, and following their idols. Now God's just principle is, when the church corrupts herself with the world, the instrument of her sin is the instrument of her punishment. The Assyrians on whom she had leaned carried her away captive to Assyria, whence she has never returned ( 2 Kings 15:18-29;  2 Kings 15:17). Aholibah (Judah) was worse, in that her privileges were greater, and she ought to have been warned by the awful fate of Samaria. But she gave herself up to be corrupted by the Babylonians; and again the instrument of her sin was also the instrument of her punishment ( Jeremiah 2:19;  Proverbs 1:31).

Morrish Bible Dictionary

Ezekiel uses this name, signifying 'her own tent or tabernacle,' for a symbolical harlot to represent Samaria, upon whom he charges gross profligacy: only to be exceeded by Aholibah, her yet more guilty sister Jerusalem. The prophet was charged to declare unto them their abominations, which he goes on to describe, and their predicted destruction.  Ezekiel 23:4-44 .

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Aholah ( A-Hô'Lah ), she has Her Own Tent. A symbolical name for Samaria.  Ezekiel 23:4-5;  Ezekiel 23:36;  Ezekiel 23:44.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Ezekiel 23:4,5,36,44 Psalm 78:67-69 2 Chronicles 11:13-16

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Aho'lah. (My Tabernacle). A symbolical name, described as a harlot, representing Samaria. Ezekiel 23.

Holman Bible Dictionary

Oholah

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Hebrew Oholah', אָהַלָה , i. q. אָהַלָהּ , she has Her own Tent, i e. tabernacle, for lascivious rites; Sept. Ο᾿Ολά v. r. Ο᾿Λλά , Ο᾿Ολλά ; Vulg. Oolla), the name of an imaginary harlot, used by Ezekiel ( Ezekiel 23:4-5;  Ezekiel 23:36;  Ezekiel 23:44) as a symbol of the idolatry of the northern kingdom, the apostate branch of Judah being designated, by a paronomasia, AHOLIBAH (See Aholibah) (q.v.). These terms indicate respectively that, while the worship at Samaria had been self-invented, and never sanctioned by Jehovah, that at Jerusalem was divinely instituted and approved, so long as pure, but now degraded and abandoned for foreign alliances (Henderson, Comment. in loc.). They are both graphically described as sisters who became lewd women, adulteresses, prostituting themselves to the Egyptians and the Assyrians, in imitating their abominations and idolatries; wherefore Jehovah abandoned them to those very people for whom they showed such inordinate and impure affection. They were, carried into captivity, and reduced to the severest servitude. But the crime of Aholibah was greater than that of Aholah, for she possessed more distinguished privileges, and refused to be instructed by the awful example of her sister's ruin. The allegory is an epitome of the history of the Jewish Church. (See Idolatry).

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Aholibah

Aho´lah (her tent) and Aholibah (my tent is in her), two fictitious or symbolical names adopted by Ezekiel ( Ezekiel 23:4) to denote the two kingdoms of Samaria (Israel) and Judah. They are both symbolically described as lewd women, adulteresses, prostituting themselves to the Egyptians and the Assyrians, in imitating their abominations and idolatries; wherefore Jehovah abandoned them to those very people for whom they showed such inordinate and impure affection. They were carried into captivity, and reduced to the severest servitude. The allegory is an epitome of the history of the Jewish church.