Ezekiel 23:4

Oholah was the name of the older sister (lit. "her tent," probably a reference to her pagan tent shrines), and she represents Samaria, the capital of the kingdom of Israel. Oholibah was the younger sister (lit. "my tent is in her," probably a reference to the temple), and she represents Jerusalem, the capital of the kingdom of Judah. One of Esau’s wives was Oholibamah, meaning "tent of the high place" (Genesis 36:2). Oholah and Oholibah became the wife of the Lord and bore Him sons and daughters (i.e., inhabitants and surrounding villages). Evidently the Lord regarded Samaria as the older sister because the Northern Kingdom was the first to apostatize and to establish political alliances with foreign nations, particularly the Assyrians (Hosea 8:9).

While this allegory suggests that Yahweh committed bigamy and incest, He obviously did nothing in relation to Israel that was in any way improper. This is an excellent example of why we should not apply what the parable excludes; there is no reference to the sisters’ father in the parable. The story makes certain comparisons, but if we try to apply all the implications of the story we end up with some incongruities.

"Though the law prohibited a man from marrying sisters (Leviticus 18:18), such marriages are not unknown in the Bible (cf. Jacob). The Lord here uses a contextually conditioned metaphor for illustrative purposes. The use of such an illustration does not mean that the Lord condoned bigamy." [Note: Chisholm, Handbook on . . ., p. 263. See also Allen, Ezekiel 20-48, p. 48.]