In His Anger God Then Speaks Directly to Samaria and Jerusalem.
“And furthermore you sent for men who came from far, to whom a messenger was sent, and lo, they came. For whom you washed yourself, and painted your eyes, and decked yourselves with ornaments, and sat on a stately bed with a table prepared before it, on which you set my incense and my oil.”
Their actions had been deliberate and voluntary. In the first case these ‘men' had not come unwanted, they had been invited. They had sent messengers to them, like a prostitute might send messages to her lovers, as they entered into alliances with other nations. It had begun with Solomon in his later years, for the number of his wives indicated matches made for treaty purposes (1 Kings 11:1-8). It continued when Asa sought aid from the king of Syria (1 Kings 15:18-20), and when Ahab entered into marriage treaty with Zidon (1 Kings 16:31-33). We know from the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III that Jehu of Israel was tributary to Assyria, and 2 Kings 16:7; 2 Chronicles 28:16 also describe the first contact of Ahaz of Judah with Assyria, when he sought Assyria's assistance. From then on Judah was officially tributary to Assyria. Hezekiah also foolishly accepted the messengers from Babylon (2 Kings 20:12-13), whether he had sought them we do not know, but it is likely. They would not have come without some invitation. So their invitations had voluntarily gone out.
These earlier involvements then resulted in necessary later treaties. Manasseh's behaviour suggests treaty obligation to Assyria (2 Kings 21:3-5). Jehoiakin made a treaty with Pharaoh and Egypt (2 Kings 23:35), and then with Babylon (2 Kings 24:1). And all these treaties also resulted in involvement with those nation's gods (1Ki 11:4-5; 1 Kings 16:32; 2 Kings 16:10-15; 2 Kings 21:3-5). (For other treaty situations see also 2Ki 15:19; 2 Kings 16:5; 2 Kings 17:3-4).
And they had prepared themselves so that they would appear attractive and desirable, with the offer of gifts and pleasure to those who came. They had taken what was God's and dispensed it to them and to their idols. The incense and oil of the sanctuary were especially sacred but they had been offered to other gods. All done because they were seeking their aid and their friendship when they should have looked to God. They had prostituted themselves to the nations.
The sudden change from plural ‘you' to the singular indicates that God is now speaking to each ‘woman' as individual (a return to the plural occurs in Ezekiel 23:42; Ezekiel 23:44) to emphasise that each chose their own way.