1.
And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2.
Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the LORD;
FALSE PROPHETS
‘Out of their own hearts.’
Ezekiel 13:2
In the previous chapter Ezekiel denounced the false expectations of the people; here he denounces the false leaders who fed those expectations. Jeremiah joined in the denunciations ( Jeremiah 29:21; Jeremiah 29:31).
I. Some of these prophets were conscious knaves, but others were the dupes of their own fancies.—They prophesied what they and the people wished, and not what God revealed to them. The source of their messages was ‘their own spirit.’ Perpetually we are meeting those who have mistaken the voice of their own spirit for that of God. When you wish a thing very much, take care that your wishes do not colour your anticipations. The prophets are compared to foxes, which spoil the vines ( Song of Solomon 2:15), when they ought to have been the repairers of the breaches which had been caused in God’s protecting care by the sins and backslidings of the people.
II. Instead of a work of solid repair, the prophets made a show of making the breaches good.—They filled them in only with the untempered cement of their false and vain prognostications, and covered the whole with whitewash. They said, ‘Thus saith the Lord,’ when God had not spoken. But their words would be swept away as a wall falls before wind, rain, and hailstones. The invasion of the Chaldeans would be the destroying storm before which they and their wall would disappear.
III. Modern counterparts.—There are always plenty of false prophets to be found, who, whatever doctrine is in vogue, are ready to countenance and sustain it. But all their work is only to entrap unwary souls, and add to their personal condemnation. The great hailstones and the stormy wind will work their wild fury, in spite of wall or mortar. It becomes us, who are set to be the ministers of God’s Holy Word, to ask ourselves very anxiously, whether we are proclaiming the whole purpose of God, or are pandering to the tastes and whims, the loose doctrine and loose living of our people? It becomes every servant of God to be very watchful, and not to make pillows for carnal ease, nor kerchiefs for ashamed faces. Ah, the lies with which the hearts of God’s people are being made sad! Truly, the Master suffers most at the hands of His friends.
Illustration
‘In the two classes of prophets here presented to our notice, the one could lay claim, as well as the other, to the internal consciousness of some spiritual thought or idea; the only question was, Whence came the idea? Did it spring up from within, as of itself? or was it presented there by the Spirit of God? Was the mind’s consciousness of the thoughts and feelings it experienced of its own awakening, or was it awakened by a divine and formal communication from above? If we lose sight of this important distinction, we virtually make no account of what constitutes the fundamental element of a divine revelation, and leave ourselves without a fixed landmark between the movements of God’s Spirit and the capricious workings of human fancy. And confounding thus things that essentially differ in regard to the origin of a revelation, we lay ourselves open to the further error of disparaging the value of a revelation, when made! we totally change it, indeed, and lower its character, and assign it only a kind of higher room among the views and cogitations of men’s own imagining.’
3.
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!
4.
O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.
5.
Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.
6.
They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.
7.
Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The LORD saith it; albeit I have not spoken?
8.
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord GOD.
9.
And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
10.
Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered morter:
11.
Say unto them which daub it with untempered morter, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.
12.
Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it?
13.
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in my fury to consume it.
14.
So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered morter, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
15.
Thus will I accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with untempered morter, and will say unto you, The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it;
16.
To wit, the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, saith the Lord GOD.
17.
Likewise, thou son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people, which prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy thou against them,
18.
And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes, and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls! Will ye hunt the souls of my people, and will ye save the souls alive that come unto you?
19.
And will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies?
20.
Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly.
21.
Your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
22.
Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life:
23.
Therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.