Ezekiel 13

Ezekiel 13:1

K. The Doom of the False Prophets and Prophetesses (Chap. 13)13:1-3 The subject here is false prophets (vv. 1-16) and false prophetesses (vv. 17-23). The former invented prophecies out of their own heart; they would fail the people when most needed. They used the words, “The LORD says,” but it was a lie, a false divination. Today we need preachers who don’t give us their own thoughts and opinions, but who get their message in the prayer closet, and from God’s Word. Denis Lane gives the following characteristics of the preaching in Ezekiel’s day: It never rose higher than the preachers’ own minds. It deceptively claimed to be God’s word. It had no practical or useful effect. It offered cheap grace and a false peace. It simply endorsed the latest world view. 13:4-7 False religious leaders, like foxes in the deserts, are always looking for prey in the midst of destruction, filling their own needs and desires. In a situation like this it is the preacher’s duty to stand in the gaps to intercede and to repair the wall by leading people to repentance and a holy life. This is done by preaching God’s Word. 13:8-16 They would be destroyed for predicting peace when there was no peace, for whitewashing a wall that was ready to crumble (daubing it with untempered mortar). The wall represented the rulers’ efforts to prevent the divine judgment. Davidson explains the illustration: The figure incisively describes the futile projects of the people, and the feeble flattery and approval of the prophets. When a weak man cannot originate anything himself, he acquires a certain credit (at least in his own eyes) by strong approval of the schemes of others, saying, Right! I give it my cordial approval, and indeed would have suggested it. What made the prophets whitewash the wall which the people built was partly the feeling that from the place they occupied they must do something, and maintain their credit as leaders even when being led; and partly perhaps that having no higher wisdom than the mass they quite honestly approved their policy. Being sharers with them in the spirit of the time they readily acquiesced in their enterprises. Modern apostate religious leaders are exactly the samewhitewashed walls. 13:17-23 The prophetesses practiced witchcraft, putting magic charms on people’s wrists and veils on their heads. They doomed some people to death by magic spells and kept others alive. GOD would deliver His people and destroy these false prophetesses. The LB paraphrases verses 17-19 as follows: Son of dust, speak out against the women prophets too who pretend the Lord has given them his messages. Tell them the Lord says: Woe to these women who are damning the souls of my people, of both young and old alike, by tying magic charms on their wrists and furnishing them with magic veils and selling them indulgences. They refuse to even offer help unless they get a profit from it. For the sake of a few paltry handfuls of barley or a piece of bread will you turn away my people from me? You have led those to death who should not die! And you have promised life to those who should not live, by lying to my peopleand how they love it!