Ezekiel 13

Ezekiel 13 ORACLES In ch 13 Ezekiel directs his attack against those who spawned the blasphemous proverbs that he has just refuted in 12:21-28. Ezekiel denounces these prophet-types for undermining the stability of the nation at a time when it needed to be built up. He speaks first of the condemnation of the prophets (vv 1-16), and then of the prophetesses (vv 17-23). In order to grasp the magnitude of the problem faced by the faithful herald of God’ s word in this period, Jeremiah 29 should be read in connection with these denunciations. OF THE Ezekiel 13:1-16 Two charges are leveled against the national prophets: (1) they had undermined the nation (Ezekiel 13:1-7); and (2) they had encouraged false security (Ezekiel 13:8-16).Initial Indictment (Ezekiel 13:1-7) Authorization (Ezekiel 13:1-2): The word of the LORD came unto me, saying, (2) Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel, who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy from their own heart, Hear the word of the LORD. Surely it must have been with sarcasm that Ezekiel referred to his opponents as the prophets of Israel. These were the spiritual leaders preferred by the rebellious nation. Their messages had no higher authority than their own heart. For these deceivers, Ezekiel had a genuine word from the Lord (Ezekiel 13:2).A word to the false prophets (Ezekiel 13:3-5): Emptiness (Ezekiel 13:3): Thus says the Lord GOD: Woe unto the foolish prophets who walk after their spirit, and have seen nothing! Ezekiel pronounced a woe upon those foolish prophets (lit., the prophets, the fools). The Hebrew for foolish (nabal) denotes more than stupidity. The fool was a person arrogant, blasphemous, and devoid of ethical and religious scruples. Such were the prophets who followed their own spirit rather than the leading of God’ s Spirit. Their message was grounded in self-deception— things that they have not seen (Ezekiel 13:3).

The spiritual progeny of those prophetic pretenders are those today who present human wisdom as though it were from above.Destructiveness (Ezekiel 13:4): Like the foxes among the ruins are your prophets, O Israel! Israel’ s prophets— they are not God’ s prophets— are compared to foxes among the ruins (Ezekiel 13:4).

Like foxes they were cunning and destructive. Foxes found a natural habitation among the ruins of cities. Their presence only increased the devastation. So the false prophets had infiltrated the nation that was crumbling to destruction. They burrowed about among the foundations without any concern for the welfare of the place. They intended only to make dens for themselves. In an atmosphere of uncertainty and insecurity, charlatans could easily gain a hearing for dogmatic optimism. Their pious platitudes and perverted theology, however, served to further undermine the already precarious position of the nation.Laziness (Ezekiel 13:5): You did not go up into the gaps, nor did you put up a fence around the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.

The evidence of the falsity of the popular prophets was the fact that they did not grasp the serious situation that confronted the nation. In the hour of peril, those characters had made no contribution to the national defenses. The great need of the hour was for spiritual leaders to go up into the breaches in the moral walls that protected Israel from destruction. The figure is that of warfare. When a wall was breached, the defenders had to go up into the gap, i.e., quickly repair the break. The work of the true prophets was to preach on the great moral themes— to point out transgression— and call for repentance so that a protective hedge could be erected about the nation.

As long as Israel followed the law of God, the nation was untouchable. Because of unfaithfulness, however, Israel faced the judgment of the day of the LORD.

The popular prophets had done nothing to prepare the nation for this ordeal. When the storm of judgment broke forth in 586 B.C., most of the nation were spiritually (as well as militarily) unprepared. A word about the false prophets (Ezekiel 13:6): They have seen vanity and lying divination who say, Oracle of the LORD, when the LORD has not sent them, and they expect that this word will be confirmed. The false prophets had seen only vanity. Their visions were the fancy of their deluded minds. Their predictions about the future were lying divination. Divination was the pseudo-science of foretelling the future by human devices rather than by divinely inspired oracles. True prophets never made use of divination.

False prophets blatantly used the standard prophetic formula oracle of the Lord; but God had nothing to do with their mission. He had not sent them (cf. Jeremiah 23:21). So self-deluded were those prophets that they actually believed that their words would be fulfilled. In attempting to deceive others, they actually had deceived themselves. A question for the false prophets (Ezekiel 13:7): Have you not seen a vain vision, and spoken a lying divination when you continually say, Oracle of the LORD, even though I did not speak? In an abrupt change of person, not uncommon in biblical style, Ezekiel directed a rhetorical question to the pretenders (Ezekiel 13:7). Perhaps he could shame them into confessing the falsity of their claims and methods.First Judgment Threat (Ezekiel 13:8-9) The punishment of those prophetic pretenders is spelled out in Ezekiel 13:8-9. They are enemies of God (Ezekiel 13:8-9 a): Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, Because you have spoken vanity and seen lies, therefore behold, I am against you (oracle of Lord GOD). (Ezekiel 13:9) My hand will be against the prophets who see vanity and lying divination. Those who perverted the divine word are declared to be the enemies of God. In a formula that possibly originated in the days of hand-to-hand combat, God declared his implacable hostility toward these prophets: Behold I am against you. The hand of God that had meant such strength and encouragement to Ezekiel, will be raised against those prophets in anger. The very hand that had destroyed Israel’s oppressors (Exodus 15:12) now will destroy the false prophets. They will lose their honored position (Ezekiel 13:9 b): They will not be in the assembly of my people, nor will they be written in the register of the house of Israel… The presently influential prophets will be discredited as counselors and leaders. In the future, they will have no place in the assembly of the people, i.e., those who were full citizens. Presently their names were high on the national register; but in the future they will not be written in the register of the house of Israel. Such an act is tantamount to losing full citizenship in the nation. There is no specific mention of a name being struck from the register in Old Testament times.

It is probable, therefore, that Ezekiel contemplates a new register in which their names will never appear. They will have no place in restored Israel (Ezekiel 13:9 c): nor will they come unto the land of Israel, that you may know that I am the Lord GOD. These prophetic pretenders will not even have a place in the land of Israel. The fulfillment of these threats will force the false prophets to admit that the Yahweh of Ezekiel, not their nationalistic Yahweh, was the God controlling history.Additional Indictment (Ezekiel 13:10-12) Public deception (Ezekiel 13:10 a): Because, even because, they have caused my people to err, saying, Peace, when there is no peace. In the initial indictment of the prophets, Ezekiel focused on the false prophets in Babylon. Now he turns to the Jerusalem prophets. This indictment is introduced by the repetition of the conjunction because. Even as impending calamity closed in on the inhabitants of Judah, the Jerusalem prophets were assuring their constituents that all was well. The Hebrew noun translated peace (salom) in this context refers to national prosperity.

Such optimistic assessments are likened to the building of a wall. The word for wall—hayis— signifies a wall of stones heaped one upon another with no mortar to hold them together. A coat of whitewash (taphel) in no way added to the strength of such a wall; it only served to conceal its dangerous character. Public danger (Ezekiel 13:10 b): One builds up a wall, and behold, others coat it with whitewash. The wall represents the false hopes that the people were erecting for themselves, and that the false prophets were indorsing by their “ lying lullabies” (Taylor). How tragic that some spiritual leaders cater to the desires of their auditors. They yield to the temptation to speak pleasant words to their people. Disaster is inevitable when religious leaders encourage people in unbiblical ways. By indorsing revolt against Babylon, and promising divine deliverance from the inevitable confrontation with that power, the false prophets had created a spirit of complacency. But the wall of theological and political promises that they had built will collapse at a touch, and thus leave the population exposed and vulnerable. Public declaration (Ezekiel 13:11): Say unto those who coat it with whitewash that it will fall. There will be a torrential shower. Hailstones will fall and a stormy wind will rend it. God had a word for the prophetic whitewash crew. Torrential rains, hailstones and wind will put their deceitful wall to the test. Public derision (Ezekiel 13:12): Behold, when the wall has fallen will it not be said unto you, Where is the coating with which you coated it? When that wall fell— and fall it surely will— angry citizens who had been deceived will hold those prophets up to derision: where is the coating?, i.e., the lies with which they sought to establish national security.Second Judgment Threat (Ezekiel 13:13-16) Attack on the wall (Ezekiel 13:13): Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD: I will rend it with a stormy wind in my fury. There will be a torrential shower in my anger, and hailstones in fury to consume it. The stormy wind, hailstones and torrential rain of military assault will demonstrate the fury of God against his people. Destruction on the wall (Ezekiel 13:14): So I will smash the wall that you have daubed with lime, and bring it to the ground. Its foundations will be uncovered, and it will fall. You will be destroyed in its midst, that you may know that I am the LORD.

The fall of the whitewashed wall of imaginary security will be God’ s doing. In that day even the very foundations of those walls— the false theological notions about God’ s relationship to Judah— will be exposed to plain view. The use of whitewash instead of mortar is what made the false prophet a criminal. The prophets will be destroyed by the collapse of their wall of words. They will be overwhelmed in the disaster that will befall the people they had deceived. In that day the prophets will know that Yahweh is faithful to his word of judgment as well as to his word of promise . Absence of the wall (Ezekiel 13:15-16): Thus I will complete my wrath on the wall, and on those who daubed it with whitewash. I will say to you, The wall is no more, and those who coated it are no more, (Ezekiel 13:16) the prophets of Israel who prophesy unto Jerusalem, and who see visions of peace for her when there is no peace (oracle of the Lord GOD). When his fury had been completely poured out, both the metaphorical wall, and those who built it, will no longer exist (Ezekiel 13:15). The nation did not enjoy peace, either with God, or with the superpower of that day. Those who claimed to have received revelations to the contrary were clearly worthy of the heavenly judgment just announced (Ezekiel 13:16). OF THE Ezekiel 13:17-23 The Indictment (Ezekiel 13:17-19): Authorization for the message (Ezekiel 13:17): As for you, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people, who are prophesying from their heart. Prophesy against them. When it came to condemnation, the Old Testament prophets were not respecters of persons. They condemned wayward women as well as wayward men. The women Ezekiel condemns are not alled prophetesses, but women who play the role of prophet. The description of theiractivities suggests that they were more like witches.

They mixed magical practices with their prophecies. It is not surprising that in the turbulent first decade of the sixth century such leeches had appeared. The ways of Babylon, where necromancy and divination abounded, had been adopted by the Jews. The prophetesses, as well as their male counterparts, were aggravating the spiritual and political problems of Judah. Like the prophets, these women prophesied out of their own heart. Their message was of human rather than of divine origin. Action of the prophetesses (Ezekiel 13:18): You will say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to those who sew bands for every joint of the arm, and make veils for the head of every height to lie in wait for souls. Will you lie in wait for my people, while you save your own lives? The women employed magical arts by which they pretended to foretell the future. Magic bands — perhaps cases containing incantations and charms— were sewn on their wrists. This seems to be similar to a Babylonian custom in which a sorcerer binds the wrist of a client to symbolize the binding power of the spell that was pronounced. The sorceresses also drape their clients with full-length veils or shawls.

They possessed a whole wardrobe of such veils adapted to persons of various heights, so that in all cases it shrouded their whole form. Just what the purpose of these veils was cannot now be determined. Some spoken spell must have accompanied the use of these objects (cf. v 17). The sorceresses were not harmless cranks. Their object was to lie in wait for the souls (i.e., the lives) of God’ s people. They were determined to capture the attention and control the minds of those who were still trying to be faithful to the Lord. Ezekiel seems to think of those magical veils as nets cast over victims, a snare from which they could not escape. While they could care less about the fate of God’ s people, the prophetesses were determined to save their own lives. This probably means that they were driven by the profit motive.

Their sole concern was to receive the fees by which they could sustain their lives. By means of a variety of spells and incantations, the prophetesses claimed the power to keep clients alive on payment of certain fees. Effect on the people (Ezekiel 13:19): Will you profane me among my people in exchange for handfuls of barley and pieces of bread to slay souls who should not die, and to save souls who should not live by your lying to my people who hear (your) lies? The prophetesses had profaned the Lord among his people. Their actions caused people to deny their faith in Yahweh. They trusted in deceitful divinations.

Thus the name of God was profaned by those who turned their backs on him. The deceitful oracles of the prophetesses were cranked out with the aid of handfuls of barley and crumbs of bread. These materials probably were used as auguries to be examined to see whether a sick man would live or die. The prophetesses slay the soul that should not die, i.e., foretell the death for the righteous. At the same time, they save the souls alive that should not live, i.e., they promised life to the wicked. They were lying to God’ s people who were inclined to listen to untruth more than truth.

Punishment (Ezekiel 13:20-21): Compared to the condemnation of the prophets in the preceding section, these women were treated quite lightly. They will not suffer more than the loss of their influence and ivelihood. Declaration of hostility (Ezekiel 13:20 a): Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against your bands by which you lie in wait for souls there to make them like birds. God declared his absolute opposition to the pagan paraphernalia employed by these women. On bands (or cushions), see on Ezekiel 13:18. Humiliation of the practitioners (Ezekiel 13:20 b): I will rend them from upon your arms. The bands (or cushions) will be ripped from the arms of these women. Liberation of the victims (Ezekiel 13:20-21): I will send forth the souls, the souls for whom you have been lying in wait to make them fly. I will rend your coverings. I will deliver my people from your hands. They will not again be in your hand to be hunted down, that you may know that I am the LORD.

Their veils will be torn away (Ezekiel 13:21). Implied in the judgment is that the magic bands and veils in some way imprisoned the lives of the people. The souls held captive by the magic spells will be liberated, set free like birds from a cage. God’ s people will no longer be in the hand, i.e., under the power of these prophetesses. As God once delivered his people from ruthless Pharaoh, so he now will deliver them from their own oppressive leaders.Further Indictment and Punishment (Ezekiel 13:22-23) Their present influence (Ezekiel 13:22): Because you have made sad the heart of the righteous with lies, when I did not make him sad. You have strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not turn from his evil way to cause him to live. The prophetesses had caused the righteous to be disheartened. At the same time they had given encouragement to the wicked. The result of this was that the wicked had no inclination to turn, i.e., repent. Their influence smashed (Ezekiel 13:23): Therefore, you will see no more vanity, nor engage in divination again; for I will deliver my people from your hand, that you may know that I am the LORD. Because of their detrimental influence on society, the profession of which these women were a part will be abolished. No more will they make claims to see visions or employ divination to ascertain the future. In the day of judgment, when all the magical schemes of these women fail, they will comprehend that the God who had spoken these things is Yahweh. They will understand that he is faithful to perform his word of judgment as well as his word of promise.Ezekiel Chapter ThirteenVerse 1 AGAINST LYING AND FALSE Keil divided this chapter into only two divisions, namely, (1) prophecies against false prophets (Ezekiel 13:1-16), and (2) prophecies against the false prophetesses (Ezekiel 13:17-23). Bruce further divided the first division as 1st and 2nd denunciations of the false prophets in Ezekiel 13:1-9 and Ezekiel 13:10-16, respectively. THE FIRST AGAINST FALSE Eze_13:1-9"And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own heart, Hear ye the word of Jehovah: Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! O Israel, thy prophets have been like foxes in the waste places. Ye have not gone up into the gaps, ye have neither built up the wall for the house of Israel, to stand in the battle in the day of Jehovah. They have seen falsehood and lying divination, that saith, Jehovah saith; but Jehovah hath not sent them: and they have made men to hope that the word would he confirmed. Have ye not seen a false vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, in that ye say, Jehovah saith; albeit I have not spoken? Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because ye have spoken falsehood, and seen lies, therefore behold, I am against you, saith the Lord Jehovah.

And my hand shall be against the prophets that see false visions: they shall not be in the council 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 Jehovah.““Against the prophets …” (Ezekiel 13:2). “Ezekiel had already prophesied against Jerusalem, against the cities of Judah, against the priests and against the king; and now he directs the prophecies against the false prophets."[1] Howie noted that there were at least three reasons for these denunciations: (1) they were prophesying out of their own subjective desires and imaginations and were not following God’s Spirit at all; (2) they were doing nothing whatever to help Israel, neither building up the wall, nor helping to repair the breaches (gaps) in it; and (3) they were deliberate liars who prophesied lies and then expected God to confirm their lying words.[2]“The foolish prophets that follow their own spirit …” (Ezekiel 13:3). The Biblical conception of the “fool” is the man who says in his heart that, “there is no God.” Much more than a lack of intelligence is indicated: (1) The fool is ignorant; (2) he is stupid, and (3) he is wicked (John 3:19). “Like foxes in the waste places …” (Ezekiel 13:4). Plumptre gave the meaning of this comparison as follows. “The fox is cunning (Luke 13:32); it spoils the vine and its fruits (Song of Son 2:15); and it burrows among ruins (Nehemiah 4:3). So, (1) the false prophets were crafty; (2) they laid waste the vineyard of the Lord; (3) they profited from the ruin of Israel and made that ruin worse."[3]“Neither built up the wall for the house of Israel …” (Ezekiel 13:5). The wall here, is not the literal wall of Jerusalem, but the wall of integrity, truth, honor, and love of the true God, which alone could afford any protection to the house of Israel in the disaster coming upon them. The false prophets were no help at all in this sector. “Have ye not spoken a lying divination …” (Ezekiel 13:6)? “Divination is a reference to the superstitious method of procuring information or receiving an oracle by reading omens, drawing lots, or by some other such device."[4] It would appear from Ezekiel’s use of the interrogative here that the false prophets did not even deny his charge of falsehoods on their part. “They have made men hope that the word would be confirmed …” (Ezekiel 13:6). “The word” here is the word of the false prophets. The Good News Bible renders this place, “Yet they expect their words to come true.” Plumptre noted this possible meaning of the text, adding that, “In their deceiving of others, they came to deceive themselves, and were really expecting a fulfillment."[5]Bunn summarized the six charges against these false prophets as follows: “(1) their alleged prophecies were produced by their own minds; (2) they followed their own spirit, not God’s; (3) they have seen nothing (Ezekiel 13:3); (4) they do nothing to help the people (Ezekiel 13:5); (5) they are deliberate liars (Ezekiel 13:6); and (6) they have misled God’s people (Ezekiel 13:10)."[6]The sins of the false prophets having been boldly proclaimed, the prophet announced their punishment inEzekiel 13:9. “My hand shall be against the prophets that see false visions …” (Ezekiel 13:9) The following punishments are spelled out in this verse. (1) They shall not be in the council of my people. (2) Neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel. This was thought by Plumptre to be a reference to the Book of Life.[7] (3) Neither shall they enter into the land of Israel. This refers to the return of the “righteous remnant” following the end of the captivity. The false prophets shall have no part in the restored Israel. Verse 10 “Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying Peace, and there is no peace; and when one buildeth up a wall, behold, they daub it with untempered mortar. Say unto them that daub it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall; there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it. Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye daubed it? Therefore, thus saith the Lord Jehovah: I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my wrath; and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in wrath to consume it. So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be uncovered; and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I am Jehovah. Thus will I accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with untempered mortar; and I will say unto you, The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it; to wit, the prophets of Israel that prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and that see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, saith the Lord Jehovah.“THE SECOND OF FALSE The utter lack of integrity among the false prophets is here illustrated by the work of a foolish, incompetent builder who uses worthless mortar in the construction of a wall.

We do not know exactly what the “untempered mortar” actually was, but it makes no difference. Whatever it was, it was worthless, and the first shower totally ruined it; but God promised them that it would be no ordinary shower at all, but an “overflowing one” in God’s anger, with great hailstones and a tornadic wind. Their wall would fall … fall … fall … come down to the ground… be consumed … its foundation uncovered … and even. the builders of it consumed with it! This is not a reference to any literal wall, but to the rotten, worthless, and unbelieving “prophecies” these sinful men were preaching in place of the true Word of God; and we must add that there is today, in our society, a lot of daubing going on with the same kind of untempered mortar! Keil identified the daubing with untempered mortar as, “A figurative description of deceitful flattery and hypocrisy, the covering up of inward corruption with outward appearances, as in Matthew 23:27, and Acts 23:3."[8]Verse 17 “And thou, son of man, set thy face against the daughters of my people, that prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy thou against them, and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: woe to the women that sew pillows upon all elbows, and make kerchiefs for the head of persons of every stature to hunt souls! Will ye hunt the souls of my people, and save souls alive for yourselves? And ye have profaned 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 hearken unto lies.” AGAINST THE FALSE number of prophetesses are mentioned in the Bible: Miriam in Exodus 15:20; Deborah, Judges 4:4; Huldah, 2 Kings 22:14; Noadiah, Nehemiah 6:14; Elizabeth, Luke 1:41-45, Anna, Luke 2:36-38, the four virgin daughters of Philip, Acts 21:9, and Jezebel, Revelation 21:20. Isaiah’s wife is also called “a prophetess” (Isaiah 8:3); but in her case, the title is usually construed as meaning merely, “the prophet’s wife.” The evil prophetesses mentioned here were a strange lot indeed, and Cooke stated that, “Prophetesses is too good a word for them; witches or sorceresses would suit the description better."[9] “These people were the ancient forerunners of the palmists, phrenologists, madams, fortune-tellers, card readers, and crystal ball watchers that ply their nefarious trade today in every large city on earth."[10]It is not known exactly what is meant by the pillows and kerchief’s mentioned here; but whatever they were, Bruce stated: “They evidently belonged to the paraphernalia of witchcraft."[11] “It seems that the kind of witchcraft practiced by these “prophetesses” exercised a certain amount of control over individuals, like one sees in the West Indies in the voodoo cults. It was an art practiced solely from the profit motive (Ezekiel 13:19)."[12] Of course, the connecting of the holy name of the Lord Jehovah with such a crooked and shameful art was a profanation indeed. “They did it for poor gain. If they could get no more for it, rather than refuse, they would sell you a false prophecy that would please you for the beggar’s dole, a handful of barley, or a piece of bread."[13]The meaning of this paragraph is somewhat obscure, but Cooke said that, as rendered, “The passage describes the malicious, self-interested designs of these women, who victimized others by means of Witchcraft, and make a living by it for themselves."[14]As Leal noted, “Ignorance of exactly what those women were doing derives from the fact that a number of expressions used in this chapter are used nowhere else in the Bible."[15]Although Feinberg rejected the idea, he reported that some have suggested these women could also have engaged in harlotry and licentiousness, a suggestion that we accept as reasonable enough. After all, the New Testament prophetess, Jezebel, “Taught God’s servants to commit fornication, seducing them into this sin” (Revelation 2:20); and the ambiguity of our passage here in Ezekiel makes us very reluctant to rule out this same possibility in the evil prophetesses mentioned here. “To slay souls that should not die …” (Ezekiel 13:19). This reference to the ability of those false prophetesses to “slay” or keep alive persons as their pleasure dictated cannot be a reference to what any of them could really do, but a sarcastic reference to what those evil women “claimed” they could do! Verse 20 “Wherefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye hunt the souls to make them fly. 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 Jehovah. Because with lies ye have grieved the heart of the righteous, whom I have not made sad, and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, and be saved alive; therefore ye shall no more see false visions, nor divine divinations: and I will deliver my people out of your hand; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah.““Hunt the souls to make them fly …” (Ezekiel 13:20). The the Good News Bible renders this sentence, “I hate the wristbands you use in your attempt to control life and death.” James Moffatt’s Translation of the Bible, 1929, has this: “I am against those amulets you use to snare poor human souls.” Douay has it this way, “I am against your cushions wherewith you try to catch flying souls.” The NIV translates: “I am against your magic charms with which you ensnare people like birds.” The Septuagint (LXX) has, “I am against your pillows, whereby ye there confound souls.” The most attractive to us of all such renditions was mentioned by Canon Cook, who thought that, “hunting souls to make them fly” (Ezekiel 13:20) means “causing souls to fly into your gardens."[16] All of these serve to show the confusion that results from a damaged or uncertain text. The wonderful fact is that whatever the passage means, the message of God is plain enough. Those wicked prophetesses were rejected and punished by God who delivered his people from their power. Is that not sufficient anyway? Howie summed up the teaching here as follows. “God condemned the sorceresses. He destroyed the badges of their art (the pillows, cushions, or whatever they were); he freed the souls they hunted and allowed them to escape like birds. Such women claimed powers over the living and the dead; the effect of that was to discourage the righteous and to aid and abet the wicked; and that is always the way it is when magic, witchcraft, and sorcery are permitted to usurp the place in men’s hearts that belongs to true religion."[17]

Ezekiel 13:1-2

Ezekiel 13:1-2. Ezekiel was himself a prophet in Israel, but he was to prophesy against the evil ones who were deceiving the people into a false feeling of security. Out oftheir own hearts means that these false prophets were not inspired of the Lord but were speaking their personal thoughts. They were to be called upon to cease issuing this unauthorized manner of statements and to hear the word of God.

Ezekiel 13:3

Ezekiel 13:3. Having seen nothing means they had not received any vision from the Lord, but were devising theIR own foolish predictions.

Ezekiel 13:4

Ezekiel 13:4. The fox Is a destructive creature (See Son 2:15) instead of a helpful one, and these false prophets were compared to them.

Ezekiel 13:5

Ezekiel 13:5. These prophets should have been concerned about the conflict threatening their city, even as a true husbandman would be, concerning the gaps he discovered in the hedge surrounding his vineyard. Instead, they not only were indifferent about the city’s danger, but were even denying that there were any “ gaps” to be closed,

Ezekiel 13:6

Ezekiel 13:6. The false prophets were not given any message from the Lord, but professed to have seen visions of the lot awaiting their city. Seen vanity means the things they professed were useless and lying divination denotes a deceptive form of speech. The sin of these false prophets was made worse by their claiming to have been inspired by the Lord. Such a claim would make Him contradict himself, for he had led Ezekiel to prophesy the near downfall of Jerusalem, and now’ these men claimed to have been inspired to say It was not coming soon if at all.

Ezekiel 13:7

Ezekiel 13:7. The centra! thought in this verse is to call attention to the inconsistency of the false prophets. That error is described by the comments in connection with the prophet’ s statements in the preceding verse.

Ezekiel 13:8

Ezekiel 13:8. Seen lies does not mean they had seen the lies of others, for that kind of action would have been to their credit. The passage denotes that the false prophets were lying as to what they professed to have seen.

Ezekiel 13:9

Ezekiel 13:9. Divine lies. The first word is from qacam which Strong defines, “A primitive root; properly to distribute, i.e. determine by lot. or magical scroll; by implication to divine.” It refers to some form of trickery by which these false prophets confused the people and caused them to believe the lies. Not be in the assembly denotes that such men would not be recognized in any of the affairs of the nation. And when the period of the captivity is over and the “ remnant’’ comes back, these deceivers will not be among them, for they will have perished in the exile.

Ezekiel 13:10

Ezekiel 13:10. This verse is figurative and refers to the general attitude of confidence that was shown by the people in Jerusalem. That condition of “ peace” was the wall and the mortar was the lies of the preceding verse. Untempered is from TAPHEL which Strong defines, “To smear: plaster tas gummy) or slime; (figurative) frivolity.” A smeary or pasty material would not make a strong protection for a wall, hence it was a fitting comparison for the useless lies by which the false prophets had built up the ‘‘wall” of confidence In the minds of the people.

Ezekiel 13:11

Ezekiel 13:11. The purpose of daubing a wall was to form a coating to protect it from the effects of the weather. In keeping with the figurative description adopted in the preceding verse, the Lord declared that the weak mortar would be penetrated by the storm of overflowing shower and hailstones and wind. These figures had reference to the military storming of Jerusalem by the Babylonian army (2 Kings 25:1-4),

Ezekiel 13:12

Ezekiel 13:12. A flimsy covering over a wall might look as well as the best, but when the wail collapses the deceptive nature of tbe plaster will be exposed.

Ezekiel 13:13

Ezekiel 13:13. This is a repetition of the thoughts in verse 11.

Ezekiel 13:14

Ezekiel 13:14. Foundation is defined in tbe lexicon as being figurative or literal, and its use here is the former. The chief motive for the great demonstration is again repeated; it is that all may be convinced that I am the Lord,

Ezekiel 13:15

Ezekiel 13:15. The verses are still on tbe subject of tbe downfall of Jerusalem that was due to occur soon, but it is also continued in figurative language; the untempered mortar meaning the false predictions, and they that daubed it the lying prophets.

Ezekiel 13:16

Ezekiel 13:16. This verse is the Lord’ s own interpretation of the figurative terms that were used in the preceding ones. A “ calamity howler” is an undesirable person, yet he may not do as much harm as one who sees visions of peace when in reality a serious disaster is threatened. Such a character will lull the people into a false sense of security and hence they will not make the preparation necessary to meet it.

Ezekiel 13:17

Ezekiel 13:17. Set thy face against denotes that Ezekiel was to manifest bis personal disapproval of the way tbe people were taking up with tbe delusions being preached.

Ezekiel 13:18

Ezekiel 13:18. All unusual or figurative language must be interpreted in the light of known facts. Armholes is rendered “elbows” in the margin and the lexicon agrees with it, for the original means a joint of the arm or band. (See the comments at Jeremiah 38:12.) Kerchiefs is rendered “ veil” in the lexicon and refers to some kind of covering for the head that would enclose the wearer in a state of mystery. The thought of the verse is on the false peace that had been given the citizens of Jerusalem by tbe lying prophets. A pillow attached to tiie elbow would suggest a position of rest and ease while lying around, and that was a symbol of the state of contentment that was created in the minds of the victims. The women cooperated with the false prophets by making the pillows.

Ezekiel 13:19

Ezekiel 13:19. This whole verse is in the form of a question, but it is really an accusation of the Lord against the false prophets and other leaders. They were taking advantage of the (rusting people for the sake of their own personal gain.

Ezekiel 13:20

Ezekiel 13:20. See the comments at verse 18 on the meaning of pillows. Fly is defined in the lexicon as denoting the rising of a bird, having been stirred up by some apparent cause of interest. But it was a case where the person makiug the appearance did so in order to get the fowl entangled in a net spread unseen to it. I will tear them, means that the Lord was going to expose the deception that the false prophets had imposed upon the people and make its true nature manifest.

Ezekiel 13:21

Ezekiel 13:21. The kerchiefs or mystic veils wrere to be torn off. which also means the Lord would penetrate the shroud of deception that had been spread over the dupes.

Ezekiel 13:22

Ezekiel 13:22. In all situations there will be some righteous persons who try to resist the influence of false teachers. Such persons will anger the would-be deceiver and it will cause him to threaten some severe calamity to come upon them and in this way make their heart sad. But the wicked ones who deserve to be condemned will be encouraged by the false prophets to look for peace, and this will influence them to feel that nothing is wrong with their conduct and the result will be that they will not reform. (See the note at 2 Kings 22:17, volume 2 of this Commentary.)

Ezekiel 13:23

Ezekiel 13:23. Shall see no more vanity means that an end was to be made of their vain (empty or false) predictions. Divine is a verb and the phrase means they would not be permitted to deliver any more divinations or false visions.