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Another interval follows, and then a fresh and fuller burst of inspiration, manifestly in close connection with Eze_12:21-28, and to be read in combination with Jer_23:1-40; which, as Jeremiah was in communication with the exiles (Jer_29:1), Ezekiel may probably have seen. There were false prophets and prophetesses among the exiles as well as in Jerusalem, and an utterance is now found for his long pent up indignation.
Eze_13:2, Eze_13:3
Son of man, prophesy, etc. The sin of the men whom Ezekiel denounced was that they prophesied out of their own hearts (Jer_14:14; Jer_23:16, Jer_23:26), and followed their own spirit instead of the Spirit of Jehovah. All was human and of the earth. Not a single fact in the future, not a single eternal law governing both the future and the past, was brought to light by it. To one who was conscious that he had a message which he had not devised himself, and which he had not been taught by men (Gal_1:12); that he had no selfish by-ends in what he said and did; that he was risking peace, reputation, life itself, for the truth revealed to him,—nothing could be more repulsive than this claim to have seen a vision of Jehovah, by men who bad in reality seen nothing. For foolish prophets, read, with the stronger Hebrew, the prophets, the fools, the words deriving their force from a kind of paronomasia of alliteration. The nabiim are also the n'balim.
Eze_13:4
Like the foxes in the deserts, etc. The points of comparison are manifold. The fox is cunning (Luk_13:32, where the term is applied to Herod Antipas). It spoils the vine and its fruits (So 2:15); it burrows among ruins (Neh_4:3; Lam_5:18). So the false prophets were crafty, laid waste the vineyard of the Lord of hosts (Isa_5:7), made their profit out of the ruin of Israel, and made that ruin worse. The 'Reineke Fuchs,' in satirizing the monks and priests of the sixteenth century under the same comparison, presents a curious, though probably unconscious, analogue. In Mat_7:15 and Act_20:29 wolves appear as the types of the false prophet.
Eze_13:5
The verse contains two distinct images. There were breaches in the walls of Jerusalem, literally and spiritually, and the false prophets had not been as "repairers of the breach" (Isa_58:12; Psa_106:23). The hedge of the vineyard of Israel had been broken through (Isa_5:5), and they had done nothing to restore it (Eze_22:30). The day of battle, the day of the Lord, had come, and they were betraying the people instead of helping.
Eze_13:6
The Lord saith. The verb is that specially used for the utterance of prophets, and the deceivers used it without the authority of a true mission. For they have made others (or, men) to hope, etc; as in the Authorized Version and Revised Version, read, with the margin of Revised Version, they hope to confirm their word, taking the verb as in Psa_119:43, Psa_119:49; Job_6:11, et al.). So the Vulgate, persereraverunt confirmare. Through deceiving others, they came to deceive themselves, and were really expecting a fulfilment.
Eze_13:9
Mine hand shall be, etc. After Ezekiel's manner, the thought of verse 6 is repeated in an altered form in verses 7, 8. What had been a statement appears as a question to which there could be but one answer. The prophet, as it were, cross examines his rivals. Could they deny the charge? Was not every word of it true? Then, after the statement of the sin of the false prophets, comes the proclamation of the punishment. The hand of Jehovah would be upon them for evil and not for good. In the assembly of my people. The Hebrew word indicates not a large popular gathering, but a secret council of those who deliberate together to carry out their plans (Psa_89:7; Psa_111:1; Jer_6:11). The prophets who had acted together, and been looked up to by the people as forming such a council, should lose that position of authority. The words that follow point to a yet lower degradation. They should be in the strictest sense of the word excommunicated. The city of Jerusalem, perhaps every city of Judah, had its register of citizens. In such a register were inscribed also the names of proselytes of other races (Psa_87:6), and so men came to think of a like register as kept by the King of kings, containing the names of those who were heirs of the "life" of the true Israel (Exo_32:32; Isa_4:3; Dan_12:1). In neither of those registers, the earthly and the heavenly (but stress is probably laid upon the former), shall the false prophets find a place. Ezr_2:62 gives an example of the use made of such registers on the return from the Captivity. One notes the contrast between the "my people" which recognizes Israel as still the heritage of Jehovah, and the "thy people" used in Eze_3:11 of the rebellious house of the Captivity. For the false prophets there should be no return to the land of Israel such as that which the prophet anticipated for the faithful and the penitent (Eze_37:21; comp. Isa_57:13). Here there is no specific mention of the name being struck out. The prophet contemplates a new register, in which their names will never even have appeared.
Eze_13:10
Peace, when there was no peace. This, as in Mic_3:5; Jer_6:14; Jer_23:17; Zec_10:2, was the root evil of the false prophet's work. He lulled men into a false security, and so narcotized their consciences. One built up a wall. The imagery starts from the picture of a ruined city already implied in Zec_10:4 and Zec_10:5, and expands into a parable in which we note a parallelism
(1) to Isaiah's picture of dishonest and unsafe building (Eze_30:13);
(2) to our Lord's parable at the end of the sermon on the mount (Mat_7:24, Mat_7:25 : Luk_6:47-49).
With an incisive sarcasm, Ezekiel describes what we should call the "scamp-work" of their spiritual building. They profess to be "repairers of the breach" (Isa_58:12) in the walls of the spiritual Zion, and this is how they set about it. One built up a wall. This may point to a false prophet, but the "one" (Hebrew, "he") is probably indefinite, like the French on, equivalent to "some one." Some scheme is devised, an Egyptian alliance or the like, to which the people look for safety. It is, as in the margin of the Authorized Version, a "slight wall," such as was used for partition walls inside houses. They make it do duty as an outside wall (kir in verse 12). It has no sure "footings," and materials and workmanship are alike defective. The false prophets would smear it over with untempered mortar (the Hebrew word is found only here and in Eze_22:28, and is probably an example of Ezekiel's acquaintance with the technical vocabulary of his time)—with a stucco or plaster, which is hardly better than whitewash, used to hide its detects and give it a semblance of solidity. They come, that is, with smooth words and promises of peace.
Eze_13:11
In words which would almost seem to have been in our Lord's thoughts in Mat_7:25, we have the picture of an Eastern storm, torrents of rain passing into hail (LXX; λίθοι πετρόβολοι ), accompanied by a tornado of irresistible violence (compare like pictures in Exo_9:22; Jos_10:11; Isa_30:30; Isa_28:2, Isa_28:17). And when the disaster comes men will turn to those who professed to be master builders and repairers of the breach, with derision, and ask, "Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed?" And then men shall see that through all this it is Jehovah's hand that has been working. It is he who "rends" the wall; he who "brings it down to the ground;" he who "accomplishes his wrath" (Mat_7:13-15). That shall be the end of the false "visions of peace."
Eze_13:17
Set thy face against the daughters of thy people. Here we note that the formula, "thy people," of Eze_3:11 reappears. The section which follows (Eze_3:17-23) throws an interesting side light on the position of women in the religious life of Israel. For good as for evil, their influence was stronger there than in most other nations. Miriam had led the way (Exo_15:21), and had been followed by Deborah (Jdg_5:4). Huldah had been almost as prominent in Josiah's reformation as Hilkiah the high priest (2Ki_22:14-20; 2Ch_34:22). It was but natural that there should be women on the other side also, guiding their own sex; and it is probable that Ezekiel had in his thoughts some special leaders who headed the women of Jerusalem in their opposition to Jeremiah, as afterwards at Pathros (Jer_44:15). So, later on, we have the prophetess Noadiah heading the opposition to Nehemiah (Neh_6:14); and in the New Testament, on the one hand, Anns (Luk_2:36) and the daughters of Philip (Act_21:9), and on the other, the ill-regulated prophetesses of Corinth (1Co_11:5) and the woman Jezebel, who called herself a prophetess (Rev_2:20).
Eze_13:18
Woe to the women who sew pillows, etc. Ezekiel's minute description, though it is from a different standpoint, reminds us of that in Isa_3:18-26. In both cases there are the difficulties inseparable from the fact that he had seen what he describes, and that we have not; and that he uses words which were familiar enough then, but are now found nowhere else. so that (as in the case of the ἐξουσία of 1Co_11:10) we have to guess their meaning. The picture which he draws of a false prophetess is obviously taken from the life, and the dress, we can scarcely doubt, was one that belonged to her calling. The word for "sew" meets us in Gen_3:7; Job_16:15; Ecc_3:7; and the English is an adequate rendering. For the word rendered "pillows," the LXX. gives προσκεφάλαια , the Vulgate pulvilli (equivalent to "cushions"). The word here obviously denotes an article of dress, something fastened to the arms. For arm-holes read joints of the two hoods, which may mean either knuckles, wrists, or (as in the Revised Version) elbows. Possibly these may have been, like the phylacteries of Mat_23:5, eases containing charms or incantations, and used as amulets. Something analogous to, if not identical with, these ornaments, is found in the "seeress wreaths," and "divining garments" of Cassandra, and in the "garlands" or "fillets" of the Pythian priestess in AEsch; 'Eumeu.,' 39. By some writers (Havernick) the word has been taken, as, perhaps, in the Authorized Version, for "pillows" in the larger sense, either literally as used in wanton luxury, like the "tapestry" of Pro_7:16, or figuratively, like the "wall" of the preceding section, for counsels that lulled the conscience into the slumber of a false security. Strangely enough, the Hebrew noun rendered "arm-holes" has the pronominal suffix "my arms," or "my hands." Keil accepts this rendering, and explains it as meaning that the prophetesses sought to "bind the arms," i.e. to restrain the power of Jehovah. On the whole, it is safer to follow Ewald and Hitzig, as I have done above. Make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature. The word for "kerchiefs" is again unique, but is, perhaps, a variant of the word in Isa_3:22, and rendered "wimples" in the Authorized Version. There is a fair consensus of interpretations that it means, as "kerchief" means, some covering for the head, a veil that hangs down over it, like the Spanish mantilla. Its use is, perhaps, explained by the words that follow, which suggest that the veils were not worn by the prophetesses themselves, but by those who came to consult them. The former had, as it were, a whole wardrobe of such veils adapted to persons of various heights, so that in all cases it shrouded their whole form. We may, perhaps, read between the lines the thought that their utterances, like their veils, were adapted to suit every age and every taste. Analogous usages present themselves in the tallith of later Judaism, and the veil worn by the Roman augurs. Ezekiel paints, we may believe, what he had seen. And in those veils he had seen a net cast over the victims of the false prophetesses, a snare from which they could not escape. Will ye hunt, etc.? The question is one of burning indignation. Omitting the words, "that come" (which have nothing in the Hebrew corresponding to them), the second clause will run, "Will ye make your own souls live?" and the question is explained by what follows. The prophetesses were living upon the credulity of the victims over whom they cast their nets.
Eze_13:19
Will ye pollute me, etc.? rather, with the Revised Version, ye have profaned, the interrogative form not being continued in the Hebrew. The prophet dwells with scorn on the miserable pay for which the prophetesses were guilty of so great a sin. Not for rewards of divination, like those of Balsam (Num_22:7), but for gifts like those bestowed on the harlot or the beggar (l Samuel 2:36; Hos_3:2)—for handfuls of barley and pieces of bread—they plied their wretched trade. For examples of the lower gifts in kind offered to prophets, compare those of Saul (1Sa_9:8), of Jeroboam's wife (1Ki_14:3), the false prophets in Mic_3:5. And they did this in direct opposition to the will of Jehovah. They "slew," i.e. drew on to destruction, the souls that were meant for life. They "saved the souls alive," i.e. "their own, which were worthy of death." That was the outcome of their "lying" divinations.
Eze_13:20
To make them fly, etc.; rather, with the Revised Version and Ewald, as if they were birds, carrying out the thought that the amulets on the arms of the prophetesses, and the veil cast over the heads of the votaries, were like the snare of the fowler. So the threat that follows, that the amulets should be torn off and the veil rent, is practically equivalent to the promise that the victims should be "delivered out of the snare of the fowler" (Psa_91:3; Psa_124:7). They should no longer he in the power of those who traded on their credulity. They too shall know that he who speaks is indeed Jehovah.
Eze_13:22
Because with lies, etc. What specially stirred Ezekiel's indignation was taut the false prophetesses saddened the hearts of the righteous (of those who looked to him and Jeremiah for guidance) with prophecies of evil and deluded the evil door by false hopes, so that he should not turn from his evil way and live. For by promising him life, read, with the LXX; Vulgate, and Luther and the Revised Version, that he should live, as he would do, if he turned from his wickedness (Eze_3:21; Eze_18:9, Eze_18:17).
II. THEY WHO TEACH OTHERS MAY BE WHOLLY WRONG THEMSELVES. The professional prophets of Israel were many of them false prophets. They were not simply blind and m error. They made lying pretences to an inspiration which they did not possess, and they flattered people with vain visions which they bad themselves cunningly devised. Their's was guilt of deepest dye. The teacher may fall into error unintentionally, for he is a fallible man; and then his mistake will not be culpable. But deception and moral failure are fatal sins. Surely every one who stands in the responsible position of a leader of others has a double motive tot searching his own soul to see that he is not a false prophet.
III. THEY WHO TEACH OTHERS WILL BE CALLED TO ACCOUNT BY GOD. God has been watching the false prophets, and now Ezekiel is sent with a special message to them. What, then, is the advantage of prostituting the high mission of a servant of God for the sake of popular favour? The flatteries of a deluded multitude will not save the deceiver when he is called to account by his great Master. Nay, those flatteries will turn to curses when the victims of his base deception have their eyes open to the snare which he has laid for them. Of all pursuits, that of preaching simply for popularity is the most dangerous and degrading.
IV. THEY WHO TEACH OTHERS ONLY THEIR OWN IDEAS IN THE NAME OF GOD ARE THE MOST FALSE TEACHERS. The prophets of Jerusalem did not only flatter the people with popular teaching, they carried that teaching out of their own hearts, and then ascribed it to God. Now, the prophet was an inspired man, or he was nothing. His sole business was to declare the Divine message—"Thus saith the Lord." But in speaking only out of his own heart he knew that he had no such message. Yet by professing to be a prophet he claimed to be giving it. Here was his great sin. He was forging the name of God for his own inventions (see verse 6). Similar is the sin of the preacher in a Christian pulpit who uses that vantage ground to expound his own private ideas to the neglect of, or even in opposition to, the teachings of the Bible, and yet on the authority of the Christian ministry. This is treason against Christ.
Eze_13:4
1. FOXES ARE WILD ANIMALS. The comparison is with creatures untamed and practically untamable. Now, to all appearance the false prophets were very different, were the very opposite in manners and demeanour. They were the trained sophists of an ancient civilization, court preachers well skilled in the use of oily phrases, masters of polite diction. To call such men foxes would seem to be an extravagant insult. Nevertheless, beneath the gracious exterior there was the heart of the untamed animal. These teachers were not submissive to the guidance of the Spirit of God. All who refuse that guidance are wandering in the wilderness of life. They are not the sheep of God's flock, but like the foxes that range at large outside the fold.
II. FOXES ARE DESTRUCTIVE ANIMALS. Among the Hebrews they were not celebrated for the cunning for which they were famous in Greek fables, but for their wasting mischief. False teachers are compared to these ravenous beasts. The wilful teachers of error are like the wreckers who hang out false lights to draw ships to the rocks. The destruction is twofold. 1. By driving from the true pastures. Thus the flock is starved in the wilderness. Error draws men off from the wholesome food of truth. 2. By direct injury. The foxes tear and devour the Iambs of the flock. Error has deadly fangs in spite of its gracious aspect.
III. FOXES HAUNT RUINOUS PLACES. Ezekiel imagines the foxes among ruins. False teaching flourishes when the Church has fallen into decay. A low moral tone prepares the way for error. If the soul were in a vigorous condition, the deceitfulness of an unworthy teacher would be speedily detected. It is only spiritual degeneracy that can give an opportunity for the religious charlatan.
IV. FOXES ROAM ABOUT IN THE DARK. They are creatures of the night. Deceitful teachers prey upon the ignorant and superstitious. Like the wild animals that only creep out under shelter of night, they prowl about in the shadows of dark times. They dread the day. Therefore the remedy is to be found in the spread of light. We cannot conquer error by directly refuting it so well as by fortifying people against it with a clear, strong teaching of truth. The foxes of error are on the look out liar their victims. Let the shepherds of light be to the fore in keeping the pure truth of the New Testament well in the minds and hearts of the people.
Eze_13:10
I. MEN CRAVE PEACE. A city is alarmed at the prospect of an attack. War stands with famine and plague as one of the three great scourges of man, and it is the greatest of the three. There is a worse war than that of man with his fellow—the war of sin against the soul, the war of the soul against God. This spiritual war wounds, slays, devastates, terrorizes. It is true that many who wage it never confess its hurtfulness, and even profess a joy in their condition. But when men retire into the silence of their own souls they must feel that the unrest within, which perhaps they do not yet ascribe to their sinful alienation from God, is a source of utter weariness, perhaps even of soul agony. Cowper exclaims—
"Oh for a lodge in some vast wilderness,
Some boundless contiguity of shade,
Where rumour of oppression and deceit,
Of unsuccessful or successful war,
Might never reach me more!"
II. THERE ARE FALSE PROMISES OF PEACE. Ezekiel's contemporary prophets promised peace, though Jerusalem was threatened with destruction by the true prophets of God.
1. The peace of unbelief. The threatenings of judgment are discredited. Future punishment is regarded as an invention of the priests to keep their dupes in subjection.
2. The peace of self-satisfaction. The true prophets denounced sin; but the false prophets flattered with smooth words. There is a teaching which minimizes sin and guilt, and so lulls the alarmed conscience to sleep.
3. The peace of presumption. The false teachers taught their hearers to presume on the favour of God, and to assume that God would never suffer Jerusalem to be destroyed. So men now abuse the revelation of God's love by assuming that he will never smite in anger.
III. WORDS OF PEACE WILL NOT CREATE PEACE. The prophets might say "peace;" but there would be no more peace for all their reiteration of the pleasant message. Smooth doctrines do not make smooth facts. We may enjoy a rosy theology with no shadows in its ideas; but if there are shadows in life, they will not be softened thereby. The future is not shaped by our notions of what it should be; neither is real peace given in the present by mere words of peace. The need is deeper than that which any assuring language can satisfy. The unrest of the soul calls for an active, powerful pacifying. Till that is experienced the soul will be restless still.
IV. CHRIST ALONE BRINGS TRUE PEACE. There is a peace of God, but it is not to be got through flattering words and pleasant assurances. Perhaps storms and trouble will precede it. At least there must be the break up of the false peace in the revolution of complete repentance. Then Christ will not only speak peace; he comes to make peace (Eph_2:15). His peace is brought about by his victory over sin, which is the one fundamental cause of war between the soul and God, and of unrest in the soul itself. Christ reconciles us to God by his cross, and brings our souls into harmony with the will of God. This is the only sure and solid peace.
Eze_13:11-16
I. A FALSE HOPE IS LIKE A WALL BUILT WITH UNTEMPERED MORTAR.
1. It offers protection. The wall is built, and it endures long enough to invite the threatened people to take shelter behind it. It stands between them and the enemy. So a false hope is planted between men and their danger, like a city wall, and it encourages them to despise the danger.
2. It presents a fair appearance. The wall may be well designed with towers, and bastions, and battlements, and all the latest improvements in plans of fortifications. It has a certain mortar holding the stones together, which may appear to be of the very best quality. So false hopes charm with an appearance of solidity.
3. It contains solid materials. It is not a mere mound of earth. There are good hewn stones in the structure. Hence its deceptive appearance. A lie that is half a truth is the most deadly lie. We may have certain solid truths of the Christian religion. Yet if these are not united by personal faith they hang loosely together, and will not save us.
4. It lacks an essential element. The mortar is rotten. Then all the rest goes for nothing. "One thing thou lackest" (Mar_10:21). Yet that one thing may be so vital that the absence of it may lead to utter failure. Our system of religion, like the teaching of the false prophets, may have every commendable element, beauty, symmetry, fulness, etc; except one—truth. Then, alas! there is nothing to hold it together, and the whole is no better than a heap of rubbish.
II. THE TEMPEST OF TRIAL WILL SHATTER A FALSE HOPE. When we see people who are comfortably ensconced in a neat little system of religious conceptions, though we know that that system is only held together by the friable mortar of fancy, not by the Portland cement of truth, at first it might seem cruel to unsettle them. But it should be remembered that they are certain to be unsettled at length, and the only questions are as to when and how this will take place. If the rotten wall is not pulled down, some day it will be thrown down.
1. The tempest of tribal will come. God sends his hailstorm, his hurricane. It came to Jerusalem in Nebuchadnezzar's invasion. It visits every soul at some time, for "man is born to trouble," etc. If our bark is only made for fair weather, it is doomed to shipwreck, because the storm will break at last on every life. If it dues not come during our earthly course, it will visit us at the close. Death will then come as a howling tempest.
2. The false hope will then crumble away. Hail and hurricane dash down the feeble, pretentious wall. Trouble overthrows false hopes. We may be content to live in the dreamland of illusion during the drowsy summer days of prosperity. But trouble compels us to be real. Then we are forced to ask ourselves in solemn earnestness, "What is truth?" Then the refuge of lies tumbles into a hopeless ruin.
3. The builder of the false hope will suffer in its overthrow. "Ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof." False teachers will suffer with the overthrow of their teachings. They who take refuge in falsehood will be buried in the ruin of their delusions. The greater the hope, the more fearful will be its fall, and the more dreadfully will they be bruised and crushed who take up their abode in it.
4. The false hope is overthrown that we may turn to the true Hope. "Christ our Hope."
Eze_13:17-20
I. THE RELIGION WHICH IGNORES STERN FACTS IS EFFEMINATE.
1. There is a noble sphere for woman in religion. The women of the Bible give us many a fine example of exalted piety. From Deborah, "the mother in Israel," to the Marys of the gospel story, women have appeared on the sacred page as inspiring examples. The Bible elevates the position of woman, and teaches us to treat her with reverence.
2. There is something feminine in the highest character of men. We see it in Jeremiah and St. John. Christ combines in his own Person the perfection of a woman's character with the perfection of a man's.
3. Nevertheless, there is an effeminacy of religion. "Effeminate," says Hengstenberg, "is all accommodation theology." The present inclination to shun the stern facts of revelation, and confine attention to what is pleasing, runs in the direction of effeminacy. If we adapt our religion to the inclinations of people, instead of declaring the whole counsel of God, whether men will hear or whether they will forbear, we betray a sad lack of virile strength.
II. EFFEMINATE RELIGION AIMS ONLY AT EASE AND COMFORT. These "daughters of Jerusalem," the effeminate prophets, spent their time in sewing pillows when they should have been forging swords or building solid walls; for they were only whispering soft words of hollow consolation when they should have been renouncing sin and preparing to face calamity.
1. There are pillows for evil consciences. Men desire to escape from the stabs of conscience. They would lay the restless conscience at ease. An effeminate religion helps to do this by lulling the alarmed sense of guilt and danger.
2. There are pillows for indolence. When called to action effeminate souls prefer ease and comfort. We meet with consoling promises in Scripture, but not for such. It is the mistake of many that they convert the religion which should be a stimulant into an opiate.
III. EFFEMINATE RELIGION MUST BE DENOUNCED AND OPPOSED.
1. It is cruel. The prophets of Jerusalem were fattening themselves at the expense of their neighbours, and preserving their own lives by destroying the lives of other people (verse 18).
2. It is mercenary. God is "polluted" for "handfuls of barley and pieces of bread." This "preaching to the times" in meek submission to the zeitgeist is a profitable thing for the popular preacher, but it means unfaithfulness to the Master when pleasant words only are spoken, and bard truths are hidden in order to bring "grist to the mill."
3. It is fatal. God says, "Behold, I am against your pillows." The present age has a horror of pain. But sin is worse than pain, and rough dealing which saves from sin is better than pillows of ease for impenitent souls. They who trust to artificial comfort now will be awakened by the terrible arm of judgment. The pillows are supposed to be made for God's arms, so that he may act softly. But no softened doctrine will destroy the stern facts of judgment.
Eze_13:22
I. FALSE IDEAS IN RELIGION BRING NEEDLESS SORROW TO GOOD PEOPLE. One particular aspect of this mischief is here brought before us—that of the triumph of sin and the prospect of its immunity, together with the persecution of men who resist it. Such was the condition of things at Jerusalem under the influence of the popular prophets in the days of Jeremiah; and a similar state appears to have prevailed when Ezekiel was writing. But we may see other aspects of the same mischief.
1. Doubt as to Divine justice. If sin is to be unrestrained, goodness may fail. It looks then as though the world were left to drift without control.
2. Doubt as to the Fatherly care of God. This is an opposite mistake in appearance, and yet the two lie near together. They both come from losing the perception of God's active presence. In the second case, however, good people may trouble themselves by dwelling exclusively on the stern features of judgment, through a reaction against the laxity of popular notions.
3. Misapplication of the doctrine of election. Good people have feared they might not be among the elect. A false fatalism has hung like a pall over their hopes. They have not seen the freedom of grace, the perfect love of God forevery soul, the open door for return.
4. A horror of the unpardonable sin. Yet they who fear they have committed this sin prove by their very distress that they have not, because that distress shows that they are not dead to spiritual things.
II. FALSE IDEAS IN RELIGION KEEP AWAY NEEDFUL SORROW FROM BAD PEOPLE. Sorrow for sin is a wholesome experience, and nothing can be more dangerous than to be able to do evil without experiencing any feeling of compunction. The flattering theology which would encourage such a condition is the most deadly enemy to its dupes, and while it professes kindness to the sinners whom it lulls to sleep as they float down the rapids of increasing wickedness, it is really murdering their souls by rendering them deaf to the thunders of the cataract. Let us note some of the delusions which lead to this fatal result:
1. Disbelief in judgment to come. Soothed by such a notion, reckless men imagine that they can sin with impunity. It would be better for them if they were pained by visions of judgment. No doubt the extravagant, coarse pictures of a medieval hell have led to a revolt against the idea of future punishment. Yet whatever may be the nature of that punishment, justice requires some terrible retribution for terrible sin.
2. The belief that God is only mild. His love is infinite. But therefore it must include wrath against sin. Soft-hearted benevolence is not perfect love.
3. Light views of sin. The evil being slightly regarded, its punishment is not expected to be great. Moreover, apart from slavish fears of future suffering, sin itself should be sorrowed over as a hateful thing. But while it is painted in flattering hues it will not be followed by wholesome compunction.
I. THE PROFESSION AND CLAIMS OF THE FALSE PROPHETS. The men here exposed were not prophets of any heathen deity, ministers of any idolatrous religion. They claimed to be servants of Jehovah, and to speak in his name to their fellow countrymen. They prefaced their statements and their advice with such language as Ezekiel here quotes: "Hear ye the word of the Lord;" "The Lord saith." Doubtless there were those who were conciliated and attracted by such claims, but who would have resented any summons addressed to them in the name of a heathen deity.
II. THE PRACTICAL CONTRADICTION OF THEIR PROFESSION AND CLAIMS. In terms figurative, yet impressive and conclusive, Ezekiel exhibits the hollowness of the pretences advanced by these lying leaders of the people. They are "like foxes in the waste places"—cunning, crafty creatures, who make their dwelling in the ruins and the wreck of a deserted city. So the prophets who profess to guide the people really prey upon them, and are most at home in the destruction and desolation which they have bellied to effect. They have not taken their place in the breach, they have not helped in the defence of the city, they have not stood in the van of the battle, when the enemy has made an assault. Here is the practical test, which reveals the worthlessness of all professions of patriotism, of all claims to leadership.
III. THE REAL INSPIRATION OF THE FALSE PROPHETS. The secret is disclosed; the explanation of the illusion is given. The false prophets prophesy out of their own hearts; they follow their own spirit; they have seen nothing; the Lord hath not sent them; theirs is a lying divination; they have spoken vanity, and seen lies. In a word, professing to derive their commission and their message from the Eternal, the All-wise, they simply utter what commends itself to their own opinion, what serves their own interest, what agrees with their own sinful prejudices. This accounts fur the unwisdom and worthlessness of their advice. They who follow them may expect to be misled.
IV. THE CONDEMNATION OF THE FALSE PROPHETS. "Woe unto the foolish prophets, saith the Lord God;" "I am against you." This condemnation is apparent from several facts.
1. Their predictions are falsified, and their counsels brought to nought.
2. They mislead the people to destruction.
3. They bring confusion upon themselves. This sentence is pronounced in language very plain and very smiting. The hypocritical pretenders to a Divine commission are excluded from the register of the house of Israel, and are denied entrance into the land of Israel. All their plotting and lies are not only unmasked; they issue in confusion and destruction to themselves.—T.
Eze_13:10-16
I. AN INSECURE FOUNDATION AND STRUCTURE. Spiritual work is often compared to the labour of a builder. The wise and faithful teacher and counsellor lays a sound foundation, builds with strong and approved material, carries out a wise plan with patience and efficiency, and brings his work to a prosperous issue when the topstone is laid with rejoicing. Far otherwise is it with the worldly and crafty, who build for their own selfish purposes, who are careless as to the basis upon which they rear the edifice, as to the substance, and the workmanship. All they care for is the appearance presented by their work. When they labour professedly for the good of their fellow men, they are like the builder who uses rotten stone and daubs it with untempered mortar. The structure is for a time imposing to the eye of the beholder; defects are hidden, and all looks well. Those who mislead the Lord's people are in the habit of saying, "Peace!" when there is no peace. Their visions are illusive, and their prophecies are falsehoods.
II. STORM AND RAIN. The plausible appearance is but for a season. Time tries all. There is ever a day of reckoning at hand. The prophet of the Lord reminds pretenders and hypocrites that an overflowing shower, great hailstones, and a stormy wind shall come. The anger and fury of the Lord wilt not always be restrained. It was so in the history of the Jewish people. Smooth things had been prophesied, but not with Divine authority. The peace was superficial and brief. The calamites which false counsellors had represented as imaginary proved to be an awful reality. What, then, became of the work which had been carried out with loud professions of authority, and which had appeared to the unobservant so fair and sound? The wall was broken down, the daubing disappeared, and they who daubed it were no more seen. "Who can abide the day of his coming.?" In the hour of trial there is no security save in a Divine foundation, in workmanship wrought upon Divine principles and in accordance with Divine plans. The building which is of God shall stand. But the worthlessness of all beside shall be made manifest. What is not of God shall be swept away by the flood and tempest of inevitable judgment.
APPLICATION.
1. The solemnity and responsibility of the ministry to souls are impressively taught in the imagery of this passage. Let every man take heed what and how he builds.
2. The importance is made apparent of applying to wise and faithful counsellors It is not the learned, the prudent, the pretentious, who must needs be right and trustworthy. Let every man try the spirits, whether they are taught of God.—T.
Eze_13:17-23
I. THEIR SEDUCTIVE AND IMPOSING ARTS. It is not important for us to understand all the allusions in this passage. Whatever were these pillows and kerchiefs, it seems char that they were used in connection with superstitious divinations, and were intended to impress all beholders with a sense of the dignity and mysterious powers of these sorceresses. The mystic veil that robed the tall form of the prophetesses, the paraphernalia with which such persons were wont to invest themselves, tended to inspire reverence and awe, as if for a supernatural power revealed in the stately presence and authoritative voice.
II. THEIR MERCENARY ENDS. There is something picturesque and striking in the description given by the prophet of the poor, deluded victims who resorted to the sorceresses, carrying with them "handfuls of barley and pieces of bread"—the common tribute paid in such cases and to such persons. Probably the women loved to exercise power and to exact respect; yet with most of them the motive was mercenary, and they were content to deceive others if they could enrich, or even support, themselves.
III. THEIR PROPHECIES. The term could only have been applied to their utterances in irony. For it is evident
(1) that their inspiration came from their own heart, and
(2) that the substance of their so called prophecies was false.
They were animated by a desire to please those who resorted to them; and this they did to gratify their own prejudices or to display their own worldly wisdom. In such communications there was nothing that deserved the name of prophecy; for a prophet is one who speaks in the place of God, and who shows no regard to the person or to the wishes of those addressed. It was no spirit of rivalry or of jealousy which induced the Prophet Ezekiel to speak thus severely of these female impostors; it was for the public good that their deceptions should be exposed.
IV. THEIR PERVERSION OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. They are said to have hunted the souls of the Lord's people; and this they did by their perverse and unjust oracles. The language used concerning them is very remarkable, and it could not have been used through mere delight in antithesis. It is said that the ministry of the "prophetesses" was "to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live." They were reproached with their attempt to subvert God's righteous providence: "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." A more scathing denunciation could not have been uttered than this; these women strove to overturn the moral order, to encourage the rebellious, and to depress the just and godly!
V. THEIR UNMASKING AND EXPOSURE. The God of truth and rectitude declared himself opposed to these seducers of his people. The symbols of their delusive arts should be stripped from them. Their hypocrisy should be unveiled, and their pretences should be ridiculed. The means by which they had been wont to ensnare men should be taken from them. Their reputation and their power should be destroyed, and their influence should come to an end.
VI. THE DELIVERANCE OF THEIR VICTIMS. Those whom the false prophetesses sought to entangle and to capture were the Lord's people; and the Lord claimed his own. It was his purpose to deliver them out of the hand of their spiritual toe, and to let the hunted souls go free. The means by which this result was to be brought about are not stated; but the resources of the Omnipotent were sufficient to ransom and liberate his own. Thus it should be made apparent to all observers that the Lord reigneth, and that he is ever mindful of his own.—T.
I. CARNAL AMBITION IS OFTEN THE PARENT OF FALSEHOOD. The prophecies and counsels of Jeremiah ran counter to all the prejudices and predilections of the people. Their fleshly nature rose in arms against such possible disaster. Heedless of God and God's plans, they would create for themselves a better fortune. The worldly wise among them, gifted with superior speech, resolved to outrival God's prophets—to become candidates for popularity—to aspire alter political power. Amidst a nation's disaster and weakness there is always opportunity for the crafty to gain some sinister end. They countenanced any intrigue that promised temporary advantage. Under pretence of patriotic zeal, they sought mainly, if not wholly, a personal elevation.
II. CAUSAL AMBITION LEADS TO SELF-ASSUMPTION. It is very likely that, at the outset, these false prophets deceived themselves. They imagined that they saw a way out of the catastrophe, and urged the rulers, against Jeremiah's advice, to pursue that way. If it was pleaded that God had ordered otherwise, these men set up a counter authority. Stung by the suggestion that their counsel was not equal in value to that of Jeremiah, they boldly claimed to be the messengers of God. In their fanatic zeal they deemed their sagacious plans to have been given them from heaven. They were too much bent on gaining their end to inquire carefully into this matter. Where was the proof that Jeremiah or Ezekiel was more favoured to receive Divine intelligence than they? The end would justify the means! Heedless of consequences, they would publicly claim to speak as the ambassadors of God.
III. SELF-ASSUMPTION EMPLOYS SOPHISTICAL ARTS OF SPEECH. They are described as foxes—notorious for cunning—yea, cunning as hungry foxes in the desert. All their wits were exercised to weave the most plausible web of argument. Every possible circumstance favourable to their designs was seized upon, and made to prop their nefarious policy, until what they had induced others to believe, they believed also themselves. They ensnared themselves in their own nets. From knaves they gradually became fanatics. Careless about the exact truth at the beginning, they lost at length the power to discern between truth and falsehood.
IV. SELF-ASSUMPTION IS DEAD TO THE INTERESTS OF OTHERS. In the fifth verse the prophet accuses them thus: "Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle." They used others, as the monkey did the cat's paw. Where arduous toil, and especially where serious danger, appeared, they were conspicuous by their absence. Truth makes men at all times courageous, but falsehood corrodes the metal of a man's bravery. These pretentious prophets desired the honour and the advantage; the risks they devolved on others. Honest men were made the ladder by which they sought to climb.
V. SELF-ASSUMPTION IS SURE TO COLLAPSE. Vaulting ambition overleaps itself. The frog that would swell its dimensions to the size of a bull destroyed itself.
1. False teachers make God their direct enemy. "I am against you, saith the Lord God." The God of truth hates hypocrisy. All falseness shall be like empty thistle down, which the wind scatters.
2. They shall be excluded from the circle of honour. They had assumed to be heads and leaders in the councils of the nation; they shall be dishonoured, and cast out of the deliberative assembly. The false shall be, sooner or later, excommunicated—blackballed.
3. Their posterity shall become extinct. There shall be none to perpetuate their name. New honour often comes to the memory of a righteous man from children of renown. Such honour and satisfaction shall be denied to them. They shall perish root and branch.
4. They shall not participate in the coming restoration. "Neither shall they enter into the land of Israel." The distinctive possession which God gives shall be for the true Israel, "even for those who have no guile." In the time of Israel's real prosperity there "shall not come into them the uncircumcised or the unclean." He is a Jew who is one inwardly.—D.
I. NATIONAL POLITY IS ANALOGOUS TO A BUILDING. As the human body requires some sort of material dwelling to protect it from external evils, so society requires some system of national administration that shall protect it against external foes. That administration, to be successful, must be a combination of wisdom and strength—an edifice both moral and material. If a nation cannot withstand all invaders by means of its armies and its fortresses, it must maintain itself by means of mutual treaty and mutual concord. Some defence it must have.
II. THIS BUILDING WAS FRAMED WITH SLENDER AND SUPERFICIAL MATERIALS. The weakness and rottenness of the walls were concealed with untempered plaster and with mere whitewash. An unsound and leaky ship is made no more seaworthy by painting her in gay colours. Plausible words do not make a sound policy, neither does good raiment make an honest man. Solid foundations and sound materials are essential to make a wall safe or a national policy prosperous.
III. THERE WAS AN EVIL CONSPIRACY. "One built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar." Evil men will do. in combination with each other, deeds they would not venture on alone. Union is strength, even in wickedness. The base policy would commend itself all the more to popular acceptance if it had the support (apparently independent) of several advocates. It is a crime to lend ourselves to an enterprise merely because it has the sanction of numbers. The quality of its supporters must be pondered.
IV. TESTING EVENTS WERE AT HAND. Every wall or building is designed to resist wind and rain. If it cannot do this, its purpose is vain. If it succumbs to storm, it is worse than useless; it adds to the peril. It is safer to be in the open field during a storm than to be within a rickety house. The very provision made for security, if it be ill founded and ill constructed, becomes a new danger. The Jews were aware that extraordinary danger was imminent, and therefore ought to have been the more careful in their sound defence of the state. Recklessness is only sham courage, and is the foe of wisdom.
V. OVERTHROW WAS CERTAIN. If God be against our plans, success is impossible. No human undertaking can resist Omnipotence. The destruction was foretold, but the warning only excited ridicule. It was not simply that the cunning policy of these men should be overthrown—that would be a small evil; but the overthrow would be destruction to their persons and destruction to the kingdom. They were involving a nation in disaster. We know not where the mischief of evil deeds will end.
VI. GREAT REPROACH WILL ENSUE.. "Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it?" The surrounding nations were eagerly watching how this nation, which boasted of Jehovah as their God, would deport itself. If it was seen that the princes and captains were bolstering up the kingdom with craft and intrigue and falsehood, they would despise their professed faith—yea, despise their God. The names of these foolish builders would be bandied about as a byword and a reproach. Their ill fame would follow them through many generations. Perpetual discredit and reprobation are a part of God's punishment.—D.
Eze_13:17-23
I. SELF-MADE RELIGION IS VAIN. In every age men have ventured to invent for themselves religious creeds and forms. The human mind has chafed against God's requirements as being irksome and severe, and the world has carved out a religion that shall be self-pleasing, a lullaby to conscience, a sedative to fear. The doctrines and creeds have been spun out of men's self-consciousness, and have had no foundation outside themselves. In the pride of their heart they have imagined that Reason was a god, and that this internal god was supreme. They see vanity and prophesy falsehood.
II. THIS SELF-MADE RELIGION IS LUXURIOUS. All its beliefs and practices are regulated by pleasure. What ministers to present enjoyment is tolerated; what is unpleasant is denounced. "They sew pillows to all arm-holes." Bodily ease is paramount. To crucify the flesh is a heresy. To wear a jewelled cross upon the breast is an ornament, and is therefore approved; but to obey commands which are a burden to the flesh, to bear Christ's cross of pain and reproach, this is contemned. He who really desires acceptance with God may well suspect any religion that panders to bodily pleasure. "He who is a friend of the world is an enemy of God."
III. SELF-MADE RELIGION SEEKS EARTHLY ADVANTAGE. "Will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread?" These self-styled servants of God really cared nothing for the honour of God. They did not scruple to profane his Name, and to trample on sacred things, if only they could gain a pitiance of bread thereby. They made merchandise of religion. It was a religion toe the body, not for the soul. They acted as if gain were godliness. So is it ofttimes now. If religion would ensure prosperity to secular business, many men would profess to Do religious. But if religion frowns upon fraud and deceit, they will eschew it as unfriendly to their worldly prospects. Yet, in the long run, godliness is favourable to every human interest. "It is profitable for all things."
IV. SELF-MADE RELIGION IS HOSTILE TO RIGHTEOUSNESS. These false prophets sought "to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live." It seeks to frustrate all God's purposes, to overturn the very foundations of righteousness. God's plan of government is to make righteousness contribute to life. "The just shall live by faith;" "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." But this self-made religion of proud men strives to arrest the processes of God's rule, and endeavours to make the worst things appear the best. "It puts darkness for light, and light for darkness." It would fain slay the righteous; for the godly are as thorns in the sides of the hypocrite. It seeks to confuse men's ideas of truth and error, of right and wrong.
V. THIS SELF-MADE RELIGION IS INJURIOUS BOTH TO THE WICKED AND TO THE RIGHTEOUS. "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 Lot return from his wicked way." It is God's wise intention that, in proportion as men are righteous, they should have joy. This is theft encouragement and, in part, their reward. He who seeks to prevent this is fighting against God. But it is a greater wrong still to encourage the wicked in their evil ways. The pains and disappointments which the wicked experience are the thorns with which God would hedge up their way and turn them back. He who promises heaven to sinners is a confederate in their sin, and shall s