Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 13:14

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 discovered, and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I [am] the LORD.

14. shall be discovered ] i.e. uncovered, laid bare. The prophets shall be destroyed in the ruins of the wall (Amo 9:1). The figure tends in these words to be replaced by the reality, namely, Jerusalem and its downfall.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

This verse with very little variation repeats the same dreadful procedure of God against this people, and these false prophets, and their false, ill-grounded confidences. And this repeating these things is to give us to know the certainty of the thing, the terror wherewith God will do it, and the stupidity of the Jews bewitched by the flatteries of their false prophets.

I will break down the wall; pull it down stone by stone; level it with the ground. The unsoundness of the foundation, whatever it may seem to be,

shall be discovered to every one that will look on it, and this to the utter shame of the builders.

And ye, who deceive and are deceived by it, shall perish in the midst thereof. So all that hearkened to these false prophets, rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, fortified the city, and obstinately stood it out, fell with the ruins of the city, and perished, and then felt the stroke of Gods hand, and truth of his prophet.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

14. The repetition of the samethreat (see on Eze 13:11) is toawaken the people out of their dream of safety by the certaintyof the event.

foundationAs the”wall” represents the security of the nation, so the”foundation” is Jerusalem, on the fortifications ofwhich they rested their confidence. GROTIUSmakes the “foundation” refer to the false principleson which they rested; Eze 13:16supports the former view.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered [mortar],…. Which is repeated and expressed in these words, both for the sake of confirmation and explanation of what is before said:

and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered; meaning the city of Jerusalem, and by these phrases declaring the utter destruction of it; whereby also would be discovered the vain assurances and lying predictions of the false prophets, and which would appear to be entirely groundless: so the Targum,

“and I will destroy the city in which ye have prophesied false prophecies; and I will cause it to fall to the ground, and its foundations shall be discovered:”

and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst of it; the false prophets perished in the destruction of Jerusalem, and not one of them escaped:

and ye shall know that I [am] the Lord; who is true to his word, and able to accomplish it, whether of punishment or of threatening.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

This verse ought to be united with the other: God says, I will throw down the wall. For the false prophets had acquired so much favor, that their boasting was as much esteemed as an oracle. Hence the people were persuaded that what even these impostors dreamt was uttered by God. Since, therefore, they had so bound men’s minds to themselves, the Prophet was obliged to inveigh vehemently against those impostures, since he would not have succeeded by simple language. This language, indeed, may seem superfluous; but if any one considers how greatly these miserable exiles were deluded by the false prophets, he will easily acknowledge that God does not repeat the same thing so often in vain: as in this place he brings forward nothing new; but he so inculcates what we have already seen as to confirm it. I will pull down, therefore, the wall which you have daubed with untempered mortar, and I will lay it low on the ground, and its foundation shall be uncovered, or discovered. Here the Prophet signifies that God would so lay bare the fallacies of those who had deceived the people with vain hopes, that no disguise should remain for them, but their disgrace should be plain to every one. Now, such was the shamelessness of these impostors, that if they were convicted on one point, yet they did not desist on that account, but took credit to themselves if anything turned out more fortunately than they could expect, (19) as if they had not prophesied in vain, while a single thing came true. Since, therefore, the impious so turned their backs when God detected their folly, the Prophet adds, that the false prophets would have nothing left, because God will not only overthrow whatever they seemed to build, but he will uncover even the foundations, so that the people may understand that there was not a scruple or the least particle of truth in them.

And it shall fall, and you shall be consumed in the midst of it. He had just said that it should be ruinously consumed: hailstones, he said, should fall to consume it; by which word he understood that the final slaughter should be so severe that no hope should be left. For as long as Jerusalem stood, the Israelites always look forward to a return. But when they saw the kingdom not only weakened, but utterly destroyed, the temple overthrown, and the city ruined, whenever they heard of their dreadful dispersion, not the slightest remnant of hope survived. Now this consumption is transferred to the false prophets. As that consumption was final, and without a gleam of hope, ye shall be consumed, says he, in the midst of it, and ye shall know that I am Jehovah. He does not inculcate this particular so often in vain; but he inveighs with indignation against the wicked audacity of the false prophets, who dared so petulantly to oppose themselves to the true servants of God, and to assume his name, and to trifle with him like children. Such is the prodigious madness of mortals who dare to set themselves against God: for this reason, he says, they shall at length perceive with whom they have to do. It follows —

(19) Calvin’s Latin is very cramped here. The French translation paraphrases it thus: “ Mais ils repliqueront qu’il se pourra bien faire qu’il leur sera eschappe quelque chose mal a propos.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

14. So will I break down the wall Although it was the Chaldeans who swept like a flood or a windstorm over Judea, and whose blows fell like hailstones, yet these were but the agents of Jehovah. It was not because the walls of the city were fragile, but because the God of the city did not protect it, that it fell before its enemies.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Eze 13:14 So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered [morter], and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I [am] the LORD.

Ver. 14. So that the foundation thereof shall be discovered. ] So that all men shall see your falsehoods. See 2Ti 3:9 Rev 17:16 . The old whore is first made naked and then desolate. Mr Philpot, martyr, dealt plainly by the Popish prelates in open convocation when he said to them, Before God ye are all bare arsed. God hath detected you, &c. a

And ye shall be consumed. ] See on Eze 13:12 .

a Acts and Mon.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)