1 9<\/strong>. The lying prophets are like foxes among the ruins<\/p>\n (1) Eze 13:1-3<\/em><\/span>. The inspiration of these prophets is not from the spirit of God but from their own heart.<\/p>\n (2) Eze 13:4-5<\/em><\/span>. Consequently so far as the state was concerned they were like foxes among the ruins; they burrowed among these and only helped to bring down what might still be standing.<\/p>\n (3) Eze 13:6-7<\/em><\/span>. They deceived the people, and were self-deceived. They prophesied lies, and looked that God would establish their lies.<\/p>\n (4) Eze 13:8-9<\/em><\/span>. Therefore destruction shall overtake them. The people of the Lord, when the day of chastisement has passed, shall be again a people in their own land, but the names of these prophets shall not be found among them.<\/p>\n The identity of phrases and ideas of this chapter with Jer. 23<\/span> leads to the conclusion that Ezekiel took up a well-known prophecy to enforce and apply it to his companions in exile. They probably had read Jeremiahs words as referring to others than themselves.<\/P><\/p>\n Eze 13:1-3<\/span><\/p>\n Them that prophesy out of their own hearts.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n The false prophet<\/strong><\/p>\n To be a false prophet seems to us, indeed, an enormity. To have the great gift and trust of prophecy, and then to misuse it; to be admitted, if we may so speak, of Gods council, and then to sink that heavenly teaching in earthly and sensual thoughts,–this seems so high a measure of guilt, that we wonder not at the woe pronounced against it. Nay, as we read, we set our amen to it, little thinking that in so doing we may be, in truth, sealing our own condemnation. We see not that this very sin is that which doth most constantly beset us also; that many a ministry which seems to mans eye without reproach is indeed stained with the self-same guilt as that wherewith these prophets were defiled; that, in spite of its fair outline, the woe of the Almighty is gone forth against it. If we examine the testimonies against these false prophets which abound throughout the Books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, we shall find that God does not charge them with altering His message wilfully and of set purpose to deceive. The charges are rather, that they are themselves deceived (Jer 5:13<\/span>; Jer 10:9<\/span>; Jer 14:14<\/span>; Jer 23:16<\/span>; Lam 2:14<\/span>; Eze 13:3<\/span>; Eze 13:7<\/span>; Eze 13:9<\/span>). It was not, apparently, that the false prophet knowingly altered the message he had received, but that for some cause or other there was this peril incident to his office, that he might be deceived and become a deceiver in some sense unconsciously; and then, if we look closer, we shall see that various causes are given for the fearful fall of the false prophet, and that they are all of one complexion–that they are what we call moral causes. Uncleanness of life, covetousness, softness of spirit, luxury, fondness for the pleasures of this life, these and many such like moral faults are expressly mentioned as the causes of this spirit of error and lies which filled these men and brought on them Gods fearful woe. The prophets prophesied lies, because they followed their own spirit, and had seen nothing. And now, if from the case of false prophets we turn to that of those who were faithful, we shall be brought to the same conclusion: we shall see, that is, that the distinction between them and the prophets of lies consisted not in their exclusive possession of those supernatural illapses of knowledge, to which we are apt to look, as making all the difference between one and another, but in the use which, from their spiritual and moral condition, they were able to make of these gifts. Look at the prophet who never prophesied good of the wicked king, but always evil; and see whether it was not in that noble gift of venturing all for the truth of God, wherein in very deed he differed from the earthly-minded sycophants, who made horns of iron, and prophesied, that as with them the Syrians should be pushed unto entire destruction. Or take, as a sufficient proof, the case of the prophet Jeremiah. To him was opened, by a special revelation, the speedy coming of Gods judgments upon Judah, which nothing but the absolute submission of Jerusalem to the King of Babylon could turn aside. So far he learned by revelation; but having learned thus much, mark his after history; see the constantly recurring moral temptation to tamper with this truth, to which he was subjected: the violence of the princes–the rage of the people–the feebleness of the king–their private interviews–the bribes offered to buy off his faithfulness–the miry dungeon of Malchiah; each of these was a temptation to lower down his message; to utter it less boldly, less frequently; less simply–to suppress it, to alter it. But against them all he stood firm, and why? Because a deep and abiding sense of Gods greatness and truth and awfulness lay beneath all other things, as the very foundation of his mind; and this kept him ever firm and constant. In an utterly unfaithful age and nation, remaining faithful when well-nigh everyone around him failed, he preserved untainted, amidst the crowd of lying seers, the truth of Gods anointed prophet. So that here we are brought to the same point: the blindness of the false prophet was the fruit of failing in his moral probation; the ghostly insight of the true prophet was kept quick and piercing, by his faithful cleaving to God amidst the ordinary temptations of life. And if this be so, surely this is exactly our condition, as far as concerns the ministry of the Word; and these woes against deceived prophets stand written on high, in their characters of fire, to warn us upon our ordinary way. For we also have our message: that which was given to the old prophets by special revelation we have plainly written for us in the page of Holy Scripture. Nor can we doubt that, if this message be delivered faithfully and wisely, it will produce an evident result in awakening sinners and building up the saints. We may see, moreover, that in our case the cause of failure is, in fact, the same as in the prophets of old. First, our own perceptions become obscured. For it is only by the teaching of the Holy Spirit that we can really enter into the deep mysteries of redemption. Impurity cannot lay hold upon purity. There are many doors of holy teaching, which open only to the key of love; and there is in love a marvellous power of understanding, a wonderful forecasting of the future; for love is a great reader of secrets. Even in earthly things, which are but a shadow of the true, we may see this. What an interpreter of hidden meanings is a loving spirit! how quick and piercing is it in reaching to the inner wishes, feeling, and intentions of another! And so doubtless it is where the love of God dwells in an earthly heart. The man is free, as it were, of the counsels of God. He reaches on to great things at unawares. In doing common duties, as they seem to him, he is sowing good seed for a distant day; he is reaching out far beyond the present, anticipating Gods future doings. Nor, secondly, can our own views of Gods truth become thus obscured without their impairing in an equal degree our power of conveying the message to others. First, this state of heart must destroy the reality of our teaching. We shall prophesy a lie; for we shall prophesy of truth itself as if it were a lie. There is nothing that our people feel more readily than this unreal declaration of Gods message. There is no close work with the heart or the life; but all is exhausted in mere form, or else in general appeals to the feelings, or in yet more fruitless addresses to the understanding, as the case may be. What., then, is this but to prophesy a lie? And this is not all. There can be little of a true loving earnestness in such ministry. There may be an apparent zeal as to forms, or as to preaching, and its other more external parts; but there can be little true sympathy with the wants and sufferings of mans heart, because there is little knowledge of them. There can be little of that deep earnest casting forth of the inmost spirit to meet anothers wants, which oftentimes makes silent sympathy in one man far more expressive than a multitude of words in another; and which, as by some heavenly influence, soothes and opens and wins the sufferers heart. I may not detain you to trace out all the characters of that earnest seeking after Gods truth to which we are bound; its faintest sketch may supply us with much ground for profitable thought. First, then, if we would attain to it, we must live in the habitual and devotional study of Gods Word. The great importance of this habit is not so much that we may understand obscure passages, still less that we may be discoverers of new truths, as that our whole tone of thinking and feeling may be attuned to things Divine. But then, to this we must add an humble use of every means that God has given us for understanding His Word rightly. By the ordinances of the Church; the testimony of succeeding generations; the judgment of humble and holy men; the witness borne to various truths by all the saints, living and departed, reformers, fathers, and antiquity; by each of these in their place, we humbly hope that God may teach us better how to understand His Word. Secondly, we must watch earnestly for the leading of the Spirit of the Lord. We must believe that this gift is in the Church, and seek to use it lawfully; we must remember how the Spirit of God does teach us, not by conveying to our minds direct propositions, but by clearing off those moral clouds which would dim all our perceptions of truth; by teaching our hearts, by giving us reality, earnestness, love, and a bold humility,–those mighty masters of the secret things of God. We shall therefore cooperate with Him by watching diligently our own hearts; by guarding them against the beginnings of worldliness; by seeking after a deeper humility of spirit; knowing that pride above all things breaks and distorts the images of heavenly truth which are cast forth upon our minds; that pride in the heart of the learner makes all teaching vain; that humility can learn great lessons from any teacher. And lastly, as the bond which is to hold together all these various elements, we must, if we would be faithful prophets, seek after eminent holiness of life. This will give us an insight into Gods truth in its reality; this will open to us our own hearts, and so the hearts of our brethren; this will set us in the way of those blessed breathings of the Holy Spirit which fall ever upon the still waters of holiness, and waft on most noiselessly those who always haunt them into the secrets of the Lord. This will enable us to live ever with Him even in this world of shadows. (Bishop S. Wilberforce.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n False prophesying<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>What is the specific charge made against false prophets? That they speak out of their own hearts, and that they follow their own spirit. How prone are all men to do this!<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Every man now prophesies out of himself. Let us beware how we degrade a right into a perversion of liberty and a mischievous use of independence. There is a right of private judgment, there is an individuality of conscience: but no judgment is complete that does not measure itself with other judgments, and no conscience is complete that is not in touch with other consciences; for the last conscience is the result and expression of spiritual chemistry, combination, intermixture, divinely conducted. There may come a time when personal testimony must be delivered with burning emphasis, and when a man is compelled to enclose himself within a solitary altar; all these concessions do not interfere with the central and dominant truth that no prophecy is of private interpretation, and that all secret prayer needs to be brought out into the open air of the Church, that there it may bloom in its completest beauty.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>False prophets excite false hopes: what other could they do? They have made others to hope that they would confirm the Word. A liar is very careful to maintain some foothold upon the confidence of society. He who is all false himself can only live upon the trustfulness of others. So, then, the false prophet is the creator of false hopes; and if there be counterfeit coin makers in our neighbourhood, it would not be an unwise thing to put out our coin upon the table and look at it very carefully; and as there are false prophets who have excited false hopes, it would not be unwise to take our hopes one by one, and conduct upon each of them an unsparing analysis, saying, What is it? what is its reason? what is its purpose? what is its value? what is its origin? how is it supported by evidence? how is it ennobled by sacrifice? Any hope that will not accept the test of sacrifice is a false hope.<\/p>\n 4. <\/strong>False prophets had, however, some little ground to work upon: they mistook the imaginary for the real: Have ye not seen a vain vision? That is the difficulty. If there was absolutely nothing, we should have a clear course; but we have lying definitions, we have occasional dreams, and peculiar impressions; and people who resent the idea of accepting a theology made by the Church adopt an astrology or a theology of their own, founded upon cobwebs, built upon mist, and pointing to nothing. Let us pray God to cleanse our vision, lest, seeing men as trees walking, or trees as men walking, we confound the reality of things; and above all, let us say to one another, Brother, help me, and I will help some weaker man, Let us have our strength common.<\/p>\n 5. <\/strong>What course does the Lord pursue against such falsity? I am against you, saith the Lord God. We know, then, exactly what strength we have to encounter. It is only omnipotence. We have sometimes wondered how it is we do not succeed. There need not be any wonder about it; for our failure arises from one of two causes: either, first, that God is against us, in the sense of judging us to be false; or God is trying us to develop our strength. Let us adopt the second conclusion where we can, for it will cheer us and help us on many a weary day.<\/p>\n 6. <\/strong>What further course will the Lord take against these false prophets? He will destroy them. They build a wall; He sends hail down upon it, and brings the wall all to pieces. We need not go to the Prophet Ezekiel to know if this is true. What walls we have built! What strength we were going to have! We had already drawn out a hundred programmes, every one of which ended in pounds, shillings, and pence; and a hundred more, ending in honour, fame, influence; and another hundred, ending in herds and flocks, and abundance of family connections and great peace, and long days: and whilst we were filling our mouth with the wind the Lord touched us, and we fell down as dead men. If the Lord, then, is so set against falsehood, what will He do for us? He will speak the truth, He will send angels of truth, messengers of mercy and love. Beware lest we have all our truth on paper, in propositions, innumerable and well detailed dogmas: we must first have it in our souls, hearts, lives; we must be prepared to live for it and to die for it, and then it will grow, accumulate, multiply; and we shall begin to see, with the ever excellent because ever modest philosopher, Sir Isaac Newton, that we have only gathered a few shells on the shore, while the great ocean of truth lies all undiscovered before us. Such modesty well becomes men who were born yesterday and may be forgotten tomorrow. (J. Parker, D. D.<\/em>)<\/p>\n CHAPTER XIII <\/P> This chapter denounces heavy judgments against the lying<\/I><\/P> prophets who flattered the people, in the midst of their sin<\/I><\/P> and danger, with false hopes of peace and security<\/I>, 1-9.<\/P> The work of these deceivers is beautifully compared to a frail<\/I><\/P> and insolent piece of building, which can never stand against<\/I><\/P> the battering elements of heaven, (the Chaldean forces,) which<\/I><\/P> God will commission against it<\/I>, 10-16.<\/P> In the remaining part of the chapter woes are denounced against<\/I><\/P> false prophetesses who practiced vain rites and divinations,<\/I><\/P> with the view of promoting their own gain by deceiving the<\/I><\/P> people<\/I>, 17-23. <\/P> NOTES ON CHAP. XIII<\/P><\/p>\n This first verse is the commission, by virtue whereof Ezekiel acteth as a prophet, and it is in the usual style near forty times in Ezekiel. <\/P> <\/p>\n 1.<\/B> As the twelfth chapterdenounced the false expectations of the people, so this denounces thefalse leaders who fed those expectations. As an independent witness,Ezekiel confirms at the Chebar the testimony of Jeremiah (Jer 29:21<\/span>;Jer 29:31<\/span>) in his letter fromJerusalem to the captive exiles, against the false prophets; of thesesome were conscious knaves, others fanatical dupes of their ownfrauds; for example, Ahab, Zedekiah, and Shemaiah. Hananiah must havebelieved his own lie, else he would not have specified socircumstantial<\/I> details (Jer28:2-4<\/span>). The conscious knaves gave only general<\/I> assurancesof peace (Jer 5:31<\/span>; Jer 6:14<\/span>;Jer 14:13<\/span>). The language ofEzekiel has plain references to the similar language of Jeremiah (forexample, Jer 23:9-38<\/span>);the bane of false prophecy, which had its stronghold in Jerusalem,having in some degree extended to the Chebar; this chapter,therefore, is primarily intended as a message to those still in theJewish metropolis; and, secondarily, for the good of the exiles atthe Chebar.<\/P><\/p>\n And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying.<\/strong> Giving orders to prophesy against the false prophets and prophetesses, which were either in the land of Israel, of whom the prophet had notice; or rather who were among the captives in Babylon, where Ezekiel now was.<\/p>\n Against the False Prophets<\/p>\n Their conduct. – Eze 13:1<\/span>. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, <\/em> Eze 13:2<\/span>. Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to the prophets out of their heart, Hear ye the word of Jehovah. <\/em> Eze 13:3<\/span>. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Woe upon the foolish prophets, who go after their spirit, and that which they have not seen! <\/em> Eze 13:4<\/span>. Like foxes in ruins have thy prophets become, O Israel. <\/em> Eze 13:5<\/span>. Ye do not stand before the breaches, nor wall up the wall around the house of Israel to stand firm in the battle on the day of Jehovah. <\/em> Eze 13:6<\/span>. They see vanity and lying soothsaying, who say, “Oracle of Jehovah;” and Jehovah hath not sent them; so that they might hope for the fulfilment of the word. <\/em> Eze 13:7<\/span>. Do ye not see vain visions, and speak lying soothsaying, and say, Oracle of Jehovah; and I have not spoken?<\/em> – The addition , “who prophesy,” is not superfluous. Ezekiel is not to direct his words against the prophets as a body, but against those who follow the vocation of prophet in Israel without being called to it by God on receiving a divine revelation, but simply prophesying out of their own heart, or according to their own subjective imagination. In the name of the Lord he is to threaten them with woes, as fools who follow their own spirit; in connection with which we must bear in mind that folly, according to the Hebrew idea, was not merely a moral failing, but actual godlessness (cf. Psa 14:1<\/span>). The phrase “going after their spirit” is interpreted and rendered more emphatic by , which is to be taken as a relative clause, “that which they have not seen,” i.e., whose prophesying does not rest upon intuition inspired by God. Consequently they cannot promote the welfare of the nation, but (Eze 13:4<\/span>) are like foxes in ruins or desolate places. The point of comparison is to be found in the undermining of the ground by foxes, qui per cuniculos subjectam terram excavant et suffodiunt <\/em> (Bochart). For the thought it not exhausted by the circumstance that they withdraw to their holes instead of standing in front of the breach (Hitzig); and there is no force in the objection that, with this explanation, is passed over and becomes in fact tautological (Hvernick). The expression “in ruins” points to the fall of the theocracy, which the false prophets cannot prevent, but, on the contrary, accelerate by undermining the moral foundations of the state. For (Eze 13:5<\/span>) they do not stand in the breaches, and do not build up the wall around the house of Israel ( belongs to both clauses). He who desires to keep off the enemy, and prevent his entering the fortress, will stand in the breach. For the same purpose are gaps and breaches in the fortifications carefully built up. The sins of the people had made gaps and breaches in the walls of Jerusalem; in other words, had caused the moral decay of the city. But they had not stood in the way of this decay and its causes, as the calling and duty of prophets demanded, by reproving the sins of the people, that they might rescue the people and kingdom from destruction by restoring its moral and religious life. , to stand, or keep ground, i.e., so that ye might have kept your ground in the war. The subject is the false prophets, not Israel, as Hvernick supposes. “In the day of Jehovah,” i.e., in the judgment which Jehovah has decreed. Not to stand, does not mean merely to avert the threatening judgment, but not to survive the judgment itself, to be overthrown by it. This arises from the fact that their prophesying is a life; because Jehovah, whose name they have in their mouths, has not sent them (Eze 13:6<\/span>). is dependent upon : God has not sent them, so that they could hope for the fulfilment of the word which they speak.The rendering adopted by others, “and they cause to hope,” is untenable; for with does not mean “to cause to hope,” or give hope, but simply to hope for anything. This was really the case; and it is affirmed in the declaration, which is repeated in the form of a direct appeal in Eze 13:7<\/span>, to the effect that their visions were vain and lying soothsaying. For this they are threatened with the judgment described in the verses which follow.<\/p>\n The Guilt of False Prophets.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/I><\/span><\/P> <\/TD> B. C.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN> 593.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/P> <\/TD> <\/TR> <\/TABLE> 1 And the word of the LORD<\/B> came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the LORD<\/B>; 3 Thus saith the Lord GOD<\/B>; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! 4 O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts. 5 Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD<\/B>. 6 They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD<\/B> saith: and the LORD<\/B> hath not sent them: and they have made others<\/I> to hope that they would confirm the word. 7 Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The LORD<\/B> saith it;<\/I> albeit I have not spoken? 8 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD<\/B>; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am<\/I> against you, saith the Lord GOD<\/B>. 9 And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am<\/I> the Lord GOD<\/B>.<\/P> The false prophets, who are here prophesied against, were some of them at Jerusalem (Jer. xxiii. 14<\/span>): I have seen in the prophets at Jerusalem a horrible thing;<\/I> some of them among the captives in Babylon, for to them Jeremiah writes (Jer. xxix. 8<\/span>), Let not your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you.<\/I> And as God’s prophets, though at a distance from each other in place or time, yet preached the same truths, which was an evidence that they were guided by one and the same good Spirit, so the false prophets prophesied the same lies, being actuated by one and the same spirit of error. There were little hopes of bringing them to repentance, they were so hardened in their sin; yet Ezekiel must prophesy against them, in hopes that the people might be cautioned not to hearken to them; and thus a testimony will be left upon record against them, and they will thereby be left inexcusable.<\/P> Ezekiel had express orders to prophesy against the prophets of Israel;<\/I> so they called themselves, as if none but they had been worthy of the name of Israel’s prophets, who were indeed Israel’s deceivers. But it is observable that Israel was never imposed upon by pretenders to prophecy till after they had rejected and abused the true prophets; as, afterwards, they were never deluded by counterfeit messiahs till after they had refused the true Messiah and rejected him. These false prophets must be required to hear the word of the Lord.<\/I> They took upon them to speak what concerned others as from God; let them now hear what concerned themselves as from him. And two things the prophet is directed to do:–<\/P> I. To discover their sin to them, and to convince them of that if possible, or thereby to prevent their proceeding any further, by making manifest their folly unto all men,<\/I> 2 Tim. iii. 9<\/I><\/span>. They are here called foolish prophets<\/I> (v.<\/I><\/span> 3<\/span>), men that did not at all understand the business they pretended to; to make fools of the people they made fools of themselves, and put the greatest cheat upon their own souls. Let us see what is here laid to their charge. 1. They pretend to have a commission from God, whereas he never sent them. They thrust themselves into the prophetic office, without warrant from him who is the Lord God<\/I> of the holy prophets, which was a foolish thing; for how could they expect that God should own them in a work to which he never called them? They are prophets out of their own hearts<\/I> (so the margin reads it, v.<\/I><\/span> 2<\/span>), prophets of their own making, v.<\/I><\/span> 6<\/span>. They say, The Lord saith;<\/I> they pretend to be his messengers, but the Lord has not sent them,<\/I> has not given them any orders. They counterfeit the broad seal of heaven, than which they cannot do a greater indignity to mankind, for hereby they put a reproach upon divine revelation, lessen its credit, and weaken its credibility. When these pretenders are found to be deceivers atheists and infidels will thence infer, They are all so. The Lord has not sent them;<\/I> for though crafty enough in other things like the foxes,<\/I> and very wise for the world, yet they are foolish prophets<\/I> and have no experimental acquaintance with the things of God. Note, Foolish prophets are not of God’s sending, for whom he sends he either finds fit or makes fit. Where he gives warrant he gives wisdom. 2. They pretend to have instructions from God, whereas he never made himself and his mind known to them: They followed their own spirit<\/I> (v.<\/I><\/span> 3<\/span>); they delivered that as a message from God which was the product either of their subtle invention, to serve a turn for themselves, or of their own crazed and heated imagination, to give vent to a fancy. For they have seen nothing,<\/I> they have not really had any heavenly vision; they pretend that what they say the Lord saith it,<\/I> but God disowns it: “I have not spoken it,<\/I> I never said it, never meant any such thing.” What they delivered was not what they had seen or heard, as that is which the ministers of Christ deliver (1 John i. 1<\/span>), but either what they had dreamed or what they thought would please those they coveted to make an interest in; this is called their seeing vanity and lying divination<\/I> (v.<\/I><\/span> 6<\/span>); they pretended to have seen that which they did not see, and produced that as a divine truth which they knew to be false. To the same purport (v.<\/I><\/span> 7<\/span>): You have see a vain vision and spoken a lying divination,<\/I> which had no divine original and would have no effect, but would certainly be disproved by the event; the words are changed (v.<\/I><\/span> 8<\/span>): You have spoken vanity and seen lies;<\/I> what they saw and what they said was all alike, a mere sham; they saw nothing, they said nothing, to the purpose, nothing that could be relied on or that deserved regard. Again (v.<\/I><\/span> 9<\/span>), They see vanity and divine lies;<\/I> they pretended to have had visions, as the true prophets had, whereas really they had none, but either it was the creature of their own fancy (they thought they had a vision, as men in a delirium do, that was seeing vanity<\/I>) or it was a fiction of their own politics, and they knew they had none, and then they saw lies, and divined lies.<\/I> See Jer. xxiii. 16<\/span>, c. Note, Since the devil is universally know to be the father of lies, those put the highest affront imaginable upon God who tell lies, and then father them upon him. But those that had put God’s character upon Satan, in worshipping devils, arrived at length at such a pitch of impiety as to put Satan’s character upon God. 3. They took no care to prevent the judgments of God that were breaking in upon the kingdom. They are like the foxes in the deserts,<\/I> running to and fro, and seeming to be in a great hurry, but it was to get away and shift for their own safety, not to do any good: The hireling flees, and leaves the sheep.<\/I> They are like foxes that are greedy of prey for themselves, crafty and cruel to feed themselves. But (<i>v.<\/span> 5<\/span><\/U><\/span>), “You have not gone up into the gaps, nor made up the hedge of the house of Israel.<\/I> A breach is made in their fences, at which judgments are ready to pour in upon them, and then, if ever, is the time to do them service; but you have done nothing to help them.” They should have made intercession for them, to turn away the wrath of God; but they were not praying prophets, had no interest in heaven nor intercourse with heaven (as prophets used to have, Gen. xx. 7<\/span>) and so could do them no service that way. They should have made it their business by preaching and advice to bring people to repentance and reformation, and so have made up the hedge,<\/I> and put a stop to the judgments of God; but this was none of their care: they contrived how to pleased people, not how to profit them. They saw a deluge of profaneness and impiety breaking in upon the land, waging war with virtue and holiness, and threatening to crush them and bear them down, and then they should have come in to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty,<\/I> by witnessing against the wickedness of the time and place they lived in; but they thought that would be as dangerous a piece of service as standing in a breach to make it good against the besiegers, and therefore they declined it, did nothing to stem the tide, stood not in the battle against vice and immorality, but basely deserted the cause of religion and reformation, in the day of the Lord,<\/I> when it was proclaimed, Who is on the Lord’s side? Who will rise up for me against the evil-doers?<\/I> Ps. xciv. 16<\/I><\/span>. Those were unworthy the name of prophets that could think so favourably of sin, and had so little zeal for God and the public welfare. 4. They flattered people into a vain hope that the judgments God had threatened would never come, whereby they hardened those in sin whom they should have endeavoured to turn from sin (v.<\/I><\/span> 6<\/span>): They have made others to hope<\/I> that all should be well, and they should have peace, though they went on still in their trespasses, and that the event would confirm the word. They were still ready to say, “We will warrant you that these troubles will be at an end quickly, and we shall be in prosperity again.” as if their warrants would confirm false prophecies, in defiance of God himself.<\/P> II. He is directed to denounce the judgments of God against them for these sins, from which their pretending to the character of prophets would not exempt them. 1. In general, here is a woe<\/I> against them (v.<\/I><\/span> 3<\/span>), and what that woe is we are told (v.<\/I><\/span> 8<\/span>). Behold, I am against you, saith the Lord God.<\/I> Note, Those are in a woeful condition that have God against them. Woe, and a thousand woes, to those that have made him their enemy. 2. In particular, they are sentenced to be excluded from all the privileges of the commonwealth of Israel, for they are adjudged to have forfeited them all (v.<\/I><\/span> 9<\/span>): God’s hand shall be upon them,<\/I> to seize them and bring them to his bar, to shut them out from his presence, and they will find it a fearful thing to fall into his hands.<\/I> They pretend to be prophets, particular favourites of heaven, and authorized to preside in the congregation of his church on earth; but, by pretending to the honours they were not entitled to, they lost those that otherwise they might have enjoyed, Matt. v. 19<\/span>. Their doom is, (1.) To be expelled from the communion of saints, and not to be looked upon as belonging to it: They shall not be in the secret of my people;<\/I> their folly shall be so clearly manifested that they shall never be consulted, nor their advice asked; they shall not be present at any debates about public affairs. Or, rather, they shall not be in the assembly of God’s people for religious worship, for they shall be ashamed to show their heads there, when they are proved by the events to be false prophets, and, like Cain, shall go out from the presence of the Lord.<\/I> The people that are deceived by them shall abandon them, and resolve to have no more to do with them. Those that usurped Moses’s chair shall not be allowed so much as a door-keeper’s place. In the great day they shall not stand in the congregation of the righteous<\/I> (Ps. i. 5<\/span>), when God gathers his saints together to him<\/I> (Psa 50:5<\/span>; Psa 50:16<\/span>), to be for ever with him.<\/I> (2.) To be expunged out of the book of the living. They shall die in their captivity, and shall die childless, shall leave no posterity to take their denomination from them, and so their names shall not be found among those who either themselves or their posterity returned out of Babylon, of whom a particular account was kept in a public register, which was called the writing of the house of Israel,<\/I> such as we have Ezra ii.<\/span> They shall not be found among the living in Jerusalem, Isa. iv. 3<\/span>. Or they shall not be found written among those whom God has from eternity chosen to be vessels of his mercy to eternity. We read of those who prophesied in Christ’s name,<\/I> and yet he will tell them that he never knew them<\/I> (Mat 7:22<\/span>; Mat 7:23<\/span>), because they were not among those that were given to him.<\/I> The Chaldee paraphrase reads it, They shall not be written in the writing of eternal life, which is written for the righteous of the house of Israel.<\/I> See Ps. lxix. 28<\/span>. (3.) To be for ever excluded from the land of Israel. God has sworn in his wrath<\/I> concerning them that they shall never enter<\/I> with the returning captives into the land of Canaan, which a second time remains a rest for them. Note, Those who oppose the design of God’s threatenings, and will not be awed and influenced by them, forfeit the benefit of his promises, and cannot expect to be comforted and encouraged by them.<\/P> <\/p>\n EZEKIEL – CHAPTER 13<\/strong><\/p>\n PROPHECY AND MESSAGE AGAINST THE LYING PROPHETS<\/strong><\/p>\n Verses 1-9:<\/strong><\/p>\n PRETENDED PROPHETS<\/strong><\/p>\n Verse 1 begins <\/strong>a further message from the Lord covering His indignation against false prophets and prophesies, both back in Israel and among the exiles in Babylon, much as prophesied by Jeremiah in Jerusalem, Jeremiah ch. 23; Jer 29:8-10<\/span>.<\/p>\n Verse 2 calls upon Ezekiel <\/strong>to prophecy against the prophets of Israel who prophesied “out of their own hearts,” according to their own pleasure and imagination, what they thought to be popular with the masses, while they had no message from God. They were called upon to heed the word of the Lord, as also Jeremiah warned, Jer 14:14<\/span>; Jer 23:16<\/span>; Jer 23:26<\/span>.<\/p>\n Verse 3 pronounces <\/strong>a “woe” from the Lord upon those foolish and unholy prophets who followed their own carnal spirit and had seen nothing from God or His word upon which to base their prophecies; They went where they were not sent, speaking things they were not given of the Lord, evidently to salve itching ears of their hearers, as fools, ignoring God, Psa 14:1<\/span>; 2Ti 4:3-4<\/span>.<\/p>\n Verse 4 is a direct <\/strong>address to Israel, charging her, as a nation, with being and acting like “foxes in the deserts,” crafty, loving darkness, destroying themselves as God’s vineyard; Even Herod Antipas was referred to as a fox, by our Lord, Luk 13:32<\/span>. Even the prophets by cunning deceit destroyed Israel, taking their livelihood without preaching the truth to them, Son 2:15<\/span>; Neh 4:3<\/span>; Lam 5:18<\/span>; Isa 5:7<\/span>; Mat 7:15<\/span>; Act 20:29<\/span>.<\/p>\n Verse 5 charges <\/strong>that the pretended prophets of Israel had not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel so that she could stand in the battle in the day of the Lord. The day of battle, when Israel needed her prophets most, found them betraying their people and their trust, instead of helping. Jerusalem had breaches in her walls, both literally and spiritually, and her prophets helped to close up neither, did not serve as “repairers,” renovators, or rebuilders, Eze 22:30<\/span>. They “deserted the ship of Zion,” to let her sink, without turning a hand, Isa 58:12<\/span>; Psa 106:23<\/span>; Psa 106:20<\/span>. The hedge of Israel (her fence) had been broken through and her vineyard laid bare and no prophet seemed to care, or offered real help. They were traitors of their trust. Moral and spiritual evils in Israel were as gaps in the wall and holes in the hedges, yet they did not respond faithfully to help as: a) Abraham did; b) Moses did, Exo 32:11-13<\/span>; and c) as Paul did, Rom 9:1-3<\/span>; Rom 10:1-4<\/span>.<\/p>\n Verse 6 charges <\/strong>the pretending prophets with “lying divination,” saying, “the Lord saith; and the Lord hath not sent them.” They were self-called, independent prophets, out on their own, teaching things God had not authorized, deceiving others and themselves, offering false hope, as counterfeit prophets, Mat 7:15<\/span>; Act 15:24<\/span>; Gal 1:6-9<\/span>.<\/p>\n Verse 7 rhetorically asks <\/strong>if these pretending prophets have not seen a vain vision (one that was not there) and spoken “lying divinations,” prophecies that they themselves invented. They had, is the inferred conclusion. For they had used the phrase “The Lord saith it” (to us); Yet the Lord asserted that He had done no such thing, Rom 3:3-4<\/span>. Having seen a vision indicates that they had come to “believe their own lies,” 2Th 2:11<\/span>.<\/p>\n Verse 8 then asserts <\/strong>that because they had seen visions and spoken lies, claimed God had shown to and told them things that He had neither shown nor told them; therefore the Lord sent the pretending prophets word by Ezekiel saying, “I am against you saith the Lord God,” or I come against you all, to punish you for wickedly lying on me or profaning my name. See Rev 2:5-6<\/span>.<\/p>\n Verse 9 declares that three forms <\/strong>of judgment-calamities shall come upon these lying, pretending-prophets in relation to the future regime of their people: 1) First, <\/strong>they should not be in the assembly or council of elders of His people, not among the influential, ruling circle any longer; when they return from Babylon, Ezr 2:1-2<\/span>) Second, <\/strong>they will not be entered into the roll of citizens of Israel, to arise from the faithful remnant; Ezr 2:59<\/span>; Ezr 2:62<\/span> Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n