Ezekiel 13:6 Kommentar

Mention had been made, in the chapter before, of the vain visions and flattering divinations with which the people of Israel suffered themselves to be imposed upon (v. 24); now this whole chapter is levelled against them. God's faithful prophets are nowhere so sharp upon any sort of sinners as upon the false prophets, not because they were the most spiteful enemies to them, but because the put the highest affront upon God and did the greatest mischief to his people. The prophet here shows the sin and punishment, I. Of the false prophets (v. 1-16). II. Of the false prophetesses (Eze 13:17-23). Both agreed to sooth men up in their sins, and, under pretence of comforting God's people, to flatter them with hopes that they should yet have peace; but the prophets shall be proved liars, their prophecies mere shams, and the expectations of the people illusions; for God will let them know that "the deceived and the deceiver are his," are both accountable to him, Job 12:16.

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 13 It being said in Eze 12:24; that there should be no more a vain vision, nor a flattering divination; the prophet is ordered to prophesy against the false prophets and prophetesses, Eze 13:1; the former are described as prophesying out of their own hearts, Eze 13:2; as foolish ones, following their own spirit, and seeing nothing, Eze 13:3; they are compared to foxes in the deserts, Eze 13:4; and are represented as unconcerned to stand in the gap for the people, Eze 13:5; and as seeing vanity and lying divination; wherefore the Lord was against them, Eze 13:6; what they are threatened with are, that they should not be in the assembly of God's people; nor written in the writing of the house of Israel; nor enter into the land of Israel, Eze 13:9; the reason of which was, because they seduced the Lord's people, by speaking peace to them when there was none; which is figuratively expressed by building a wall, and daubing it with untempered mortar, Eze 13:10; upon which the wall is threatened to be rent, and caused to fall with a stormy wind; signifying the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldean army; and the false prophets to have the wrath of God poured on them who doubted it, Eze 13:11; and then follows the order to the prophet to prophesy against the false prophetesses, and set his face against them, and pronounce woe upon them in the name of the Lord; who are described as prophesying out of their own hearts; sowing pillows to all armholes; and making kerchiefs on the head of all sorts of persons; and which they did for poor small gain, and to the detriment of immortal souls, good and bad, Eze 13:17; wherefore the Lord threatens to tear off their pillows and kerchiefs, and deliver his people out of their hands, no more to be hunted by them, Eze 13:20; the reason of which was, because they saddened the hearts of the righteous, and strengthened the hands of the wicked, Eze 13:22; and the chapter is concluded with a resolution that they should see no more vanity nor divine divinations; and that the Lord's people should be delivered from them, and they should know that he was the Lord, Eze 13:23.

Therefore thus saith the Lord God,.... This is what he says, and it may be depended on will come to pass; though the other he said not, they said he did, but was a lying divination: because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies; which will in the issue prove so, lying and deceitful; what never came from God, but from themselves and the father of lies, and would never be accomplished: therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord God; or, "I unto you"; which may be supplied thus, "I come", or "will come, unto you" (f); in a way of providence, and chastise and punish you; see Rev 2:16; or I will be your adversary; and a sad thing it is for any to have God to be against them; there is no contending with him; none ever hardened themselves against him, and prospered; men are but with him as stubble, or as thorns and briers to a consuming fire. (f) "ecce ego ad vos", V. L. "sub. venio", Grotius; "veniam", Piscator, Starckius; "venturus sum cum ira mea", Vatablus.

All that they want is false, and they can never see the truth. Take an example. To read the Scripture and to hear something other than what is written is to have an untruthful picture of Scripture; but to hear Scripture and interpret it in accordance with the truth, that is to see the truth.

(Versed 4 et sequentia) Your prophets, Israel, will be like foxes in the desert. You did not go up to face the enemy or build a wall for the house of Israel to stand firm in battle on the day of the Lord. They see false visions and speak deceptive divinations, saying, 'The Lord declares,' when the Lord has not sent them; yet they hope for the fulfillment of their words. Have you not seen a false vision and uttered a lying divination when you say, 'The Lord declares,' though I have not spoken?' LXX: Like foxes in the deserts are your prophets, O Israel ((Add. they were or will be)). They did not stand in the firmament, and they gathered flocks over the house of Israel. Those who say in the day of the Lord did not rise: seeing falsehoods, divining vanities, those who say, says the Lord, and the Lord did not send them: and they began to stir up discourse. Did you not see false visions, and speak vain divinations? And you said, says the Lord, and I did not speak. Let us first speak according to the Hebrew. The prophets of Israel are like foxes, committing thefts of domestic birds every day: those who live, according to Aquila and the Septuagint, in the deserts; according to Symmachus and Theodotion, in walls and ruins: who cannot advance opposite, nor oppose a wall for the house of Israel. We read that Aaron stood in the middle against the fire devouring the people of Israel, and opposed a wall for the salvation of the people (Num. XVI). It is also said of Jeremiah, 'Do not confront the Lord, nor stand against His wrath with persevering prayer' (Jer. 7). Just as a wall is set against an enemy and is usually met head-on by the adversary, so the will of God is weakened by the prayers of the saints. Therefore, Moses is also told, 'Let me alone, and I will destroy this people' (Exod. 32:10), which shows that he had the power to hold back. These people cannot stand in battle on the Day of the Lord, to fight for the people with prayers and resist the judgments of God's pleas. Therefore, because they see in vain and falsely prophesy, and claim to be sent by the Lord when they are not sent by Him, and persist in their errors, and desire to affirm their own words; they are accused of preaching empty things, saying that their lies are the words of the Lord. Furthermore, according to the Septuagint, the sense here is: All heretics are like foxes because of their deceit and wickedness, about whom the Savior speaks: Foxes have dens, and birds of the air have nests (Matthew 8:20). And it is written about Herod: Say to this fox (Luke 13:32). And about those same foxes that deceive the innocent and plunder the vineyard of Christ, Solomon speaks: Catch for us the little foxes, who spoil the vineyards (Song of Solomon 2:15). And in the psalm about those who are deceived by their trickery, it is sung: They shall go into the depths of the earth, they shall be delivered into the hands of the sword, they shall become the portion of foxes (Psalm 63:10, 11). O prophets who are like foxes, they did not stand in the firmament; nor did they deserve to hear from Peter: You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church (Matthew 16:18). Nor are they like Moses, to whom it was said: You stand here with me (Deuteronomy 5:31). Nor like him who says: He has set my feet upon a rock; but they have swayed with every wind of doctrine. They have not stood in the firmament, of which we read in the eighteenth psalm: The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims the work of his hands. These gathered together the irrational ones, and due to the excessive innocence of the livestock, they are similar to the house of God. Hence, it is now said: And they gathered flocks over the house of Israel: neither they themselves rose, nor were they able to raise others; but whatever they did and do, they are full of lies. And what follows: And they began to stir up discourse, signifies that they indeed desire to rise up and lift themselves to heights; but what they desire, they cannot fulfill: and it is said to them: Have you not seen a false vision and spoken idle divinations? And what follows, and you were saying, 'Thus says the Lord,' and I have not spoken, it is not found in the Septuagint.

Whom does he mean by all those who have come before me? Those who say, “Thus says the Lord!” But the Lord has not sent them; they who have come on their own authority and have not been sent are the thieves and robbers.

Whence it is well said to Ezekiel, "Take unto thee a tile, and thou shalt lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the dry Jerusalem." And immediately it is subjoined, "And thou shalt lay siege against it, and build forts, and cast a mount, and set camps against it, and set battering rams against it round about. And do thou take unto thee an iron frying-pan, and thou shalt set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city." But although the ruler may nicely insinuate all these things, he procures not for himself lasting absolution, unless he glow with a spirit of jealousy against the delinquencies of all and each. For by the frying-pan is denoted a frying of the mind, and by iron the hardness of reproof.

To such men it is rightly said through the prophet: "You have not gone up against the enemy, nor have you set up a wall for the house of Israel, to stand in battle on the day of the Lord." To go up against the enemy is to oppose with the free voice of reason any powers that act wickedly. And we stand in battle on the day of the Lord for the house of Israel and set up a wall if we defend the faithful and innocent against the injustice of the perverse with the authority of justice. Because the hireling does not do this, when he sees the wolf coming, he flees.

This chapter denounces heavy judgments against the lying prophets who flattered the people, in the midst of their sin and danger, with false hopes of peace and security, Eze 13:1-9. The work of these deceivers is beautifully compared to a frail and insolent piece of building, which can never stand against the battering elements of heaven, (the Chaldean forces), which God will commission against it, Eze 13:10-16. In the remaining part of the chapter woes are denounced against false prophetesses who practiced vain rites and divinations, with the view of promoting their own gain by deceiving the people, Eze 13:17-23.

DENUNCIATION OF FALSE PROPHETS AND PROPHETESSES; THEIR FALSE TEACHINGS, AND GOD'S CONSEQUENT JUDGMENTS. (Eze. 13:1-23) As the twelfth chapter denounced the false expectations of the people, so this denounces the false leaders who fed those expectations. As an independent witness, Ezekiel confirms at the Chebar the testimony of Jeremiah (Jer 29:21, Jer 29:31) in his letter from Jerusalem to the captive exiles, against the false prophets; of these some were conscious knaves, others fanatical dupes of their own frauds; for example, Ahab, Zedekiah, and Shemaiah. Hananiah must have believed his own lie, else he would not have specified so circumstantial details (Jer 28:2-4). The conscious knaves gave only general assurances of peace (Jer 5:31; Jer 6:14; Jer 14:13). The language of Ezekiel has plain references to the similar language of Jeremiah (for example, Jer. 23:9-38); 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 the Jewish metropolis; and, secondarily, for the good of the exiles at the Chebar.

made others to hope, &c.--rather, "they hoped" to confirm (that is, 'make good') their word, by the event corresponding to their prophecy. The Hebrew requires this [HAVERNICK]. Also the parallel clause, "they have seen vanity," implies that they believed their own lie (Th2 2:11). Subjective revelation is false unless it rests on the objective.