Penalty For False Prophets

And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel, etc. This subject has already been introduced in Ezekiel 12:24. In that verse we have as it were the text, and in this chapter the sermon. It has been suggested that this chapter should be read in conjunction with Jeremiah 23:9-40. “The identity of phrases and ideas forces upon us the conclusion that the author of the one must have had the other before him. We know that Jeremiah’s writings were forwarded to the Jews in Chaldea (Jeremiah 29.), and there is therefore no reason to doubt that Ezekiel took up a well known prophecy to enforce and apply it to his companions in exile. They probably had read Jeremiah’s words as applying to others than themselves. Ezekiel now would teach them that it is not at Jerusalem alone that false prophets are to be discovered and reproved. The present chapter, therefore, must be taken as addressed to the Jews in exile, which agrees with the whole tenor; see for instance ver. 9″ (‘Speaker’s Commentary’). Two principal lines of thought are followed by the prophet, viz. the sin of the false prophets, and the judgment of God upon them because of their sin. And these lines of thought are not kept separate from each other, but they interlace each other. We will notice each apart.

I. THE SIN OF THE FALSE PROPHETS. Certain prominent features of their sin are brought into view.

1. Their prophecies were self-originated. They prophesied “out of their own heart” (ver. 2); they “followed their own spirit, and had seen nothing” (ver. 3). In the case of the true prophet, a communication was received by him from God which he communicated to the people, or a vision was unfolded to him which he afterwards made known to them. There was an objective reality of that which he was conscious of within himself; his consciousness of the things which he published arose from their verity impressed upon him by the Spirit of God; his consciousness as a prophet was a consequence of Divine influence. But the things proclaimed by the false prophets had no existence except in their own mind and heart; they were entirely subjective, having no objective truth answering to them. And they were not sent of God (ver. 6); they had not received any commission from him; yet they presumed to speak in his Name, and to impose upon the people their own imaginations as communications received from him.

2. Their prophecies were untrue. “They have seen vanity and lying divination, that say, The Lord saith; and the Lord hath not sent them,” etc. (vers. 6, 7). “Thus saith the Lord God; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies,” etc. An example is given of their lying prophecies: “They have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there is no peace,” etc. They encouraged the Jews in Jerusalem to believe that they had nothing to fear from the Chaldean powers (cf. Jeremiah 14:13; Jeremiah 28:1-4). And when the people endeavoured to strengthen themselves by the coalition with Egypt, they encouraged them in that course; for as we understand it, that is the meaning of the prophetic figure: “When one buildeth up a wall, behold, they daub it with untempered mortar.” The figure itself is thus explained by Dr. Kitto: “It is a wall made of beaten earth rammed into moulds or boxes, to give the parts the requisite shape and consistence, and so deposited, by the withdrawal of the mould, layer by layer, upon the wall, each layer drying in its place as the work proceeds. The blocks are usually of considerable size, and are of various quality and strength, as well as cost, according to the materials employed, and the time expended upon them. The simplest are merely of earth, or of earth compacted with straw. This is the kind which the prophet had in view, and which is used in Devon and in Morocco, as well as in the East. It cannot stand against heavy rains; and therefore, unless the climate be very dry, it requires to be faced or coated with a tempered mortar of lime or sand, as a fence against the weather. Without this the body of the wall is liable to the contingencies described by the prophet” (‘Daily Bible Illustrations’). The people built their slight and flimsy wall of political alliance against the Chaldeans, and the false prophets coated it with their untempered mortar of vain assurances of safety; and the people believed them to their own dread discomfiture.

3. They claimed Divine authority for their lying prophecies. They said, “The Lord saith,” although he had not spoken unto them. Great was their presumption and impious daring in making this high claim. “They counterfeit,” as M. Henry says, “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.”

4. Their influence was destructive. It was so in two ways.

(1) Negatively. They made no attempt to save the people from the ruin which was coming upon them. “Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the fence for the house of Israel, to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord.” When a city is besieged and a breach is made in its walls, the leaders of the defence take prompt measures for stopping the breach. The Lord had come against his people as a besieger by reason of their sins, but these false prophets, who aspired to be leaders of the people, made no effort to save them (cf. Ezekiel 22:30). They rid not call for that repentance and reformation which might have averted the approaching ruin, as it did in the case of Nineveh (Jonah 3:5-10). They did not call upon God in prayer to spare the sinful people, as Moses did on several occasions (Exodus 32:11-14, 31-34; Numbers 14:13-24; Psalm 106:23). False prophets are not likely to be famous intercessors.

(2) Positively. They actively promoted the ruin of the people by assuring them of peace and safety when there was no peace, and peril was imminent and sine. They were “like foxes in the waste places” for destructiveness. Nowhere in the sacred Scriptures are foxes mentioned because of their cunning, but because of their injuriousness (cf. Song of Solomon 2:15). “The foxes here correspond to the ravening wolves in Matthew 7:15, and the grievous wolves in Acts 20:29, representing false teachers.” Terrible is the injury which is wrought by corrupt religious teachers (cf. Isaiah 9:16; Jeremiah 12:10; Jeremiah 50:6; Acts 20:29; 2 Peter 2:1-3).

II. THE JUDGMENT OF GOD UPON THE FALSE PROPHETS. This judgment is expressed generally in ver. 8, and in a way that should have awakened serious concern. “Behold, I am against you, saith the Lord God.” When God is against any one, nothing can be really well with him. “if God is for us, who is against us?” If God is against us, who is for us in any true sense? But the judgment is set forth with something of detail in vers. 9-16. It has two chief features.

1. Their exclusion from the community of Israel. (Ver. 9.) They had sought prominence and distinction among the people, and had attained their object; but a complete reversal of their position awaited them. They should not have won a place among the chosen people; their names should be erased or omitted from the authorized register of the Israelites; and when the exiles returned unto their own land, they should not return with them. As Fairbairn says, “Inheriting the curse of the covenant,” they should be cut of from among their people.’” There is, perhaps, in this a hint of a darker doom, even the omission of their names from a much more important register (Luke 10:20; Philippians 4:3; Revelation 21:27), and their non-recognition by the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 7:22, 23).

2. The total overthrow and ruin of both themselves and their work. (Vers. 11-16.) Their work was to be swept away by overwhelming forces. The stormy wind, the overflowing shower, and the great hailstones represent the Chaldean army. That army would make an utter end of the vain hopes which the false prophets had originated and fostered. No work can be stable which is begun and carried on against the will of God. Every wall which is built in defiance of his laws will soon fall into ruin. And in the case before us the presumptuous and foolish builders were ruined with their work. “it shall fail, and ye shall be consumed in the midst, thereof.” The wail of delusive hopes, which they had daubed with untempered mortar, would be thrown down, and Jerusalem would be destroyed, and in its fall the false prophets would be ruined. “Thus will I accomplish my fury upon the wall, and upon thegn that have daubed it with untempered mortar,” etc. (vers. 15, 16).