Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
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Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
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And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
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And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying:
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain Here God inveighs against that gross ridicule which prevailed…
Here God inveighs against that gross ridicule which prevailed everywhere among the Jews. For when the Prophets had been threatening them so long, this their earnestness was so far from leading them to repentance, that they became more obstinate and callous. Since they persisted in this obstinacy, and boasted in their escape, and through confidence in their freedom from punishment, re-belied more and more against God, the Prophet is ordered to repress this their boasting. It was monstrous indeed for a people who had imbibed from childhood the teaching of the law and the Prophets, thus to break forth against God as if he had spoken falsely by his Prophets. For this was their boasting: Oh! the days are prolonged: therefore every vision has passed away and failed From this delay they argued that they had no cause for fear, since whatever Jeremiah and the rest had predicted had passed away. We perceive then how unbelievers turn the patience of God into material for obduracy and stupidity. God spares them, gives them leisure, and invites them to repentance; but what do they do? They count the days and years, and when they see that God does not immediately, execute the judgment which he had uttered by his servants, they laugh at it, and esteem the Prophet’s words as idle fables. Such, then, was the impiety against which the Prophet inveighs, saying, what is this? The question implies detestation, for God here wonders at the sloth, nay fury of the people, because it dared thus to vomit forth its blasphemies with open mouth:’ for what remains when God is supposed to be false both in his promises and his threatenings? In this way all religion is abolished. Nor is it surprising that God detests so monstrous a thing, while he asks how it can happen that the Israelites break forth into such madness: what, says he, is the meaning of this your proverb? He seems to include his servant among the others, because he was one of the people: hence he participates in that which did not belong to him personally. Moreover, this passage must be diligently noticed, when the impious conclude that they have no occasion to fear, because their days are protracted.
This is, as I have said, a sign of extreme folly, but it is not surprising if they imagine God to be false to his word and his threats to be in vain, because his hand does not instantly appear, since they treat his teaching without the slightest respect. Since, therefore, unbelievers are never afraid unless terrified by the power of God, and are never in the slightest degree moved, it is not surprising that they think it entirely illusory, when they see him at rest while his words still resound in men’s ears. Hence the language of the Apostle should come to mind, that Noah built the ark by faith, because he feared the hidden judgment of God of which he had been admonished, as if the whole deluge was before his eyes, in which he saw the whole world immersed. (Hebrews 11:7.) Although, therefore, God conceals his hand for the time, let us learn so to fear the whole of his instructions that delay may not lead us into such sloth as this.
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Now he adds, Thou shalt tell them, therefore, thus saith the Lord Jehovah: I will make this proverb cease from the land of Israel Here God shows that his anger was more and more inflamed by their contempt. And the impious, by pretending that he is not true to his word, produce the effect of hastening the accomplishment of those judgments which otherwise God was prepared to suspend. Lastly, the impious stimulate God to exercise his vengeance, while they infer that they have escaped through delay, and that the vision was so fleeting and evanescent that they provoke him purposely to a contest. For the confirmation of this sentiment follows directly, that verily the days were approaching. Since time gave the Jews confidence in escape from punishment, God announces that the end was at hand, that they may feel themselves to have been too long blinded while they abused his continued forbearance. The days then approached: also the word of every vision: “the word” is here taken for the “effect.” We know that דבר, deber, is often taken for “thing,” “business,” “result;” but in this place the Prophet takes the word for the effect of the vision, as if he had said, that whatever the Prophets had spoken should be firm and stable. It follows —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Eze 12:21 And the word of the LORD came…
Eze 12:21 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Ver. 21. And the word of the Lord.] See Eze 12:1.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain Various methods had been used to awaken this secure…
Various methods had been used to awaken this secure and careless people to an expectation of the judgments coming, that they might be stirred up, by repentance and reformation, to prevent them. The prophecies of their ruin were confirmed by visions, and illustrated by signs, and all with such evidence and power that one would think they must needs be wrought upon; but here we are told how they evaded the conviction, and guarded against it, namely, by telling themselves, and one another, that though these judgments threatened should come at last yet they would not come of a long time. This suggestion, with which they bolstered themselves up in their security, is here answered, and shown to be vain and groundless, in two separate messages which God sent to them by the prophet at different times, both to the same purport; such care, such pains, must the prophet take to undeceive them, Eze 12:21, Eze 12:26. Observe,
I. How they flattered themselves with hopes that the judgments should be delayed. One saying they had, which had become proverbial in the land of Israel, Eze 12:22. They said, "The days are prolonged; the judgments have not come when they were expected to come, but seem to be still put off de die in diem - from day to day, and therefore we may conclude that every vision fails, because it should seem that some do, that because the destruction has not come yet it will never come; we will never trust a prophet again, for we have been more frightened than hurt." And another saying they had which, if it would not conquer their convictions, yet would cool their affections and abate their concern, and that was, "The vision is for a great while to come; it refers to events at a vast distance, and he prophesies of things which, though they may be true, are yet very far off, so that we need not trouble our heads about them (Eze 12:27); we may die in honour and peace before these troubles come." And, if indeed the troubles had been thus adjourned, they might have made themselves easy, as Hezekiah did. Is it not well if peace and truth shall be in my days? But it was a great mistake, and they did but deceive themselves into their own ruin; and God is here much displeased at it; for, 1. It was a wretched abuse of the patience of God, who, because for a time he kept silence, was thought to be altogether such a one as themselves, Psa 50:21. That forbearance of God which should have led them to repentance hardened them in sin. They were willing to think their works were not evil because sentence against them was not executed speedily; and therefore concluded the vision itself failed, because the days were prolonged. 2. It received countenance form the false prophets that were among them, as should seem from the notice God takes (Eze 12:24) of the vain visions, and flattering divinations, even within the house of Israel, to whom were committed the oracles of God. No marvel if those that deceived themselves by worshipping pretended deities deceived themselves also by crediting pretended prophecies, to which strong delusions God justly gave them up for their idolatries. 3. These sayings had become proverbial; they were industriously spread among the people, so that they had got into very one's mouth, and not only so, but were generally assented to, as proverbs usually are, not only the proverbs of the ancients, but those of the moderns too. Note, It is a token of universal degeneracy in a nation when corrupt and wicked sayings have grown proverbial; and it is an artifice of Satan by them to confirm men in their prejudices against the word and ways of God, and a great offence to the God of heaven. It will not serve for an excuse, in saying ill, to plead that it is a common saying.
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II. How they are assured that they do but deceive themselves, for the judgments shall be hastened, these profane proverbs shall be confronted: Tell them, therefore, The days are at hand (Eze 12:23), and again, There shall none of my words be prolonged any more, Eze 12:28. Their putting the evil day far from them does but provoke God to bring it the sooner upon them; and it will be so much the sorer, so much the heavier, so much the more a surprise and terror to them when it does come. He must tell them,
1. That God will certainly silence the lying proverbs, and the lying prophecies, with which they buoyed up their vain hopes, and will make them ashamed of both: (1.) I will make this proverb to cease; for when they find the days of vengeance have come, and not one iota or tittle of the prediction falls to the ground, they will be ashamed to use it as a proverb in Israel, The days are prolonged, and the vision fails. Note, Those that will not have their eyes opened and their mistakes rectified, by the word of God, shall be undeceived by his judgments: for every mouth that speaks perverse things shall be stopped. (2.) There shall be no more any vain vision, Eze 12:24. The false prophets, who told the people they should have peace and should soon see an end of their troubles, shall be disproved by the event, and then shall be ashamed of their pretensions, and shall hide their heads and impose silence upon themselves. Note, As truth was older than error, so it will survive it; it got the start, and it will get the race. The true prophets' visions and predictions stand, and are in full force, power, and virtue; they give law, and receive credit, when the vain visions, and the flattering divinations, are lost and forgotten, and shall be no more in the house of Israel; for great is the truth, and will prevail.
2. That God will certainly, and very shortly, accomplish every word that he has spoken. With what majesty does he say it (Eze 12:25): I am the Lord! I am Jehovah! That glorious name of his speaks him a God giving being to his word by the performance of it, and therefore to the patriarchs, who lived by faith in a promise not yet performed, he was not known by his name Jehovah, Exo 6:3. But, as he is Jehovah in making good his promise, so he is in making good his threatenings. Let them know then that God, with whom they have to do, is the great Jehovah, and therefore, (1.) He will speak, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear: I am the Lord, I will speak. God will have his saying, whoever gainsays it. God's oracles are called lively ones, for they still speak when the pagan oracles are long ago struck dumb. There has been, and shall be, a succession of God's ministers to the end of the world, by whom he will speak; and, though contempt may be put upon them, that shall not put a period to their ministration: In your days, O rebellious house! will I say the word. Even in the worst ages of the church God left not himself without witness, but raised up men that spoke for him, that spoke from him. I will say the word, the word that shall stand. (2.) The word that he speaks shall come to pass; it shall infallibly be accomplished according to the true intent and meaning of it, and according to the full extent and compass of it: I will say the word and will perform it (Eze 12:25), for his mind is never changed, nor his arm shortened, nor is Infinite Wisdom ever nonplussed. With men saying and doing are two things, but they are not so with God; with him it is dictum, factum - said, and done. In the works of providence, as in those of creation, he speaks and it is done; for he said, Let there be light, and there was light - Let there be a firmament, and there was a firmament, Num 23:19; Sa1 15:29. Whereas they had said, Every vision fails (Eze 12:22), God says, "No, there shall be the effect of every vision (Eze 12:23); it shall not return void, but every sign shall be answered by the thing signified." Those that see the visions of the Almighty do not see vain visions; God confirms the word of his servants by performing it. (3.) It shall be accomplished very shortly: "The days are at hand when you shall see the effect of every vision, Eze 12:23. It is said, it is sworn, that delay shall be no longer (Rev 10:6); the year of God's patience has now just expired, and he will no longer defer the execution of the sentence. It shall be no more prolonged (Eze 12:25); he has borne with you a great while, but he will not bear always. In your days, O rebellious house! shall the word that is said be performed, and you shall see the threatened judgments and share in them. Behold, the Judge stands at the door. The righteous are taken away from the evil to come, but this rebellious house shall not be so quietly taken away; no, they shall live to be hurried away, to be chased out of the world." This is repeated (Eze 12:28): "There shall none of my words be prolonged any more, but judgment shall now hasten on apace; and the longer the bow has been in the drawing the deeper shall the arrow pierce." When we tell sinners of death and judgment, heaven and hell, and think by them to persuade them to a holy life, though we do not find them downright infidels (they will own that they do believe there is a state of rewards and punishments in the other world), yet they put by the force of those great truths, and void the impressions of them, by looking upon the things of the other world as very remote; they tell us, "The vision you see is for many days to come, and you prophesy of the times that are very far off; it will be time enough to think of them when they come nearer," whereas really there is but a step between us and death, between us and an awful eternity; yet a little while and the vision shall speak and not lie, and therefore it concerns us to redeem time, and get ready with all speed for a future state; for, though it is future, it is very near, and while impenitent sinners slumber their damnation slumbers not.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain For I am the Lord: I will speak,.... A…
For I am the Lord: I will speak,.... A sovereign Being, immutable and eternal; who will speak by his prophets what is his mind and will shall be done:
and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; the word of prophecy delivered out in his nature by the true prophets never fails, but is always accomplished; as that was which respected the siege or Jerusalem, and captivity of the Jews:
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it shall be no more prolonged: the judgment threatened shall be inflicted, and that in a very short time:
for in your days, O rebellious house; while they were living; which they hoped would never be, at least not till after their death; whereas, within live or six years after this, all came to pass:
will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord God of hosts; not only the prophecy of their ruin should be given out in their days, but accomplished in that time; which they might depend upon, since he who said it is the mighty God, the Lord of armies in heaven and in earth.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain As in Ezek. 7, the nearness of the judgment…
As in Ezek. 7, the nearness of the judgment is foretold.
Eze 12:22
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The land of Israel - is put generally for the land where the children of Israel dwelt, whether at home, or in exile. There was prevalent a disregard for the true prophets, which is ever followed by a recognition of the false. First, the true prophet is rejected because it is thought that his prophecies fail. Then men persuade themselves that if the prophecy be true it respects some distant time, and that the men of the present generation need not disturb themselves about it. Compare Jer 1:11; Amo 6:3; Mat 24:43; 1Th 5:2; 2Pe 3:4. Against both these delusions Ezekiel is commissioned to protest, and so to lead the way to his condemnation of his countrymen for their blind reliance on false prophets.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 21, 22. Those who are skeptical regarding the literal…
21, 22. Those who are skeptical regarding the literal fulfillment of prophecy, and comfort themselves with the thought that they have often heard such threats of judgment but time passes (“the days are prolonged”) and every vision has failed thus far, are told that the crisis is at hand.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 21–28. Warning against despising of prophecy
21–28. Warning against despising of prophecy
The prophet felt that such threats as those just uttered (Eze_12:1-20) were neglected and little thought of. People disposed of such prophecies by saying that they did not come true; or, if they did not go so far, by saying that they referred to the distant future. Ezekiel warns them that Jehovah’s threatenings bear upon the present time, and that they shall be fulfilled.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (21-28) These verses contain two distinct messages from the…
(21-28) These verses contain two distinct messages from the Lord (Eze_12:21-28), both designed to meet the objection that warning prophecies had been uttered now for a long time, and as they had not come to pass there was no reason to expect their fulfilment, at least until some far distant future. It is always the tendency of sinful man to take this ground while experiencing the long-suffering and forbearance of God (see Ecc_8:11; Amo_6:3; Mat_24:43; 1Th_5:3); and the scoff, “Where is the promise of His coming?” will still continue to the end of time (2Pe_3:4). In this case, the objection was evidently encouraged by false prophets (Eze_12:24), and accordingly the following chapter is devoted to them.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 21-28. The snare of unbelief.
Vers. 21-28. The snare of unbelief.
Faith has the power to make the distant near. It obliterates distance of time and space. But unbelief reverses the effect. It looks in at the wrong end of the telescope, and reduces realities to a mere speck. Unbelief corrupts all blessing; it makes sour the very cream of God"s kindness. "Because judgment is not speedily executed," incorrigible rebellion makes a mock of retribution.
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I THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF DISTANT JUDGMENT IS GREAT KINDNESS. The ancient Greeks had an adage: "The gods have feet of wool." But this does not describe the character of the living God. Instead of overtaking men hastily, "he is slow to anger." He does not willingly afflict. "The axe is often laid at the root of the tree," and that for a long spell; and if repentance and fruitfulness appear, the sentence is gladly revoked. The aim and purpose of our God are not destruction, but restoration. If it is within the range of possibility to awake the slumbering conscience, and save the man, God will do it. To announce beforehand ordained judgments is kindness infinite.
II DEFERRED JUDGMENT OFTEN LEADS TO MISPLACED CONFIDENCE. The best blessings, when corrupted, become our direst curses. Neither the bitter experience of sin, though long continued, nor the royal clemency of God, produces any beneficial effect on some men. They seem deaf to every appeal of prudence, insensible to every overture of kindness. All tender feeling appears to have vanished; they have reached already a state of hopeless reprobation. If the severity of justice for a moment should relax, they put it down to cowardice, or weakness, or irresolution. They say, "We shall have peace, though we walk after the imagination of our own hearts." "Give a loose rein to lust," say they; "God doth not regard us.
III UNBELIEF PUTS FAR OFF THE DAY OF RECKONING. Its shallow line of reasoning is this: "No punishment has fallen upon us as yet. Today will be as yesterday, and tomorrow as today. Probably," say they, "punishment will not come at all; or if it should, it is so far away that for all practical purposes we may disregard it" There is a strong force of inertia in every man"s nature. What has been, he thinks, will continue to be. "Where is the promise of his coming?" The wish becomes father to the thought, that punishment is dubious, problematic a mere ghost of probability. All the evidence of Divine rule and Divine interposition unbelief rejects as hypothetical craze. What cannot be seen and handled and touched unbelief despises as unreal.
IV THE HOUR OF DOOM AT LENGTH SUDDENLY STRIKES. To men it often seems a sudden event; not so to God. He has seen he elements preparing stage by stage, and "suddenness" forms no part of his experience. So it has been with all the great calamities that have overtaken men. In the period of Noah"s deluge, men saw no prognostication of coming danger. "They bought, they sold, they married, they were given in marriage, until the very day that Noah entered into the ark." On the day of Sodom"s doom, the sun rose over the eastern hills with his usual splendour and tranquillity; yet before noon the smoke of the devastation rose and smothered in silence the cries of its dying population. "So shall the coming of the Son of man be." When profligate men least expect it the storm shall break upon their heads. Whensoever the long suffering kindness of God is made an occasion of fresh licence, be quite sure that retribution is not far away. "In such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh. D.
Vers. 21-28. The word of the Lord discredited and vindicated.
the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in the land of Israel?" etc.
I THE WORD OF THE LORD DISCREDITED.
1. It was discredited in various degrees.
(1) By some it was entirely disbelieved. "Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth?" The reference in this proverb is to the predictions of the Divine judgments against Jerusalem and its inhabitants, which had been made by Jeremiah long ago. And the proverb is a jeering expression, indicating the opinion that these predictions had totally failed. These sceptics argued within themselves and amongst themselves, that because the fulfilment of the threatened judgment was delayed, the threatening itself was untrue. "The experience of God"s forbearance had destroyed their apprehension of his truthfulness." This sinful misinterpretation of the Divine dealings is not confined to that generation or to that people. We discover the same presumptuous unbelief in Ps 1 Ps 21, "These things hast thou done; and I kept silence," etc.; in Ecc_8:11, "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily," etc.; and in 2Pe_3:3, 2Pe_3:4, "There shall come in the last days scoffers," etc. What an abuse is this of the patience of the Lord God! What a base perversion of his forbearance and grace! (cf. Rom_2:4-11; 2Pe_3:9)
(2) By others the word of the Lord was discredited by indefinitely postponing its fulfilment. "Son of man, behold, the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off." These persons argued that, because the fulfilment of the threatenings of Jeremiah had been delayed so long, that fulfilment was yet far off. They concluded that the prophetic visions would not be realized in their time, and therefore they need not be troubled by them.
1. It was discredited in open expression. "Behold, the house of Israel say, The vision that he sooth is for many days," etc. (ver. 27). In the case of those who entirely discredited the word of the Lord by the prophet, the terms in which they expressed their disbelief had become proverbial. "What is that proverb that ye have in the land of Israel?" etc. (ver. 22). This sentiment, common among the people, "had been expressed in a pointed sentence, and straightway became popular as a watchword, which was taken up on every occasion against the true prophet." Their disbelief of the message of the Lord by his prophet, and their derision of that prophet, were not veiled, but openly paraded by the people. As Greenhill says, "This wicked speech was become a proverb; it passed through the mouths of all sorts, young, old, great small, learned, ignorant; it was in the city and country, a proverb in the land of Israel." Disbelief had grown daring and defiant.
2 This discredit was plausibly encouraged. False prophets, by means of vain visions and flattering divinations, had fostered disbelief of the stern announcements of Jeremiah, the true prophet of Jehovah (ver. 24). These men had prophesied smooth things to the credulous house of Israel credulous, that is, of such announcements as harmonized with their inclinations. So Ahab believed the smooth-speaking false prophets to his own death, while he hated and imprisoned the faithful Micaiah, the prophet of the Lord Jehovah. (1Ki 22) And the false prophets of Jeremiah"s age encouraged the presumptuous security of the people until that security was shattered by disaster and ruin.
II THE WORD OF THE LORD VINDICATED BY HIMSELF.
1. By its continued proclamation. The people of Jerusalem probably thought by their disbelief and derision to put to silence the word of the Lord by Jeremiah his prophet. But God still speaks by him, and by Ezekiel also. "Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord God," etc. (ver. 23). "I am the Lord: I will speak," etc. (ver. 25). "Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, etc. (ver. 28). In this way God speaks again and again to this unbelieving and rebellious people. He will not leave himself without faithful witnesses, who will speak his word even to the most sceptical and stubborn of men. (cf. Eze 2:8-7 Eze_3:4-11)
2. By its fall and speedy fulfilment. The Lord here declares that:
(1) His word should be fulfilled speedily. "Say unto them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision .... I will speak, and. the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord God....There shall none of my words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord God." And, as Hengstenberg says, "the announcement of the prophet has passed into fulfilment in a terrible manner. Scarcely five years elapsed when Jerusalem with its temple lay in ruins; and those who had filled their belly with the east wind of their proud hopes of the future were either lost or envied the dead.
(2) His word should be fulfilled completely. "The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision." The full "contents of every prediction" would be brought to pass. The unbelieving and rebellious people probably thought that even if things came to the worst, they could not be so bad as in the prophetic representations, that Jeremiah had exaggerated the troubles that were coming upon the nation. But "the word of every vision" was at hand. No partial fulfilment was about to take place. Every word of prophetic prediction was to be realized.
3. By putting to silence the also prophets who had discredited it. "There shall no more be any vain vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel." The events that were drawing so near would confound these prophesiers of smooth things. The complete fulfilment of the visions of the true prophet would effectually stop the mouths of the false ones.
CONCLUSION. Our subject presents to us:
1. An assurance of the certainty often fulfilment of the Word of the Lord. (Num_23:19; Psa_89:34; Mat_5:18 Mat_24:35; Luk_16:17 1Pe_1:23-25)
1. Warning against unbelief of the Word of the Lord, and against the false security arising therefrom. The punishment denounced against sin will certainly be inflicted unless the sinner turn from his evil way.
2. Encouragement to trust the Word of the Lord. Its promises are true and. reliable. The hopes which it inspires are not delusive. "For how many soever be the promises of God, in him is the Yea: wherefore also through him is the Amen, unto the glory of God through us. W.J.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain Ezekiel 12:21 - Ezekiel 14:11
PROPHECY AND ITS ABUSES
Ezekiel 12:21 - Ezekiel 14:11
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THERE is perhaps nothing more perplexing to the student of Old Testament history than the complicated phenomena which may be classed under the general name of "prophecy." In Israel, as in every ancient state, there was a body of men who sought to influence public opinion by prognostications of the future. As a rule the repute of all kinds of divination declined with the advance of civilisation and general intelligence, so that in the more enlightened communities matters of importance came to be decided on broad grounds of reason and political expediency. The peculiarity in the case of Israel was that the very highest direction in politics, as well as religion and morals, was given in a form capable of being confounded with superstitious practices which flourished alongside of it. The true prophets were not merely profound moral thinkers, who announced a certain issue as the probable result of a certain line of conduct. In many cases their predictions are absolute, and their political programme is an appeal to the nation to accept the situation which they foresee, as the basis of its public action. For this reason prophecy was readily brought into competition with practices with which it had really nothing in common. The ordinary individual who cared little for principles and only wished to know what was likely to happen might readily think that one way of arriving at knowledge of the future was as, good as another, and when the spiritual prophets anticipations displeased him he was apt to try his luck with the sorcerer. It is not improbable that in the last days of the monarchy spurious prophecy of various kinds gained an additional vitality from its rivalry with the great spiritual teachers who in the name of Jehovah foretold the ruin of the state.
This is not the place for an exhaustive account of the varied developments in Israel of what may be broadly termed prophetic manifestations. For the understanding of the section of Ezekiel now before us it will be enough to distinguish three classes of phenomena. At the lowest end of the scale there was a rank growth of pure magic or sorcery, the ruling idea of which is the attempt to control or forecast the future by occult arts which are believed to influence the supernatural powers which govern human destiny. In the second place we have prophecy in a stricter sense-that is, the supposed revelation of the will of the deity in dreams or "visions" or half-articulate words uttered in a state of frenzy. Last of all there is the true prophet, who, though subject to extraordinary mental experiences, yet had always a clear and conscious grasp of moral principles, and possessed an incommunicable certainty that what he spoke was not his own word but the word of Jehovah.
It is obvious that a people subjected to such influences as these was exposed to temptations both intellectual and moral from which modern life is exempt. One thing is certain-the existence of prophecy did not tend to simplify the problems of national life or individual conduct. We are apt to think of the great prophets as men so signally marked out by God as His witnesses that it must have been impossible for any one with a shred of sincerity to question their authority. In reality it was quite otherwise. It was no more an easy thing then than now to distinguish between truth and error, between the voice of God and the speculations of men. Then, as now, divine truth had no available credentials at the moment of its utterance except its self-evidencing power on hearts that were sincere in their desire to know it. The fact that truth came in the guise of prophecy only stimulated the growth of counterfeit prophecy, so that only those who were "of the truth" could discern the spirits whether they were of God.
The passage which forms the subject of this chapter is one of the most important passages of the Old Testament in its treatment of the errors and abuses incident to a dispensation of prophecy. It consists of three parts: the first deals with difficulties occasioned by the apparent failure of prophecy; {Eze_12:21-28} the second with the character and doom of the false prophets (chapter 13); and the third with the state of mind which made a right use of prophecy impossible. {Eze_14:1-11}
I.
It is one of Ezekiels peculiarities that he pays close attention to the proverbial sayings which indicated the drift of the national mind. Such sayings were like straws, showing how the stream flowed, and had a special significance for Ezekiel, inasmuch as he was not in the stream himself, but only observed its motions from a distance. Here he quotes a current proverb, giving expression to a sense of the futility of all prophetic warnings: "The days are drawn out, and every vision faileth". {Eze_12:22} It is difficult to say what the feeling is that lies behind it, whether it is one of disappointment or of relief. If, as seems probable, Eze_12:27 is the application of the general principle to the particular case of Ezekiel, the proverb need not indicate absolute disbelief in the truth of prophecy. "The vision which he sees is for many days, and remote times does he prophesy"-that is to say, The prophets words are no doubt perfectly true, and come from God; but no man can ever tell when they are to be fulfilled: all experience shows that they relate to a remote future which we are not likely to see. For men whose concern was to find direction in the present emergency, that was no doubt equivalent to a renunciation of the guidance of prophecy.
There are several things which may have tended to give currency to this view and make it plausible. First of all, of course, the fact that many of the "visions" that were published had nothing in them; they were false in their origin, and were bound to fail. Accordingly one thing necessary to rescue prophecy from the discredit into which it had fallen was the removal of those who uttered false predictions in the name of Jehovah: "There shall no more be any false vision or flattering divination in the midst of the house of Israel" (Eze_12:24). But besides the prevalence of false prophecy there were features of true prophecy which partly explained the common misgiving as to its trustworthiness. Even in true prophecy there is an element of idealism, the future being depicted in forms derived from the prophets circumstances, and represented as the immediate continuation of the events of his own time. In support of the proverb it might have been equally apt to instance the Messianic oracles of Isaiah, or the confident predictions of Hananiah, the opponent of Jeremiah. Further, there is a contingent element in prophecy: the fulfilment of a threat or promise is conditional on the moral effect of the prophecy itself on the people. These things were perfectly understood by thoughtful men in Israel. The principle of contingency is clearly expounded in the eighteenth chapter of Jeremiah, and it was acted on by the princes who on a memorable occasion saved him from the doom of a false prophet. {Jeremiah 26} Those who used prophecy to determine their practical attitude towards Jehovahs purposes found it to be an unerring guide to right thinking and action. But those who only took a curious interest in questions of external fulfilment found much to disconcert them; and it is hardly surprising that many of them became utterly sceptical of its divine origin. It must have been to this turn of mind that the proverb with which Ezekiel is dealing owed its origin.
It is not on these lines, however, that Ezekiel vindicates the truth of the prophetic word, but on lines adapted to the needs of his own generation. After all prophecy is not wholly contingent. The bent of the popular character is one of the elements which it takes into account, and it foresees an issue which is not dependent on anything that Israel might do. The prophets rise to a point of view from which the destruction of the sinful people and the establishment of a perfect kingdom of God are seen to be facts unalterably decreed by Jehovah. And the point of Ezekiels answer to his contemporaries seems to be that a final demonstration of the truth of prophecy was at hand. As the fulfilment drew near prophecy would increase in distinctness and precision, so that when the catastrophe came it would be impossible for any man to deny the inspiration of those who had announced it: "Thus saith Jehovah, I will suppress this proverb, and it shall no more circulate in Israel; but say unto them, The days are near, and the content [literally word or matter] of every vision" (Eze_12:23). After the extinction of every form of lying prophecy, Jehovahs words shall still be heard, and the proclamation of them shall be immediately followed by their accomplishment: "For I Jehovah will speak My words; I will speak and perform, it shall not be deferred any more: in your days, O house of rebellion, I will speak a word and perform it, saith Jehovah" (Eze_12:25). The immediate reference is to. the destruction of Jerusalem which the prophet saw to be one of those events which were unconditionally decreed, and an event which must bulk more and more largely in the vision of the. true prophet until it was accomplished.
II.
The thirteenth chapter deals with what was undoubtedly the greatest obstacle to the influence of prophecy-viz., the existence of a division in the ranks of the prophets themselves. That division had been of long standing. The earliest indication of it is the story of the contest between Micaiah and four hundred prophets of Jehovah, in presence of Ahab and Jehoshaphat. {1Ki_22:5-28} All the canonical prophets show in their writings that they had to contend against the mass of the prophetic order-men who claimed an authority equal to theirs, but used it for diametrically opposite interests. It is not, however, till we come to Jeremiah and Ezekiel that we find a formal apologetic of true prophecy against false. The problem was serious: where two sets of prophets systematically and fundamentally contradicted each other, both might be false, but both could not be true. The prophet who was convinced of the truth of his own visions must be prepared to account for the rise of false visions, and to lay down some criterion by which men might discriminate between the one and the other. Jeremiahs treatment of the question is of the two perhaps the more profound and interesting. It is thus summarised by Professor Davidson:
"In his encounters with the prophets of his day Jeremiah opposes them in three spheres-that of policy, that of morals, and that of personal experience. In policy the genuine prophets had some fixed principles, all arising out of the idea that the. kingdom of the Lord was not a kingdom of this world. Hence they opposed military preparation, riding on horses, and building of fenced cities, and counselled trust in Jehovah. The false prophets, on the other hand, desired their country to be a military power among the powers around, they advocated alliance with the eastern empires and with Egypt, and relied on their national strength. Again, the true prophets, had a stringent personal and state morality. In their view the true cause of the destruction of the state was its immoralities. But the false prophets had no such deep moral convictions, and seeing nothing unwonted or alarming in the condition of things prophesied of peace. They were not necessarily irreligious men; but their religion had no truer insight into the nature of the God of Israel than that of the common people And finally Jeremiah expresses his conviction that the prophets whom he opposed did not stand in the same relation to the Lord as he did: they had not "his experiences, of the word of the Lord, into whose counsel they had not been admitted; and they were without that fellowship of mind with the mind of Jehovah which was the true source of prophecy. Hence he satirises their pretended supernatural dreams, and charges them from conscious want of any true prophetic word with stealing words from one another." ("Ezekiel," p. 85.)
The passages in Jeremiah on which this statement is mainly founded may have been known to Ezekiel, who in this matter, as in so many others, follows the lines laid down by the elder prophet.
The first thing, then, that deserves attention in Ezekiels judgment on false prophecy is his assertion of its purely subjective or human origin. In the opening sentence he pronounces a woe upon the prophets "who prophesy from their own mind without having seen" (Eze_13:3). The words put in italics sum up Ezekiels theory of the genesis of false prophecy. The visions these men see and the oracles they utter simply reproduce the thoughts, the emotions, the aspirations, natural to their own minds. That the ideas came to them in a peculiar form which was mistaken for the direct action of Jehovah, Ezekiel does not deny. He admits that the men were sincere in their professions, for he describes them as "waiting for the fulfillment of the word" (Eze_13:6). But in this belief they were the victims of a delusion. Whatever there might be in their prophetic experiences that resembled those of a true prophet, there was nothing in their oracles that did not belong to the sphere of worldly interests and human speculation.
If we ask how Ezekiel knew this. the only possible answer is that he knew it because he was sure of the source of his own inspiration. He possessed an inward experience which certified to him the genuineness of the communications which came to him, and he necessarily inferred that those who held different beliefs about God must lack that experience. Thus far his criticism of false prophecy is purely subjective. The true prophet knew that he had that within him which authenticated his inspiration, but the false prophet could not know that he wanted it. The difficulty is not peculiar to prophecy, but arises in connection with religious belief as a whole. It is an interesting question whether the assent to a truth is accompanied by a feeling of certitude differing in quality from the confidence which a man may have in giving assent to a delusion. But it is not possible to elevate this internal criterion to an objective test of truth. A man who is awake may be quite sure he is not dreaming, but a man in a dream may readily enough fancy himself awake.
But there were other and more obvious tests which could be applied to the professional prophets, and which at least showed them to be men of a different spirit from the few who were "full of power by the spirit of the Lord, and of judgment, and of might, to declare to Israel his sin." {Mic_3:8} In two graphic figures Ezekiel sums up the character and policy of these parasites who disgraced the order to which they belonged. In the first place he compares them to jackals burrowing in ruins and ufidermining the fabric which it was their professed function to uphold (Eze_13:4-5). The existence of such a class of men is at once a symptom of advanced social degeneration and a cause of greater ruin to follow. A true prophet fearlessly speaking the Words of God is a defence to the state; he is like a man who stands in the breach or builds a wall to ward off the danger which he foresees. Such were all genuine prophets whose names were held in honour in Israel-men of moral courage, never hesitating to incur personal risk for the welfare of the nation they loved. If Israel now was like a heap of ruins, the fault lay with the selfish crowd of hireling prophets who had cared more to find a hole in which they could shelter themselves than to build up a stable and righteous polity.
The prophets simile calls to mind the type of churchman represented by Bishop Blougram in Brownings powerful satire. He is one who is content if the corporation to which he belongs can provide him with a comfortable and dignified position in which he can spend good days; he is triumphant if, in addition to this, he can defy any one to prove him more of a fool or a hypocrite than an average man of the world. Such utter abnegation of intellectual sincerity may not be common in any Church; but the temptation which leads to it is one to which ecclesiastics are exposed in every age and every communion. The tendency to shirk difficult problems, to shut ones eyes to grave evils, to acquiesce in things as they are, and calculate that the ruin will last ones own time, is what Ezekiel calls playing the jackal; and it hardly needs a prophet to tell us that there could not be a more fatal symptom of the decay of religion than the prevalence of such a spirit in its official representatives.
The second image is equally suggestive. It exhibits the false prophets as following where they pretended to lead. as aiding and abetting the men into whose hands the reins of government had fallen. The people build a wall and the prophets cover it with plaster (Eze_13:10)-that is to say, when any project or scheme of policy is being promoted they stand by, glozing it over with fine words, flattering its promoters, and uttering profuse assurances of its success. The uselessness of the whole activity of these prophets could not be more vividly described. The white-washing of the wall may hide its defects, but will not prevent its destruction: and when the wall of Jerusalems shaky prosperity tumbles down, those who did so little to build and so much to deceive shall be overwhelmed with confusion. "Behold, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said to them, Where is the plaster which ye plastered?" (Eze_13:12).
This will be the beginning of the judgment on false prophets in Israel. The overthrow of their vaticinations, the collapse of the hopes they fostered, and the demolition of the edifice in which they found a refuge shall leave them no more a name or a place in the people of God. "I will stretch out My hand against the prophets that see vanity and divine falsely: in the council of My people they shall not be, and in the register of the house of Israel they shall not be written, and into the land of Israel they shall not come" (Eze_13:9).
There was, however, a still more degraded type of prophecy, practised chiefly by women, which must have been exceedingly prevalent in Ezekiels time. The prophets spoken of in the first sixteen verses were public functionaries who exerted their evil influence in the arena of polities. The prophetesses spoken of in the latter part of the chapter are private fortune-tellers who practised on the credulity of individuals who consulted them. Their art was evidently magical in the strict sense, a trafficking with the dark powers which were supposed to enter into alliance with men irrespective of moral considerations. Then, as now, such courses were followed for gain, and doubtless proved a lucrative means of livelihood. The "fillets" and "veils" mentioned in Eze_13:18 are either a professional garb worn by the women, or else implements of divination whose precise significance cannot now be ascertained. To the imagination of the prophet they appear as the snares and weapons with which these wretched creatures "hunted souls"; and the extent of the evil which he attacks is indicated by his speaking of the whole people as being entangled in their meshes. Ezekiel naturally bestows special attention on a class of practitioners whose whole influence tended to efface moral landmarks and to deal out to men weal or woe without regard to character. "They slew souls that should not die, and saved alive souls that should not live; they made sad the heart of the righteous, and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way and be saved alive" (Eze_13:22). That is to say, while Ezekiel and all true prophets were exhorting men to live resolutely in the light of clear ethical conceptions of providence, the votaries of occult superstitions seduced the ignorant into making private compacts with the powers of darkness in order to secure their personal safety. If the prevalence of sorcery and witchcraft was at all times dangerous to the religion and public order of the state, it was doubly so at a time when, as Ezekiel perceived, everything depended on maintaining the strict rectitude of God in His dealings with individual men.
III.
Having thus disposed of the external manifestations of false prophecy, Ezekiel proceeds in the fourteenth chapter to deal with the state of mind amongst the people at large which rendered such a condition of things possible. The general import of the passage is clear, although the precise connection of ideas is somewhat difficult to explain. The following observations may suffice to bring out all that is essential to the understanding of the section.
The oracle was occasioned by a particular incident, undoubtedly historical-namely, a visit, such as was perhaps now common, from the elders to inquire of the Lord through Ezekiel. As they sit before him it is revealed to the prophet that the minds of these men are preoccupied with idolatry, and therefore it is not fitting that any answer should be given to them by a prophet of Jehovah. Apparently no answer was given by Ezekiel to the particular question they had asked, whatever it may have been. Generalising from the incident, however, he is led to enunciate a principle regulating the intercourse between Jehovah and Israel through the medium of a prophet: "Whatever man of the house of Israel sets his thoughts upon his idols, and puts his guilty stumbling-block before him, and comes to the prophet, I Jehovah will make Myself intelligible to him: that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from Me by their idols" (Eze_14:4-5). It seems clear that one part of the threat here uttered is that the very withholding of the answer will unmask the hypocrisy of men who pretend to be worshippers of Jehovah, but in heart are unfaithful to Him and servants of false gods. The moral principle involved in the prophets dictum is clear and of lasting value. It is that for a false heart there can be no fellowship with Jehovah, and therefore no true and sure knowledge of His will. The prophet occupies the point of view of Jehovah, and when consulted by an idolater he finds it impossible to enter into the point of view from which the question is put, and therefore cannot answer it. Ezekiel assumes for the most part that the prophet consulted is a true prophet of Jehovah like himself, who will give no answer to such questions as he has before him. He must, however, allow for the possibility that men of this stamp may receive answers in the name of Jehovah from those reputed to be His true prophets. In that case, says Ezekiel, the prophet is "deceived" by God; he is allowed to give a response which is not a true response at all, but only confirms the people in their delusions and unbelief. But this deception does not take place until the prophet has incurred the guilt of deceiving himself in the first instance. It is his fault that he has not perceived the bent of his questioners minds, that he has accommodated himself to their ways of thought, has consented to occupy their standpoint in order to be able to say something coinciding with the drift of their wishes. Prophet and inquirers are involved in a common guilt and share a common fate, both being sentenced to exclusion from the commonwealth of Israel.
The purification of the institution of prophecy necessarily appeared to Ezekiel as an indispensable feature in the restoration of the theocracy. The ideal of Israels relation to Jehovah is "that they may be My people, and that I may be their God" (Eze_14:11). That implies that Jehovah shall be the source of infallible guidance in all things needful for the religious life of the individual and the guidance of the state. But it was impossible for Jehovah to be to Israel all that a God should be, so long as the regular channels of communication between Him and the nation were choked by false conceptions in the minds of the people and false men in the position of prophets. Hence the constitution of a new Israel demands such special judgments on false prophecy and the false use of true prophecy as have been denounced in these chapters. When these judgments have been executed, the ideal will have become possible which is described in the words of another prophet: "Thine eyes shall see thy teachers: and thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it." {Isa_30:20-21}
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain (3.) THE FOOLISH PROVERB (Eze_12:21-28)
(3.) THE FOOLISH PROVERB (Eze_12:21-28)
EXEGETICAL NOTES.—The hearts of the Jerusalem people would evade any fair application of the ominous action of Ezekiel, and he is incited to aim a blow at the evasion, which took form in a proverbial saying, Eze_12:22, “The days are prolonged, and every vision perisheth” time is going by, and not one forecast of good or evil has come to pass; it has been a deluding of us. Eze_12:23. Against this sentiment the communication from the Lord is, “The days are near, and the word of every vision,” the passing days are inevitably bringing on the speedy fulfilment of every word folded in the imagery which has been perceived by the spiritual vision of the prophets. Eze_12:25. Over against the merely human prophecies, which had largely contributed to the formation of the condemned proverb, the divine truthfulness would be manifested, and utterly dislodge the former, “For I, the Lord, will speak whatever word I will speak, and it shall come to pass,” not in some far-off future, but “in your days, O house of rebellion.” On the generation of his contemporaries would come both the earlier and the later effects which had been declared certain.
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Eze_12:26-28. An emphatic assertion of the impending accomplishment of Ezekiel’s own prophetic utterances is made against the temporising of “the house of Israel, who say the vision that he seeth is for many days, and for far off times he prophesieth.” They believed his words would come true, but not in their experience at any rate. To meet that idea of postponement the Lord said, “None of my words shall be delayed any more; whatever word I shall speak, it shall come to pass.”
HOMILETICS
MEN’S EVASION OF THE DIVINE INTERFERENCE IN EVENTS
God does not only begin, He goes along with the whole development of the world’s history. He can foretell any portion of that history. By special communication or general providence He proves that all its “government is upon His shoulders;” that “He sitteth on the throne judging right,” and working so that men should cease to do evil and learn to do well. There is that in human nature which reaches a point at which it resiles from the idea of this immanence, where it finds the absolute rights of God unwelcome to itself. In this state we observe—
I. The power exerted by what is visible. “Prophets and preachers are men like yourselves. Why should you yield up your souls that they may ride over them with what they assert are messages from an invisible mighty Being? What palpable proofs can they give that He communicates with them, though He never does with you? You might accept their statements did you see any clear fulfilment of the threats of punishment which they plentifully cast forth; but in failure of such evidence you have reason to make light of the claims which they advance for the recognition of the truth of what they say.” How shall these difficulties be overcome? “Let what is righteous and true and holy and good get an honest hearing in your consciences. Let the operation of principles, which is so much more slow to become obvious than the operation of the physical forces, have due time accorded; you will be brought to see that your craving for what is sensible is a depreciation of that nobler part of your nature which feels after higher things than it sees. You may be convinced if what is spiritual commends itself by its close adherence to rectitude, you are wrong in ignoring or postponing its indications.” How many hearers of the Word of God will not accept Jesus Christ as Lord, because they expect some more palpable influences to be brought into action! Do not portions of modern society indicate doubt and even aversion to the demands of the Bible, because they do not place themselves in the light of what is sinless and just and unbending to worldly pleasures? Thus space given for repentance is too often turned into space for hardening the heart against the Unseen and Eternal.
II. Doubts of the efficiency of God. They may acknowledge Him as Maker of the undeveloped world, but decline to acknowledge the signs that He is acting in it now. They see force of one kind or other, and as these forces always act in uniform lines, what place is there for a holy will behind and before and upon men in every event? So the thought is, There is no God in the common acceptation of the term. There may be a power that is unique, but it does not interfere in human affairs as prophets and preachers maintain. There is no reality expressed by the words, The God of Abraham and of Israel, of Jesus Christ and His Church. Is it forgotten by such thinkers that the nature of God must be expressed in words and acts corresponding to itself; that He must abide and must operate age after age; that whatever be the superficial sameness of society and slumbering of retributions, He has not forgotten the work of His hands? “I say the word and will perform it.”
III. Discredit cast upon personal application of divine messages. In this class it is not said, There is no prospect of the evil threatened ever coming near; but rather, There is no likelihood of it touching us. “When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come nigh unto us.” Men who have committed iniquity for years do so with impunity, nations which have been selfish and oppressive have not been subjected to penalties, notwithstanding what men speaking in the name of the Lord say. We may believe that not in our days are their words to be practically illustrated. Thus is produced a feeling of security, if not of unbelief. The heart is set towards putting far off the evil day. It is a token of deepest immersion in spiritual darkness when men take the apparent absence of a frowning face as proof that God’s servants are not justified in saying that it is there. It would be seen if darkness did not blind the eyes. The feeling is widespread. The darkness covered the mass of Israel. It affects and will affect multitudes in these later days. “When the Son of Man Cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?” What need to question all our spiritual security to see whether it results from trust in God, or from a vague idea that we shall escape portending ill, that if others are to be sufferers for sin we shall not be!
1. Common sayings are not always true sayings. They may pass current in houses, shops, meetings, but when they have to stand a cross-examination how many utterly break down and show themselves to be bubbles—baseless and hollow.
2. God’s sayings are certain. He has spoken them in the constitution of man and that of the world, as well as also by holy men commissioned to declare His will. However prolonged the working out of His institutes be, they must develop fully and finally. He has eternity to act in. See that faith is placed in Christ Jesus, who gives insight of the thoughts and ways—the love and the wrath of God the Holy and True. We receive “a kingdom that cannot be moved, and serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.”
3. The preference of man’s sayings may hasten the manifestation of the truth of God’s sayings. The boldness and mockery of deniers of God’s claims may make Him to become a swift witness for His veracity and against men’s despisal of it. Men who taunt Him to “make speed, hasten His word that we may see it,” may find, in the midst of sorrows, that they have brought upon themselves swift destruction. Repentance may prevent judgment; hardening of heart aggravates and expedites it. In the Lord alone is there sufficient to assure us that He will not forget, delay, change.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On Prophecy, True and False
On Prophecy, True and False
After rebuking certain prevalent forms of contempt for prophecy (Eze_12:21-28), Ezekiel reproves the false prophets (Eze_13:1-16) and false prophetesses (Eze_13:17-23) of Israel. A visit from the elders next supplies the occasion for an announcement of the principles on which God deals both with false enquirers and with the prophets who answer them (Eze_14:1-11).
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(a) Contempt of Prophecy Rebuked (Eze_12:21-28)
This contempt took two forms. On the one hand it had become a common saying that prophecy was no longer fulfilled at all (Eze_12:22), and on the other hand it was supposed by many that Ezekiel's prophecies, though true, referred to a very distant future (Eze_12:27). In answer to both of these false views God said that His word would be fulfilled, and that without delay.
22. Ezekiel's message frequently takes the shape of a criticism of current proverbs, as in Eze_11:3; Eze_12:25; Eze_18:2; Eze_20:32.
24. Vain vision.. flattering divination] Forms of false prophecy, more fully exposed in Ezekiel 13. These had been unfulfilled, and this had led to contempt for all prophecy. But God's true word would no longer be confounded with such things.
25. Prolonged] RV 'deferred,' and so in Eze_12:28.
(b) False Prophets Reproved (Eze_13:1-16)
False prophecy accompanied true prophecy in Israel like its shadow. While the true prophets spoke in God's name a message which they had really received from Him, the false prophets used God's name to sanction messages which He had not given them (Eze_12:6-7), which were merely the product of their own heart and spirit, and not the result of inspired insight (Eze_12:2-3). These messages were smooth and agreeable (Eze_12:10, Eze_12:17), but they were also vain, false, and seductive (Eze_12:6-10). They did not deserve the name of prophecy, but were on the same level as heathen divination (Eze_12:6-7, Eze_12:9). Ezekiel compares the false prophets first to foxes that burrow in ruins and make them more ruinous (Eze_12:4-5), and next to men who daub with untempered mortar (or whitewash) a slim and tottering wall; the wall symbolising the vain attempts of the people to defend Jerusalem, and the mortar or whitewash the futile encouragement which the false prophets lent to these efforts. Such prophets would be blotted out of Israel (Eze_12:9). The wall would be destroyed by the storm of God's wrath, and the daubers would perish along with it (Eze_12:11-15).
4. Deserts] RV 'waste places,' ruins.
5. Gaps] RM 'breaches.' Hedge] RV 'fence.' The false prophets did nothing to repair or strengthen Israel's defences.
6. That they would confirm the word] RV 'that the word should be confirmed.'
9. The false prophets would have no share in the restoration of Israel which Ezekiel foretold.
10. A wall] RM 'a slight wall,' the vain defences of Jerusalem. And one built, etc.] RV 'and when one' (the people) 'buildeth up a wall, behold they '(the false prophets) 'daub it,' etc. Untempered morter] or whitewash. The. false prophets could only give the wall a specious appearance of strength.
(c) False Prophetesses Denounced (Eze_13:17-23)
True prophecy was represented by women like Deborah, Huldah, and Noadiah, as well as by men, and false prophecy was also practised by women in Ezekiel's day. In their hands it was accompanied by various superstitious rites and ceremonies (Eze_12:18), and seems to have been a species of fortune-telling. As such it might be popular and seem harmless, but it was mercenary, ensnaring, and fatal to souls (Eze_12:18-19). It discouraged the righteous and encouraged the wicked (Eze_12:22). These women would find their occupation gone(Eze_12:20-21, Eze_12:23).
18. Pillows] probably 'amulets,' supposed to have magical virtues. They were worn by the false prophetesses themselves (Eze_12:20).
Armholes] RV 'elbows,' RM 'joints of the hands.' The amulets were worn in some way on the arms or wrists. Kerchiefs] or 'fillets.' These were apparently veils put over the heads of those consulting the false prophetesses, and were of different sizes to suit persons of different stature.
19. Will ye pollute] RV 'ye have profaned.' Handfuls of barley, etc.] The fees received by the false prophetesses. Die and live] see on Eze_3:18. This whole passage should be read in the light of the description of the true prophet's duty in Eze_3:16-21;
20. To make them fly] RM 'as birds.'
22. The truth of prophecy may be judged by its moral tendency. Whatever encourages sin betrays itself as false: see Jer_23:22. By promising him life] RV 'and be saved alive.'
(d) On Insincere Enquirers and those who answer them (Eze_14:1-11)
The Jewish elders of Tel-abib again came to consult Ezekiel, evidently with idolatrous leanings in their hearts. God commanded him to speak a warning to all such enquirers, calling them to forsake idolatry, and threatening that God Himself would answer them by destroying them if they persisted in their sin. The prophet who should answer such people according to their desire would share their fate.
3. The stumblingblock, etc.] idolatry: see Eze_7:19. Should I be enquired of?] Such enquiry was a mockery of God.
4. That I may take, etc.] Sin hardens the heart and so leads on to destruction. This is a self-acting law of divine retribution, and so in a sense the result is God's doing. But God does not seek to ensnare men. On the contrary, He pleads with them to forsake their evil way (Eze_12:6).
9. When he hath spoken a tiling'] RV 'and speaketh a word.' A true prophet will not answer insincere enquirers at all, but will leave it to God to answer them by destruction (Eze_12:7-8). To give any answer is to be a false prophet, deceived if not consciously deceiving. I.. have deceived that prophet] the same idea as that of the 'lying spirit' from the Lord by which Ahab's false prophets were inspired (1Ki_22:19-23; 2Ch_18:18-22). The meaning can only be that the deception is the penalty of previous disloyalty to truth. No man becomes a false prophet without blame on his own part. To lend oneself to the purposes of insincere enquirers reveals a certain share of their spirit, which leads naturally to increasing blindness. As this law is of God's appointment the deception is in a certain sense His work. The OT. writers emphasised God's supreme control of all events, and were not troubled by the questions which may be raised as to the bearing of the events on the moral character of God. Hence they were not eareful to avoid exprèssions which appear startling to us.
10. The punishment of their iniquity] RV 'their iniquity.'
Punishment.. punishment] RV 'iniquity.. iniquity.'
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 the word of Yahweh came
the word of Yahweh came
This is an idiom that is used to introduce something that God told his prophets or his people. See how you translated this in Ezekiel 3:16. AT: "Yahweh spoke this message" or "Yahweh spoke these words" (See: Idiom)
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what is this proverb that you have in the land of Israel that says, 'The days are prolonged, and every vision fails'?
Yahweh asks this rhetorical question to remind Ezekiel something he already knows. The question is a mild rebuke for the people who use the proverb. AT: "the people in the land of Israel have this proverb that says, 'The days are prolonged, and every vision fails.' (See: Rhetorical Question)
The days are prolonged
This idiom means that many days have passed. AT: "Many days have passed" or "Time has gone by" (See: Idiom)
every vision fails
This means that the visions that the prophets receive and communicate to the people fail to happen. AT: "every prophetic vision fails to happen" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
The days have drawn near
This phrase refers to the days in which Israel will be judged. AT: "The days of judgment are coming soon" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
every vision will be fulfilled
This can be stated in active form. AT: "I will fulfill every vision" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
Yahweh
Son of Man
proverb
Israel
vision
Lord Yahweh
declare
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 12:21–14:11 The messages in this section address the issue…
12:21–14:11 The messages in this section address the issue of true and false prophecy.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.