A verse by verse commentary on Ezekiel 13 dealing with the condemnation of false prophets,

1. EZEKIEL 13 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
False Prophets Condemned
1 The word of the Lord came to me:
BARNES, "The identity of phrases and ideas of this chapter with Jer. 23
leads to the conclusion that Ezekiel took up a well-known prophecy to
enforce and apply it to his companions in exile. They probably had read
Jeremiah’s words as referring to others than themselves.
GILL, "And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying. Giving orders to
prophesy against the false prophets and prophetesses, which were either in
the land of Israel, of whom the prophet had notice; or rather who were
among the captives in Babylon, where Ezekiel now was.
HENRY 1-2, "The false prophets, who are here prophesied against, were
some of them at Jerusalem (Jer_23:14): I have seen in the prophets at
Jerusalem a horrible thing; some of them among the captives in Babylon,
for to them Jeremiah writes (Jer_29:8), Let not your diviners, that be in
the midst of you, deceive you. And as God's prophets, though at a distance
from each other in place or time, yet preached the same truths, which was
an evidence that they were guided by one and the same good Spirit, so the
false prophets prophesied the same lies, being actuated by one and the same
spirit of error. There were little hopes of bringing them to repentance, they
were so hardened in their sin; yet Ezekiel must prophesy against them, in
hopes that the people might be cautioned not to hearken to them; and thus a
testimony will be left upon record against them, and they will thereby be left
inexcusable.
Ezekiel had express orders to prophesy against the prophets of Israel; so
they called themselves, as if none but they had been worthy of the name of
Israel's prophets, who were indeed Israel's deceivers. But it is observable
that Israel was never imposed upon by pretenders to prophecy till after they
had rejected and abused the true prophets; as, afterwards, they were never
deluded by counterfeit messiahs till after they had refused the true Messiah
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2. and rejected him. These false prophets must be required to hear the word of
the Lord. They took upon them to speak what concerned others as from
God; let them now hear what concerned themselves as from him. And two
things the prophet is directed to do: -
I. To discover their sin to them, and to convince them of that if possible, or
thereby to prevent their proceeding any further, by making manifest their
folly unto all men, 2Ti_3:9. They are here called foolish prophets (Eze_
13:3), men that did not at all understand the business they pretended to; to
make fools of the people they made fools of themselves, and put the greatest
cheat upon their own souls. Let us see what is here laid to their charge. 1.
They pretend to have a commission from God, whereas he never sent them.
They thrust themselves into the prophetic office, without warrant from him
who is the Lord God of the holy prophets, which was a foolish thing; for how
could they expect that God should own them in a work to which he never
called them? They are prophets out of their own hearts (so the margin
reads it, Eze_13:2), prophets of their own making, Eze_13:6. They say, The
Lord saith; they pretend to be his messengers, but the Lord has not sent
them, has not given them any orders. They counterfeit the broad seal of
heaven, than which they cannot do a greater indignity to mankind, for
hereby they put a reproach upon divine revelation, lessen its credit, and
weaken its credibility. When these pretenders are found to be deceivers
atheists and infidels will thence infer, They are all so. The Lord has not sent
them; for though crafty enough in other things like the foxes, and very wise
for the world, yet they are foolish prophets and have no experimental
acquaintance with the things of God. Note, Foolish prophets are not of God's
sending, for whom he sends he either finds fit or makes fit. Where he gives
warrant he gives wisdom. 2. They pretend to have instructions from God,
whereas he never made himself and his mind known to them: They followed
their own spirit (Eze_13:3); they delivered that as a message from God
which was the product either of their subtle invention, to serve a turn for
themselves, or of their own crazed and heated imagination, to give vent to a
fancy. For they have seen nothing, they have not really had any heavenly
vision; they pretend that what they say the Lord saith it, but God disowns it:
“I have not spoken it, I never said it, never meant any such thing.” What
they delivered was not what they had seen or heard, as that is which the
ministers of Christ deliver (1Jo_1:1), but either what they had dreamed or
what they thought would please those they coveted to make an interest in;
this is called their seeing vanity and lying divination (Eze_13:6); they
pretended to have seen that which they did not see, and produced that as a
divine truth which they knew to be false. To the same purport (Eze_13:7):
You have see a vain vision and spoken a lying divination, which had no
divine original and would have no effect, but would certainly be disproved
by the event; the words are changed (Eze_13:8): You have spoken vanity
and seen lies; what they saw and what they said was all alike, a mere sham;
they saw nothing, they said nothing, to the purpose, nothing that could be
relied on or that deserved regard. Again (Eze_13:9), They see vanity and
divine lies; they pretended to have had visions, as the true prophets had,
whereas really they had none, but either it was the creature of their own
fancy (they thought they had a vision, as men in a delirium do, that was
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3. seeing vanity) or it was a fiction of their own politics, and they knew they
had none, and then they saw lies, and divined lies. See Jer_23:16, etc. Note,
Since the devil is universally know to be the father of lies, those put the
highest affront imaginable upon God who tell lies, and then father them
upon him. But those that had put God's character upon Satan, in
worshipping devils, arrived at length at such a pitch of impiety as to put
Satan's character upon God. 3. They took no care to prevent the judgments
of God that were breaking in upon the kingdom. They are like the foxes in
the deserts, running to and fro, and seeming to be in a great hurry, but it
was to get away and shift for their own safety, not to do any good: The
hireling flees, and leaves the sheep. They are like foxes that are greedy of
prey for themselves, crafty and cruel to feed themselves. But (Eze_13:5),
“You have not gone up into the gaps, nor made up the hedge of the house of
Israel. A breach is made in their fences, at which judgments are ready to
pour in upon them, and then, if ever, is the time to do them service; but you
have done nothing to help them.” They should have made intercession for
them, to turn away the wrath of God; but they were not praying prophets,
had no interest in heaven nor intercourse with heaven (as prophets used to
have, Gen_20:7) and so could do them no service that way. They should
have made it their business by preaching and advice to bring people to
repentance and reformation, and so have made up the hedge, and put a stop
to the judgments of God; but this was none of their care: they contrived how
to pleased people, not how to profit them. They saw a deluge of profaneness
and impiety breaking in upon the land, waging war with virtue and holiness,
and threatening to crush them and bear them down, and then they should
have come in to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the
mighty, by witnessing against the wickedness of the time and place they
lived in; but they thought that would be as dangerous a piece of service as
standing in a breach to make it good against the besiegers, and therefore
they declined it, did nothing to stem the tide, stood not in the battle against
vice and immorality, but basely deserted the cause of religion and
reformation, in the day of the Lord, when it was proclaimed, Who is on the
Lord's side? Who will rise up for me against the evil-doers? Psa_94:16.
Those were unworthy the name of prophets that could think so favourably
of sin, and had so little zeal for God and the public welfare. 4. They flattered
people into a vain hope that the judgments God had threatened would never
come, whereby they hardened those in sin whom they should have
endeavoured to turn from sin (Eze_13:6): They have made others to hope
that all should be well, and they should have peace, though they went on still
in their trespasses, and that the event would confirm the word. They were
still ready to say, “We will warrant you that these troubles will be at an end
quickly, and we shall be in prosperity again.” as if their warrants would
confirm false prophecies, in defiance of God himself.
JAMISON, "Eze_13:1-23. Denunciation of false prophets and
prophetesses; Their false teachings, and God’s consequent judgments.
As the twelfth chapter denounced the false expectations of the people, so
this denounces the false leaders who fed those expectations. As an
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4. 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.
K&D 1-7, "Against the False Prophets
Their conduct. - Eze_13:1. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying,
Eze_13:2. Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who
prophesy, and say to the prophets out of their heart, Hear ye the word of
Jehovah. Eze_13:3. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Woe upon the foolish
prophets, who go after their spirit, and that which they have not seen!
Eze_13:4. Like foxes in ruins have thy prophets become, O Israel. Eze_13:5.
Ye do not stand before the breaches, nor wall up the wall around the house
of Israel to stand firm in the battle on the day of Jehovah. Eze_13:6. They
see vanity and lying soothsaying, who say, “Oracle of Jehovah;” and
Jehovah hath not sent them; so that they might hope for the fulfilment of
the word. Eze_13:7. Do ye not see vain visions, and speak lying
soothsaying, and say, Oracle of Jehovah; and I have not spoken? - The
addition ‫ים‬ ִ‫א‬ ָ‫בּ‬ִ‫נּ‬ ַ‫,ה‬ “who prophesy,” is not superfluous. Ezekiel is not to direct
his words against the prophets as a body, but against those who follow the
vocation of prophet in Israel without being called to it by God on receiving a
divine revelation, but simply prophesying out of their own heart, or
according to their own subjective imagination. In the name of the Lord he is
to threaten them with woes, as fools who follow their own spirit; in
connection with which we must bear in mind that folly, according to the
Hebrew idea, was not merely a moral failing, but actual godlessness (cf.
Psa_14:1). The phrase “going after their spirit” is interpreted and rendered
more emphatic by ‫י‬ ִ‫תּ‬ ְ‫ל‬ ִ‫ב‬ ְ‫,ל‬ which is to be taken as a relative clause, “that
which they have not seen,” i.e., whose prophesying does not rest upon
intuition inspired by God. Consequently they cannot promote the welfare of
the nation, but (Eze_13:4) are like foxes in ruins or desolate places. The
point of comparison is to be found in the undermining of the ground by
foxes, qui per cuniculos subjectam terram excavant et suffodiunt
(Bochart). For the thought it not exhausted by the circumstance that they
withdraw to their holes instead of standing in front of the breach (Hitzig);
and there is no force in the objection that, with this explanation, ‫ת‬ ‫ב‬ ָ‫ר‬ֲ‫ח‬ ָ‫בּ‬ is
passed over and becomes in fact tautological (Hävernick). The expression
4

5. “in ruins” points to the fall of the theocracy, which the false prophets
cannot prevent, but, on the contrary, accelerate by undermining the moral
foundations of the state. For (Eze_13:5) they do not stand in the breaches,
and do not build up the wall around the house of Israel (‫ֹא‬‫ל‬ belongs to both
clauses). He who desires to keep off the enemy, and prevent his entering the
fortress, will stand in the breach. For the same purpose are gaps and
breaches in the fortifications carefully built up. The sins of the people had
made gaps and breaches in the walls of Jerusalem; in other words, had
caused the moral decay of the city. But they had not stood in the way of this
decay and its causes, as the calling and duty of prophets demanded, by
reproving the sins of the people, that they might rescue the people and
kingdom from destruction by restoring its moral and religious life. ‫ד‬ֹ‫מ‬ֲ‫ע‬ַ‫ל‬
‫ה‬ ָ‫מ‬ ָ‫ח‬ ְ‫ל‬ ִ‫מּ‬ ַ‫,בּ‬ to stand, or keep ground, i.e., so that ye might have kept your
ground in the war. The subject is the false prophets, not Israel, as Hävernick
supposes. “In the day of Jehovah,” i.e., in the judgment which Jehovah has
decreed. Not to stand, does not mean merely to avert the threatening
judgment, but not to survive the judgment itself, to be overthrown by it. This
arises from the fact that their prophesying is a life; because Jehovah, whose
name they have in their mouths, has not sent them (Eze_13:6). ‫לוּ‬ֲ‫ח‬ִ‫י‬ ְ‫ו‬ is
dependent upon ‫ם‬ ָ‫ח‬ָ‫ל‬ ְ‫:שׁ‬ God has not sent them, so that they could hope for
the fulfilment of the word which they speak.The rendering adopted by
others, “and they cause to hope,” is untenable; for ‫ל‬ ַ‫ָח‬‫י‬ with ְ‫ל‬ does not mean
“to cause to hope,” or give hope, but simply to hope for anything. This was
really the case; and it is affirmed in the declaration, which is repeated in the
form of a direct appeal in Eze_13:7, to the effect that their visions were vain
and lying soothsaying. For this they are threatened with the judgment
described in the verses which follow.
CALVIN, “He speaks of the exiled prophets, as will be evident from the context: for
among the captives there were those who assumed the name of God, boasting
themselves endowed with the prophetic spirit: but meanwhile they intruded into the
office, and then vainly boasted in their deceptions. But the end which they proposed
to themselves was to promise the people a speedy return, and so to will the favor of
the multitude. For the captives were already almost broken-hearted by weariness:
and seventy years was a long period. When therefore they heard of returning after
three years, they easily suffered themselves to be deceived by such blandishments.
But although God is so vehemently enraged against those impostors, it does not
therefore follow that when he charges them with their crime, he absolves the people,
or even extenuates their fault. Nor could the people object that they were deceived
by those falsehoods, since they willingly and knowingly threw themselves into the
snare. They were not destitute of true prophets; and God had distinguished his
servants from false prophets by well-known marks, so that no one could mistake
5

6. except willfully. (Deuteronomy 13:3.) But in the midst of light they blinded
themselves, and so God suffered them to be deceived. But that was the just reward
of their pride, since they could not be subject to God and his servants. Then when
they thought enticements, as is evident from many passages, God also gave the reins
to Satan, that there should be a lying spirit in the mouth of all the prophets. Micah
reproves them because they desired prophets to be given them who should promise
large grape-gatherings and a plentiful harvest, (Micah 2:11;) meanwhile, when God
chastised them severely, they roared and were tumultuous. We see, therefore, that
while God inveighs so sharply against false prophets, the people’s fault was not
diminished; but rather each thought thus to reason with himself — if God spares
not our prophets, what better have we to hope for?
When therefore the Prophet turns his discourse to the false prophets, there is no
doubt of his intention to reprove the whole people for attending to such fallacies
while they despised the true doctrine, and not only so, but even rejected it with fury.
Say therefore to the prophets of Israel while prophesying, say to those prophesying
out of their own hearts. Here he concedes the name of prophets of Israel to those
who thrust themselves forward, and rashly boasted that they were commanded to
utter their own imaginations, or what the devil had suggested. For then indeed no
others thought to have been lawfully reckoned prophets, unless divinely chosen. But
because the wicked seized upon this title, they are often called prophets, though
God’s Spirit is a complete stranger to them: but the gift of prophecy can only flow
from that one fountain. This great struggle then happened when the prophets, or
those who assumed the title, engaged with hostility among themselves: for we are
commanded to acquiesce in God’s truth alone: but when he is offered to us instead
of truth, what can we do but fluctuate and at length engage in conflict? There is no
doubt, then, that weak minds were thus vehemently shaken when they saw contests
and dissension’s of this kind between prophets. At this day God wishes to prove the
fidelity of his people by such an experiment, and to detect the hypocrisy of the
multitude. For, as Paul says, there must be heresies, that those who are approved
may be made manifest. (1 Corinthians 11:19.) God therefore does not rashly permit
so much license to Satan’s ministers, that they should petulantly rise up against
sound doctrine: nor yet without a cause does he permit the Church to be torn
asunder by diverse opinions, and fictions to grow so strong sometimes, that truth
itself is buried under them: he wishes indeed in this way to prove the constancy of
the pious, and at the same time to detect the lightness of hypocrites who are tossed
about by every wind. Meanwhile, if the contention which we now perceive between
those who boast themselves pastors of the Church disturbs us, let this example come
6

7. to mind, and thus novelty will not endanger our faithfulness. What we suffer the
ancients have experienced, namely, the disturbance of the Church by intestine
disputes, and a similar tearing asunder of the bond of unity.
Next, God briefly defines who the false prophets are; namely, those who prophesy
out of their own hearts: he will afterwards add, they have seen nothing, they only
boast in the name of God, and yet they are not sent by him. The same thing is
expressed in various ways, but I shall treat other forms of speech in their own
places. Here, as I have said, we may readily decide at once who are the true and who
the false prophets: the Spirit of God pronounces every one who prophesies from his
own heart to be an impostor. Hence nothing else remains but for the prophets
faithfully to utter whatever the Spirit has dictated to them. Whoever, therefore, has
no sure testimony to his vision, and cannot truly testify that he speaks from God’s
mouth and by the revelation of his Spirit, although he may boast in the title of
prophet, yet he is only an impostor. For God here rejects all who speak from their
own heart. And hence we also gather the extreme vanity of the human mind: for
God puts a perpetual distinction between the human mind and the revelation of his
Spirit. If this be so, it follows that what men utter of themselves is a perverse fiction,
because the Spirit of God claims to himself alone, as we have said, the office of
showing what is true and right. It follows —
COFFMAN, "Verse 1
AGAINST LYING PROPHETS AND FALSE PROPHETESSES
Keil divided this chapter into only two divisions, namely, (1) prophecies against false
prophets (Ezekiel 13:1-16), and (2) prophecies against the false prophetesses
(Ezekiel 13:17-23). Bruce further divided the first division as 1st and 2nd
denunciations of the false prophets in Ezekiel 13:1-9 and Ezekiel 13:10-16,
respectively.
THE FIRST DENUNCIATION AGAINST FALSE PROPHETS
7

8. Ezekiel 13:1-9
"And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the
prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their
own heart, Hear ye the word of Jehovah: Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Woe unto
the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! O Israel,
thy prophets have been like foxes in the waste places. Ye have not gone up into the
gaps, ye have neither built up the wall for the house of Israel, to stand in the battle
in the day of Jehovah. They have seen falsehood and lying divination, that saith,
Jehovah saith; but Jehovah hath not sent them: and they have made men to hope
that the word would he confirmed. Have ye not seen a false vision, and have ye not
spoken a lying divination, in that ye say, Jehovah saith; albeit I have not spoken?
Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because ye have spoken falsehood, and seen
lies, therefore behold, I am against you, saith the Lord Jehovah. And my hand shall
be against the prophets that see false visions: they shall not be in the council of my
people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither
shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord
Jehovah."
"Against the prophets ..." (Ezekiel 13:2). "Ezekiel had already prophesied against
Jerusalem, against the cities of Judah, against the priests and against the king; and
now he directs the prophecies against the false prophets."[1] Howie noted that there
were at least three reasons for these denunciations: (1) they were prophesying out of
their own subjective desires and imaginations and were not following God's Spirit at
all; (2) they were doing nothing whatever to help Israel, neither building up the
wall, nor helping to repair the breaches (gaps) in it; and (3) they were deliberate
liars who prophesied lies and then expected God to confirm their lying words.[2]
"The foolish prophets that follow their own spirit ..." (Ezekiel 13:3). The Biblical
conception of the "fool" is the man who says in his heart that, "there is no God."
Much more than a lack of intelligence is indicated: (1) The fool is ignorant; (2) he is
stupid, and (3) he is wicked (John 3:19).
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9. "Like foxes in the waste places ..." (Ezekiel 13:4). Plumptre gave the meaning of this
comparison as follows.
"The fox is cunning (Luke 13:32); it spoils the vine and its fruits (Song of Song of
Solomon 2:15); and it burrows among ruins (Nehemiah 4:3). So, (1) the false
prophets were crafty; (2) they laid waste the vineyard of the Lord; (3) they profited
from the ruin of Israel and made that ruin worse."[3]
"Neither built up the wall for the house of Israel ..." (Ezekiel 13:5). The wall here, is
not the literal wall of Jerusalem, but the wall of integrity, truth, honor, and love of
the true God, which alone could afford any protection to the house of Israel in the
disaster coming upon them. The false prophets were no help at all in this sector.
"Have ye not spoken a lying divination ..." (Ezekiel 13:6)? "Divination is a reference
to the superstitious method of procuring information or receiving an oracle by
reading omens, drawing lots, or by some other such device."[4] It would appear
from Ezekiel's use of the interrogative here that the false prophets did not even deny
his charge of falsehoods on their part.
"They have made men hope that the word would be confirmed ..." (Ezekiel 13:6).
"The word" here is the word of the false prophets. The Good News Bible renders
this place, "Yet they expect their words to come true." Plumptre noted this possible
meaning of the text, adding that, "In their deceiving of others, they came to deceive
themselves, and were really expecting a fulfillment."[5]
Bunn summarized the six charges against these false prophets as follows: "(1) their
alleged prophecies were produced by their own minds; (2) they followed their own
spirit, not God's; (3) they have seen nothing (Ezekiel 13:3); (4) they do nothing to
help the people (Ezekiel 13:5); (5) they are deliberate liars (Ezekiel 13:6); and (6)
they have misled God's people (Ezekiel 13:10)."[6]
The sins of the false prophets having been boldly proclaimed, the prophet
9

10. announced their punishment in Ezekiel 13:9.
"My hand shall be against the prophets that see false visions ..." (Ezekiel 13:9) The
following punishments are spelled out in this verse. (1) They shall not be in the
council of my people. (2) Neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of
Israel. This was thought by Plumptre to be a reference to the Book of Life.[7] (3)
Neither shall they enter into the land of Israel. This refers to the return of the
"righteous remnant" following the end of the captivity. The false prophets shall
have no part in the restored Israel.
ELLICOTT, "A prophecy very similar to this was uttered by Jeremiah (Jeremiah
23), only a few years before, against the false prophets in and around Jerusalem. It
is not unlikely that Ezekiel may have read it; as Jeremiah (Jeremiah 29:1) certainly
sent some of his prophecies to those in the captivity, and it is altogether probable
that he knew its substance. He, however, addresses himself here to the false prophets
among the captives (see Ezekiel 13:9), and in the latter part of the chapter (Ezekiel
13:17-23) especially to the prophetesses. In both parts their conduct is first
described (Ezekiel 13:3-7; Ezekiel 13:17-19), and then their doom (Ezekiel 13:8-16;
Ezekiel 13:20-23). Such false prophets have always been a chief hindrance to the
truth (just as false teaching within the Church now is far more dangerous than any
attack from without), and they especially abounded in times of difficulty and
danger.
PARKER, " False Prophesying
Ezekiel 13
The whole chapter is a denunciation of lying; the worst kind of lying, because it is
religious lying. Things are all either better or worse for being in the Church and
connected with the Church: the way of the Lord is equal in this as in every other
respect. What is done faithfully and lovingly in the Church accumulates virtue,
excellence, value in the divine esteem; and what is done unfaithfully, selfishly in the
Church aggravates its own sinfulness and makes surer of its own hell. The Bible will
10

11. not have any lying. From beginning to end it is a protest against falsehood. False
balances, false measures, false tongues, false prophets go down in one common
unmitigated condemnation. Yet all life is a lie. To be is to be false. Not in the vulgar
or ordinary sense of the term. Who can pray without being false, if he pray more
than one sentence, and if that sentence be other than "God be merciful to me a
sinner"? There is a positive falseness, and there is a negative falseness, that is to say,
a falseness created by the simple absence of sincerity—that burning influence which
purifies the spirit over which it passes. To pray, and not to mean it, what greater
falsehood can there be? Thou hast lied, not unto men, but unto God.
In this chapter we have not only false prophets but false prophetesses; both the men
and the women have sunk in a common love of lying. We have been reminded that
we have in the Bible several excellent prophetesses, as Miriam, Deborah, Noadiah;
and in the New Testament we meet with one sweet prophetess whose name was
Anna and whose home was in sacred places. This, however, is but a superficial
annotation upon the facts. We do not find false prophetesses here for the first time
in the real sense, though in some literal or historical sense we may come upon these
profaners of holy mysteries at this particular juncture. Who dares go right back to
the very beginnings of things? The first woman was the first liar, as was the first
man. Do not let us suppose that lying came into the world late in the world"s
history; do not let us suppose that lying was ever a novelty that startled
contemporary piety. Jesus Christ found a murderer from the beginning, and called
him the devil; he found a liar from the beginning, and called him the devil; he never
saved a life; he never told the truth. Unless we really seize these verities we shall be
living a kind of accidental life, calling this man true, and that man false; this man
honourable, and that man dishonourable; this man respectable, and that man
disreputable. Nothing of the kind. These distinctions are vanity, except for
immediate purposes, and except for social conveniences. The whole head is sick, the
whole heart is faint; from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot we are
wounds and bruises and putrifying sores; and if we do not believe it, that is one
bruise and one sore the more.
What is the specific charge made against false prophets? That they speak out of
their own hearts, and that they follow their own spirit. How prone are all men to do
this! We have come now to give quite an honoured name to a certain power which
we suppose ourselves to possess; we call it the verifying faculty, and it pleases us to
smell this fragrant flower, it suits the nostril of our vanity. Whether we have a
11

12. verifying faculty or not, we certainly have a falsifying one. We turn everything into
poison rapidly; the very events that are sent down from heaven to teach us as
spectacles and pictures are misread, or are perverted as to their moral force and
meaning. Every man now prophesies out of himself. Let us beware how we degrade
a right into a perversion of liberty and a mischievous use of independence. There is
a right of private judgment, there is an individuality of conscience: but no judgment
is complete that does not measure itself with other judgments, and no conscience is
complete that is not in touch with other consciences; for the last conscience is the
result and expression of spiritual chemistry, combination, intermixture, divinely
conducted. We have said that no man is complete in himself; he does not know all
that is in himself until he touches some other Prayer of Manasseh , and they two are
not aware how divine they might be until they are caught in the influence of
common prayer. It is not to be denied that prophesying out of one"s own heart is a
very delightful exercise. It saves a good deal of trouble; it sets up an image of
infallibility at home. When a man can do this he need not open his front door and
trouble to go out to seek any other judge in Israel or counsellor in the Church. But
the wiser piety says, Man is a brother; prophecy of the highest sort is a common
quantity, the result of marvellous combinations, and we must therefore hasten to
meet one another, and to speak out what is in our hearts, broadly and lovingly, with
all frankness, and there shall come back to us the truth shaped and ready for use.
Herein we have found our proof that a man cannot pray sufficiently when he prays
in solitude. Private prayer can never be neglected to the soul"s advantage; but we
get in public prayer what we never get in solitary communion, and we get in solitary
communion singular and blessed advantage and sustenance. We must not prophesy
out of our own hearts, pray out of cur own hearts, alone. There may come a time
when personal testimony must be delivered with burning emphasis, and when a man
is compelled to enclose himself within a solitary altar; all these concessions do not
interfere with the central and dominant truth that no prophecy is of private
interpretation, and that all secret prayer needs to be brought out into the open air of
the Church that there it may bloom in its completest beauty.
False prophets excite false hopes: what other could they do? "They have made
others to hope that they would confirm the word." A liar is very careful to maintain
some foothold upon the confidence of society. He who is all false himself can only
live upon the trustfulness of others. Song of Solomon , then, the false prophet is the
creator of false hopes; and if there be counterfeit coin-makers in our
neighbourhood, it would not be an unwise thing to put out our coin upon the table
and look at it very carefully; and as there are false prophets who have excited false
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13. hopes, it would not be unwise to take our hopes one by one and conduct upon each
of them an unsparing analysis, saying, What is it? what is its reason? what is its
purpose? what is its value? what is its origin? how is it supported by evidence? how
is it ennobled by sacrifice? Any hope that will not accept the test of sacrifice is a
false hope. And therein I do not forget that many men have had false conceptions of
religion, and have submitted to false sacrifices; and I do not send one of them to
hell: I hope to meet them all in heaven. They are not false—they are uninformed,
uninstructed, undeveloped; according to the light they have, they are amongst the
sincerest men in the world; and God never damned sincerity. Of course, if a man
shall say, I am walking according to the light I have, and I shall take care not to
have any more light,—then he destroys his own sincerity; he is not sincere, he is
selfish; he is not real, he is rotten: sincerity is only of value in so far as it says, This is
the only light I have, but as soon as I can get more light I will have more light.
Blessings on the little taper that will stop with us all night; the dear little light says, I
would do better for you if I could, but I will stay with you until the break of day,
and when the day comes you will not want me; I hope you will not thanklessly forget
me; I stayed with you when the sun was not there; the sun would not stay with you
all night, otherwise it would not be night; I did my little best: farewell. But what
shall we say of the man who says, I will not open my windows, or admit any fuller
light—I will have another taper? We should say of him that he makes life night, and
that he who walks in the night when he might walk in the midday is a man of
perverted mind, corrupt imagination, and most deceitful and self-destructive in
thought and heart.
False prophets had, however, some little ground to work upon: they mistook the
imaginary for the real:—"Have ye not seen a vain vision?" That is the difficulty. If
there was absolutely nothing we should have a clear course: but we have lying
definitions, we have occasional dreams, and peculiar impressions; and people who
resent the idea of accepting a theology made by the Church adopt an astrology or a
theology of their own, founded upon cobwebs, built upon mist, and pointing to
nothing. Let us pray God to cleanse our vision, lest, seeing men as trees walking, or
trees as men walking, we confound the reality of things; and above all let us say to
one another, Brother, help me, and I will help some weaker man. Let us have our
strength common. If we cannot have our gold and silver, let us have our ideas, our
sympathy, our spiritual strength common. If you will help me weaker than you, I
will help some other man weaker than I am; and thus massed together, serried,
settled into phalanx, who knows but that accumulated weakness may be the
beginning of strength? This is the idea of the Church. It is not the idea of one Prayer
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14. of Manasseh , but of all men; it is not the thought of a single individual, weak and
easily overcome, but the thought of a united, because a redeemed and sanctified,
humanity.
What course does the Lord pursue against such falsify? "Therefore thus saith the
Lord God; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am
against you, saith the Lord God." We know, then, exactly what strength we have to
encounter. It is only omnipotence. When the Lord says he is "against" a man it is in
vain for that man to continue the fight one day longer. That man is so constituted
that he thinks in the end he will succeed. No lie ever succeeded, except in bringing
the liar to exposure and judgment and heavy penalty. If a lie could finally succeed
the universe is not worth living in. All creation depends upon this one statement,
namely, that it is impossible for a lie ever to escape the criticism of God. We have
sometimes wondered how it is we do not succeed. There need not be any wonder
about it; for our failure arises from one of two causes: either, first, that God is
against us, in the sense of judging us to be false; or God is trying us to develop our
strength. Let us adopt the second conclusion where we can, for it will cheer us and
help us on many a weary day. Present to your mind the spectacle of God watching
you, trying you, causing the prize to drop out of your hand just when you were
going to seize it, sending a sudden mist over your eyes when you thought you saw
your friend at the gate. God may do so to us in love. We have to be variously treated.
That is admitted in the family circle, and that is admitted in the wider circle of the
state; the physician admits it, the pastor knows it, we are all aware of it. Who was it
that could not get the sheep to follow him until he took a lamb into his arms and
plunged with it into the river, and then all the flock followed the wise yet apparently
cruel shepherd? The lost child may be the salvation of some; a broken fortune may
take the last element of vanity out of others; the torn banner that was eternally to
float in the blue sunshine may lead some men to pray. It is wondrous how we are
thus taught. For the first few miles of life, how jocund we are, how cheery, how
independent, how blithe! Life is a holiday, the road is a carpet of flowers, the air has
been made to sing for us, God is so pleased to have such creatures round about him
as we are: but when the mountain-top is gained, and we look around as conquerors
might look, then we begin to feel not so energetic as we used to be; things do not fall
so easily to our hand; we turn over two pages at a time and cannot open them, and
when we do we forget what was written on the page before; and a little child helps
us, whom a giant would not once have ventured to offer to assist; and we take
another view of life, and we begin to wonder what is beyond. That is the hold which
God has upon us. He will not have life all on one line. Sometimes he will send a voice
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15. in the darkness to frighten us; sometimes he will send a sudden note of music to
gladden us; sometimes he will make our opportunity less than we thought it was;
and sometimes he will so trouble our accounts that we cannot add them up. Our
helplessness may be the beginning of our strength. Sanctified dejection may be the
beginning of sanctified and immortal hope. Take this view of life, and be glad.
What further course will the Lord take against these false prophets? He will destroy
them. They build a wall, he sends hail down upon it, and brings the wall all to
pieces. We need not go to the Prophet Ezekiel to know if this is true. We have built
walls ourselves which have fallen down. We have propped them, buttressed them,
and said it is only a momentary accident, we shall soon put it right again. But God
said, I am against you and against your wall: ye fools! Put it up a little further and
in the morning you will find it flat upon the ground. What walls we have built!
What strength we were going to have! We had already drawn out a hundred
programmes, every one of which ended in pounds, shillings, and pence; and a
hundred more, ending in honour, fame, influence; and another hundred, ending in
herds and flocks, and abundance of family connections, and great peace, and long
days: and whilst we were filling our mouth with the wind the Lord touched us, and
we fell down as dead men. If the Lord then is so set against falsehood, what will he
do for us? He will speak the truth, he will send angels of truth, messengers of mercy
and love. The very fact that there is falsehood means that there is truth. If there
were no truth, there would be no falsehood; if there were no genuine coin, there
would be no counterfeit; if there were no sincerity, there would be no hypocrisy.
This is our answer to those who charge upon us right heavily the accusation of
insincerity; and this is our reply to those who expect great things from us: we say,
Your expectation is a tribute to the excellence of the religion we profess: you do not
expect light from the fields you till, you expect light from the boundless sun. To
expect light is to pay a tribute; to expect a noble character is to compliment the
Cross. When we desire to know the truth, let us first desire to be true ourselves.
There is something greater than truth, and that is truthfulness. The greatest of all
blessings is a truth-loving spirit. A man may have a hundred false conclusions in his
intellect, his imagination may have gone wildly astray, and yet if he have a truth-
loving spirit, and if he shall say to himself in perplexity and bewilderment, "I will
have the truth—yes, I will have it," his ignorance shall not keep him out of heaven,
his infirm imagination shall not disappoint him of his crown. Beware lest we have
all our truth on paper, in propositions, innumerable and well-detailed dogmas: we
must first have it in our souls, hearts, lives; we must be prepared to live for it and to
die for it, and then it will grow, accumulate, multiply; and we shall begin to see, with
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16. the ever excellent because ever modest philosopher, Sir Isaac Newton, that we have
only gathered a few shells on the shore, while the great ocean of truth lies all
undiscovered before us. Such modesty well becomes men who were born yesterday
and may be forgotten tomorrow.
PETT, " Chapter 13. Yahweh’s Denunciation of Prophets Who Prophesy Their
Own Ideas.
Ezekiel has depicted the failure of the leaders of the people, the princes, the priests
and the elders. Now he turns his attention on ‘the prophets’, probably the cult
prophets. They too have failed Israel. These men had been appointed by, and
attached to, the temple, or to other recognised sanctuaries, who paid their wages
(compare Zechariah 11:12), and they were supposed to have some gift of divine
inspiration. Many had gone into exile with the others. But Ezekiel is to point out
that they really speak their own ideas, and not Yahweh’s, for they say only what
men want to hear. They are not opening themselves to the inspiration of Yahweh in
accordance with His teachings and with His word. The denunciation is then also
applied to the prophetesses who use doubtful means to establish their ideas (Ezekiel
13:17-23).
This was the constant complaint of earlier true prophets (1 Kings 22:22; Isaiah
28:7-13, where strong drink was to blame; Micah 3:5-7), and especially of Jeremiah
who spoke in a similar way to Ezekiel (Jeremiah 2:8; Jeremiah 5:31; Jeremiah
6:13-15; Jeremiah 8:10-12; Jeremiah 14:14-16; Jeremiah 18:18; Jeremiah 23:9-32;
Jeremiah 26:8-11; Jeremiah 27:9-18; Jeremiah 28:1-17). Note the reference to false
prophets in Babylonia (Jeremiah 29:21-32). They were there as well. The troubles
that had come on Judah in its final days caused men to lean heavily on the cult
prophets, but Ezekiel tells us that all that they heard was lies and self delusion.
Verses 1-3
The False Prophets (Ezekiel 13:1-16).
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17. ‘And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, “Son of man, prophesy against the
prophets of Israel, and say to those who prophesy out of their own hearts, ‘You,
hear the word of Yahweh, thus says the Lord Yahweh, Woe to the foolish prophets
who follow their own spirit and have not seen.’ ” ’
Note Ezekiel’s continuing emphasis on the word of Yahweh coming to him. We can
tend to forget that he was under the constraint of silence all this time and could only
speak when he had a word from Yahweh. But when Yahweh came to him he had to
speak. This was the difference between him and the false prophets he was speaking
about. He was constrained to speak because of Yahweh’s Spirit working within him.
In the words of Amos 3:8, ‘the Lord Yahweh has spoken who can but prophesy?’
This time the words were spoken against the popular prophets. They were popular
because they said what men wanted to hear. They claimed to be prophets of
Yahweh. But their words were not from God. They came from within them. They
were their own ideas. They did not have the Spirit of God inspiring their words, but
followed their own spirit. They did not ‘see’, for they were not true seers. They had
no true spiritual insight coming from above. All they had came from within
themselves. They promulgated their own ideas. They were blind leaders of the blind.
And Ezekiel was to ‘prophesy against them’, that is to denounce them and their
words.
‘The prophets of Israel.’ This included all the prophets both in Jerusalem and in the
scattered communities in exile. They really had no message to give because they did
not hear the voice of God.
‘Foolish.’ The word is a strong one (nabal). The foolish man brings disaster on
himself because of his folly, as did Nabal (1 Samuel 25). Although professing Him, in
his heart he ignores the reality of God (Psalms 14:1) and behaves and speaks in a
way that is contrary to Him.
There are many today who are ‘foolish prophets’. They seem wise and are popular,
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18. saying what people want to hear, but they do not hear the word of God or teach in
accordance with it. Rather they pick among the ruins of what is left of man’s
wisdom.
PULPIT, "Verse 22-23
“Because with lies you have grieved the heart of the righteous whom I have not
made sad, and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from
his wicked way and be saved alive. Therefore you will no more see vanity, nor divine
divinations, and I will deliver my people out of your hand. And you will know that I
am Yahweh.”
The prophetesses had done the very opposite of the purpose intended for them.
Instead of making the righteous glad and the wicked aware of their sins, they had by
their lies grieved the hearts of those Whom Yahweh wished to make happy, and had
strengthened the wicked in their sins, removing from them the fear of temporal
judgment. Thus the wicked continued happily on in their wicked ways, instead of
repenting and finding life, and the righteous grieved when they should not have
needed to.
This was why Yahweh would bring His judgment of death on the prophetesses, so
that they could no longer see what was vain and empty and divine what was false, to
the hurt in the end of both righteous and wicked. So were they, and we, discovering
why God’s judgment on Jerusalem was going to fulfil His purposes and was in line
with His justice and holiness. Then all would know that He really is Yahweh, the
holy and living God Who acts.
There is little difference between these prophetesses and those who in our day go to
the occult to receive advice, discover the future and contact the dead, and indeed
even in some cases to bring harm on others. These practises are equally condemned.
So God was building up a picture as to why Jerusalem had to be destroyed. He had
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19. outlined the detail of the different forms of idol worship going on in Jerusalem
(Ezekiel 8:5-18) and its surrounds (Ezekiel 6:1-7), which involved both priesthood
(Ezekiel 8:16) and laity, with its resulting descent into all kinds of wickedness, He
had described the evil ways of the civil leaders, with the resulting violence (Ezekiel
11:1-13), and now He had demonstrated the evil of the false prophets, and the
wicked practises of the prophetesses. The whole city was a mass of wickedness, ripe
for judgment.
BI 1-3, "Them that prophesy out of their own hearts.
The false prophet
To be a false prophet seems to us, indeed, an enormity. To have the great
gift and trust of prophecy, and then to misuse it; to be admitted, if we may
so speak, of God’s council, and then to sink that heavenly teaching in earthly
and sensual thoughts,—this seems so high a measure of guilt, that we
wonder not at the “woe” pronounced against it. Nay, as we read, we set our
“amen” to it, little thinking that in so doing we may be, in truth, sealing our
own condemnation. We see not that this very sin is that which doth most
constantly beset us also; that many a ministry which seems to man’s eye
without reproach is indeed stained with the self-same guilt as that
wherewith these prophets were defiled; that, in spite of its fair outline, the
“woe” of the Almighty is gone forth against it. If we examine the testimonies
against these false prophets which abound throughout the Books of
Jeremiah and Ezekiel, we shall find that God does not charge them with
altering His message wilfully and of set purpose to deceive. The charges are
rather, that they are themselves deceived (Jer_5:13; Jer_10:9; Jer_14:14;
Jer_23:16; Lam_2:14; Eze_13:3; Eze_13:7; Eze_13:9). It was not,
apparently, that the false prophet knowingly altered the message he had
received, but that for some cause or other there was this peril incident to his
office, that he might be deceived and become a deceiver in some sense
unconsciously; and then, if we look closer, we shall see that various causes
are given for the fearful fall of the false prophet, and that they are all of one
complexion—that they are what we call moral causes. Uncleanness of life,
covetousness, softness of spirit, luxury, fondness for the pleasures of this
life, these and many such like moral faults are expressly mentioned as the
causes of this spirit of error and lies which filled these men and brought on
them God’s fearful “woe.” The prophets prophesied lies, because they
“followed their own spirit, and had seen nothing.” And now, if from the case
of false prophets we turn to that of those who were faithful, we shall be
brought to the same conclusion: we shall see, that is, that the distinction
between them and the prophets of lies consisted not in their exclusive
possession of those supernatural illapses of knowledge, to which we are apt
to look, as making all the difference between one and another, but in the use
which, from their spiritual and moral condition, they were able to make of
these gifts. Look at the prophet who never “prophesied good” of the wicked
king, but always “evil”; and see whether it was not in that noble gift of
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20. venturing all for the truth of God, wherein in very deed he differed from the
earthly-minded sycophants, who made horns of iron, and prophesied, that
as with them the Syrians should be pushed unto entire destruction. Or take,
as a sufficient proof, the case of the prophet Jeremiah. To him was opened,
by a special revelation, the speedy coming of God’s judgments upon Judah,
which nothing but the absolute submission of Jerusalem to the King of
Babylon could turn aside. So far he learned by revelation; but having
learned thus much, mark his after history; see the constantly recurring
moral temptation to tamper with this truth, to which he was subjected: the
violence of the princes—the rage of the people—the feebleness of the king—
their private interviews—the bribes offered to buy off his faithfulness—the
miry dungeon of Malchiah; each of these was a temptation to lower down
his message; to utter it less boldly, less frequently; less simply—to suppress
it, to alter it. But against them all he stood firm, and why? Because a deep
and abiding sense of God’s greatness and truth and awfulness lay beneath
all other things, as the very foundation of his mind; and this kept him ever
firm and constant. In an utterly unfaithful age and nation, remaining
faithful when well-nigh everyone around him failed, he preserved
untainted, amidst the crowd of lying seers, the truth of God’s anointed
prophet. So that here we are brought to the same point: the blindness of the
false prophet was the fruit of failing in his moral probation; the ghostly
insight of the true prophet was kept quick and piercing, by his faithful
cleaving to God amidst the ordinary temptations of life. And if this be so,
surely this is exactly our condition, as far as concerns the ministry of the
Word; and these woes against deceived prophets stand written on high, in
their characters of fire, to warn us upon our ordinary way. For we also have
our message: that which was given to the old prophets by special revelation
we have plainly written for us in the page of Holy Scripture. Nor can we
doubt that, if this message be delivered faithfully and wisely, it will produce
an evident result in awakening sinners and building up the saints. We may
see, moreover, that in our case the cause of failure is, in fact, the same as in
the prophets of old. First, our own perceptions become obscured. For it is
only by the teaching of the Holy Spirit that we can really enter into the deep
mysteries of redemption. Impurity cannot lay hold upon purity. There are
many doors of holy teaching, which open only to the key of love; and there is
in love a marvellous power of understanding, a wonderful forecasting of the
future; for love is a great reader of secrets. Even in earthly things, which are
but a shadow of the true, we may see this. What an interpreter of hidden
meanings is a loving spirit! how quick and piercing is it in reaching to the
inner wishes, feeling, and intentions of another! And so doubtless it is
where the love of God dwells in an earthly heart. The man is free, as it were,
of the counsels of God. He reaches on to great things at unawares. In doing
common duties, as they seem to him, he is sowing good seed for a distant
day; he is reaching out far beyond the present, anticipating God’s future
doings. Nor, secondly, can our own views of God’s truth become thus
obscured without their impairing in an equal degree our power of conveying
the message to others. First, this state of heart must destroy the reality of
our teaching. We shall prophesy a lie; for we shall prophesy of truth itself as
if it were a lie. There is nothing that our people feel more readily than this
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21. unreal declaration of God’s message. There is no close work with the heart
or the life; but all is exhausted in mere form, or else in general appeals to
the feelings, or in yet more fruitless addresses to the understanding, as the
case may be. What., then, is this but to prophesy a lie? And this is not all.
There can be little of a true loving earnestness in such ministry. There may
be an apparent zeal as to forms, or as to preaching, and its other more
external parts; but there can be little true sympathy with the wants and
sufferings of man’s heart, because there is little knowledge of them. There
can be little of that deep earnest casting forth of the inmost spirit to meet
another’s wants, which oftentimes makes silent sympathy in one man far
more expressive than a multitude of words in another; and which, as by
some heavenly influence, soothes and opens and wins the sufferer’s heart. I
may not detain you to trace out all the characters of that earnest seeking
after God’s truth to which we are bound; its faintest sketch may supply us
with much ground for profitable thought. First, then, if we would attain to
it, we must live in the habitual and devotional study of God’s Word. The
great importance of this habit is not so much that we may understand
obscure passages, still less that we may be discoverers of new truths, as that
our whole tone of thinking and feeling may be attuned to things Divine. But
then, to this we must add an humble use of every means that God has given
us for understanding His Word rightly. By the ordinances of the Church; the
testimony of succeeding generations; the judgment of humble and holy
men; the witness borne to various truths by all the saints, living and
departed, reformers, fathers, and antiquity; by each of these in their place,
we humbly hope that God may teach us better how to understand His Word.
Secondly, we must watch earnestly for the leading of the Spirit of the Lord.
We must believe that this gift is in the Church, and seek to use it lawfully;
we must remember how the Spirit of God does teach us, not by conveying to
our minds direct propositions, but by clearing off those moral clouds which
would dim all our perceptions of truth; by teaching our hearts, by giving us
reality, earnestness, love, and a bold humility,—those mighty masters of the
secret things of God. We shall therefore cooperate with Him by watching
diligently our own hearts; by guarding them against the beginnings of
worldliness; by seeking after a deeper humility of spirit; knowing that pride
above all things breaks and distorts the images of heavenly truth which are
cast forth upon our minds; that pride in the heart of the learner makes all
teaching vain; that humility can learn great lessons from any teacher. And
lastly, as the bond which is to hold together all these various elements, we
must, if we would be faithful prophets, seek after eminent holiness of life.
This will give us an insight into God’s truth in its reality; this will open to us
our own hearts, and so the hearts of our brethren; this will set us in the way
of those blessed breathings of the Holy Spirit which fall ever upon the still
waters of holiness, and waft on most noiselessly those who always haunt
them into the secrets of the Lord. This will enable us to live ever with Him
even in this world of shadows. (Bishop S. Wilberforce.)
False prophesying
1. What is the specific charge made against false prophets? That they
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22. speak out of their own hearts, and that they follow their own spirit. How
prone are all men to do this!
2. Every man now prophesies out of himself. Let us beware how we
degrade a right into a perversion of liberty and a mischievous use of
independence. There is a right of private judgment, there is an
individuality of conscience: but no judgment is complete that does not
measure itself with other judgments, and no conscience is complete that
is not in touch with other consciences; for the last conscience is the
result and expression of spiritual chemistry, combination, intermixture,
divinely conducted. There may come a time when personal testimony
must be delivered with burning emphasis, and when a man is compelled
to enclose himself within a solitary altar; all these concessions do not
interfere with the central and dominant truth that no prophecy is of
private interpretation, and that all secret prayer needs to be brought out
into the open air of the Church, that there it may bloom in its completest
beauty.
3. False prophets excite false hopes: what other could they do? “They
have made others to hope that they would confirm the Word.” A liar is
very careful to maintain some foothold upon the confidence of society.
He who is all false himself can only live upon the trustfulness of others.
So, then, the false prophet is the creator of false hopes; and if there be
counterfeit coin makers in our neighbourhood, it would not be an
unwise thing to put out our coin upon the table and look at it very
carefully; and as there are false prophets who have excited false hopes, it
would not be unwise to take our hopes one by one, and conduct upon
each of them an unsparing analysis, saying, What is it? what is its
reason? what is its purpose? what is its value? what is its origin? how is it
supported by evidence? how is it ennobled by sacrifice? Any hope that
will not accept the test of sacrifice is a false hope.
4. False prophets had, however, some little ground to work upon: they
mistook the imaginary for the real: “Have ye not seen a vain vision?”
That is the difficulty. If there was absolutely nothing, we should have a
clear course; but we have lying definitions, we have occasional dreams,
and peculiar impressions; and people who resent the idea of accepting a
theology made by the Church adopt an astrology or a theology of their
own, founded upon cobwebs, built upon mist, and pointing to nothing.
Let us pray God to cleanse our vision, lest, seeing men as trees walking,
or trees as men walking, we confound the reality of things; and above all,
let us say to one another, Brother, help me, and I will help some weaker
man, Let us have our strength common.
5. What course does the Lord pursue against such falsity? “I am against
you, saith the Lord God.” We know, then, exactly what strength we have
to encounter. It is only omnipotence. We have sometimes wondered how
it is we do not succeed. There need not be any wonder about it; for our
failure arises from one of two causes: either, first, that God is against us,
in the sense of judging us to be false; or God is trying us to develop our
strength. Let us adopt the second conclusion where we can, for it will
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23. cheer us and help us on many a weary day.
6. What further course will the Lord take against these false prophets?
He will destroy them. They build a wall; He sends hail down upon it, and
brings the wall all to pieces. We need not go to the Prophet Ezekiel to
know if this is true. What walls we have built! What strength we were
going to have! We had already drawn out a hundred programmes, every
one of which ended in pounds, shillings, and pence; and a hundred
more, ending in honour, fame, influence; and another hundred, ending
in herds and flocks, and abundance of family connections and great
peace, and long days: and whilst we were filling our mouth with the wind
the Lord touched us, and we fell down as dead men. If the Lord, then, is
so set against falsehood, what will He do for us? He will speak the truth,
He will send angels of truth, messengers of mercy and love. Beware lest
we have all our truth on paper, in propositions, innumerable and well
detailed dogmas: we must first have it in our souls, hearts, lives; we must
be prepared to live for it and to die for it, and then it will grow,
accumulate, multiply; and we shall begin to see, with the ever excellent
because ever modest philosopher, Sir Isaac Newton, that we have only
gathered a few shells on the shore, while the great ocean of truth lies all
undiscovered before us. Such modesty well becomes men who were born
yesterday and may be forgotten tomorrow. (J. Parker, D. D.)
2 “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of
Israel who are now prophesying. Say to those who
prophesy out of their own imagination: ‘Hear the
word of the Lord!
CLARKE, "That prophesy out of their own hearts - Who are neither inspired
nor sent by Me. They are prophets out of their own hearts. They have their mission from
their own assumption, and proceed in it from their own presumption. Such either go of
themselves, or are sent by man. Such prophets, ministers, preachers, and clergy have
been a curse to the Church and to the world for some thousands of years.
GILL, "Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel,.... Who called
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24. themselves so, and were accounted such by others; though they were not true, but false
prophets; and so the Targum calls them:
that prophesy; that is, smooth things to the people; promising a speedy return from
the captivity; or that Jerusalem should not be taken by the Chaldeans, and the
inhabitants of it, and of the land, be carried captive:
and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts; who were not
sent of God, nor spake from him; but of themselves, what came into their heads, and was
agreeable to their fancies, imaginations, and carnal hearts; such are false teachers, that
go forth without being sent, and teach not according to the word of God, but according
to their own carnal reasonings; so the Targum,
"according to the will of their hearts;''
what they pleased themselves:
hear ye the word of the Lord; which came from the Lord himself, and not from man,
meaning the following prophecy; so the written word of God should be attended to, both
by teachers and hearers, as the only rule of faith and practice; see Isa_8:20.
JAMISON, "that prophesy — namely, a speedy return to Jerusalem.
out of ... own hearts — alluding to the words of Jeremiah (Jer_23:16, Jer_23:26);
that is, what they prophesied was what they and the people wished; the wish was father
to the thought. The people wished to be deceived, and so were deceived. They were
inexcusable, for they had among them true prophets (who spoke not their own thoughts,
but as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, 2Pe_1:21), whom they might have known to
be such, but they did not wish to know (Joh_3:19).
TRAPP, "Ezekiel 13:2 Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that
prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye
the word of the LORD
Ver. 2. Prophesy against the prophets.] Illis enim crania mala feruntur accepts. See
Jeremiah 23:32-33; Jeremiah 23:38.
That prophesy out of their own hearts.] Whose prophecies came by the will of man,
[2 Peter 1:21] and not cum privilegio. with by right.
24

25. POOLE, " Prophesy; declare aforehand what I will do.
Against the prophets; against prince and people first, next against prophets and
prophetesses; against the former in the foregoing chapters, against the latter in this
chapter.
Of Israel, because approved of Israel, encouraged by Israel, and followed; but not
prophets of the Lord, he sent them not. Whether these were in Babylon, or in
Jerusalem, some inquiry is made; probably these false prophets were in both places.
That prophesy; foretell what is pleasing to the Jews, a sudden return out of
captivity, with the vessels of the Lord’s house, and prosperity in their own land.
Out of their own hearts; but all their promising words are of themselves, out of their
own deceiving hearts, not from God, and so all will be lies.
Hear ye the word of the Lord; cease to deceive my people, and attend now to what
God speaks of you.
WHEDON, "See Ezekiel 12:24. Either these prophetesses with the prophets of the
same stamp shall perish in the day of calamity, and of the miseries that they
persnaded others to slight and contemn. Or else, if they live, they shall live to see all
their predictions of prosperity vanish, to see the righteous, whom they threatened,
escape, and the wicked, whom they spake good of, fall under miseries; this shall so
confound them, they shall cease for ever, and pretend no more visions. Your credit
shall be gone, and you found false dreamers, you shall never more be able to keep
up any power over or interest in my people. Not one just, righteous soul shall ever
grieve, or apprehend cause of fear, from what you threaten, and the unrighteous
shall no more joy in the expectation of these lying promises. All shall know that I am
the Lord, who fulfil promises to the just and execute threats on the bad.
25

26. PULPIT, "Ezekiel 13:2, Ezekiel 13:3
Son of man, prophesy, etc. The sin of the men whom Ezekiel denounced was that
they prophesied out of their own hearts (Jeremiah 14:14; Jeremiah 23:16, Jeremiah
23:26), and followed their own spirit instead of the Spirit of Jehovah. All was
human and of the earth. Not a single fact in the future, not a single eternal law
governing both the future and the past, was brought to light by it. To one who was
conscious that he had a message which he had not devised himself, and which he
had not been taught by men (Galatians 1:12); that he had no selfish by-ends in what
he said and did; that he was risking peace, reputation, life itself, for the truth
revealed to him,—nothing could be more repulsive than this claim to have seen a
vision of Jehovah, by men who bad in reality seen nothing. For foolish prophets,
read, with the stronger Hebrew, the prophets, the fools, the words deriving their
force from a kind of paronomasia of alliteration. The nabiim are also the n'balim.
3 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to
the foolish[a] prophets who follow their own spirit
and have seen nothing!
BARNES, "That follow ... nothing - Better in the margin. A true prophet
(like Ezekiel) spoke “the word of the Lord,” and declared what he had seen
“in the visions of God.” These pretenders are stigmatized in scorn “prophets
out of their own hearts,” “seers of what they have not seen.”
GILL, "Thus saith the Lord God, woe unto the foolish prophets,.... The false
prophets, as the Targum; who are foolish, as all are who are not sent of God,
26

27. and furnished by him with wisdom and knowledge, and who prophesy out of
their own hearts; for what else but folly can proceed from thence? this must
be a great mortification to these prophets to be called foolish, when they
reckoned themselves wise men, being vainly puffed up in their fleshly
minds, and were accounted so by others; but what is wisdom with men is
foolishness with God:
that follow their own spirit; or "walk after it" (c); and not the Spirit of God,
who leads into all truth; they pretended to a spirit of prophecy, but it was
their own spirit and the dictates of it they followed, and not the Spirit of the
Lord; and therefore it is no wonder that they prophesied false things, and
led the people wrong; as all such teachers do, who give way to their own
fancies and imaginations, and forsake the word of God, and do not implore
the assistance and teachings of the blessed Spirit:
and have seen nothing; no vision, as the Syriac version renders it; they
pretended to have revelations of things future from the Lord, but they had
none; what they saw were vain visions and lying divinations, and were as
nothing, and worse than nothing; yea, they said what they never saw.
HENRY 3-9, " To discover their sin to them, and to convince them of that if
possible, or thereby to prevent their proceeding any further, by making
manifest their folly unto all men, 2Ti_3:9. They are here called foolish
prophets (Eze_13:3), men that did not at all understand the business they
pretended to; to make fools of the people they made fools of themselves, and
put the greatest cheat upon their own souls. Let us see what is here laid to
their charge. 1. They pretend to have a commission from God, whereas he
never sent them. They thrust themselves into the prophetic office, without
warrant from him who is the Lord God of the holy prophets, which was a
foolish thing; for how could they expect that God should own them in a work
to which he never called them? They are prophets out of their own hearts
(so the margin reads it, Eze_13:2), prophets of their own making, Eze_13:6.
They say, The Lord saith; they pretend to be his messengers, but the Lord
has not sent them, has not given them any orders. They counterfeit the
broad seal of heaven, than which they cannot do a greater indignity to
mankind, for hereby they put a reproach upon divine revelation, lessen its
credit, and weaken its credibility. When these pretenders are found to be
deceivers atheists and infidels will thence infer, They are all so. The Lord
has not sent them; for though crafty enough in other things like the foxes,
and very wise for the world, yet they are foolish prophets and have no
experimental acquaintance with the things of God. Note, Foolish prophets
are not of God's sending, for whom he sends he either finds fit or makes fit.
Where he gives warrant he gives wisdom. 2. They pretend to have
instructions from God, whereas he never made himself and his mind known
to them: They followed their own spirit (Eze_13:3); they delivered that as a
message from God which was the product either of their subtle invention, to
serve a turn for themselves, or of their own crazed and heated imagination,
27

28. to give vent to a fancy. For they have seen nothing, they have not really had
any heavenly vision; they pretend that what they say the Lord saith it, but
God disowns it: “I have not spoken it, I never said it, never meant any such
thing.” What they delivered was not what they had seen or heard, as that is
which the ministers of Christ deliver (1Jo_1:1), but either what they had
dreamed or what they thought would please those they coveted to make an
interest in; this is called their seeing vanity and lying divination (Eze_
13:6); they pretended to have seen that which they did not see, and
produced that as a divine truth which they knew to be false. To the same
purport (Eze_13:7): You have see a vain vision and spoken a lying
divination, which had no divine original and would have no effect, but
would certainly be disproved by the event; the words are changed (Eze_
13:8): You have spoken vanity and seen lies; what they saw and what they
said was all alike, a mere sham; they saw nothing, they said nothing, to the
purpose, nothing that could be relied on or that deserved regard. Again
(Eze_13:9), They see vanity and divine lies; they pretended to have had
visions, as the true prophets had, whereas really they had none, but either it
was the creature of their own fancy (they thought they had a vision, as men
in a delirium do, that was seeing vanity) or it was a fiction of their own
politics, and they knew they had none, and then they saw lies, and divined
lies. See Jer_23:16, etc. Note, Since the devil is universally know to be the
father of lies, those put the highest affront imaginable upon God who tell
lies, and then father them upon him. But those that had put God's character
upon Satan, in worshipping devils, arrived at length at such a pitch of
impiety as to put Satan's character upon God. 3. They took no care to
prevent the judgments of God that were breaking in upon the kingdom.
They are like the foxes in the deserts, running to and fro, and seeming to be
in a great hurry, but it was to get away and shift for their own safety, not to
do any good: The hireling flees, and leaves the sheep. They are like foxes
that are greedy of prey for themselves, crafty and cruel to feed themselves.
But (Eze_13:5), “You have not gone up into the gaps, nor made up the
hedge of the house of Israel. A breach is made in their fences, at which
judgments are ready to pour in upon them, and then, if ever, is the time to
do them service; but you have done nothing to help them.” They should have
made intercession for them, to turn away the wrath of God; but they were
not praying prophets, had no interest in heaven nor intercourse with
heaven (as prophets used to have, Gen_20:7) and so could do them no
service that way. They should have made it their business by preaching and
advice to bring people to repentance and reformation, and so have made up
the hedge, and put a stop to the judgments of God; but this was none of their
care: they contrived how to pleased people, not how to profit them. They
saw a deluge of profaneness and impiety breaking in upon the land, waging
war with virtue and holiness, and threatening to crush them and bear them
down, and then they should have come in to the help of the Lord, to the help
of the Lord against the mighty, by witnessing against the wickedness of the
time and place they lived in; but they thought that would be as dangerous a
piece of service as standing in a breach to make it good against the
besiegers, and therefore they declined it, did nothing to stem the tide, stood
not in the battle against vice and immorality, but basely deserted the cause
28

29. of religion and reformation, in the day of the Lord, when it was proclaimed,
Who is on the Lord's side? Who will rise up for me against the evil-doers?
Psa_94:16. Those were unworthy the name of prophets that could think so
favourably of sin, and had so little zeal for God and the public welfare. 4.
They flattered people into a vain hope that the judgments God had
threatened would never come, whereby they hardened those in sin whom
they should have endeavoured to turn from sin (Eze_13:6): They have made
others to hope that all should be well, and they should have peace, though
they went on still in their trespasses, and that the event would confirm the
word. They were still ready to say, “We will warrant you that these troubles
will be at an end quickly, and we shall be in prosperity again.” as if their
warrants would confirm false prophecies, in defiance of God himself.
II. He is directed to denounce the judgments of God against them for these
sins, from which their pretending to the character of prophets would not
exempt them. 1. In general, here is a woe against them (Eze_13:3), and what
that woe is we are told (Eze_13:8). Behold, I am against you, saith the Lord
God. Note, Those are in a woeful condition that have God against them.
Woe, and a thousand woes, to those that have made him their enemy. 2. In
particular, they are sentenced to be excluded from all the privileges of the
commonwealth of Israel, for they are adjudged to have forfeited them all
(Eze_13:9): God's hand shall be upon them, to seize them and bring them to
his bar, to shut them out from his presence, and they will find it a fearful
thing to fall into his hands. They pretend to be prophets, particular
favourites of heaven, and authorized to preside in the congregation of his
church on earth; but, by pretending to the honours they were not entitled
to, they lost those that otherwise they might have enjoyed, Mat_5:19. Their
doom is, (1.) To be expelled from the communion of saints, and not to be
looked upon as belonging to it: They shall not be in the secret of my people;
their folly shall be so clearly manifested that they shall never be consulted,
nor their advice asked; they shall not be present at any debates about public
affairs. Or, rather, they shall not be in the assembly of God's people for
religious worship, for they shall be ashamed to show their heads there,
when they are proved by the events to be false prophets, and, like Cain, shall
go out from the presence of the Lord. The people that are deceived by them
shall abandon them, and resolve to have no more to do with them. Those
that usurped Moses's chair shall not be allowed so much as a door-keeper's
place. In the great day they shall not stand in the congregation of the
righteous (Psa_1:5), when God gathers his saints together to him (Psa_
50:5, Psa_50:16), to be for ever with him. (2.) To be expunged out of the
book of the living. They shall die in their captivity, and shall die childless,
shall leave no posterity to take their denomination from them, and so their
names shall not be found among those who either themselves or their
posterity returned out of Babylon, of whom a particular account was kept in
a public register, which was called the writing of the house of Israel, such as
we have Ezra 2. They shall not be found among the living in Jerusalem, Isa_
4:3. Or they shall not be found written among those whom God has from
eternity chosen to be vessels of his mercy to eternity. We read of those who
prophesied in Christ's name, and yet he will tell them that he never knew
them (Mat_7:22, Mat_7:23), because they were not among those that were
29

30. given to him. The Chaldee paraphrase reads it, They shall not be written in
the writing of eternal life, which is written for the righteous of the house of
Israel. See Psa_69:28. (3.) To be for ever excluded from the land of Israel.
God has sworn in his wrath concerning them that they shall never enter
with the returning captives into the land of Canaan, which a second time
remains a rest for them. Note, Those who oppose the design of God's
threatenings, and will not be awed and influenced by them, forfeit the
benefit of his promises, and cannot expect to be comforted and encouraged
by them.
JAMISON, "foolish — though vaunting as though exclusively possessing
“wisdom” (1Co_1:19-21); the fear of God being the only beginning of wisdom
(Psa_111:10).
their own spirit — instead of the Spirit of God. A threefold distinction lay
between the false and the true prophets: (1) The source of their messages
respectively; of the false, “their own hearts”; of the true, an object
presented to the spiritual sense (named from the noblest of the senses, a
seeing) by the Spirit of God as from without, not produced by their own
natural powers of reflection. The word, the body of the thought, presented
itself not audibly to the natural sense, but directly to the spirit of the
prophet; and so the perception of it is properly called a seeing, he
perceiving that which thereafter forms itself in his soul as the cover of the
external word [Delitzsch]; hence the peculiar expression, “seeing the word
of God” (Isa_2:1; Isa_13:1; Amo_1:1; Mic_1:1). (2) The point aimed at; the
false “walking after their own spirit”; the true, after the Spirit of God. (3)
The result; the false saw nothing, but spake as if they had seen; the true had
a vision, not subjective, but objectively real [Fairbairn]. A refutation of
those who set the inward word above the objective, and represent the Bible
as flowing subjectively from the inner light of its writers, not from the
revelation of the Holy Ghost from without. “They are impatient to get
possession of the kernel without its fostering shell - they would have Christ
without the Bible” [Bengel].
CALVIN, “Woe to, the foolish or disgraceful prophets ‫,נבל‬ nebel, signifies “a vile
person,” “a castaway,” just as ‫,נבלה‬ nebeleh, means “foulness,” “crime,”
“wickedness,” although ‫,נבל‬ nebel, is oftener taken for folly, and I willingly embrace
this sense as it is generally received. He calls false prophets foolish, because they
doubtless fiercely insulted the true servants of God — just like upstarts puffed up
with wonderful self-conceit; for the devil, who reigns in them, is the father of pride:
hence they carry themselves haughtily, arrogate all things to themselves, and wish to
be thought angels come down from heaven. And when Paul speaks of human
fictions, he grants them the form of wisdom. (Colossians 2:23.) Hence there is no
doubt that these pretenders of whom Ezekiel speaks were held in great esteem, and
30

31. so, when swollen with bombast, they puffed forth surprising wisdom; but
meanwhile the Holy Spirit shortly pronounces them fools: for whatever pleases the
world under the mask of wisdom, we know to be mere folly before God.
Now he adds, who walk after their own spirit, without seeing any thing: that is,
when no vision has been given them. Ezekiel explains himself more clearly, or rather
the Spirit who spoke through him. As, therefore, he has lately condemned all who
prophesy out of their own mind or heart, — for the noun “heart” is here used for
“intellect,” as in other places, — as, therefore, the Spirit has lately condemned all
such, so he says that those who walk after their own spirit wickedly abuse the
prophetic office. He here alludes to the prophetic gift when he speaks of “spirit.”
For, because they might object that false prophets did not speak from their own
heart, but had secret revelations, he concedes to them the use of the word “spirit” by
a rhetorical figure, (2) and thus refutes their boasting, as if Ezekiel had said that
those fictitious revelations are mere fancies: they have indeed something in them
more than common, but still they are fanatics. This then is the sense of the word
“spirit.” Meanwhile there is no doubt that he repeats what he lately saw, and the
contrast removes all doubt. Without seeing any thing, says he: thus vision is opposed
to the human heart and spirit; but what is vision but a supernatural gift? When,
therefore, God raises his servants above the capacity of human ability, and makes
them discern what no mortal power can bestow, that is a vision; and if a vision is
removed, nothing will remain but the spirit or heart of man. Hence those who
cannot really show that their utterance is evidently inspired, shall be compelled to
confess that they speak of their own minds. It follows —
ELLICOTT, "(3) Foolish prophets.—They were certainly foolish who undertook to
forge the name of the Omniscient, as it were, to utterances of their own devising.
Folly according to the use of the word in the Old Testament, was not merely an
intellectual failing, but was always associated with moral obliquity. (See Psalms
14:1, and Proverbs throughout.) The last clause of the verse is better expressed in
the margin: these prophets were. “seers of that which they have not seen.”
TRAPP, "Verse 3
31

32. Ezekiel 13:3 Thus saith the Lord GOD Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow
their own spirit, and have seen nothing!
Ver. 3. Woe unto the foolish prophets.] Wise enough they were in their generation -
and so are the foxes, whereto they are compared [Ezekiel 13:4] - but in the things of
God, silly simples, blinder than moles.
That follow their own spirit.] Aud their own fancies, acted and abused by that great
lying spirit.
And have seen nothing.] Nothing from God, though they thought and pretended
they had seen something. All was but lies; [Jeremiah 27:10] dreams; [Jeremiah
23:32] things of naught. [Ezekiel 22:28] As Antipheron Orietes in Aristotle thought
that everywhere he saw his own shape and picture going before him; so here. Now a
woe is denounced against these; vae woe, is a little word, but very comprehensive, as
there is often much poison in little drops.
WHEDON, " 3. Foolish prophets — The “fool,” in Scripture language, is the
impious man. Many of these false prophets were grossly immoral (Jeremiah 23:14;
Jeremiah 29:23), and none of them had the appreciation of the heinousness of sin
and the certainty of God’s wrath falling upon an unrepentant people, which is so
characteristic of the writings of the true prophets. Lacking the fear of the Lord,
which is the beginning of wisdom, the policy which they advocated was almost
invariably wrong. They posed as patriots, and friends of Jerusalem and the temple,
advocating war and such political alliances as they believed to be for the temporal
interests of the nation; not having the foresight to perceive that the laxity of morals
and impurity of worship were being increased by such affiliations and that the real
danger to the nation lay not in its lack of military power, but in its lack of
spirituality and faith in God.
Follow their own spirit — The true prophet is the “man of the spirit” (Hosea 9:7),
who receives his message from God (Jeremiah 23:16); but the spirit which controls
the false prophet is from within, and not from above.
32

33. And have seen nothing — Literally, that which they have not seen. They saw no
vision of God, though they pretended to see and may even have imagined that they
saw.
4 Your prophets, Israel, are like jackals among
ruins.
BARNES, "In the deserts - Foxes find a home among ruins etc. Lam_5:18. So the
prophets find their profit in the ruin of their country.
CLARKE, "Thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts - The cunning of the
fox in obtaining his prey has been long proverbial. These false prophets are represented
as the foxes who, having got their prey by great subtlety, run to the desert to hide both
themselves and it. So the false prophets, when the event did not answer to their
prediction, got out of the way, that they might not be overwhelmed with the reproaches
and indignation of the people.
GILL, "O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes of the deserts. The false
prophets, as the Targum; these are called Israel's prophets, because received, embraced,
and encouraged by them; not the Lord's, for they were not sent by him, nor had any
messages from him; and such are comparable to foxes, for their craftiness and cunning,
and lying in wait to deceive, as these seduced the Lord's people, Eze_13:10; and such are
false teachers, who walk in craftiness, and handle the word of God deceitfully, and are
deceitful workers; and to foxes in the deserts, which are hungry and ravenous, and make
a prey of whatsoever comes within their reach, as these prophets did of the people, Eze_
13:19. Kimchi interprets "deserts" of breaches and ruinous places in the walls of a
vineyard, where the foxes lie, or through which they enter into the vineyard and spoil it;
as these false prophets entered in among the Israelites, like to a vineyard, and did them
33

34. much hurt and damage, by insinuating themselves among the weak, and those of little
faith, which the above writer compares to breaches in vineyards; see Son_2:15. It may be
the deserts may have respect to the land of Chaldea, where Israel was carried captive,
and where these foxes, the false prophets, could play their part to advantage; not being
under the notice and restraints of the sanhedrim at Jerusalem.
JAMISON, "foxes — which cunningly “spoil the vines” (Son_2:15), Israel being the
vineyard (Psa_80:8-15; Isa_5:1-7; Isa_27:2; Jer_2:21); their duty was to have guarded it
from being spoiled, whereas they themselves spoiled it by corruptions.
in ... deserts — where there is nothing to eat; whence the foxes become so ravenous
and crafty in their devices to get food. So the prophets wander in Israel, a moral desert,
unrestrained, greedy of gain which they get by craft.
CALVIN, “Hence Ezekiel exposes the snares of the false prophets. The ten tribes
had been dispersed, just as if a field or a vineyard had been removed from a
habitable neighborhood into desert regions, and foxes held their sway there instead.
For they have many hiding-places; they insinuate themselves through hedges and all
openings, and so break into the vineyard or field, and lay waste its fruits. Such, as I
have said, was the condition of the people from the time of its dispersion. While the
Israelites dwelt at home, they were in some way retained within their duty, as if
fortified by certain ramparts. At Jerusalem, too, the high Priest presided over
spiritual trials, that no impious doctrine should creep in: but now, since the people
were so dispersed, greater license was given to the false prophets to corrupt the
people, since the miserable exiles were exposed to these foxes; for they were liable to
injuries just as if desert regions surrounded them. Being thus destitute of protection,
it was easy for foxes to enter by clandestine arts, and to destroy whatever good fruits
existed. Meanwhile Ezekiel obliquely reproves the people’s carelessness. Although
they were dispersed, and were so open to the snares of the false prophets, yet they
thought to have been attentive and cautious, and God would doubtless have
afforded them aid, as he promises to his people the spirit of discretion and judgment
whenever they need it. (1 Corinthians 12:10.) But when the Israelites were
wandering exiles, and attention to the law no longer flourished among them, it came
to pass that foxes, meaning their false prophets, easily entered. Whence it follows
that the people were not free from faults, since they exposed themselves to the snares
of these false prophets. It follows —
"God condemned the sorceresses. He destroyed the badges of their art (the
34

35. pillows, cushions, or whatever they were); he freed the souls they hunted and
allowed them to escape like birds. Such women claimed powers over the living and
the dead; the effect of that was to discourage the righteous and to aid and abet the
wicked; and that is always the way it is when magic, witchcraft, and sorcery are
permitted to usurp the place in men's hearts that belongs to true religion."[17]
ELLICOTT, " (4) Like the foxes in the deserts.—The comparison is sufficiently
close if it is considered as extending only to these mischievous men living
unconcerned among the ruins of their state and country, as the foxes find their
home in desolated cities (Lamentations 5:18); but many extend the simile to the
undermining of the ground by the foxes, as these prophets accelerated the ruin of
their people.
TRAPP, "Ezekiel 13:4 O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.
Ver. 4. O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes.] Cowardly, crafty, cruel, greedy:
venatores eludunt, et cum mortuae videntur, reviviscunt. Heretics are such, and
false prophets; Arius, for instance.
POOLE, "Verse 4
O Israel; a pathetical exclamation to awake Israel, both the dwellers at Jerusalem
and those at Babylon.
Thy prophets, not mine, as Ezekiel 13:2.
Like the foxes; hungry and ravening, crafty and guileful, and living by their wits,
but not one whit helpful to those they deceive. Such are false prophets. In the
deserts, where want of prey makes them more eager of their prey, and where other
devouring beasts endanger travellers, but no defence to them from foxes; these flee
into their holes betimes, and leave the endangered ones. Or thus, O Israel, thou art
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36. like the desert, spoiled and robbed, and thy false prophets, like foxes hungry and
hunting for some prey, live upon what they can catch, but will be no more profitable
to thee than foxes are to the wilderness.
WHEDON, " 4. Like the foxes in the deserts — Foxes do not build walls, but
undermine them (Nehemiah 4:3; Lamentations 5:18). Having seized their prey with
great subtlety they run to the desert and hide themselves and it (Adam Clarke).
Those who pretend falsely to speak in the name of Jehovah are worse than open
enemies — they are sly and dangerous as the greatest pest of the Orient (Song of
Solomon 2:15; Isaiah 5:7).
PETT, "Verse 4-5
“O Israel, your prophets have been like foxes in the waste places (ruins). You have
not gone up into the gaps, nor made up the fence for the house of Israel to stand in
the battle in the day of Yahweh.”
The picture is a vivid one of foxes running around in the ruins of a city. They build
their dens in the ruins, and forage and scavenge, but they do nothing about the state
of the city. So it is with these prophets. They have ignored the gaps in the
understanding of the people, and have not built them up ready for what is coming,
for they have not seen it themselves. Nor have they caused them to physically
strengthen the walls of the city by their warnings. Instead of ‘rebuilding the walls
and filling in the gaps’, by preparing the people for the coming ‘day of Yahweh’
about to fall on them, they are like foxes who make comfortable holes for themselves
in the ruins and scurry around building nothing, scavenging for what they can find,
making false promises that will not be fulfilled. They are nothing but parasites.
Note the phrase ‘the day of Yahweh’. It refers to any period in history where God
manifests His judgments. God is longsuffering and gives man much leeway, but
there comes a time again and again when man’s sins come in on himself and
devastating consequences result. And each such ‘day of Yahweh’ leads on to the
next, until the final great ‘day of Yahweh’ when He brings in His final judgments.
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37. (The alternation between ‘they’ and ‘you’ in these verses makes it uncertain when it
is the people who are being addressed, and when the prophets, but it makes no
difference to the sense. If ‘you’ is seen as applying to the people it simply
incorporates them into the sins of the prophets).
PULPIT, "Ezekiel 13:4
Like the foxes in the deserts, etc. The points of comparison are manifold. The fox is
cunning (Luke 13:32, where the term is applied to Herod Antipas). It spoils the vine
and its fruits (So 2:15); it burrows among ruins (Nehemiah 4:3; Lamentations 5:18).
So the false prophets were crafty, laid waste the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
(Isaiah 5:7), made their profit out of the ruin of Israel, and made that ruin worse.
The 'Reineke Fuchs,' in satirizing the monks and priests of the sixteenth century
under the same comparison, presents a curious, though probably unconscious,
analogue. In Matthew 7:15 and Acts 20:29 wolves appear as the types of the false
prophet.
BI, "Thy prophets are like the foxes in the desert.
False prophets like foxes
1. These creatures are lovers of grapes, as we know by a common
proverb; and consequently they did much damage in such countries as
Judea, which abounded with vineyards, as is noted in Son_2:15, not only
by devouring the grapes but also by making holes in the walls and fences,
whereby they laid open the vineyards to other ravenous beasts as well as
to themselves. Just so did the false prophets to the cities of Judah: they
did not only beguile people of their substance, by the character which
they assumed, and the figure which they made among them; but by their
false doctrines and subversions of the genuine will and Word of God they
broke down the walls and fences from about them; I mean that blessing
and protection of the Almighty which was annexed to the obedience of
His own laws.
2. In another respect did these prophets resemble the foxes in the
deserts, that they could make breaches, but had not the faculty of
stopping them up again. They did not call the people to repentance; or if
they did, it was but such a superficial fast as we read of (Jer_36:1-32), at
which they read his prophecy, and then cut it in pieces and threw it into
the fire. Their making up of their breaches this way was but like the
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38. labour of unfaithful builders; one laid the stones in the wall, and others
daubed it with untempered mortar.
3. These false prophets resembled foxes in their fraudulent practices. By
crafty speeches and cunningly devised fables they misled the hearts of
the simple. They studied how to suit their discourses to the various
tempers of the people whom they conversed with; to prophesy smooth
things to the stout-hearted, and terrible things to the timorous, that they
might keep them all in the way which they would have them to walk in.
4. These false prophets had another property of foxes, which was a
prowling ravenous appetite. When they came out of their colleges into
the vineyard, they resolved that the making of their fortune, the arriving
at a plentiful condition, a goodly heritage, should be the first and
greatest of all their cares. So little were they concerned for the welfare of
the people over whom they pretended to be guardians and spiritual
watchmen, that they would sell their souls, as God complains here, for
handfuls of barley and morsels of bread.
5. As foxes are of the number of unclean beasts, so these prophets were
men of corrupt minds and loose morals. How prone they were to
prevaricate with God, and seduce the people, to counterfeit a Divine
mission, to run when they were not sent, to prophesy out of their own
heart without a revelation, to proclaim their visions of peace when there
was no peace, is abundantly set forth in this chapter. (W. Reading, M. A.)
False prophets like foxes
The prophets are like foxes: ruins are congenial to them; a condition of
decay is their proper sphere; there they can burrow as their instincts
prompt them. The main idea, however, is that their operations only
increase the devastation, and Undermine and bring down anything that may
yet be standing. In a declining and disastrous time the minds of men are
excited and feed on the wildest schemes; and, feeling themselves helpless,
they readily turn to those who pretend to speak to them in God’s name. And
it only adds to their ruin when those to whom they turn have no higher
wisdom than themselves. (A. B. Davidson, D. D.)
5 You have not gone up to the breaches in the wall
to repair it for the people of Israel so that it will
stand firm in the battle on the day of the Lord.
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