And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying
Ezekiel 13 opens the way many of his messages open. A word arrives from outside the prophet, and God tells him whom to address. What follows targets men who also called themselves prophets. The whole chapter turns on one difference: a message received, or a message invented.
The prophet was not part of Israel's standing arrangements. He appeared when the older links between God and His people broke down. That same gap gave the enemy his opening.
The priesthood was the first link between God and Israel. When it failed, God in His sovereign goodness raised up the prophet in an extraordinary way, to stand between the people and Himself. Later the kings failed too, and again the prophet came forward. He was a sign of how broken things were. He was also a sign of God's patience, waiting for possible recovery. Priest and king belonged to the settled order. Their office passed from father to son in the ordinary way. With the prophet it was otherwise. There was no provision for the continuance of the prophet. God in His goodness raised him up for that very purpose, as His messenger, to bring His word to the people... And here the adversary of God and man might find his opportunity. He could copy what is of God, putting forward prophets of his own invention to speak falsehood as from God.
The next verses name the target: prophets who speak from their own hearts. They were not harmless amateurs but a weapon aimed at God's people.
Ezekiel 13 takes up those in Israel who pretended to know the mind of Jehovah. They were men and women who prophesied with no commission from God. They were instruments of the enemy and opponents of His will, working the ruin of His people. This was one of the most painful trials to the spirit then, as false brothers and false prophets are to us in the church now. Their aim is self. Their means are flattery on one side, and on the other a domineering manner suited to the people they want to influence. They are always seeking to belittle and injure those who maintain the truth in the Lord's name.
Why does God deal so sharply with this? The offence is not only against the hearers. It is against Him.
To be a prophet out of your own heart is to make judgment from God certain. He is gracious and merciful, yet He must be jealous of His majesty and truth, which such prophesying completely misrepresents and profanes.
These men did not offer opinions under their own name. They copied the one thing that gave a real prophet weight — the claim that God had spoken.
The word a prophet spoke was not just something drawn out of a man's own "inner consciousness," as men describe it today... It was no human judgment that they claimed to bring, but the judgment of God Himself. So it was not their own saying, but Jehovah's saying. Israel knew this so well that the false prophets themselves had to make the same claim. If they saw nothing, they had to pretend that they saw.
Their message asked nothing hard of anyone. That is what drew the crowd.
False teachers would claim the path is not as narrow as Scripture makes it. The mark of the false prophets in Ezekiel 13 was this: they made it very easy for people to go along, because they prophesied out of their own heart. The serious thing was that they followed their own spirit and paid no attention to the words of God.
The same measure reaches any speaker in any age.
Every man who prophesies out of his own heart is a false prophet, a blind leader of the blind. He speaks his own mind, and his preaching and teaching does not follow the word of God. Like the false prophets in Israel, the false teachers in the Christian world are the cause of the spiritual state of the people who profess to be God's... They are self-called and self-sent.
The answer is not alarm but testing. Measure anyone who claims to speak for God by what God has already said.
This would be an alarming thing, if we did not already have what we know to be the word of God. Since we do have it, the simple question is this: do this spirit and the word of God agree? If not, we must reject the whole thing at once as not of God. Blessed be our God, who has given us His own word to test it by.
- Sent. The prophet exists because God raised him up in a broken situation — no family line, no office, only a word given to him.
- Self-sent. The men of Ezekiel 13 had no such sending. They spoke from their own hearts, self-called and self-sent.
- Stolen. They still spoke in God's name. Israel knew a real prophet brings Jehovah's word, so even the false ones had to pretend they saw.
- Soothing. Their appeal was ease: they made the road look wide and paid no attention to the words of God.
- Sifted. The test has not changed. God has given us His own word. Hold every claim beside it, and reject whatever does not agree.
Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say unto them that prophesy out of their own heart, Hear ye the word of Jehovah.
God tells Ezekiel to preach against Israel's own prophets — men who spoke their own minds and called it God's word. So how do you tell God's word from a message that only claims to be His?
The verse names the fault in one phrase: they prophesy from their own hearts. They had seen nothing from God.
They prophesied out of their own hearts. The words could also be translated, "Who prophesy from their own mind without having seen." … Every man who prophesies out of his own heart speaks his own mind. His preaching and teaching is not according to the oracles of God. Such a man is a false prophet, a blind leader of the blind. … They are self-called and self-sent.
The prophet had no fixed place in Israel's order. God raised him up when things went wrong, and that is where the enemy found his opening.
When the priesthood failed — the first link between God and Israel — God raised up the prophet. He did it outside the normal order, in sovereign goodness, to stand between the people and Himself. … There was no way for the office to pass on. God raised him up by His own goodness, as His messenger… Sadly, the enemy of God and man could find his opportunity in this very thing. He could imitate what is of God. He brought forward prophets of his own invention to speak lies as if from God, and so lead their followers further astray.
They did not offer their opinions as opinions. They put God's name on them. Israel knew that a prophet spoke for God, so these men had to claim they had seen something.
It was no human judgment that they professed to bring, but the judgment of God Himself. So it was not their own saying, but Jehovah's saying. Everyone in Israel understood this, so the false prophets had to carry their pretence that far. If they saw nothing, they had to pretend that they saw. But the true heart of a prophet did not show in them, and so people did not hear the true voice of Jehovah.
Speaking in God's name without God's word is not a small fault. It misrepresents Him, and He will not let that stand.
To be a prophet out of your own heart is to guarantee God's judgment. He is gracious and merciful, yet He must be jealous of His majesty and truth. These men utterly misrepresented and profaned both. What could the end be for themselves and for those who followed them but destruction? They were like foxes among the ruins, full of craft and mischief. No wonder no one went up to the gaps in the wall. No one built a fence around the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of Jehovah.
These men did not appear at random. They showed up when God's judgment was closing in, and they always had comforting news.
Among their own nation Israel there were false prophets. They appeared mostly, if not entirely, when judgment was hanging over the nation. We learn this from the prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. These false prophets opposed the true prophets of God, who preached the God-given message. The false prophets rejected the word of the Lord and belittled it. They spoke out of their own hearts and spoke empty things and lies (Ezek. 13:2, 8). Their message was "peace" when there was no peace.
One writer sees the same thing in the church today. The marks are self-interest, flattery, and hostility toward anyone who still holds the truth.
This chapter takes up those who pretended to know the mind of Jehovah in Israel. They were men and women who prophesied without divine authority. They were instruments of the enemy and opponents of His will, and they ruined His people. This was one of the most painful trials to the spirit then, and false brothers and false prophets are the same trial to us now in the church. Their aim is self. Their methods are flattery on one side and an overbearing manner on the other, whichever suits the people they want to influence. They always seek to belittle and damage those who uphold the truth in the Lord's name.
- Source. A true prophet has seen something from God. These men "prophesy from their own mind without having seen," so their teaching is not according to the oracles of God.
- Imitation. God alone raised up the prophet, and no family line held the office. So the enemy could plant prophets of his own invention.
- Pretension. No one would listen unless they said "Jehovah says." If they saw nothing, they pretended they saw.
- Timing. They showed up when judgment was closing in on the nation. Their message was always "peace" when there was no peace.
- Outcome. Speaking out of your own heart secures God's judgment. He must be jealous of His majesty and truth when men misrepresent them.
Thus saith the Lord Jehovah Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!
The woe here falls on Israel's own prophets, not on the nation's worst sinners. Two questions run through the chapter: where does a message come from, and what happens to people who trust words God never spoke?
One writer traces where the prophet's office came from, and why it was so open to imitation.
The priesthood was the first link between God and Israel. When it failed, God in His sovereign goodness raised up the prophet in an extraordinary way, to stand between the people and Himself. When the kings failed later, the prophet came forward again. He was a sign of how broken things were, and also a sign of God's patience, waiting for possible recovery. Priest and king belonged to the established order, so their office passed from father to son. With the prophet it was otherwise. There was no provision for the continuance of the prophet... The adversary of God and man might find his opportunity in this very opening. He could imitate what is of God, putting forward prophets of his own invention to speak falsehood as from God, and so lead their followers even further astray.
The phrase points to where a message comes from. One writer gives another rendering of it, then applies it far beyond ancient Israel.
They prophesied out of their own hearts; or as it might be rendered, "Who prophesy from their own mind without having seen."... Every man who prophesies out of his own heart is a false prophet, a blind leader of the blind. He utters his own mind, and his preaching and teaching is not according to the oracles of God. Like the false prophets in Israel, false teachers in the Christian world are the cause of the spiritual condition of the professing people of God. They are self-called and self-sent.
The claim a prophet made was far bigger than sharing a personal insight.
The word the prophet spoke was not simply something drawn out of a man's "inner consciousness," as men present it today. It was not a spiritual mind divining the future from what he saw in front of him. On the contrary, what they claimed to bring was no human judgment, but the judgment of God Himself. So it was not their own saying, but Jehovah's saying. And this was so thoroughly understood in Israel that the false prophets themselves had to go this far in their pretension. If they saw nothing, they had to pretend that they saw.
One writer draws out of the verse a test for anyone who speaks today.
Put quite simply, the Seer sees something (Ezek. 13:3); and the Prophet tells something... Suppose the risen and exalted Christ fills our soul's vision. Suppose the Spirit's power spreads out before us that new world of life and glory, of which He is the Centre and the Sun. Then we have something to tell. In that case, "we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen" (John 3:11).
One commentator names what is at stake when a man signs God's name to his own thoughts.
To be a prophet out of one's own heart is to ensure judgment from God. However gracious and merciful He is, He must be jealous of His majesty and truth, which are here completely misrepresented and profaned. What could be the end, for themselves and for those who followed them, but destruction? They were like foxes among the ruins, full of craft and mischief.
These prophets kept their audience because their message asked nothing of it. One writer, writing on the narrow path, shows how such teaching feels from the inside.
False teachers would claim that the path is not as narrow as Scripture lays it down. The false prophets in Ezekiel 13 made it very easy for people to go along, for they prophesied out of their own heart. The serious thing was that they followed their own spirit and paid no attention to the words of God.
And that ease did more damage than any pressure from outside.
It is painful but useful to trace how religious corruption grows. It does not come from outside, but from within. No outward temptation seems to have made the people of Judah rebel as boldly as corrupt prophets and a corrupt priesthood did.
- Sent — God's goodness raised the prophet up when priest and king had failed. The office had no line of succession, and that openness is where an imitator slips in.
- Source — to prophesy "out of your own heart" is to speak your own mind and stamp God's name on it. Such men are self-called and self-sent.
- Sight — a seer must first see something. Men who saw nothing still had to pretend they had, because people expected a prophet to bring God's verdict, not his own.
- Sweetness — they kept a crowd by making the road easy. That kind of corruption grows inside the people of God, not from pressure outside.
- Sentence — God is jealous for His own majesty and truth. Misrepresenting Him ends in destruction, for the speakers and for everyone who followed them.
O Israel, thy prophets have been like foxes in desert places.
God tells Ezekiel to prophesy against the prophets of Israel. His verdict lands in one picture: scavengers picking over rubble. What does a false teacher do to God's people, and how do you spot one? The chapter answers both.
The picture has two halves: where these men live, and what they live on.
"Your prophets have been like jackals among ruins, O Israel" — a telling picture of men who preyed on the corruption around them. They hid from the light in the barren wilderness, the only place that gave them the cover they wanted.
The picture points to character as well as place. Another writer links it to the sin named just before it: prophesying out of your own heart.
To be a prophet out of one's own heart guarantees judgment from God. He is gracious and merciful, but He must be jealous of His majesty and truth when men misrepresent and profane them so completely. What could the end be, for themselves and for those who followed them, but destruction? They were like foxes in the ruins, full of craft and mischief.
Scripture uses this animal elsewhere for a man who turns a nation's collapse into his own advantage. Commenting on Jesus calling Herod "that fox," and on the line in Lamentations about foxes walking on desolate Zion, one writer describes exactly the behaviour Ezekiel condemns.
Herod was a man who took advantage of Zion's sorrow. Israel was dethroned. Her enemies had gained the upper hand, and Herod, the creature of the enemy, the ally and flatterer of Caesar, made his profit out of her misery. He was walking on the mountain, in the high places of Zion, because of her ruin. He played the fox instead of mourning over the wastes of Israel: he made his own gain out of their poverty.
Nothing on the outside would have given these men away.
Great as was their pretension, it was as far from the reality as possible... In pretension they were angels of light, as Satan's agents among God's people always are. But the evil that flourished around them was the true witness against them.
The test is not the label a man wears but the source of his message. One writer carries that test beyond Israel.
Every man who prophesies out of his own heart is a false prophet, a blind leader of the blind. He speaks his own mind, and his preaching and teaching does not follow the word of God. The false teachers in the Christian world do what the false prophets did in Israel. They are the cause of the spiritual state of the professing people of God... They are self-called and self-sent.
One writer traces the same trouble into the church, and names the methods it uses.
Ezekiel 13 takes up the pretenders to the mind of Jehovah in Israel. These were men and women who prophesied with no commission from God. They were tools of the enemy and opponents of His will, working to the ruin of His people. This was one of the sharpest trials to the spirit then, and false brothers and false prophets are the same trial to us in the church now. Their aim is self. Their method is flattery with some, and an overbearing manner with others, whichever suits the people they want to influence. They are always working to belittle and injure those who maintain the truth in the Lord's name.
- Ruin. These prophets show up where the nation is already broken. Jackals need waste places; false teachers need corruption to feed on.
- Craft. The fox takes advantage of collapse instead of mourning it. He makes his gain out of God's people's poverty.
- Pretence. They looked like angels of light. The evil flourishing around them was the evidence against them.
- Source. Anyone who speaks from his own heart and not from God is a false prophet. His claim may be high, but he is self-called and self-sent.
- Safeguard. In every age the only escape from such teaching is to have the mind of God (Morrish Bible Dictionary).
Ye have not gone up into the breaches, nor made up the fence for the house of Israel, to stand in the battle in the day of Jehovah.
God's charge against the prophets of Israel is not that they spoke badly, but that they did nothing. The nation's wall lay broken, and no one climbed into the gaps to stand there.
Commentators take this as the job description for anyone God raises up. The pattern comes from the priest, who carried the people's names on his heart before God:
The priest carried on his heart before God the interests of God's people, and so God's interests in His people. If the priest was now gone, and the king also, then anyone God raised up as His prophet had to be marked by these very characteristics. In Ezekiel's day, then, the prophets should have been men "gone up into the breaches." They should not have ignored the breaches, nor what had caused them. They should have proclaimed the faithful word of Jehovah. At the same time they should have sought, if it were possible, to build up the wall that had been broken down, so that it might stand in the battle, even in the day of Jehovah.
Two things go together: speak the truth about the breach and what caused it, and work to rebuild the wall. These prophets did neither. The writers quoted here use an older translation, which prints "Jehovah" where the ESV has "the LORD."
The gap is a dangerous place. To stand in it is to stand in the battle, so men who feared suffering never went there. One writer sets these prophets beside a later group who changed their message to escape it:
They were like foxes in the ruins, full of craft and mischief. No wonder there was no going up into the breaches, and no making up a fence round the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of Jehovah. They were like those at a later day who wanted to make a good outward show, and who forced the Gentiles to be circumcised. They did it only so that they themselves would not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.
The shortage was never of preachers. It was of true ones:
This testimony of the Lord against the prophets increased as the apostasy set in. The nearer the ruin approached — such is the way of His grace — the more testimony He raised concerning it. But in proportion as God multiplied His witnesses, we find the prophets of the people multiplied also.
Later in the same book God tells us what He looked for and did not find. One writer notes the tenderness in that search:
In Ezekiel 22 Jehovah sums up the sins of what He now calls "the bloody city." He sums up the sins of the princes, the prophets, the priests, and the people of Israel. Yet He says, "And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none" (Ezek. 22:30). Judgment must have its way. But we cannot help noticing the tenderness of God for His people before the blow fell. It is a striking reminder of the blessed Lord's words at a later date: "How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not" (Luke 13:34).
When God finds such a man, the work turns out to be prayer. But prayer has a closing time:
Poor Jeremiah could appeal to God, telling Him how he had stood in the gap to turn away the anger from them. That lasted until the Lord said to him, "Do not pray for this people," and the anger took its course. For intercession is always the place for the one who has the mind of God, to make a way for God's love, until the place for intercession is closed.
The wall had to stand for one particular day. That day is not hidden:
Now it is especially important to get a clear view of the day of Jehovah. The main truth involved in that day is that it means the open judgment of the world by God. The choice of the word "day" involves this. It is not a question of secret judgments or providential dealings. Those might happen during the night, unseen.
- Breach — The prophets' sin was absence. A prophet's first duty is to go into the gaps, not to look away from them or from what caused them.
- Burden — The priest carried the people's names on his heart. The man in the gap carries the same load: God's interests and the people's.
- Cowardice — They stayed out of the gap, like later men who changed their message to escape persecution for the cross.
- Crowd — As ruin came closer, God raised up more true witnesses. False prophets multiplied alongside them.
- Closing door — God searched for one man to stand in the breach and found none. Prayer holds a place open for God's love until He says to stop. Then judgment runs its course in the open day of the LORD.
They have seen vanity and lying divination, that say, Jehovah saith! and Jehovah hath not sent them; and they make [them] to hope that the word will be fulfilled.
God tells Ezekiel to speak against the prophets of Israel — men who claimed to carry His own word to His people. Their fault was not a wrong detail: they saw nothing, and still signed God's name to what they said.
These men made a huge claim, and they had to. Everyone in Israel knew what a prophet was meant to be. One writer explains why a man who saw nothing still had to speak like a man sent from God:
The word the prophet spoke was not simply something drawn out of a man's "inner consciousness," as people describe it today. It was not divination — a spiritual mind guessing the future from what he saw in front of him. On the contrary, what they claimed to bring was not human judgment at all, but the judgment of God Himself. So it was not their own saying, but the Lord's saying. Everyone in Israel knew this so well that the false prophets themselves had to go that far in their pretending. If they saw nothing, they had to pretend that they saw.
Putting "Declares the LORD" on your own idea is not a small thing. One writer links the judgment these men face to what their words do to God's majesty and truth:
To be a prophet out of your own heart is to make God's judgment certain. However gracious and merciful He is, He must be jealous of His majesty and truth when they are misrepresented and profaned like this. What could the end be, for themselves and for those who followed them, but destruction?
The verse gives the plain test of a messenger: was he sent? These prophets fail it, and a commentator presses the same test on preaching in any age:
Every man who prophesies out of his own heart speaks his own mind. His preaching and teaching does not match the word of God. He is a false prophet, a blind leader of the blind. False teachers in the Christian world do what the false prophets did in Israel. They are the cause of the spiritual state of those who profess to be God's people. What the Lord said through Ezekiel is true of them all: "They have seen false visions and lying divinations. They say, 'Declares the LORD,' when the LORD has not sent them." They are self-called and self-sent. Behind them stands the father of lies.
The last part of the verse turns from the speakers to the people listening. Older translations read it as the prophets making others hope that the word would come true.
Such people did not fear the Lord and were not in His confidence. They had only falsehood and divination. They said "Declares the LORD" when He had not sent them, and yet they made people hope that the word would come true.
God sent prophets when things had gone badly wrong. That is exactly where the enemy finds his opening:
God in His goodness raised up the prophet as His messenger. He sent him with His word to the people when things were, or should have been, completely out of the ordinary. Sadly, the enemy of God and man could find his opportunity in this very thing. He imitates what is of God. He puts forward prophets of his own making, who speak lies as though the words came from God, and so lead their followers completely astray.
If anyone can claim to speak for God, the claim itself proves nothing. Something outside the speaker must settle it:
We must remember that everything claiming to be spiritual always has a spirit behind it. "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world." Testing the spirits, then, means testing the teachings of men by the pure Word of God. The Spirit of God can teach nothing contrary to the Word of God.
- Nothing seen. These men had no vision, so the pretence had to be loud; a prophet who sees nothing must act as though he saw.
- Nothing sent. The test is not how sure a message sounds, but who sent it. These men were self-called and self-sent, with the father of lies behind them.
- Nothing but presumption. Saying "Declares the LORD" when He has not spoken profanes His majesty and truth. It makes God's judgment certain.
- Nothing to stand on. They made people hope for the fulfilment of a word God never gave — hope resting on a lie.
- Nothing safe but the Word. Satan imitates the true messenger. So test every teaching by the pure Word of God, which the Spirit never contradicts.
Have ye not seen a vain vision, and spoken a lying divination, when ye say, Jehovah saith; and I have not spoken?
God turns and puts a question to the prophets of Israel. They had signed their messages with His name. He had said nothing. The verse opens a gap between the claim and the truth. It raises a question anyone who listens to religious talk must face. How do you tell a word from God from a word God never spoke?
The charge running through the chapter is that these men spoke what came from inside them. Kelly ties the offence to who God is:
To be a prophet out of one's own heart is to ensure judgment from God. He is gracious and merciful, yet He must be jealous of His majesty and truth when they are so completely misrepresented and profaned. What could be the end, for themselves and for those who followed them, but destruction?
The verse names two things: a false vision and a lying divination. One commentator explains what a prophet's word really was, and why the counterfeits had to pretend to see:
The word the prophet spoke was not simply something worked up out of a man's own "inner consciousness," as people describe it today — a kind of divination, a spiritual mind predicting the future from what he saw in front of him. On the contrary, it was no human judgment that they claimed to bring, but the judgment of God Himself. So it was not their own saying, but the Lord's saying. Israel understood this so well that the false prophets themselves had to go this far in their pretence. If they saw nothing, they had to pretend that they saw.
The verse says the Lord had not spoken; the chapter also says He had not sent them. Gaebelein widens this into a test, and names who stands behind such men:
Every man who prophesies out of his own heart, who speaks his own mind, whose preaching and teaching does not follow the word of God, is a false prophet, a blind leader of the blind. What the Lord said through Ezekiel is true of all such men: "They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The Lord says, and the Lord has not sent them." They are self-called and self-sent. Behind them stands the father of lies.
Why were there so many false prophets in the first place? A commentator traces it to the prophet's place in Israel:
Priest and king belonged to the established order of things, so their office passed from father to son in the ordinary way. With the prophet it was different. There was no provision for the prophet to continue. God in His goodness raised him up specially, as His messenger, to bring His word to the people. The state of things then was, or should have been, completely exceptional. Sadly, the adversary of God and man could find his opportunity in this very way. He imitates what is of God. He brings forward prophets of his own invention to speak falsehood as if it came from God, and so leads their followers completely astray.
False prophecy also has an appeal. Another writer, comparing the narrow and the broad way, points to what marked these prophets out:
The false prophets in Ezekiel 13 made it very easy for people to go along. They prophesied out of their own heart. The serious thing was that they followed their own spirit and paid no attention to the words of God.
Kelly, tracing how a people reaches this point, locates the source of the rot:
It is painful but profitable to trace the progress of religious corruption. It arises not from outside, but from within. It seems no outward temptation could have brought the people of Judah to rebel so boldly. Corrupt prophets and a corrupt priesthood did.
- Source. The fault begins inside. These men prophesied out of their own hearts and followed their own spirit, ignoring God's words. Any teaching that does not follow God's word is false teaching, whatever name it carries.
- Pretence. Having seen nothing, they had to pretend they had seen. Only a message carrying the Lord's name would get a hearing.
- Sender. They were self-called and self-sent, with the father of lies standing behind them.
- Appeal. Their message made it easy for people to go along. Kelly adds that such corruption grows from within a people, not from outside pressure.
- Sentence. Speaking from your own heart in God's name brings judgment. God is jealous of His truth, and destruction reaches the followers too, not just the speakers.
Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah Because ye speak vanity, and have seen lies, therefore behold, I am against you, saith the Lord Jehovah.
God speaks here against the prophets of Israel. They told the people what the people wanted to hear, and God's verdict falls on their words rather than their behaviour. Two questions follow. What made their message false? And what does it mean when God says He is against them?
The verse opens with "because." The sentence rests on a reason, and the verses just before give it: these men prophesied out of their own hearts and had seen nothing. One commentator treats this as the root offence, and explains why God cannot let it pass.
To prophesy out of your own heart is to make sure of judgment from God. However gracious and merciful He is, He must be jealous for His majesty and His truth, which such prophecy completely misrepresents and profanes. What end could there be, for themselves and for those who followed them, but destruction? Such men did not fear Jehovah and did not have His secret. They had only falsehood and divination, since they said, "Jehovah says," when He had not sent them — and still they made people hope that the word would come true.
They had seen nothing, and still spoke as if God had shown them something. In Israel a prophet was expected to bring God's own word, not his own opinion. So a man with nothing to say had one option left.
The word the prophet spoke was not something produced out of a man's own "inner consciousness," as people describe it today. It was not a spiritual mind guessing at the future from what it could see in front of it. What they claimed to bring was not a human judgment at all, but the judgment of God Himself. So it was not their own saying, but Jehovah's saying. This was so well known in Israel that even the false prophets had to make the same claim. If they saw nothing, they had to pretend that they saw.
The declaration is personal. God does not simply disapprove of the message. He takes His stand against the men who bring it. He said the same thing about prophets like these in Jeremiah, and one commentator sums up why.
They had no authority at all. If they had made His people hear His words, they would have turned them from their evil way. Jehovah fills heaven and earth. He was not ignoring them. He took note of those who prophesied lies in His name. If they had His word, let them speak it faithfully. "Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?"
The chapter also names what these men left undone.
In Ezekiel's day the prophets should have been men who had gone up into the breaches, proclaiming the faithful word of Jehovah, while also seeking, if possible, to build up the wall that had been broken down, so that it might stand in the battle, even in the day of Jehovah.
A message with nothing in it still drew a crowd. It asked nothing of the hearer.
False teachers would claim the path is not as narrow as Scripture makes it. What marked the false prophets in Ezekiel 13 was that they made it very easy for people to go along, because they prophesied out of their own heart. The serious thing was that they followed their own spirit and paid no attention to the words of God.
Commentators apply this chapter to the present day. They place the danger inside God's people, not outside.
It is painful but profitable to trace the progress of religious corruption; it arises not from without, but from within. No outward temptation, it seems, could have brought the people of Judah to rebel as boldly as corrupt prophets and a corrupt priesthood did.
The test of a teacher is where the message comes from.
Every man who prophesies out of his own heart, who speaks his own mind, whose preaching and teaching does not follow the word of God, is a false prophet, a blind leader of the blind. Like the false prophets in Israel, the false teachers in Christendom are the cause of the spiritual state of the people who profess to belong to God. They are self-called and self-sent. Behind them stands the father of lies.
- Source. The offence is not a slip in delivery but a wrong origin — a message drawn from a man's own heart rather than from God.
- Pretence. Having seen nothing, they had to act as though they had seen, borrowing God's name to carry their own opinion.
- Opposition. God does not withdraw. He notes those who speak lies in His name and stands against them.
- Appeal. Such preaching spreads because it widens the road and asks nothing of the conscience.
- Safeguard. Decline starts inside the people of God, through teachers they accept. So test every teaching by the word of God.
And my hand shall be against the prophets that see vanity and that divine lies they shall not be in the council of my people, neither shall they be written in the register of the house of Israel, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel and ye shall know that I [am] the Lord Jehovah.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Because, yea because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace! and there is no peace; and one buildeth up a wall, and lo, they daub it with untempered [mortar] --
God sends Ezekiel against prophets who kept telling a doomed city that all was well. Their comfort was only a wall with a coat of plaster over it — "whitewash" in the ESV, "untempered mortar" in older translations.
God says these prophets misled His people. One writer shows how they did it, and what was hiding under their wall.
They claimed to be angels of light — as Satan's agents among God's people always do — but the evil that flourished around them told the truth about them. These were the men who swarmed everywhere, the more so as the true prophet of the Lord grew scarce. They banded together and backed up one another's words. One built up a wall, and another coated it with untempered mortar, and it could never stand the storm that was at hand. God would bring it down to the dust and expose the foundation it stood on: a lie, all through, a lie that could only destroy those who trusted in it. Their promise of peace could only provoke war, and their pretended safety could only provoke God to sweep away the refuge of lies.
Untempered mortar is mortar that will not hold. The problem here is the material itself.
Making mortar meant treading clay. The false prophets promised peace to Jerusalem when God was threatening judgment. Their work was like building a wall and daubing it with untempered mortar: God's wind would blow the wall down. Ezekiel 13:10-15. This teaches a lesson we need — we must build everything for God with God's materials, or it will not stand.
The same coating goes onto souls today, wherever preachers try to make the gospel simple.
There is much reason to fear that many preachers today, in their efforts to make the gospel simple, lose sight of two things. One is the eternal necessity of repentance. The other is the essential necessity of the work of the Holy Spirit. Without these, so-called faith is only a human exercise. It fades like the morning mist and leaves the soul still in the region of nature, satisfied with itself, daubed with the untempered mortar of a merely human gospel. That gospel cries, "Peace, peace," where there is no peace, but the most pressing danger.
One writer applies the picture to the ruin of Judah, and names the one thing that could have saved her.
You cannot avoid so sad an end by "daubing with untempered mortar" — by trying to heal divisions while glossing over the evils that led to them, and so failing to hear the voice of God in them. One course, and one alone, would have saved Judah: real self-judgment and a broken spirit before the Lord, causing the people to "tremble at His Word."
One writer applies verses 10-15 to a day still ahead, when the leaders of Israel trust a peace that leaves God out.
At that time they will believe that they are at last firmly settled in their land, and that an age of peace without God has begun. They will say, "Peace," when there is no peace. They will build a wall of protection around themselves and daub it with untempered mortar. But a stormy wind will tear it apart, and great hailstones will destroy it in the wrath of God.
For anyone who works with souls, the warning becomes a short list of rules.
Let us avoid everything that would lead to such disastrous results, whatever it costs our own reputation for success in the work of the Lord. Never daub the wall with untempered mortar, saying, Peace! peace! when there is no peace. Never hurry a soul into confession. Never treat sin lightly. Preach truth as well as grace. Emphasize repentance.
- Wall. The people build the shelter themselves. The prophets only add the coating, so the false comfort belongs to both.
- Daub. The prophets add a coating that hides the cracks. It is mortar that will not bind.
- Storm. God Himself sends the wind and the hail. The test is not how a wall looks in calm weather. It is whether it stands when His judgment strikes.
- Exposure. When the wall goes down, God uncovers the foundation: a lie all the way through. Covering evil never removes it. It only destroys those who trusted the cover.
- Alternative. What would have saved Judah still saves today. It is honest self-judgment, trembling at God's Word, and building only with God's materials. Preach truth as well as grace, and never treat sin lightly.
say unto them which daub it with untempered [mortar] that it shall fall there shall be an overflowing rain, and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall, and a stormy wind shall burst forth.
Ezekiel is speaking to prophets who promised safety to Jerusalem. God names the storm that will hit their plastered wall: flooding rain, hailstones, and a wind that tears. What happens to a defence that looks finished but was never built to hold? (The ESV says "whitewash." Older translations call it "untempered mortar," and the writers below use that older wording.)
God's charge falls on the coating, not on the wall. One commentator calls such a defence a sham, and shows who stands behind the storm:
He will not have His people led away to their ruin while the ones who mislead them go unpunished. Least of all will He hear the holy name of peace twisted to selfish mischief. It is like a wall of defence built, but only smeared with mortar that will not hold. What is it but a sham? "It shall fall" is the word to the builders. "An overflowing shower comes, and you, O great hailstones, shall fall, and a storm of wind shall tear it." The Lord pledges Himself to such a judgment. Every refuge of lies will be torn down, and both the misleaders and the misled will be destroyed. They will know, with dread, that it is God who is judging the false prophets and their vision of a peace that is no peace.
The wall does not just collapse. God brings it down far enough to show what it stood on. The judgment destroys, and it also exposes.
The scarcer the true prophet of the Lord became, the more these men swarmed around. They banded together and confirmed one another's words. One built up a wall and another smeared it with mortar that would not hold. It could never stand the storm that was at hand. God would bring it down completely to the dust, so that the foundation it was built on would be uncovered — a lie, all the way through. It could only work the destruction of those who trusted in it.
The coating failed because of what it was made of. That rule reaches far past Ezekiel's day:
The false prophets promised peace to Jerusalem when God threatened to bring judgement. Their work is compared to building a wall and covering it with mortar that will not hold. God's wind would blow down the wall. Ezek. 13:10-15. This teaches a needed lesson: everything built for God must be built with God's materials, otherwise it will not stand. Compare 1 Cor. 3:11-15.
Commentators also read the picture forward. One sees the same wall and the same storm in a day still to come for Israel:
They will believe at this time that they are at last firmly settled in their land, and that an era of peace without God has begun. They will say, "Peace, and there is no peace." They will build a wall of protection around themselves and cover it with mortar that will not hold. But a stormy wind will tear it, and great hailstones will consume it in the wrath of God (Ezek. 13:10-15).
Another aims the same picture at Christendom — the world of people who call themselves Christian. Its comfort, he warns, is not kindness:
We dare not try to prophesy smooth things — to cry peace, peace, when there is no peace, but obvious ruin and judgment close at hand. What possible use is it to smear the wretched walls of Christendom with the untempered mortar of human thoughts and opinions? "Use," did I say? It is positive cruelty. As surely as God is in heaven, the stormy blast of divine judgment will before long demolish those walls and sweep them away.
Another writer turns the warning into plain advice for anyone who helps another soul:
Never smear the wall with mortar that will not hold, saying, "Peace! peace!" when there is no peace. Never hurry a soul into confession. Never treat sin lightly. Preach truth as well as grace. Emphasize repentance. Do not count your chickens before they are hatched, nor break the shell to hatch them. If you do, they will not be strong.
- Coating, not building. They covered the wall instead of strengthening it. A covering that will not hold makes a defence a sham, and God's word to its builders is that it will fall.
- Materials decide. Everything built for God must be built with God's materials, or it will not stand.
- The storm uncovers. God pledges Himself to this judgment. He brings the wall down to the dust and lays bare its foundation — a lie all the way through that destroys everyone who trusted it.
- The pattern returns. Commentators apply the same picture forward: to a day when Israel trusts a peace without God, and to the smooth words spoken over Christendom today.
- Kindness that kills. Crying "peace" where there is no peace is not mercy but cruelty. The honest way is to preach truth as well as grace, and to stress repentance.
And lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing with which ye have daubed [it]?
The wall here is not brick and stone. It is a false message. Prophets in Israel told a doomed city it was safe, and others coated their words to make them look solid. When the storm brings that wall down, one question is left: where did the coating go? (Older translations call the covering "untempered mortar.")
The picture comes from ordinary building work. Builders smeared plaster over a wall to give it a finished face. The prophets did the same for a doomed nation.
The false prophets promised peace to Jerusalem when God threatened to bring judgement. Their work was like building a wall and daubing it with untempered mortar: God's wind would blow the wall down. Ezek. 13:10-15. This teaches a needed lesson. Everything built for God must be built with God's materials, or it will not stand.
Verse 12 is the moment the covering is gone and the base lies bare. The weather alone did not bring the wall down. What went into it from the start did.
Yet these were the men who swarmed around, and the scarcer the Lord's true prophet became, the more of them there were. They banded together and backed up one another's words. One built up a wall and another daubed it with untempered mortar, and it could never stand the storm that was at hand. God would bring it right down to the dust, so that the foundation it was built on would come to light — a lie, all through, which could only destroy those who trusted in it. Their promise of peace could only bring war, and their pretence of safety only moved God to sweep away the refuge of lies.
One writer also reads the passage as pointing forward. In that reading, the leaders of the Jews make a covenant that leaves God out, and the same storm falls on the shelter they build.
Isaiah 28:14-20 speaks of this covenant as a God-defying covenant on the part of the leaders of the Jews. At that time they will believe they are settled in their land at last, and that an age of peace without God has begun. They will say, "Peace," when there is no peace. They will build a wall of protection around themselves and daub it with untempered mortar. But a stormy wind will tear it apart, and great hailstones will destroy it in the wrath of God (Ezekiel 13:10-15).
The wind, rain and hail are not random. They are the test that shows what a person was resting on all along.
Heaven is silent today: no fiery bolts proceed from there to drive the guilty into eternal woe. But before long a real hurricane of divine wrath will burst out. It will reveal beyond dispute where men stand. Every unreal structure will then totter and fall. A fine moral and religious front will not shield anyone from judgement who has not trusted the Saviour and His precious blood as a lost sinner. As the prophet declared ages ago: "the hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overwhelm the shelter" (Isa. 28:17). Happy, eternally happy, is the man who has built on Christ, the Son of God. This foundation will stand, and this alone.
One writer applies the image to preaching in Christendom — the whole professing Christian world. Smooth words that leave people in danger are not kindness at all.
Of what possible use is it to daub the wretched walls of Christendom with the untempered mortar of human thoughts and opinions? "Use," did I say? It is positive cruelty. As sure as God is in heaven, the stormy blast of divine judgment will soon demolish those walls and sweep them away.
This turns into plain rules for preaching and for helping a troubled soul.
Never daub the wall with untempered mortar, saying, Peace! peace! when there is no peace. Never hurry a soul into confession. Never treat sin lightly. Preach truth as well as grace. Emphasize repentance.
The same warning covers how believers handle trouble among themselves. Smoothing over a division is whitewash too.
You cannot avoid such a sad result by "daubing with untempered mortar" — trying to heal divisions by glossing over the evils that caused them, and so failing to hear the voice of God in them. One course, and one alone, would have saved Judah: genuine self-judgment and brokenness of spirit before the Lord.
- Coating. Plaster on a wall gives a finished look. The prophets' promise of peace did the same for a doomed city.
- Cracks. Lies went into the wall from the base up. No coating on the surface could hold it against the storm.
- Collapse. God's wind, rain and hail bring it to the ground. Verse 12 asks where the coating went; the foundation now lies bare.
- Exposure. The storm shows beyond argument where each person stands. Only what rests on Christ survives.
- Correction. Anyone who speaks for God must use God's materials: truth as well as grace, repentance pressed home, sin never treated lightly.
Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah I will cause to burst forth a stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing rain in mine anger, and hail-stones in fury for utter destruction.
The wall in this chapter was never real protection — it was a screen of comfortable words that other men whitewashed to look solid. Here God speaks in the first person: the storm that levels it is not bad weather but His own wrath, and it tests everything we build and every message we preach.
False prophets multiplied as true ones grew scarce, and they backed up each other's words. When God brings their wall down, the fall uncovers what it rested on.
These men swarmed in ever greater numbers as the true prophet of the Lord grew scarce. They banded together and confirmed one another's words. One built up a wall, and another daubed it with untempered mortar, which could never stand the storm that was at hand. God would bring it down to the dust, so that everyone would see the foundation it stood on — a lie, all through, which could work nothing but the destruction of those who trusted in it. Their prophesying of peace could only provoke war. Their pretence of security could only provoke God to sweep away the refuge of lies.
These men spoke out of their own hearts and put God's name on it. That is why the sentence falls so hard.
To prophesy out of your own heart is to ensure judgment from God. However gracious and merciful He is, He must be jealous of His majesty and truth, which such prophets utterly misrepresent and profane. What could be the end for themselves and such as followed them but destruction? They were like foxes in the ruins, full of craft and mischief.
The wind that bursts out here is not loose weather.
God uses the wind, as He uses everything else, to work out His purposes with man. Exodus 10:13; Psalm 135:7; Ezekiel 13:13.
The hail turns a mercy into a weapon.
The hail brings the thought out sharply — the frozen drops of rain. Those gentle showers that water the earth so it can bring forth its fruit are turned into death-dealing wrath! For a world that rejects Christ, wrath is stored up for the day of wrath, and the hail is a picture of it (Exodus 9:22; Haggai 2:17; Psalm 18:12; Revelation 16:21).
Untempered mortar was a coating daubed on to make the wall look finished. The failure was in the material, and that carries a rule far past Ezekiel's day.
The false prophets promised peace to Jerusalem while God was threatening judgment. Ezekiel compares their work to building a wall and daubing it with untempered mortar: God's wind would blow the wall down (Ezekiel 13:10-15). This teaches a needed lesson. Everything built for God must be built with God's materials, or it will not stand (compare 1 Corinthians 3:11-15).
Some writers see this pattern repeated in a future time of false security.
At that time they will believe they are settled in their land at last, and that an age of peace without God has begun. They will say, "Peace," when there is no peace. They will build a wall of protection around themselves and daub it with untempered mortar. But a stormy wind will tear it apart, and great hailstones will consume it in the wrath of God (Ezekiel 13:10-15).
Soothing words in the face of judgment look kind. One writer applies the picture to Christendom — the professing Christian world — and gives them a harder name.
What use is it to daub the sorry walls of Christendom with the untempered mortar of human thoughts and opinions? "Use," did I say? It is nothing less than cruelty. As certainly as God is in heaven, the stormy blast of divine judgment will soon demolish those walls and sweep them away.
The alternative is not harshness. It is refusing to let anyone feel safe on a foundation that will not hold.
Never daub the wall with untempered mortar, saying, "Peace, peace," when there is no peace. Never hurry a soul into confession. Never treat sin lightly. Preach truth as well as grace. Emphasize repentance.
- The lie — Prophets speaking out of their own hearts put God's name on their own ideas. God is jealous of His truth, and judgment follows.
- The wall — Comfortable words are a wall that others plaster over. Whatever we build for God must use His materials, or it will not stand.
- The storm — Wind, rain and hail are His servants, so what would have watered a harvest comes down as wrath instead.
- The exposure — When the wall falls, everyone sees its foundation: a lie all the way through, and it destroys those who sheltered behind it.
- The warning — Plastering over coming judgment is cruelty, not kindness. Preach truth alongside grace, and never treat sin lightly.
And I will break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered [mortar], and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered; and it shall fall, and ye shall be destroyed in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I [am] Jehovah.
Ezekiel 13 turns from the nation's rulers to its prophets — men who told a doomed city that all was well. Here God tears down the wall they coated, and the coaters die inside it. (Older translations call the whitewash "untempered mortar," the wording the writers below use.)
The picture comes from ordinary building work, where the mortar decided whether a wall stood.
Mortar was made by treading the clay (Nahum 3:14). The false prophets promised peace to Jerusalem when God threatened to bring judgment. Their work is like building a wall and daubing it with untempered mortar: God's wind would blow down the wall (Ezekiel 13:10-15). This teaches a needed lesson. Everything built for God must use God's materials, or it will not stand: compare 1 Corinthians 3:11-15.
These prophets had no word from God, so they supplied one themselves.
To be a prophet out of one's own heart is to ensure judgment from God, who, however gracious and merciful, must be jealous of His majesty and truth, which are utterly misrepresented and profaned. What could be the end, for themselves and for those who followed them, but destruction?
God takes the wall right down to the ground to show what was underneath. The fall condemns the builders and everyone who leaned on their work, and it shows who the Lord is.
The scarcer the Lord's true prophet became, the more these men swarmed around. They banded together and confirmed one another's words. One built up a wall and another daubed it with untempered mortar. It could never stand the storm that was at hand. God would bring it right down to the dust, so that its foundation would show — a lie all through, which could only destroy those who trusted in it. Their prophesying of peace could only provoke war, and their pretence of security could only provoke God to sweep away the refuge of lies. However much men misrepresent Him, He must still and always be the Lord. Against the men who misrepresent Him He will be found to be Jehovah — the unchanging One.
One writer reads this passage as more than history. The same false confidence returns at the end, when Israel's leaders announce peace without God.
They will believe that they are at last firmly established in their land, and that an era of peace without God has begun. They will say, "Peace, and there is no peace." They will build a wall of protection around themselves and daub it with untempered mortar. But a stormy wind will tear it apart, and great hailstones will destroy it in the wrath of God (Ezekiel 13:10-15).
One writer applies the image to divisions among believers.
"Daubing with untempered mortar" cannot avoid such a sad outcome. It tries to heal divisions by glossing over the evils that led to them, and so fails to hear the voice of God in them. One course, and one alone, would have saved Judah. That was genuine self-judgment and brokenness of spirit before the Lord, causing the people to "tremble at His Word."
That leaves a stark choice, which one writer puts as a question.
Is it better to bear before men the shame of nakedness and the reproach of the apostasy and ruin of the churches, or to daub with untempered mortar and keep up an appearance before men that is not true in the eyes of God?
- Materials — The wall failed because of what it was made of. Build for God with God's materials, or it will not stand.
- Source — The mortar came from men prophesying out of their own hearts. Speaking for God without a word from God secures His judgment.
- Exposure — God levels the wall on purpose, so its foundation shows: a lie all through, destroying everyone who trusted it. Then they know who the Lord is.
- Repeat — The same wall goes up again at the end. Israel's leaders announce peace without God, and a storm tears their shelter apart.
- Choice — The plaster always comes off. So judge yourself honestly now, instead of keeping an appearance God already sees through.
And I will accomplish my fury upon the wall, and upon them that daub it with untempered [mortar], and will say unto you, The wall is no [more], neither they that daubed it,
Ezekiel 13:15 ends God's case against the prophets who promised Jerusalem peace: their wall falls, and they fall with it. Where the ESV says "whitewash," older translations say "untempered mortar" — the useless coating the writers below keep returning to.
A wall of defence that will not hold is worse than useless. God's answer goes to the men behind it.
He will not let anyone lead His people away to ruin and go unpunished. Least of all will He hear men twist the holy name of peace for selfish mischief. It is like a wall of defence that men build and then smear with mortar that will not hold. What is it but a sham? It shall fall, is the word to the builders.
The failure here is one of materials. And the rule holds far beyond Ezekiel's day.
The false prophets promised peace to Jerusalem when God threatened to bring judgement. Scripture compares their work to building a wall and covering it with mortar that would not hold. God's wind would blow the wall down. Ezek. 13:10-15. This teaches a needed lesson: anything built for God must be built with God's materials, or it will not stand. Compare 1 Cor. 3:11-15.
God does not just let the wall fall. He brings it down until what it stood on is in plain view.
These men swarmed around, and the scarcer the true prophet of the Lord became, the more of them appeared. They banded together and confirmed one another's words. One built up a wall and another covered it with mortar that would not hold. That wall could never stand the storm at hand. God would bring it right down to the dust. Then the foundation under it would come to light — a lie, all through. That lie could only destroy the people who trusted in it.
The wall and the men who coated it go down together. Kelly shows how slow God is to reach this point.
What an awful thing it is when the enemies of God morally compel Him to be their enemy! He is long-suffering and rich in mercy, slow to wrath. But when more patience would ruin His saints and compromise His own honour, He declares war on those who undermine His glory by hypocrisy... Jehovah pledges Himself to such a judgment. He will level every refuge of lies. Misleaders and misled will be destroyed alike. Both will know, with dread, that it is God judging the false prophets and their vision of a peace that is no peace.
Mawson reads verses 10-15 as more than past history. He sees Israel building the same false shelter in a day still to come.
At that time they will believe they are settled in their land for good. They will think an era of peace without God has begun. They will say, "Peace, and there is no peace." They will build a wall of protection around themselves and cover it with mortar that will not hold. But a stormy wind will tear it, and great hailstones will consume it in the wrath of God (Ezek. 13:10-15).
Mackintosh turns the image on anyone who preaches comfort where God has announced judgment.
We dare not try to prophesy smooth things. We dare not cry peace, peace, when there is no peace, but obvious ruin and judgment close at hand. What use is it to cover the wretched walls of Christendom with the useless mortar of human thoughts and opinions? "Use," did I say? It is downright cruelty. As surely as God is in heaven, the stormy blast of divine judgment will soon demolish those walls and sweep them away.
The alternative is plain speech about a person's guilt.
It is our duty and privilege to do His work well: not to cover things over with mortar that will not hold, nor to heal a wound lightly. If the conscience must be conquered and the pride of man humbled, then the first and main effort must be to show a man his guilt. We must "open his eyes" to what he has done and is. Then he can take his true place before the God of infinite love and holiness.
- The wall — a defence that looked strong and held nothing. God calls it a sham long before the storm arrives.
- The whitewash — the promise of "peace" that made the sham believable. It was not God's material, so it could not hold.
- The wrath — God levels the wall until its foundation shows: a lie all through. The coating hid nothing.
- The workers — the wall goes, and the men who coated it go with it. Those who misled and those who were misled fall together.
- The warning — covering over what God has condemned is not kindness but cruelty. Plain words that open a person's eyes are the kindness he needs.
the prophets of Israel who prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and who see a vision of peace for her, and there is no peace, saith the Lord Jehovah.
Ezekiel 13 closes by naming the men God has been describing. They were prophets who spoke over Jerusalem, promising peace to a city already marked for judgment. Their story raises a question for every generation: what do you do when God's message and the popular message clash?
The chapter's charge is not that these men were careless, but that their source was themselves. William Kelly weighs what that means before God:
To be a prophet out of one's own heart is to ensure judgment from God. However gracious and merciful He is, He must be jealous of His majesty and truth, which such prophesying utterly misrepresents and profanes. What could be the end, for themselves and for those who followed them, but destruction? They were like foxes among the ruins, full of craft and mischief.
Why was there no peace to announce? F. B. Hole points to the order God Himself keeps:
Notice that purity comes first, before peace. If we think about it we will at once realise that this must be so, since everything is from God. He never compromises with evil, and so there can be no peace except in purity. Again and again this was the burden of the prophets.
What made these prophets popular was that following them cost nothing:
The false prophets in Ezekiel 13 made it very easy for people to go along. The reason was that they prophesied out of their own heart. The serious thing was that they followed their own spirit and paid no attention to the words of God.
Earlier in the chapter, God pictures the false message as fresh plaster smeared over a wall that cannot stand. Older translations call that plaster "untempered mortar"; the ESV calls it whitewash. C. H. Mackintosh applies the image to religious life that refuses to face its own condition:
I know people do not like to hear such teaching. Smooth things are far more agreeable and more popular. But we must speak the truth. We dare not try to prophesy smooth things — to cry peace, peace, when there is no peace, but obvious ruin and imminent judgment. What possible use is it to daub the wretched walls of Christendom with the untempered mortar of human thoughts and opinions? "Use," did I say? It is positive cruelty.
Kelly weighs what it means when men force God to stand against them:
What an awful thing it is when the enemies of God morally compel Him to be their enemy! He is long-suffering, full of mercy, and slow to anger. But patience carried on any longer would ruin His saints and compromise His own honour. So He declares war on those who undermine His glory by hypocrisy and block His holy will for His people. And the anger of the LORD matches His majesty.
Kelly also shows how the punishment answered the message:
The character of the sin is remembered in the punishment. Did the false prophets soothe the national feeling of the Jews by promising a quick return from exile? They themselves would never see the land from which the enemy drove them out. So they would learn who and what their God was, whose name they had trifled with.
The positive side follows. If the fault was making things easy, then honest work with souls will not skip the uncomfortable step:
As His servants and messengers to the souls of men, it is our duty and privilege to do His work well. We must not daub with untempered mortar, nor heal lightly. If the conscience must be conquered and the pride of man humbled, then the first effort must be to show a man his guilt. We must "open his eyes" to what he has done and what he is. Then he may take his true place before the God of infinite love and holiness, in utter hatred of himself and his ways.
J. T. Mawson sees the same false confidence over Jerusalem in days still to come:
They will believe at that time that they are at last firmly established in their land. They will think an era of peace without God has begun. They will say, "Peace, and there is no peace." They will build a wall of protection around themselves and daub it with untempered mortar. But a stormy wind will tear it apart, and great hailstones will destroy it in the wrath of God.
- Source. These prophets spoke "out of their own heart." Kelly says a message that starts in a man, not in God, ends in destruction — for the speaker and for those who follow him.
- Substance. Peace cannot come before purity. God never compromises with evil, so a peace built over unjudged sin has nothing holding it up.
- Appeal. They made the road easy. They followed their own spirit and paid no attention to God's words.
- Cost. Smoothing over ruin is not kindness. Mackintosh calls it cruelty: plaster hides a wall's weakness but never cures it.
- Storm. The wall falls, and God Himself declares war on the men who daubed it. Mawson sees the same false confidence in a future peace made without God, which wind and hail will destroy.