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.