And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain.
In Ezekiel's day crowds came to hear the prophet and sat down in front of him. This verse tells us what God saw in that audience. It also raises the question every listener must face. What is the difference between hearing God's word and doing it?
(A note on wording: these writers quote an older translation — "with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their covetousness." The ESV speaks instead of lustful talk, and of a heart set on gain.)
A congregation in appearance
The nation was already broken and its people carried off. God still pleaded with them through His servant Ezekiel. One writer describes how they treated His warnings:
The Bible TreasuryJudgment had already set in. They were divided, disorganised, and ruined, yet they still turned a deaf ear to all God's solemn warnings through the prophets. This was especially true after the first captivity, when God kept on pleading with His people through His servant Ezekiel. But they refused to take it seriously. They would not let what God said to them touch their consciences.
Listening with the mind already made up
They came, they sat, they heard. What was missing was any will to obey it. One writer names two attitudes that would have changed everything:
J. T. MawsonThese people came to be interested and pleased by the preaching. They came to approve or to criticize, depending on whether the word fitted their own view of things. But they had no intention of obeying the Word they heard. They did not gather with Samuel's cry in their hearts: "Speak, Lord, for your servant hears." They did not ask, as Saul of Tarsus did, "Lord, what will You have me to do?" Their minds were already made up to go their own way, and to please themselves.
Warm words over a cold heart
The mouth was full of love; the heart was somewhere else. One writer points to two men who kissed while planning harm:
Hamilton SmithIt is easy to fake love, and to hide malice by claiming to act in love. Joab can kiss the man he is about to murder (2 Samuel 20:9-10), and Judas can kiss His Master in order to betray Him. The flesh can act like Israel of old, of whom it is written, "With their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their covetousness" (Ezekiel 33:31). Genuine love is an unselfish love that thinks of the good of others.
What blocks the word
One writer lists attitudes a hearer must lay aside before the word can work:
Hamilton SmithLay aside the attitudes that make the preached word useless. Covetousness is not only getting worldly gain unjustly, but loving it too much. This is a great hindrance to the preached word. The seed that fell among thorns was choked. The covetous man is thinking about the world while he is listening; his heart is in his shop.
Partiality in hearing is when we like to hear some truths preached, but not all. We love to hear of heaven, but not of self-denial. Many like the comforts of the word, but not its reproofs.
The same fault appears in the Gospels, where one listener drew a warning from the Lord:
C. E. StuartThe Lord at once warns everyone against covetousness: "one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." How this man may remind us of Ezekiel 33:31 — hearing the word of the Lord, while the heart goes after covetousness all the time!
Hearing without doing
Sitting under the word is not a neutral act. One writer states the result plainly:
William KellyTo hear and not do only increases condemnation. The outcome would prove it: the warning that pleased their ears came true in their destruction.
The test, and the way back
The real question is not how much we have heard, but what it has changed:
J. T. MawsonThe test is this: "How much does all the preaching and teaching of the Word we have listened to affect our practical living? Do we go out from hearing the Word to do it? Or are we like these hypocrites of old who with their mouths showed love, but whose hearts went after their covetousness?"
The same writer names where the cure has to start:
J. T. MawsonThe Word reaches the conscience, and the conscience reaches the heart. But the Word has no effect unless the fear of God is revived in the soul. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, it is the gate of every true blessing.
Summary
- Seat — They sat before the prophet as God's people. The outward form was faultless, but they never let the message touch their consciences.
- Sound — They came to be pleased, ready to approve or criticize, with minds already made up. None of them said with Samuel, "Speak, Lord, for your servant hears."
- Mouth — Love can be faked. Joab kissed the man he was about to kill; Judas kissed his Master to betray Him.
- Heart — Covetousness is loving gain too much. The man sits in the meeting while his heart is in his shop, and the seed falls among thorns.
- Verdict — To hear and not do only increases condemnation. The way back is the fear of God, which lets the Word reach the conscience and the conscience reach the heart.