Ezekiel 13

Chap. XIII. Ver. 1—23. Awful denunciations against false prophets.—This chapter denounces heavy judgments against deceivers, who flattered the people in the midst of sin and danger, with false hopes of peace and security. Themselves, or their attempts rather, are compared to a rude wall of loose stones, badly cemented by mortar not properly prepared, (as Professor Michaelis understands it,) and or therefore could not withstand the battering artillery of. The prophet Ezekiel then reproves the various arts which his opponents employed to seduce the people to idolatry: consisting partly in its indulgences, and partly in its attractions; particularly in the gayety and splendour of its rites. By these the idle and the voluptuous were seduced (or hunted) into the temples of their idols, where every kind of vice was perpetrated destructive to the souls of either priests or people.

The absurdness of idolatry is not more evident than its immoral tendency.

Notes on the verses

Chap. XIII. Ver. 2. Them that prophesy, &c.—‘Them that are prophets but of their own hearts.’ See (Nehemiah 6:8). Ver. 4. Foxes.—Newcome, “Jackalls.” [Crafty, mischievous, and ravenous; always scheming something for their own interest; while they would not risk their persons to avert the mischief which they had caused.]—Bagster. Ver. 5. Made up the hedge.—“Hedged up the hedge;” or “walled up the hedge.” Ver. 6. Vanity (i.e. falsehood) and lying divination.—Heb. “Divination of a lie.”——Hope to confirm the word.—That is, they hoped that their predictions might prove true. Ver. 9. The writing.—Newcome, “The roll of those who shall return.” Ver. 10. One built up a wall.—That is, one gave out a pretended oracle, and the others attempted to support it.

See verse 16. [These false prophets pretend to be a wall of defence; but their wall is bad, and their mortar is worse. One gives a lying vision; another pledges himself that it is true; and the people believe what they say, and trust not in God, nor turn from their sins.]—Bagster. Ver. 11. Overflowing shower.—{It shall wash off this bad mortar, sweep away the wall, and level it with the earth. In the East, where the walls are often built with unbaked bricks, desolations of this kind are frequently occasioned by tempestuous rains.}—Bagster.