Ezekiel 13
DOYLY— neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel] “Nor made up a wall,” as the Latin Vulgate translates it. Another expression taken from those that are besieged, who if a breach be made in a wall, presently make it up, or build up a new one within it, to prevent the enemy from entering, and becoming masters of the city. The original word, here rendered “hedge,” signifies any other sort of fortification, Ps. lxi. 3. W. Lowth.
it &c.] One laid false grounds of comfort, and the other flourished them over with unsound and plausible pretences. Bp. Hall. Instead of providing such a fence and bulwark as might secure the people against the judgments that threatened them, (see ver. 5,) they have made a slight wall without any morter or cement to bind and strengthen it; that is, they have applied slight and palliating remedies to publick calamities, which will never give true peace to men’s consciences, nor stand them in any stead when God visits for their iniquities: just as if an unskilful builder should undertake to set up a wall, and his fellow workmen should daub it with untempered morter. W. Lowth.
— and will ye save the souls alive] Dare you promise that they shall live, when I promise no such thing? Or can you preserve them alive, whom you deceive by your promises? Are you not at all afraid thus to profane my name, and to ensnare my people? Poole. This verse should seem to mean, that these women made every body easy to his ruin for their own profit. Abp. Secker.
Ezekiel 13:3
- — and have seen nothing!] Who give their own vain imaginations for prophecies, and boast of visions which they have not seen. Calmet.
Ezekiel 13:4
- — foxes in the deserts.] Cowardly, unprofitable,
Ezekiel 13:6
- — they have made others to hope &c.] Their speaking with so much assurance made others confidently expect that the event should answer their predictions. W. Lowth.
Ezekiel 13:9
- — written in the writing of the house of Israel.] Registered in the roll of the house of Israel. Bp. Hall. The expressions being an allusion to the registers that used to be kept of the members of any city or corporation, the privileges of which society none can pretend to but they whose names are entered into such registers. Compare Ezra ii. 62; Ps. lxix. 28; Luke x. 20; Heb. xii. 23. W. Lowth. with untempered morter, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.
Ezekiel 13:11
- — there shall be an overflowing shower;] “When I was at Tozer in December, 1727, we had a small drizzling shower, that continued for the space of two hours; and so little provision was made against accidents of this kind, that several of the houses, which are built only as usual with palm branches, mud, and tiles baked in the sun, corresponding perhaps to, and explanatory of, the ‘untempered morter’ in Ezekiel, fell down by imbibing the moisture of the shower. Nay, provided the drops had been larger, or the shower of a longer continuance, or ‘overflowing,’ in the Prophet’s expression, the whole city would have undoubtedly dissolved and dropt to pieces.” Dr. Show.
Ezekiel 13:13
- — I will even rend it with a stormy wind &c.] Under these metaphors is foretold the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldean army. Thus the Chaldee Paraphrase expounds it: I will bring a mighty king with Before CHRIST 594. The prophetesses reproved, with their impostures. Or, elbows. for her, and there is no peace, saith the Lord God.
Ezekiel 13:17
- — the daughters of thy people.] As there were occasionally true Prophetesses amongst the Jews, such for instance was Miriam, the sister of Moses, Exod. xv. 20; Deborah, Judges iv. 4; Huldah, 2 Kings xxii. 14: so it appears from this, as well as other places of Scripture, that there were others of the same sex who pretended to this gift without Divine authority. Calmet.
Ezekiel 13:18
- — that sew pillows to all armholes, &c.] That speak pleasing and plausible words to all hearers, and fit every man’s humour with their flattering divinations. Bp. Hull. This figurative language may be designed to express, that men were taught by the artifices of these female seducers to recline at ease on their couches, and to partake of banquets in security. Abp. Newcome, W. Lowth. Sir J. Chardin mentions, that people of quality in Asia cause carpets and cushions to be carried wherever they like, in order to repose upon them more agreeably. Harmer. “For their further ease likewise and convenience, there is a row of damask or velvet bolsters, ranged along each side of the floor; an indulgence which seems to be alluded to, by the sewing of pillows to all armholes,’ as we have it expressed by the Prophet Ezekiel.” Dr. Shaw.
— and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature] They did this to persons of every age and stature, without distinction. W. Lowth, Abp. Newcome. We are told by some Oriental travellers, that the Eastern women bind on their other ornaments with a rich or embroidered handkerchief, and which is described as completing the head-dress of the ladies, and falling without order upon the hair behind. This figurative expression, therefore, may, like the former, relate to those whom the false prophetesses flattered into ease by their allurements. See chap. xxiv. 16, 17. 22, &c. Harmer.
— to hunt souls!] That they may drive them into those nets and snares that they have laid for them, and make them their prey. W. Lowth.
souls || to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly.
Ezekiel 13:19
- And will ye pollute me] Will ye profane my name by making use of it to give credit to your own dreams and lies? W. Lowth.
— pieces of bread.] For the meanest reward, Prov. xxviii. 21. W. Lowth.
— to slay the souls] By pronouncing the sentence of death on the righteous, and by assuring the wicked that they should live; see ver. 22. Abp. Newcome.
“To slay” and “to save alive,” signify here, to promise men life, or to threaten them with death. W. Lowth.
Ezekiel 13:20
- — to make them fly.] To make them run into those nets and snares that you have laid for them, ver. 18. The metaphor is continued from the manner of hunting and pursuing living creatures, by that means to drive them into the toils prepared for them. W. Lowth.
Ezekiel 13:22
- — with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, &c.] In terrifying them with those evils, which shall not come; and encouraging wicked men by pretending to secure them against those evils which shall surely fall upon them. Bp. Hull.
The faithful minister makes the word of God his only rule, both of faith and of doctrine: he converts it into nourishment for his own soul’s health and salvation, and then he administers “the sincere milk of the word” to his hearers. Whereas the seducers and false teachers either withhold the Scriptures from the people, and substitute inventions of their own, which, like “walls built and daubed with untempered mortar,” can yield no security or defence. Or they pretend to a particular light within, which is no other than a “vain vision,” a
An exhortation to repentance. Before CHRIST about 594.
famine, 15 of noisome beasts, 17 of the sword, 19 and of pestilence. 22 A remnant shall be reserved for example of others.
THEN came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.