Ezekiel 13

REVIEW QUESTIONS

Chronologically, where should the sermons and symbols of Chapter s 12-14 be placed?

By what symbolic act did Ezekiel portray the deportation of Jerusalem’s inhabitants? How did this action relate to King Zedekiah in particular?

Ezekiel prophesied that King Zedekiah would never see the land of Babylon. How was this prophecy fulfilled?

What positive benefits would result from the shattering of the theological notion that Jerusalem could never be destroyed?

How did Ezekiel portray the fear and astonishment which would befall the inhabitants of Jerusalem when the city came under siege?

What did the people mean by the proverb the days are prolonged and every vision has perished? How did Ezekiel respond to this proverb?

What second proverb was common among the Jews? How did Ezekiel respond to this proverb?

How were Jerusalem’s prophets like foxes among the ruins?

What was the wall which surrounded God’s people? What should a prophet have done when that wall began to collapse?

Were the false prophets sincere in their predictions, or were they playing the role of hypocrites?

What punishment would befall the false prophets for presuming to speak in the name of God?

In what sense do God’s modern-day spokesmen whitewash the wall about God’s people?

What objects were used by the prophetesses in their magic rituals? What is thought to have been the purpose of these objects?

What punishment would befall the prophetesses?

What two objections to divine judgment were raised by Ezekiel’s auditors? How did Ezekiel answer these objections?

What threat is made against those who were half-hearted in their commitment to the Lord?

In what sense had God enticed the prophets into their delusions?

What three men are named as being righteous men and great intercessors? Is there any significance in the order in which they are named?

What four types of judgment were about to fall upon Jerusalem?

Ezekiel 13:1-16

III. TWO SCATHING ORACLES DELIVERED

13:1-23

In chapter 13 Ezekiel directs his attack against those who spawned the blasphemous proverbs which he has just refuted in Ezekiel 12:21-28. Ezekiel denounces these prophet-types for undermining the stability of the nation at a time when it needed to be built up. He speaks first of the condemnation of the prophets (Ezekiel 13:1-16), and then of the prophetesses (Ezekiel 13:17-23). In order to grasp the magnitude of the problem faced by the faithful pro-claimer of God’s word in this period, Jeremiah 29 should be read in connection with these denunciations.

A. The Condemnation of the Prophets 13:1-16

TRANSLATION

(1) And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, (2) Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel, who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy from their own heart, Hear the word of the LORD. (3) Thus says the Lord GOD: Woe unto the foolish prophets who walk after their spirit, and have seen nothing! (4) Like the foxes among the ruins are your prophets, O Israel! (5) You did not go up into the gaps, nor did you put up a fence around the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD. (6) They have seen vanity and lying divination who say, Oracle of the LORD, when the LORD has not sent them, and they expect that this word will be confirmed. (7) Have you not seen a vain vision, and spoken a lying divination when you continually say, Oracle of the LORD, even though I did not speak? (8) Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, Because you have spoken vanity and seen lies, therefore behold I am against you (oracle of Lord GOD). (9) And My hand shall be against the prophets who see vanity and lying divination. They shall not be in the assembly of My people nor shall they be written in the register of the house of Israel, nor shall they come unto the land of Israel, that you may know that I am the Lord GOD. (10) Because, even because, they have caused My people to err, saying, Peace, when there is no peace; and one builds up a wall, and behold, others coat it with whitewash. (11) Say unto those who coat it with whitewash that it shall fall. There shall be a torrential shower, and hail stones shall fall and a stormy wind shall rend it, (12) Behold when the wall has fallen shall it not be said unto you, Where is the coating with which you coated it? (13) Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD: I will rend it with a stormy wind in My fury, and there shall be a torrential shower in My anger, and hailstones in fury to consume it. (14) So I will smash the wall which you have daubed with lime, and bring it to the ground, and its foundations shall be uncovered, and it shall fall, and you shall be destroyed in its midst, that you may know that I am the LORD. (15) Thus I will complete My wrath on the wall, and on those who daubed it with whitewash, and I will say to you, The wall is no more, and those who coated it are no more, (16) the prophets of Israel who prophesy unto Jerusalem and who see visions of peace for her when there is no peace (oracle of the Lord GOD).

COMMENTS

Basically two charges are leveled against the national prophets (1) they had undermined the nation (Ezekiel 13:1-7); and (2) they had encouraged false security (Ezekiel 13:8-16).

Surely it must have been with sarcasm that Ezekiel referred to his opponents as the prophets of Israel. These were the spiritual leaders preferred by the rebellious nation. Their messages had no higher authority than their own heart. For those deceivers Ezekiel had a genuine word from the Lord (Ezekiel 13:2). Plumptre captures the revulsion which Ezekiel must have felt when he denounced the false prophets when he writes

To one who was conscious that he had a message which he had not devised himself, and which he had not been taught by men; that he had no selfish by ends in what he said and did; that he was risking peace, reputation, life itself, for the truth revealed to him nothing could be more repulsive than this claim to have seen a vision of Jehovah, by men who had in reality seen nothing.[278]

[278] Plumptre, PC p. 228.

Ezekiel pronounced a woe upon those foolish prophets (lit., the prophets, the fools). The Hebrew for foolish (nebal)[279] denotes more than stupidity. The fool was a person arrogant, blasphemous, and devoid of ethical and religious scruples.[280] Such were the prophets who followed their own spirit rather than the leading of God’s Spirit. Their message was grounded in self-deception things which they have not seen (Ezekiel 13:3). The spiritual progeny of those prophetic pretenders are those today who present human wisdom as though it were from above.

[279] A deliberate word play between the word for prophet (nabi) and fool (nabhal) is probably intended.

[280] The fool (nabhal) was inclined to blasphemy (Psalms 74:18) and atheism (Psalms 14:1) and immorality. (2 Samuel 13:13).

Israel’s prophets they are not God’S prophets are compared to foxes among the ruins (Ezekiel 13:4). Like foxes they were cunning and destructive. Foxes find a natural habitation among the ruins of cities and their presence only increased the devastation. So the false prophets had infiltrated the nation that was crumbling to destruction. They had no real concern for the people among whom they lived. They burrowed about among the foundations without any concern for the welfare of the place, intent only at making dens for themselves. In an atmosphere of uncertainty and insecurity charlatans could easily gain a hearing for dogmatic optimism. But their pious platitudes and perverted theology served to further undermine the already precarious position of the nation.

The evidence of the falsity of the popular prophets was the fact that they did not grasp the serious situation which confronted the nation. In the hour of peril those characters had made no contribution to the national defenses. The great need of the hour was for spiritual leaders to go up into the breaches[281] in the moral walls that protected Israel from defeat and destruction. The figure here is that of warfare; when a wall is breached the defenders must go up into the gap, i.e., quickly repair the break. The work of the true prophets was to preach on the great moral themes to point out transgression and call for repentance so that a protective hedge could be erected about the nation. As long as Israel followed the law of God the nation was untouchable. But because of unfaithfulness Israel faced the judgment of the day of the LORD[282] when the nation would have to defend itself against invasion. The popular prophets had done nothing to prepare the nation for this ordeal (Ezekiel 13:5). When the storm of judgment broke forth in 587 B.C. most of the nation was spiritually (as well as militarily) unprepared.

[281] Cf. Isaiah 58:12; Psalms 106:23.

[282] The day of the Lord in Scripture is always future and consists of the next great judgmental act of God.

The false prophets had seen only vanity. Their visions were the fancy of their deluded minds and their predictions about the future were lying divination. Divination was the pseudo-science of foretelling the future by human devices rather than by divinely inspired oracles. True prophets never made use of divination. However, false prophets blatantly used the standard prophetic formula oracle of the Lord;[283] but God had nothing to do with their mission. So self-deluded were those prophets that they actually believed that their words would be fulfilled (Ezekiel 13:6). In attempting to deceive others they had actually deceived themselves. In an abrupt change of person not uncommon in Biblical style, Ezekiel directed a rhetorical question to the pretenders (Ezekiel 13:7). Perhaps he could shame them into confessing the falsity of their claims and methods.

[283] Cf. Jeremiah 14:14; Jeremiah 23:21.

The punishment of those prophetic pretenders is spelled out in Ezekiel 13:8-9.

1. Those who perverted the divine word are declared to be the enemies of God. In a formula which possibly originated in the days of hand-to-hand combat, God declared His implacable hostility toward these prophets Behold l am against you (Ezekiel 13:8). The hand of God which had meant such strength and encouragement to Ezekiel, would be raised against those prophets in anger.

2. The presently influential prophets would be discredited as counselors and leaders. But in the future they would have no place in the council of the people.

3. Presently their names were high on the national register;[284] but in the future they would not be written in the register of the house of Israel. Such an act would be tantamount to losing full citizenship in the nation. There is no specific mention of a name being struck from the register in Old Testament times. It is probable, therefore, that Ezekiel contemplates a new register in which their names would never appear.

[284] Cf. Isaiah 4:3 Ezra 2 and Nehemiah 7 are examples of such a register which had civil and religious significance.

4. These prophetic pretenders would not even have a place in the land of Israel. The fulfillment of these threats would serve as another convincing proof of the justice and power of Yahweh (Ezekiel 13:9).

The indictment of the false prophets continues in verses Ezekiel 10:12. This indictment is introduced by an unusual repetition of the conjunction because. Even as impending calamity closed in on the inhabitants of Judah the prophets at home and abroad were assuring their constituents that all was well. The Hebrew noun translated peace (shalom) in this context refers to national prosperity and security. Such optimistic assessments is likened to the building of a wall. The word for wall chayits signifies a wall of stones heaped one upon another with no mortar to hold them together. A coat of whitewash (taphel) in no way added to the strength of such a wall; it only served to conceal the dangerous character of the wall (Ezekiel 13:10). The wall represents the false hopes which the people are erecting for themselves and which the false prophets are indorsing by their lying lullabies (Taylor). How tragic that some spiritual leaders cater to the desires of their auditors and yield to the temptation to speak pleasant and appeasing words to their people. Disaster is inevitable when religious leaders encourage people in unbiblical ways. By indorsing revolt against Babylon and promising divine deliverance from the inevitable confrontation with that power the false prophets had created a spirit of complacency and unwarranted security, But the wall of theological and political promises which they had built would collapse at a touch and thus leave the population exposed and vulnerable.

God had a word for the prophetic whitewash crew. Torrential rains, hailstones[285] and wind would put their deceitful wall to the test (Ezekiel 13:11). When that wall fell and fall it surely would angry citizens who had been deceived and misled would hold those prophets up to derision: where is the coating. .? the lies with which they sought to establish national security (Ezekiel 13:12). The stormy wind, hailstones and torrential rain of military assault would demonstrate the fury and anger of God against His people (Ezekiel 13:13). The fall of the whitewashed wall of imaginary security would be God’s doing. In that day even the very foundations of those walls the false theological notions about God’s relationship to Judah would be exposed to plain view. The use of whitewash instead of mortar is what made the false prophet a criminal. The prophets would be destroyed by the collapse of their wall of words. They would be overwhelmed in the disaster which would befall the people they had deceived. In that day the prophets would know that Yahweh was faithful to His word of judgment as well as to His word of promise (Ezekiel 13:14). When that fury had been completely poured out, God would announce that both the metaphorical wall and those who built it no longer exist (Ezekiel 13:15). The nation did not enjoy peace with God, nor with the superpower of that day. Those who claimed to have received revelations to the contrary were clearly worthy of the heavenly judgment just announced (Ezekiel 13:16).

[285] The hailstones are addressed as God’s agents for the destruction of the wall, Some repoint the Hebrew to get the meaning, and I will cause great hailstones to fall. The meaning is the same in either case.

Ezekiel 13:17-23

B. The Condemnation of the Prophetesses 13:17-23

TRANSLATION

(17) And as for you, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people who are prophesying from their heart, and prophesy against them. (18) And you shall say, Thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to those who sew bands for every joint of the arm, and make veils for the head of every height to lie in wait for souls. Will you lie in wait for My people, while you save your own lives? (19) And will you profane Me among My people in exchange for handfuls of barley and pieces of bread to slay souls who should not die, and to save souls who should not live by your lying to My people who hear (your) lies? (20) Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD: Behold I am against your pillows by which you lie in wait for souls there to make them like birds,[286] and I will rend them from upon your arms and I will send forth the souls, the souls for whom you have been lying in wait to make them fly. (21) And I will rend your coverings, and I will deliver My people from your hands, and they shall not again be in your hand to be hunted down, that you may know that I am the LORD. (22) Because you have made sad the heart of the righteous with lies, when I did not make him sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not turn from his evil way to cause him to live. (23) Therefore you shall see no more vanity, nor engage in divination again; for I shall deliver My people from your hand, that you may know that I am the LORD.

[286] The text is difficult to translate. KJV and ASV render, to make them fly.

COMMENTS

When it came to condemnation, the Old Testament prophets were not respecters of persons. They condemned wayward women as well as wayward men.[287] The women here are not called prophetesses,[288] but women who play the role of prophet. The description of their activities suggests that they were more like witches. Times of national decay and crisis produce an abundance of female psychics, astrologers, palm readers and the like who prey on credulous and anxious minds. It is not surprising that in the turbulent first decade of the sixth century such leeches would appear. The ways of Babylon, where necromancy and divination abounded, had been adopted by the Jews. For good as for evil, the influence of women in religious life was stronger than in most other nations of antiquity.

[287] Besides the present section, the following passages are critical of women Amos 4:1-3; Isaiah 3:16 to Isaiah 4:1; Isaiah 32:9-13,

[288] The title prophetess is also bestowed on Deborah (Judges 4:4 ff.) Huldah (2 Kings 22:14), Miriam (Exodus 15:20); and Noadiah (Nehemiah 6:14) and Isaiah’s wife (Isaiah 8:1) In the New Testament compare Luke 2:36 ff ;:Acts 21:9; Revelation 2:20; 1 Corinthians 11:5.

The prophetesses as well as their male counterparts were aggravating the spiritual and political problems of Judah. In Ezekiel 13:17-19 Ezekiel lists a number of accusations against these women.

1. Like the prophets, these women prophesied out of their own heart. Their message was of human rather than of divine origin (Ezekiel 13:17).

2. These women employed magical arts by which they pre tended to foretell the future. Magic bands[289] perhaps cases containing incantations and charms were sewn on their wrists.[290] This seems to be similar to a Babylonian custom in which a sorcerer would bind the wrist of a client to symbolize the binding power of the spell or incantation which was pronounced.[291] The sorceresses would also drape their clients with full-length veils or shawls.[292] They possessed a whole wardrobe of such veils adapted to persons of various heights, so that in all cases it shrouded their whole form (Ezekiel 13:18). Just what the purpose of these veils was cannot now be determined. Some spoken spell must have accompanied the use of these objects (cf. Ezekiel 13:17).

[289] In post-biblical Hebrew hesathoth had the meaning of cushions; but here that meaning is unlikely.

[290] Lit., joints of my hands. This expression has been taken to refer to the knuckles, arm-holes and elbows as well as the wrists. The first person possessive suffix on the word is most difficult to explain. Perhaps the meaning is that the sorceresses were trying to bind or restrict the power of God by means of these magical paraphernalia. That the wrists of the sorceress rather than the client were bound is suggested by Ezekiel 13:20.

[291] Taylor, TOTC, p. 124.

[292] Mispachoth is rendered kerchiefs in KJV and ASV, The RSV prefers veils.

3. The sorceresses were not harmless cranks, Their object was to lie in wait for the souls (i.e., the lives) of God’s people. They were determined to capture the attention and control the minds of those who were still trying to be faithful to the Lord.[293] Ezekiel seems to think of those magical veils as nets cast over victims, a snare from which they could not escape.

[293] Wevers, (NCB, p. 109) thinks that hunting souls is a technical term for harming opponents by magical means.

4. While they could care less about the fate of God’s people, they were determined to save their own lives[294] (Ezekiel 13:18). This probably means that they were driven by the profit motive. Their sole concern was to receive their fees by which they could sustain their lives. By means of a variety of spells and incantations the prophetesses claimed the power to keep clients alive on payment of certain fees.

[294] The Hebrew literally reads: and save souls alive for yourselves.

5. They had profaned the Lord among His people (Ezekiel 13:19). Their actions caused people to deny their faith in Yahweh and trust in deceitful divinations. Thus the name of God was profaned by those who turned their backs on Him.

6. Their deceitful oracles would be cranked out with the aid of handfuls of barley and crumbs of bread (Ezekiel 13:19). Modern scholars feel that these materials were used as auguries to be examined to see whether a sick man would live or die.[295]

[295] Taylor, TOTC, p. 125. Older scholars took the sense to be that the sorceresses would put forth their spells for a mere pittance of reward.

7. They would slay the soul that should not die, i.e., foretell the death for the righteous.[296] At the same time, they would save the souls alive that should not live, i.e., they promised life to the wicked (Ezekiel 13:19).

[296] Others take the expression to mean that they led on to destruction the souls that were meant for life while they saved their own souls which were worthy of death.

8. They were lying to God’s people who were inclined to listen to untruth more than truth (Ezekiel 13:19).

9. They had caused the righteous to be disheartened, and at the same time they had given encouragement to the wicked. The result of this was that the wicked had no inclination toward repentance (Ezekiel 13:22).

Following the indictment against the prophetesses, Ezekiel pronounced the divine sentence in Ezekiel 13:20-23. Compared to the condemnation of the prophets in the preceding section, these women were treated quite lightly. They would not suffer more than the loss of their influence and livelihood. Specifically, five elements are included in their condemnation.

1. God declared His absolute opposition to the pagan paraphernalia employed by these women (Ezekiel 13:20).

2. The bands (or cushions) would be ripped from the arms of these women (Ezekiel 13:20), and their veils would be torn away (Ezekiel 13:21).[297] Implied in the judgment is that the magic bands and veils in some way imprisoned the lives of the people.

[297] The suffix your on the words bands and veils is masculine. The use of the masculine form when speaking of women is not uncommon in the Old Testament. The feminine is resumed in your hand in Ezekiel 13:21.

3. The souls held captive by the magic spells would be liberated, set free like birds from a cage (Ezekiel 13:20). God’s people would no longer be in the hand, i.e., under the power of these prophetesses (Ezekiel 13:21; Ezekiel 13:23).

4. The profession of which these women were a part would be abolished. No more would they make claims to see visions or employ divination to ascertain the future (Ezekiel 13:23).

5. In the day of judgment when all the magical schemes of these women fail, they would comprehend that the God who had spoken these things is Yahweh, who is faithful to per form His word of judgment as well as His word of promise (Ezekiel 13:21; Ezekiel 23)