Bible Commentaries

Ezekiel 13:1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

Ver. 1. And the word of the Lord.] See on Ezekiel 12:1.

Ezekiel 13:2 Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the LORD

Ver. 2. Prophesy against the prophets.] Illis enim crania mala feruntur accepts. See Jeremiah 23:32-33; Jeremiah 23:38.

That prophesy out of their own hearts.] Whose prophecies came by the will of man, [2 Peter 1:21] and not cum privilegio. with by right.

Ezekiel 13:3 Thus saith the Lord GOD Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!

Ver. 3. Woe unto the foolish prophets.] Wise enough they were in their generation - and so are the foxes, whereto they are compared [Ezekiel 13:4] - but in the things of God, silly simples, blinder than moles.

That follow their own spirit.] Aud their own fancies, acted and abused by that great lying spirit.

And have seen nothing.] Nothing from God, though they thought and pretended they had seen something. All was but lies; [Jeremiah 27:10] dreams; [Jeremiah 23:32] things of naught. [Ezekiel 22:28] As Antipheron Orietes in Aristotle thought that everywhere he saw his own shape and picture going before him; so here. Now a woe is denounced against these; vae woe, is a little word, but very comprehensive, as there is often much poison in little drops.

Ezekiel 13:4 O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.

Ver. 4. O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes.] Cowardly, crafty, cruel, greedy: venatores eludunt, et cum mortuae videntur, reviviscunt. Heretics are such, and false prophets; Arius, for instance.

Ezekiel 13:5 Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.

Ver. 5. Ye have not gone up into the gaps.] Reclaimed the people from their impieties, those inlets of plagues, nor interceded for them by your prayers to God to turn away wrath, but hastened it. Ye have built indeed a wall, and daubed it with mortar, but such as is untempered, [Ezekiel 13:10] arena sine calce, like ill architects.

Neither made up the hedge.] To keep foxes out of God’s vineyard; it is even opentide.

To stand in the battle.] As David’s three worthies did in the barley field and delivered it. [1 Chronicles 11:14] Or as Marulla the maid of Lemnos, who, like a fierce amazon, desperately fought with the Turks in defence of her country, Coccinum, a city in that island, and kept them out till more company came to her relief, moved with the alarm. ^(a)

Ezekiel 13:6 They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made [others] to hope that they would confirm the word.

Ver. 6. They have seen vanity.] This is soon seen. [Ezekiel 13:3]

Saying, The Lord saith.] By a lying pretence, familiar with falsaries, to father their fancies upon God.

Ezekiel 13:7 Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The LORD saith [it]; albeit I have not spoken?

Ver. 7. Have ye not seen a vain vision?] i.e., I appeal to your own consciences, have ye not falsely feigned all? Seducers are extremely impudent, with perverse minds, and cauterised consciences.

Ezekiel 13:8 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I [am] against you, saith the Lord GOD.

Ver. 8. Behold, I am against you.] Heb., Be hold I against you, by an angry aposiopesis. ^(a) The Chaldee hath it, I will send my wrath against; you, and that is an evil messenger; for who knoweth the power of thy wrath? saith Moses. [Psalms 90:11]

Ezekiel 13:9 And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I [am] the Lord GOD.

Ver. 9. And my hand shall be upon the prophets] God’s hand is a mighty hand; [1 Peter 5:6] the heaven is spanned by it, the earth held in the hollow of it.

They shall not be in the assembly of my people,] ^(a) Or, In the secret, or councils; they shall have no communion with them. A heavy threat; for the communion of saints, next unto communion with God, is the greatest comfort here attainable.

Neither shall they be written,] As members of that commonwealth, - much less of the Jerusalem that is above, [Isaiah 4:4] - but rooted out of the world, written in the earth (Jeremiah 17:13; see Psalms 69:28).

Neither shall they enter.] They shall never come back out of Babylon, nor enter into heaven.

Ezekiel 13:10 Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and [there was] no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered [morter]:

Ver. 10. Because, even because.] Heb., For that, and for that; an angry epizeuxis. ^(a) See Ezekiel 13:8.

Saying, Peace, peace.] Making all fair weather before them, whenas the storm of God’s wrath (never to be blown over) was bursting out upon them.

And one built up a wall.] Ipse oedificabat parietem; one of the devil’s chief dirt-daubers, such as was Shemaiah, Hananiah, &c., [Jeremiah 29:31] who, together with their women upholsterers that sewed pillows to all arm holes, [Ezekiel 13:18] made foul work, and did much mischief among God’s people; like as do the Jesuits and Jesuitists (into whom all the old seducers have fled and hid themselves) at this day.

And, lo, others daubed it.] By cunning collusion they plastered and parjetted over the mud walls that was so set up. Ita extruunt illi vel potius destruunt ecclesiam Dei; { b} such proper builders were these. Like unto whom are the Popish priests, who bring the poor people into a fool’s paradise, and such idle ministers among us as shoot off at best, a few popguns against gross sins; or when they have done their worst at it, lick them whole again with, I hope better things of you, or, I hope there are none such here, &c. Many silly people also judge themselves honest because the daubing minister will give them the beggarly passport, and so die like lambs, being woefully cheated, and willing to be so. [Jeremiah 5:31 Matthew 24:11]

With untempered mortar.] Which will make but a bulging wall, not like to stand long.

Ezekiel 13:11 Say unto them which daub [it] 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].

Ver. 11. Say unto them.] Tell them so from me, and they may trust to it. Dei dicere est facere. For God, to say is to do.

That it shall fall.] And the fall of it shall be great, as Matthew 7:27, where our Saviour seemeth to allude to this text.

There shall be an overflowing shower.] The Chaldean army. [Isaiah 59:19; Isaiah 8:7-8]

Great hailstones.] Sept., λιθους πετροβολους, catapults, battering rams, to make breaches in stone walls. The Hebrew is Elgabiah, i.e, grandis grandinis lapides, huge hailstones of God’s own hurling. ^(a)

Ezekiel 13:12 Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where [is] the daubing wherewith ye have daubed [it]?

Ver. 12. Lo, when the wall is fallen.] As fall it will, and with a force, because made of ill mortar; and they that stand under it for shelter shall perish, as did sometimes seven and twenty thousand of Benhadad’s men in Aphek. Vocat autem eloquentiara secularem et rhetoricam inanem, lutum sine palea, &c., saith Oecolampadius here - i.e., by untempered mortar is meant worldly eloquence and empty rhetoric in sermons; this is as sand without lime, or as lime without litter, hair, chaff, or the like stuff to hold it together.

Where is the daubing?] What is your false doctrine come to? your work is lost, if not your souls. [1 Corinthians 3:15]

Ezekiel 13:13 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD I will even rend [it] with a stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in [my] fury to consume [it].

Ver. 13. I will even rend it with a stormy wind.] Vento turbinum; with a whirlwind or hurricane. See Isaiah 25:4; Isaiah 29:6, Jeremiah 23:19.

And great hailstones in my fury.] Thrice in this one Ezekiel 13:11 : is fury threatened, so hot is God’s displeasure against seducers.

Ezekiel 13:14 So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered [morter], and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I [am] the LORD.

Ver. 14. So that the foundation thereof shall be discovered.] So that all men shall see your falsehoods. See 2 Timothy 3:9, Revelation 17:16. The old whore is first made naked and then desolate. Mr Philpot, martyr, dealt plainly by the Popish prelates in open convocation when he said to them, Before God ye are all bare arsed. God hath detected you, &c. ^(a)

And ye shall be consumed.] See on Ezekiel 13:12.

Ezekiel 13:15 Thus will I accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with untempered [morter], and will say unto you, The wall [is] no [more], neither they that daubed it;

Ver. 15. Thus will I accomplish my wrath.] God’s wrath is dreadful, when let out in little minums only; but when to be accomplished, who can abide or avoid it?

Neither they that daubed it.] It may very well be that some of these cementaries of Satan were slain by the people, when once they saw themselves cheated by them into remediless misery.

Ezekiel 13:16 [To wit], the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her, and [there is] no peace, saith the Lord GOD.

Ver. 16. To wit, the prophets of Israel.] A name too good for them; but so they would needs be called. See Titus 1:12, 2 Peter 2:1.

Ezekiel 13:17 Likewise, thou son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people, which prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy thou against them,

Ver. 17. Likewise, thou son of man.] A prophet’s work is never done. Agricolis redit labor actus in orbem.

Set thy face against the daughters.] The prophet had rather have contended with men than women, and more honour it had been for him; but he must do as bidden. Mulieres genus fragile sunt; Women are delecate; yet the prophet must set his face against them as stout agents for the devil, who hath ever made great use of them. Such were Noadiah; [Nehemiah 6:14] that apocalyptical Jezebel, Bridget Matild; those two Jezebels of New England, Mrs Hutchinson and Mrs Dyer, our recent most impudent preacheresses in London and elsewhere. ^(a)

Ezekiel 13:18 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD Woe to the [women] that sew pillows to all armholes, and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls! Will ye hunt the souls of my people, and will ye save the souls alive [that come] unto you?

Ver. 18. That sew pillows.] In token of most certain and constant rest and peace.

To make kerchiefs.] Vela vel pepla. The Roman soothsayers, caput velabant cum volebant exordiri suos exorcismos, used the like ceremonies; so did those that gave oracles at the den of Trophonius.

To hunt souls.] And so to destroy them. See Proverbs 6:26. Women are insinuative creatures, especially when they have a repute for holiness, and are esteemed prophetic.

Will ye hunt the souls?] O indignum facinus Are precious souls no more set by?

Upon the head of every stature.] Fitting the humours of all sorts and sizes of people, by prophesying to the younger of pleasure, and to the elder sort for profit. David, by a like art, tells old men of gold and silver, young men of honey and honeycomb, to be found in God’s statutes. [Psalms 19:10]

Will ye save the souls alive that come unto you?] q.d., I hardly think you will. Will ye not kill and eat, as the hunter doth his prey? or rather, will not the devil deal by you both as the cock master doth by his fighting cocks, take pleasure in their mutual killing one another, that he may make a supper of them both?

Ezekiel 13:19 And will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear [your] lies?

Ver. 19. For handfuls of barley end for pieces.] Like so many base gypsies or common beggars. ^(a) Cato upbraided Marcus Caelius, and worthily, that, being a pleader, he would sell either his tongue or silence for a morsel of bread. These were low prized prophetesses. See Micah 3:5.

To slay the souls,] scil., By denouncing death to them, or by stirring up the people to slay them as miscreants.

That hear your lies.] Such as deceive expectation; for so the word here used signifieth.

Ezekiel 13:20 Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD Behold, I [am] against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the 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.

Ver. 20. Behold, I am against your pillows.] God’s hatred against sin is such that he hateth anything that is made use of about it. The serpent was cursed because he had been abused by the devil.

To make them fly.] High pitches, αεροβατουντις: as our high attainers, with their new truths and strange speculations, do now pretend to do. Such were the Swenkfeldians - Stinkfeldians, Luther called them, for their ill savour. Swenkfeldius himself bewitched many with those lofty terms, which were much in his mouth, of illumination, revelation, deification, the inward and spiritual man, &c. ^(a)

Ezekiel 13:21 Your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted; and ye shall know that I [am] the LORD.

Ver. 21. And they shall be no more in your hand.] God’s own people may be, for a time, in the hand of seducers, and taken in their nets, carried away by their false opinions; but God will at length deliver his people out of their hand.

Ezekiel 13:22 Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life:

Ver. 22. Because with lies ye have made the heart of my people sad.] False doctrines and wicked practices grieve the hearts of the godly, and strengthen the hands of the ungodly, as these unhappy times do abundantly evince. The times truly are good (and in many respects better than they have been), but the days are evil.

By promising him life.] Though he walk in hell’s ways.

Ezekiel 13:23 Therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and ye shall know that I [am] the LORD.

Ver. 23. Therefore ye shall see no more vanity.] By rendering you not only contemptible, but ridiculous. Or by redding the world of such pestilent people.