Ezekiel -- Lesson Nine
Chapters 13 -14
1. False Prophets Denounced (Ch. 13). (In chapter 12
Ezekiel spoke against the false security that led them to
think that judgment was not imminent. They had received
encouragement in this position by the visions and
divinations of false prophets. Now Ezekiel delivers God's
denunciations against these prophets.)
1. The Men (13:1-16).
1. The indictment and the description (13:1-7).
1. Ezekiel was instructed to charge the prophets to listen
to the Lord's word, not to their own hearts, because
judgment ("woe") was about to fall upon them because of
their foolish ways. (13:2-3.)
2. He doesn't deny them their title, but he denounces them
for the deleterious effect their empty-headed
pronouncements have on the hearers.
3. Ezekiel delineates the characteristics of the false
prophets that brought this judgment upon them (13:4-7),
before delivering the judgment itself. (13:8-16.)
1. They are foolish.
1. Ezekiel uses a strong term to describe their folly.
2. "Foolish" covers more than stupidity.
1. The fool was morally and spiritually insensitive.
2. He was inclined to blasphemy. Psalm 74:18.
3. He was inclined to atheism. Psalm 14:1.
4. He was churlish and arrogant, like his namesake Nabal of
Carmel. 1 Samuel 25.
5. He was capable of gross immorality. 2 Sam. 13:13.
3. Ezekiel described the basic cause of their foolishness
as their reliance on their own hearts and failure to seek
God's revelation. Read Jeremiah 23:16-22 and Jer. 29 in
connection with this.
2. These prophets had misled those who relied on them.
1. The prophets followed their own hearts and saw their own
perversions as God's revelation.
2. Their visions were false and full of lies (vv. 6, 8; cf.
10, 16), because the prophets had really not seen anything
at all. (13:3.)
3. They used the prophetic formula, "the Lord declares,"
but the Lord had neither spoken nor sent them (13:6-7).
1. They hoped for a confirmation that never came.
2. God emphatically denied that he had spoken through these
men (13:7b).
3. The false prophets were prophesying out of their own
hearts, while Ezekiel provides a true message from God.
4. Self-made religion is vain (Mt. 15:9), in conflict with
God (Mt. 15:3, 6), and will be rooted up (Mt. 7:24-27;
15:13).
5. The religion of these prophets is man-made religion; it
is God made in the image of man.
4. All who speak something other than the word of God are
false speakers but they are not necessarily insincere.
1. Even sincerity does not guarantee truth.
2. Sincerity is not a substitute for truth.
1. Hal Lindsey, of the Late Great Planet Earth, predicted
that the end of the world would come around 1988; he has
since backed off of that prediction.
2. To follow one's own spirit is to follow the wrong
spirit. Eph. 4:4.
3. False prophets are like jackals (Heb. word is same for
fox and jackal) in the wilderness -- they dig holes that
create points of stumbling for people.
1. False teaching undermines morality and security.
2. The only safe path is to follow a thus saith the Lord.
3. We are not being helped when people tell us that
doctrine doesn't matter.
1. There is certainly abroad a real feeling against
insisting on doctrinal purity in fundamental issues, but
such a feeling is not of God.
2. If doctrine is irrelevant, then sections such as the one
we are now studying are hard to fathom. 2 John 9ff.
3. To suggest that it applies only to the "core gospel" is
subjectivism run amuck since the scripture does not
identify a "core gospel."
4. Who, then, is to determine it? What standard shall be
applied? Where shall it end?
4. The basic crime of the false prophets was that they
offered hope where these was no hope. (13:10.)
1. They made promises in the name of God that God did not
make.
1. We are going home in two years.
2. God won't permit anyone to destroy the temple.
3. If Babylon does come, Egypt will help us destroy them.
4. The people's futile hopes are encouraged by the
prophet's lullabies of peace.
1. It is a common failing for preachers to want to speak
pleasing and appeasing things to their hearers, but if they
are to be faithful to God they must proclaim his whole
counsel. Acts 20:26-27.
2. The strongest condemnation goes not to the people, but
to those who led them into error. Matt. 18:7.
5. God asks (accuses) them -- haven't you spoken lies when
you said that I said these things.
1. See the hanging heads, the shuffling feet.
2. We are deafened by silence (It's really quiet now, isn't
it?).
6. But think of the judgment day when teachers of basic
error who keep people from obeying the Lord must stand
before the God of heaven.
1. What answer will they give for having made his commands
optional?
2. What answer will they give for making his commands
something that you can take or leave.
3. If all the tears shed over unfulfilled hope could be
gathered, we would need another ark; how much worse will it
be when there is no room for repentance.
2. The coming exposè and punishment (13:8-16).
1. Once again we hear the familiar formula, the word of the
Lord came unto me saying, but it takes on special
significance at this point (v. 8).
2. To those false prophets, the voice of God, like the
crack of doom, says, "I am against you" (v. 8).
1. What an adversary.
2. Usama ben Laden cannot start to begin to commence to
compare.
3. The false prophets would be exposed, seen for what they
were (v. 9).
1. The would not be asked into the councils of the people
in the future.
2. They wouldn't be listed in the "Who's Who" of Israel --
the lists of the worthy.
3. No monuments would be built to them.
4. The reason -- they seduced the people and failed as
watchmen, crying peace when there was no peace.
1. The only peace is that which God gives. Rom. 5:1.
2. The world offers various kinds.
1. The peace of unbelief -- no convictions so no nagging
conscience to bother him.
2. The peace of self-righteousness -- he has such a view of
himself that he cannot but belive that God is fortunate to
have him as a servant.
3. The peace of presumption -- presumes on God's mercy and
believes that God is too kind to punish evil.
4. The politicians would build their walls behind which the
people would find shelter. (13:10.)
1. They would make alliances and pay tribute to keep the
people safe.
2. The false prophets would then come in and whitewash
these schemes with a "thus saith the Lord" which they got
from between their ears.
3. We don't expect much of politicians, but when a man
claims that he has a revelation from the Lord, more is
expected.
5. The alliance has been made and its defects are hidden by
"holy whitewash" (hogwash), the people are hiding behind it
for protection.
1. The wind comes, the weaknesses are exposed, the wall
collapses, and the people perish. Mt. 7:24-27.
2. While they are dragging their dead out from under the
debris, they ask where is the mortar that you used on that
wall.
1. The politicians thought out the scheme; the prophets
claimed that God approved.
2. The wall should have stood in the storm.
3. The work of the prophets is examined carefully; they are
shown to be cheats.
2. The Women (13:17-23).
1. The description and the indictment (13:17-19).
1. The human harangue.
1. There are only a few passage in the Old Testament that
are critical of a class of women. Isa. 3:16 - 4:1; 32:9-13;
Amos 4:1-3.
2. Out of the hidden back room comes the great one wearing
her veils and ribbons, fluttering in the breeze as she
walks.
1. She mutters her words and sells that client what is
needed to ward off the evil of the day.
2. Charms, amulets, beads, astrology charts, rabbit's feet,
and the like are crutches for those who have lost their
faith in God, or never had any.
3. But we have nothing to learn from this today; this is an
enlightened society.
1. Does anyone today tell fortunes from tea leaves or tarot
cards?
2. Does anyone today sell holy oil or healing cloths?
1. Whatever happened to "freely you have received, freely
give"?
2. One wonders how these hustlers can sleep at night.
4. These women were hunters of people, not just their
bodies, but their souls.
1. They stalked their prey with influence.
2. They could speak so as to have those killed who should
have lived (because of their righteousness) and those who
should die (because of their wickedness) to live.
2. The profanation of God.
1. They sold God for a handful of barley and a crust of
bread.
1. Actually they sold themselves, like Joseph's brothers
and Judas.
2. While we would not sell God for barley and bread, do we
have our price?
1. Are there preachers and elders who will sell principles
for a successful ministry, a bigger church, a greater
reputation?
2. Are we not tempted to be silent when we ought to speak
so that we do not rock the boat?
3. Are there not those who castigate the weak and sinful in
the name of "standing for the truth"?
4. They make a name for themselves as "lovers of the truth"
while they leave the mangled bodies of brothers and sisters
as though they were set upon on the Jericho road.
2. How often do we trade off truth, kindness, justice,
mercy, and uprightness for trivia?
2. The coming rescue of God's people (13:20-23).
1. God would rescue his people from the spell of such
ungodly women.
1. These women who ensnare people as a boy ensnares a bird
will pay the price.
2. God will expose them and the people will see them for
what they are.
2. There is the earthquake, the tornado, the hurricane that
devastate and destroy, and then there are words.
3. Ten characteristics of false teachers from this passage.
1. They spoke of their own will, not God's will. vv 1-3,
17.
2. They made the people a prey instead of performing a
ministry for them. v. 4.
3. They had no crisis ministry. v. 5.
4. They claimed their revelations were divine to deceive
their followers (vv. 6-7) and easily deceived others
because they were deceived themselves.
5. They failed to stand against sin (vv. 6-9) and declared
an empty message without truth.
6. They preached a message of peace, prosperity, and safety
in the face of imminent judgment (vv. 10-12) because they
failed to relate the consequences of sin.
7. Their ministry provoked the wrath of God and invited his
judgment. vv. 13-16.
8. They often used false methods and occult practices to
legitimize their work and control their victims. vv. 17-21.
9. They encouraged iniquity by word and personal example.
vv. 22-23.
10. They set up the worst idols, their own self-will.
14:1-7.
2. Inner Idolatry (Ch. 14).
1. Idolaters indicted and threatened (14:1-11).
1. The denunciation of idolatrous elders (11:1-5).
1. The visit of the pious looking elders.
1. Here they come again -- the pious looking elders.
1. Their tongues spoke well but their souls were deformed.
2. How wise and holy they looked; their faces looked good
but their hearts were warped.
2. Idolatry goes further than merely stooping before a dumb
stick or stone; it is not the body that idolizes, it's the
spirit within.
2. The description of the pious looking elders.
1. No one could have looked at these men and told that they
were idolaters, because the idols were inside.
2. Nothing had changed outwardly in their allegiance to the
Lord, but they had taken idols into their hearts.
3. These judges needed judging.
4. They had their idols before their face; they loved them;
their every thought was of them.
5. They were their constant companion, and yet they came to
inquire of the Lord.
6. They desired to serve two masters (Mt. 6:24); they were
guilty of breaking the first commandment, but they still
wanted to hedge their bets.
3. The word to the pious looking elders.
1. God will give them answer.
2. When men of divided heart inquire of the Lord they will
receive an answer, but it will not be one they will like.
3. This language has a sinister meaning, and v. 8 enlarges
on the meaning.
4. It will be an answer in deed, not just in word.
5. The ultimate end is put positively in vv. 5 and 11.
2. The denunciation of idolaters and their sympathetic
prophets (11:6-11).
1. Idolatry denounced.
1. The way to this right relationship is through repentance
(v. 6).
2. There follows a denunciation of of idolaters and those
prophets who would be sympathetic with them.
3. There were many false prophets to whom the elders would
go who would assure them that everything would be all
right.
4. Obviously their word did not completely satisfy; thus
they came to Ezekiel.
5. How like the words of Ahab after he had heard all of his
prophets; "Is there not here a prophet of Jehovah besides
that we may enquire of him. 1 Kings 22.
2. False prophesy "explained" and assessed.
1. Will God permit men to get what they want? 2 Thess.
2:10; Rom. 1.
2. The blind both fall into the ditch.
1. If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the
ditch. Mt. 15.
2. Each has a fundamental responsibility to God.
3. We have the obligation to stand before God and to obey
him in the light of clear Biblical instruction no matter
who is saying something different.
3. God will answer the idolaters by himself (v. 7).
1. He will give the prophet a word which is not the
prophets.
2. God also speaks in deeds as well as in words. Isa. 26:9.
3. God is instructing his people in order that they might
turn to him; the judgment is intended to be remedial.
1. But judgment there will be because Judah has gone too
far.
2. They are so wicked that not even three O.T. heroes could
save them.
3. Their spiritual life is so low that they cannot be saved
except through judgment; they are more wicked then Sodom
(see chapter 16).
2. Prevailing sin makes judgment inevitable (14:12-23).
1. The sore judgment of famine (14:12-14).
1. When God sends a famine it is out of absolute necessity.
2. The people had committed a trespass.
1. This is a strong term, the root meaning is of "acting
treacherously."
2. It is used of breaking a solemn contract (Achan in
relation to the devoted thing, Joshua 7:1, and a wife's
adulterous act, Numbers 5:12, both of which were punishable
by death.
3. The people are so wicked, their spiritual life is so
low, that not even Noah, Job, and Daniel can save them.
2. The sore judgment of evil beasts (14:15-16).
1. Desolation would cause the wild beasts to wander into
the land and infest it.
2. It was not rare for wild beasts to infest lands. See, 2
Kings 17:24-26; Jer. 12:5.
3. When the wild beasts came it was evidence that the
people had in fact gone too far and the land was not only
desolate, but beyond being influenced by the presence of
Godly people.
3. The sore judgment of military invasion (14:17-18).
1. Would God have foreign armies marching over his land and
taking his people captive if they had not provoked him in a
radical manner?
2. The very presence of troops is evidence of the
wickedness of the land.
3. The land isn't being run over because of God's weakness
-- sin is the problem.
4. God does not judge without reason.
4. The sore judgment of pestilence (14:19-20).
1. God permits diseases to multiply and this results in
death.
2. In all of these judgments it comes through that God does
not judge without sufficient reason.
3. A land desolated by God is a land that has asked for it.
5. The four sore judgments and Jerusalem (14:21-23).
1. All of this is applied to Jerusalem.
2. All four judgments leaves no conclusion other than that
the land is so evil that it is beyond redemption without
radical purging.
3. This was exactly the position that Jerusalem was in.
4. However God assures him that there will be some left
(v.22), and some day this group will arrive where Ezekiel
is.
1. When they arrive he will see for himself what manner of
people they are.
2. God tells them that when he sees them he will know that
God did not do to them what he did without cause.