Ezekiel 13. Denunciation of the False Prophets (Ezekiel 13:1-16) and Prophetesses (Ezekiel 13:17-23). Besides the delay of the doom which Ezekiel threatened, the people were deluded by the welcome and reassuring promises of the false prophets, of whose temper and methods this chapter draws a very living picture.
Ezekiel 13:1-7. The false prophets were jingoes, with no real inspiration, courage, or insight into the moral quality of the political situation. Some of them were sincere and hoped for the confirmation of their message, but all of them were shallow. They could repeat the formulæ of the true prophet, and preface their message with a Thus saith Yahweh, but they were not real messengers of His at all. Instead of bravely stepping into the breach (the language is suggested by the siege), instead of giving warning like Ezekiel (Ezekiel 31:6 ff.) of the dread day of Yahweh that was coming, and strengthening the moral fabric of the state, they were only too much at home in its ruins, where, like burrowing foxes, they only succeeded in confounding the confusion.