Ezekiel 13:8-16 - Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

Bible Comments

Their doom is therefore sealed. They too will be confounded in the confusion which they have helped to create. They shall be swept off the land of Israel, and their names shall not appear on the registry of the citizens of the restored community, because they said It is well, when it was anything but well. In another picture suggested by the siege, Ezekiel very graphically describes their shallow, criminal methods. Instead of helping to repair the shattered wall of the state, they whitewash it, careless of the fact that the whitewashing of the wall may hide its defects, but will not prevent its destruction (Ex. B, p. 121). But one day he is thinking of the siege and fall of the city the awful storm will come, deluge, and hailstones, and hurl the fair but shoddy wall so violently to the ground that the very foundations will be laid bare. Then when the wall and its silly builders, the state and its shallow prophets, go down in a common ruin, in grim irony but with perfect justice Yahweh will put this question: Where is the wall and where are those that whitewashed it? (So we should probably read in Ezekiel 13:15.)

Ezekiel 13:8-16

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.

9 And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assemblyc 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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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;

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.