CONDEMNATION OF THE PROPHETESSES (Ezekiel 13:17-23)
EXEGETICAL NOTES.—A disposition to prophecy was in the air; so women as well as men, in Jerusalem and among the exiles, were influenced by it. Naturally it assumed different forms in the one from what it did in the other. Men daub walls, women sew, make veils, &c. Both are deceiving, and shall certainly be set at nought. There seems no weight to be accorded to the suggestion that the existence of these prophetesses was proof of “a fresh instance of declension into heathen usages.” The gift of true prophecy came to holy women in the earlier history of Israel before Christ and also in the later, and might be pretended to.
Ezekiel 13:18. Ignorance of the practices alluded to here stands in the way of clearing up the meaning of this verse. We can decide only by probabilities. “Woe unto the women who sew coverings on every joint of the hands.” Whether these coverings were cushions or amulets or other objects, their use seems to have been to make an appearance which would impress the people. So with the following, “And who make veils on the head of every stature;” under the envelopment of clothing on the head adapted to their varying size—figure, age, condition—they fitted themselves to act upon their hearers, “to hunt [as bird-catcher’s] souls,” and thus ensnare to their ruin. The verse condemns sensational methods of divination resorted to by the prophetesses, whether the method was by gesture or dress or word. Hence the question of surprise at the infatuation which would use such means. “The souls of my people will ye hunt and the souls of yourselves will ye keep alive?” Persuading themselves of their own security, they entered on practices intended to persuade the Israelites to the same confidence, while destruction only would result to them.
Ezekiel 13:19. “And will ye profane me among my people,” by prophesying in my name, for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, offerings such as were brought when consulting a seer (1 Samuel 9:7-8; 1 Kings 14:3; cf. Micah 3:5); and by declaring that ye speak the words of the Lord when they are not, the result of such profaning the Lord being “to slay souls which should not die and to keep alive souls which should not live, by your lying to my people, hearers of lying.
Ezekiel 13:20. Punishment of the women. “Behold I [come] to your coverings with which ye hunt souls as [if they were] flying [birds], and I tear them off your arms.” Their snares shall be spread in vain, “I set free the souls which ye hunt, the souls” which ye deal with “as flying [birds].”
Ezekiel 13:21. “And I tear your veils and deliver my people from your hand.” Ye seduce them by your various artifices, so as to destroy the people, and I would expose your pretences so as to save them.
Ezekiel 13:22. Because the prophetesses have acted so that false impressions of God are produced on the mind of the righteous and wicked, disheartening the former in good and confirming the latter in evil ways, “Therefore ye shall not see vanity and shall not divine divinations any more, and I will deliver my people out of your hand.” It is with God they are in conflict, and the utter failure of their prophecies will so appear that “ye shall know that I am the Lord:” knowledge of God is for the guilty a doom, for the righteous a security.
HOMILETICS
WOMEN IN RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS
Serious events were about to occur in Israel. The shadow of them was cast over women as well as men. Spiritual influence knows no sex. Women “show piety at home,” in the more retired ways along which the little ones, the weak, the downcast of the world make their journey, but the groundswell of religious emotion rolling over a people impels some of its women into open and even audacious appearances.
I. The women assume deceptive methods. By dresses, or gestures, or other devices they pander to the senses so as to attract and impress those who hear them. If women are naturally more disposed to such methods than men, yet the warning is of unrestricted interest, that external representations in religion are of uncertain tendency; strong to promote error, they are poor allies in advancing truth.
II. Women are induced to act from unworthy motives. There is desire for power. They strive to move and control souls, and thus, as in later days, to “glory in the flesh” with their adherents. There is self regard. They persuade themselves that things will turn out so as to bring security for themselves, to save their own souls, even though they shrink from the narrow way of life and endure no hardness. There is greed. A very trifling present gets them to say that all is well when all is not well; that that is right which is wrong before God.
III. They are held responsible for their procedure. They hide the threatenings of the Lord, or pare down their awful meaning. They comfort souls in sin; distress souls seeking God. The painful result of their lies is that they hunt into peril those whom God would rescue; seize and kill souls whom God would save. Standing thus against God’s love and grace, they are counted out for condemnation, as the false prophets were. She who sins must suffer loss.
ERROR PREACHED (Ezekiel 13:22)
I. The painful effects of erroneous teachings. The good are disheartened by scruples, perplexities, fears, and weakened to pursue their journey in the ways of the Lord: the evil are emboldened to go on the broad road by opiates to conscience and confirmation to unbelief.
II. The contrariety to God in them. He is the God of all comfort to those that fear His name; but this teaching breaks the inflow of His promises. He would make the dead in trespasses and sins to live through faith in Christ the Truth; but this teaching prevents faith, and He can do no mighty work of salvation.
III. The valid test for them. When high pretensions, dogmatic operations, fascinating proffers act so as to relax supreme regard to truth, righteousness, purity, and a true follower of Christ is depressed; or when hopes are produced in the mind of those who are not yielding themselves unto God that they will live, then each class may know that the words they hear are opposed to those of Him who is the true and living One, and are condemned by Him.
1. A people professing to know the Lord are not unaffected by the popular erroneous teaching of their day.
2. They may hope for His interference in their behalf, for He lays their real interest deeply to heart.