False Prophets & Internal Idols
In chapter 13, Yahweh denounces two groups of prophets: men and women. They are both telling people what they want to hear but in different ways.
The false prophecies of the men are compared to a layer of whitewash on flimsy wall. Many a structural problem has been hidden by a coat of paint. They were familiar with this in Ezekiel’s time too. It’s not a new trick. But their whitewash will not be enough to reinforce the wall against the storm that is coming.
It’s really not that different from the word-faith movements. They teach that people can alter the present or future by faith declarations. The false prophets in Judah might’ve been comfortable among some of today’s mega-church and tv preachers.
👨🏼💼 “Repeat after me… I am blessed and not stressed.”
👨🏼💼 “The Babylonians will not return to this city!”
👨🏼💼 “I declare there will be peace and prosperity.”
Now, if the LORD actually tells His servant to declare blessings and peace and victory, that’s one thing. But when so-called “prophets” prophesy such things when the LORD has not said, that’s a whole different situation.
When God has determined a thing, people can “intend” and “declare” and “prophesy” all they want but God’s purpose will prevail. He is not a weak parent who gives in to the wheedling and manipulation of a clever, spoiled child. That’s why we should seek what God wants so we can pray in agreement with His will.
The false approach puts faith in words instead of God. It imbues words (or perhaps intention and thought) with magic power.
In the case of the women prophets, their approach was more overtly magical.
“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: What sorrow awaits you women who are ensnaring the souls of my people, young and old alike. You tie magic charms on their wrists and furnish them with magic veils. Do you think you can trap others without bringing destruction on yourselves?”
Ezekiel 13:18 NLT
Before we criticize the ancient people too harshly, we should take a good look at the Capital-C-Church today. How many wear things or tattoos or carry items in their wallets or hang a prayer in their car or home as if it has power to bless or protect them?
If the false men-prophets were leading people to put their faith in words, the false women-prophets were leading people to put their faith in objects. The bottom line is, neither is leading the people to put their faith in Yahweh.
Chapter 14
“Then some of the leaders of Israel visited me, and while they were sitting with me, this message came to me from the Lord: “Son of man, these leaders have set up idols in their hearts. They have embraced things that will make them fall into sin. Why should I listen to their requests?”
Ezekiel 14:1-3 NLT
These leaders have come to visit Ezekiel because they have apparently made some requests of Yahweh and have come to His prophet to see if Yahweh has given an answer. He gives them an answer, but not one they will like. His answer is basically: “Repent!”
They are thinking of God the same way some people think of a “Magic 8 Ball” or Tarot Cards: a tool to be used and exploited; supernatural knowledge to be accessed. Humans have a tendency to approach the supernatural world this way; be it angelic or demonic. It’s as old as the Serpent of Eden. It’s a way of thinking that says, “I will negotiate with the supernatural to get superior knowledge and power and experiences.” It’s an approach that seeks to USE the supernatural. What practitioners eventually find out is that the fallen supernatural realm is seeking to USE humans too – for influence, control, power. It’s a toxic relationship; each is using the other selfishly. It’s a relationship of mutual devouring. It is consumer-driven. It asks “What can I get?”
It’s the polar opposite of divine love which is mutual self-GIVING. Christ gives Himself fully and freely to His Church and she gives herself fully and freely to Him. The question in love is NOT “What can I get?” It’s “What can I give?”
It’s not enough to take the exile out of the idolatry. Now Yahweh must the idolatry out of the exiles. If the idol is in one’s heart, any place becomes a shrine. Every act of life is tainted by it. This is why Yahweh is saying He is going to give His people a NEW heart. Their old stony hearts can’t function in a love-relationship. Their hearts have become set in the toxic pattern of “I use things for my own selfish ends,” as if in concrete. It has hardened and there is no fixing that.
Jesus will use a different metaphor but the concept is the same.
“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the old skins would burst from the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine is stored in new wineskins so that both are preserved.”
Matthew 9:17 NLT
Old wine skins are hard. They have no elasticity. They are set. Stiff. They cannot function in a love-relationship which requires stretching, growth, expansion, and flexibility to adjust oneself to the needs of one’s partner.
Another way to speak of growth and expansion and the ability to adjust to the needs of others is: MATURITY.
Selfish people don’t adjust to others. They expect the world to adjust to them. It’s a pattern I would associate with a spoiled child. And it’s disturbing to see it in adults.
God’s reply is “Repent.”
And what is repentance but abandoning the demand that God adjusts to MY word about a thing and I come into agreement with HIS Word about it.
Here’s a chair. 🪑 You should sit with that for a minute. It might change your life.
A PROBLEMATIC TEXT…
There is a verse that may have jumped out at you as strange:
“And if the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, the Lord, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.”
Ezekiel 14:9 ESV
When we run across texts like this, it’s tempting to focus on one line “I the Lord have deceived that prophet.” Here’s where the WHOLE counsel of God helps us understand some things.
- God is not a capricious Being Who tricks people into sin for fun.
- God does not force or “script” people to sin then turn around and punish them for only doing what they were scripted to do.
Here are some verses I have written in the margin of my Bible next to Ezekiel 14:9. I suggest you write them in yours too.
- 1 Kings 22:19-23 & 2 Chron. 18
- This is the account of the false prophets of Israel telling Ahab to go into battle to recapture Ramoth-Gilead. The true prophet Micaiah actually explained what happened “behind the scenes” in the divine assembly, but Ahab refused to listen. Ahab had already hardened himself in sin though Elijah and other prophets had warned him.
- Psalm 18:25-26
- This text reflects that each person experiences God differently according to their own attitude. It’s kinda like reading Yelp! reviews of a beach resort. The happy people who stayed at the resort had a great time and found the staff friendly. The cranky person had a bad experience and found the staff rude. The critic noticed every tiny imperfection and found the staff too busy to care.
- The point is, your attitude has a LOT to do with it. How do you approach God? With doubt? Distrust? Friendliness? Openness? God does not change; just like the beach resort was the same beach resort and the same staff for all those reviewers. But if you approach God or a resort staff as a crank or a critic with a frown and a constant stream of complaints, you may get patient smiles and accommodation in the beginning, but if you continue to be a pain, your frown will eventually be be met with a frown.
- Jeremiah 14:14-15
- The LORD makes it clear that He did not send these prophets. They have taken this role upon themselves. God is not forcing them to prophecy lies. Their own hearts are deceiving them.
- Romans 1:18-32
- Verse 18 is a key. The ungodly “hold the truth in unrighteousness.” They ignore and suppress the light (the truth) that they have. And if they persist in suppressing the truth and giving preference to their own “truth,” God eventually “gives them up.” It’s as if they are in a tug-of-war with God. And if they continue to insist on their own way, God eventually lets go of His side of the rope and lets them be lost.
- 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12
- Just like Ezekiel, Paul had to contend with false prophets (v2-3). The context is Paul assuring the Thessalonians that The Day of Christ had not yet happened as some were saying.
- Verses 9-12 are a parenthetical statement elaborating on The Son of Perdition. His “style” is the same as Satan himself: power, signs, deceptive wonders… “and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 ESV - The sequence is critical:
- 1. They refused to love or believe the truth.
- 2. They took pleasure in sin.
- 3. They are already perishing; already on the road to destruction and have consistently refused to turn around.
- THEN, and only then, does God “let go” (as in Romans 1) and they are set in stone (like Pharaoh’s hardened heart) and now they are eternally stuck in their delusion.
The time to get right with God is now.
If we think of sin as mud, there is a certain amount of time where a person can get out. The people in the picture here are having a great time. And sin is like that. It feels free and natural and fun. At first. But if the people in the mud bath above stayed there until the mud “set” around them, they would die. As time passes the mud gets thicker, drier, harder; until it’s like concrete and its hold on whatever is in it is total.
That’s sin.
God did not make the ungodly continue to wallow in their sins. He constantly sent them prophets to help them out of the pit. But they not only ignored the prophets, they imprisoned and killed them. So He has given them over to their deception. He’s going to let them die in the mud.
Israel has passed the point of no return. He says that even if the top 3 Righteous men in the OT (Noah, Daniel, and Job) were living in Jerusalem, they wouldn’t be able to stop the judgment that is about to fall.
“As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were there, they wouldn’t be able to save their own sons or daughters. They alone would be saved by their righteousness.”
Ezekiel 14:20 NLT
Those are 3 interesting picks.
Noah saved himself and his immediate family by his righteousness. Everyone else perished but Noah and his sons kept the human race alive. God says, “not this time.”
Job’s righteousness didn’t save his children. He lost all of them. But because he remained loyal to God, he was blessed with more.
Daniel was possibly made a eunuch. There is no mention of him ever marrying or having children.
SIDE NOTE…
I’ve read that the Daniel mentioned here might be a different guy (mentioned in a non-canonical Jewish text) and not the prophet Daniel who was still pretty young at this point, but I don’t think so. I think God is referring to the Prophet Daniel. God knows Daniel’s future and how faithful and righteous he will be – to the point of death! By the time Ezekiel gave this prophecy Daniel has already demonstrated his loyalty to Yahweh by refusing the king’s food (Dan. 1) and he has already stood before Nebuchadnezzar explaining his dream and its meaning and boldly declaring to this powerful pagan king that Yahweh is the MOST High.
This whole chapter is a way of saying, their doom is sealed. There is no turning back now. Destruction is certain.
For anyone who may feel (as Ezekiel did) that God is too harsh in His judgment, I leave you with this quote:
“Yet there will be survivors, and they will come here to join you as exiles in Babylon. You will see with your own eyes how wicked they are, and then you will feel better about what I have done to Jerusalem. When you meet them and see their behavior, you will understand that these things are not being done to Israel without cause. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”
Ezekiel 14:22-23 NLT
To The Reader 