A condemnation of false prophets
13
And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 📚“Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are prophesying, and say to those who prophesy out of their own hearts 📖, ‘Hear the word of the LORD. 3 📚Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the foolish prophets 📖, who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! 4 📚O Israel, your prophets are like the foxes in the deserts. 5 📚You have not gone up into the gaps, or made a wall for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD. 13:4-5 They were destructive not constructive. They sought a comfortable place for themselves in ruins left by others, but could do nothing to rebuild those ruins.⚜
6 📚They see a false thing and lying divination, saying, “The LORD says”, and the LORD has not sent them; and they have made others hope that they would confirm the word.
13:6 Not everyone who imagines he is a prophet is one. The world has always been troubled and deceived by those who vainly thought they were prophets or whom others considered prophets.⚜
7 📚Have you not seen a false vision, and have you not spoken a lying divination when you say, “The LORD says it”, although I have not spoken?
8 📚“‘Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have spoken falsehood, and seen lies, therefore, see, I am against you, says the Lord God. 9 📚And my hand will be on the prophets who see false things, and lying divinations. They will not be in the assembly of my people, nor will they be written in the records of the house of Israel, and they will not enter the land of Israel; and you will know that I am the Lord God.
10 📚“‘Because, yes, because they have seduced my people, saying, “Peace”, when there was no peace, and one builds a wall, and, see, others daub it with whitewash,
13:10 This is the great damage false prophets do to their fellow men. They lead them astray, away from truth, away from God. To those who have the anger of God resting on them because of their sins and unbelief they promise peace. They whitewash the wall which unbelieving people try to build against disaster. Whitewash means to make it look finished and attractive. Thus they contribute to their hardness of heart and eventual punishment (vs 19,22).⚜
11 📚say to those who daub it with whitewash, that it will fall. There will be a torrential rain, and you, O great hailstones, will fall, and a stormy wind will tear it down.
13:11 This storm symbolizes the anger of God that would demolish all that people thought was their protection and safety (vs 13-16).⚜
12 📚Look, when the wall has fallen, will it not be said to you, “Where is the whitewash with which you daubed it?”
13:12 The false prophets will be found out for what they really are.⚜
13 📚“‘Therefore thus says the Lord God: In my fury I will tear it down with a stormy wind, and in my anger there will be a torrential rain, and in my fury great hailstones to destroy it. 14 📚So I will break down the wall that you have daubed with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be uncovered, and it will fall, and you will be destroyed in it; and you will know that I am the LORD. 15 📚Thus I will spend my wrath on the wall, and on those who have daubed it with whitewash, and will say to you, The wall is gone, and those who daubed it, 16 📚that is, the prophets of Israel who prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and who see visions of peace for her when there is no peace, says the Lord God.’
17 📚“Likewise, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people, who prophesy out of their own heart, and prophesy against them, 18 📚and say, Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the women who sew magic charms on all wrists, and make veils on the heads of every height to hunt for souls! Will you hunt for the souls of my people, and will you save alive the souls who come to you? 19 📚And will you profane me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save alive the souls that should not live, by your lying to my people who hear your lies?
13:19 What they did was from a desire for gain. Compare Jer 6:13; 8:10; Micah 3:5, 11. For the sake of money there are always some people who will teach and preach what people want to hear, without any regard for the truth (Titus 1:11). They do not seem to care even though those deceived by them are destroyed in time and eternity. Notice the words “who hear your lies” – false prophets and prophetesses would have no place in the world if people were not willing to believe their lies. God will judge very severely those who prefer lies to truth (2 Thess 2:10-12).⚜
20 📚“‘Therefore thus says the Lord God: See, I am against your charms, with which you there hunt souls like birds, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, the souls that you hunt like birds.
13:20 False prophets and prophetesses ensnare people by lies and satanic power. They operate in the realm of the darkness and spiritual ignorance of the human heart. They use the same method Satan uses to destroy men – lies (John 8:44). Those who do not know the Bible or believe God’s truth revealed in it are in grave danger from such. God will deal with them all as they deserve in His time and way.⚜
21 📚I will also tear off your veils, and rescue my people out of your hands, and they will no longer be in your hands to be hunted; and you will know that I am the LORD.
13:21 They have a kind of power only God can save people from (v 23).⚜
22 📚Because with your lies you have saddened the heart of the righteous, whom I have not made sad, and you have strengthened the hands of the wicked by promising him life, so that he would not turn back from his wicked way.
13:22 Verses 13,19.⚜
23 📚Therefore you will no longer see false visions, or practice divinations, for I will deliver my people out of your hands; and you will know that I am the LORD.’ ”
13:17-23 There were true prophetesses in Israel – Miriam (Ex 15:20), Deborah (Jud 4:4), Hulda (2 Kings 22:14). There were also false ones who engaged in black magic. The practice of magic, divination, sorcery, etc is severely condemned in the Bible (Ex 22:18; Deut 18:10; Acts 8:11; Rev 9:21; 21:8; 22:15). Those who engage in them will have God against them. They who practice such things do so for their personal benefit. These things lead to bondage. They are based on lies, and appeal to those who are ignorant of the truth of God or who refuse that truth. They destroy those who persist in them.⚜