Ezekiel 13:17
Now, O son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people who prophesy out of their own imagination. Prophesy against them
Sermons
Effeminate ReligionW. Jones Ezekiel 13:17-23
False ProphetessesJ.R. Thomson Ezekiel 13:17-23
False Prophetesses, Their Characteristics and CondemnationW. Jones Ezekiel 13:17-23














Women have always played an important part in the religious history of every nation, sometimes for good, sometimes for evil. The Scriptures, with their proverbial impartiality, record instances of both kinds - of women who rendered signal service to their people by their fidelity to God, and of women who used their influence to corrupt and to mislead those over whom their power extended. Of the prophetesses whose pretensions are exposed in this passage we know nothing from other sources of information. But if curiosity is unsatisfied, enough is here revealed to justify us in thinking of these women as a very pernicious element in the Hebrew nation at the era of the Captivity.

I. THEIR SEDUCTIVE AND IMPOSING ARTS. It is not important for us to understand all the allusions in this passage. Whatever were these pillows and kerchiefs, it seems char that they were used in connection with superstitious divinations, and were intended to impress all beholders with a sense of the dignity and mysterious powers of these sorceresses. The mystic veil that robed the tall form of the prophetesses, the paraphernalia with which such persons were wont to invest themselves, tended to inspire reverence and awe, as if for a supernatural power revealed in the stately presence and authoritative voice.

II. THEIR MERCENARY ENDS. There is something picturesque and striking in the description given by the prophet of the poor, deluded victims who resorted to the sorceresses, carrying with them "handfuls of barley and pieces of bread" - the common tribute paid in such cases and to such persons. Probably the women loved to exercise power and to exact respect; yet with most of them the motive was mercenary, and they were content to deceive others if they could enrich, or even support, themselves.

III. THEIR PROPHECIES. The term could only have been applied to their utterances in irony. For it is evident

(1) that their inspiration came from their own heart, and

(2) that the substance of their so called prophecies was false.

They were animated by a desire to please those who resorted to them; and this they did to gratify their own prejudices or to display their own worldly wisdom. In such communications there was nothing that deserved the name of prophecy; for a prophet is one who speaks in the place of God, and who shows no regard to the person or to the wishes of those addressed. It was no spirit of rivalry or of jealousy which induced the Prophet Ezekiel to speak thus severely of these female impostors; it was for the public good that their deceptions should be exposed.

IV. THEIR PERVERSION OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. They are said to have hunted the souls of the Lord's people; and this they did by their perverse and unjust oracles. The language used concerning them is very remarkable, and it could not have been used through mere delight in antithesis. It is said that the ministry of the "prophetesses" was "to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live." They were reproached with their attempt to subvert God's righteous providence: "With lies ye have grieved the heart of the righteous, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way." A more scathing denunciation could not have been uttered than this; these women strove to overturn the moral order, to encourage the rebellious, and to depress the just and godly!

V. THEIR UNMASKING AND EXPOSURE. The God of truth and rectitude declared himself opposed to these seducers of his people. The symbols of their delusive arts should be stripped from them. Their hypocrisy should be unveiled, and their pretences should be ridiculed. The means by which they had been wont to ensnare men should be taken from them. Their reputation and their power should be destroyed, and their influence should come to an end.

VI. THE DELIVERANCE OF THEIR VICTIMS. Those whom the false prophetesses sought to entangle and to capture were the Lord's people; and the Lord claimed his own. It was his purpose to deliver them out of the hand of their spiritual toe, and to let the hunted souls go free. The means by which this result was to be brought about are not stated; but the resources of the Omnipotent were sufficient to ransom and liberate his own. Thus it should be made apparent to all observers that the Lord reigneth, and that he is ever mindful of his own. - T.

Which see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace.
Homiletic Magazine.
I. They "see visions of peace" WHO PREACH AND SPEAK WHAT IS PLEASING RATHER THAN WHAT IS OF TRUTH AND OF GOD. A people's folly will find exponents. But truth perverted will be avenged. False doctrine is but untempered mortar.

II. They "see visions of peace," and "there is no peace." WHO NEGLECT DUTY AND STILL HOPE FOR REWARD. Foolish dreamers are they who look for fortune, or learning, or piety without careful attention and unremitting diligence.

III. They "see visions of peace" when "there is no peace" WHO LIVE IN SIN AND WORLDLINESS, AND HOPE FOR EVERLASTING SALVATION.

(Homiletic Magazine.)

People
Ezekiel
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Acting, Daughters, Face, Heart, Imagination, Inspiration, Likewise, Minds, Pleasure, Prophesy, Prophesying, Prophet, Prophets
Outline
1. The reproof of false prophets
10. and their untempered mortar
17. Of prophecies and their pillows

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Ezekiel 13:17

     5674   daughters
     6186   evil scheming
     8829   superstition

Ezekiel 13:1-23

     7760   preachers, responsibilities

Ezekiel 13:17-23

     5745   women
     8807   profanity

Library
That the Ruler Should not Set his Heart on Pleasing Men, and yet Should Give Heed to what Ought to Please Them.
Meanwhile it is also necessary for the ruler to keep wary watch, lest the lust of pleasing men assail him; lest, when he studiously penetrates the things that are within, and providently supplies the things that are without, he seek to be beloved of those that are under him more than truth; lest, while, supported by his good deeds, he seems not to belong to the world, self-love estrange him from his Maker. For he is the Redeemer's enemy who through the good works which he does covets being loved
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Of the Character of the Unregenerate.
Ephes. ii. 1, 2. And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. AMONG all the various trusts which men can repose in each other, hardly any appears to be more solemn and tremendous, than the direction of their sacred time, and especially of those hours which they spend in the exercise of public devotion.
Philip Doddridge—Practical Discourses on Regeneration

That the Ruler Should be Discreet in Keeping Silence, Profitable in Speech.
The ruler should be discreet in keeping silence, profitable in speech; lest he either utter what ought to be suppressed or suppress what he ought to utter. For, as incautious speaking leads into error, so indiscreet silence leaves in error those who might have been instructed. For often improvident rulers, fearing to lose human favour, shrink timidly from speaking freely the things that are right; and, according to the voice of the Truth (Joh. x. 12), serve unto the custody of the flock by no means
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

"Now the End of the Commandment," &C.
1 Tim. i. 5.--"Now the end of the commandment," &c. We come now, as was proposed, to observe, Thirdly,(474) That faith unfeigned is the only thing which gives the answer of a good conscience towards God. Conscience, in general, is nothing else but a practical knowledge of the rule a man should walk by, and of himself in reference to that rule. It is the laying down a man's state, and condition, and actions beside the rule of God's word, or the principles of nature's light. It is the chief piece
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Purity and Peace in the Present Lord
PHILIPPIANS iv. 1-9 Euodia and Syntyche--Conditions to unanimity--Great uses of small occasions--Connexion to the paragraphs--The fortress and the sentinel--A golden chain of truths--Joy in the Lord--Yieldingness--Prayer in everything--Activities of a heart at rest Ver. 1. +So, my brethren beloved and longed for+, missed indeed, at this long distance from you, +my joy and crown+ of victory (stephanos), +thus+, as having such certainties and such aims, with such a Saviour, and looking for such
Handley C. G. Moule—Philippian Studies

Ezekiel
To a modern taste, Ezekiel does not appeal anything like so powerfully as Isaiah or Jeremiah. He has neither the majesty of the one nor the tenderness and passion of the other. There is much in him that is fantastic, and much that is ritualistic. His imaginations border sometimes on the grotesque and sometimes on the mechanical. Yet he is a historical figure of the first importance; it was very largely from him that Judaism received the ecclesiastical impulse by which for centuries it was powerfully
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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