THE true prophet speaks the mind of God, but those with whom this chapter deals were false; they prophesied out of their own hearts (verse 2), followed their own spirit and had seen nothing. This was God’s estimate of them. (verse 3). They had had no communication from Him. (See Jeremiah 23:25-3225I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. 26How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart; 27Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. 28The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord. 29Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? 30Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words every one from his neighbor. 31Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues, and say, He saith. 32Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord. (Jeremiah 23:25‑32) and chapter 28 of that book for more about this class). The prophets of Israel were no more to be considered than the foxes in the deserts (verse 4).
The wall of separation from the nations, which God had set up, was now in ruins; “gaps,” or breaches, abounded in it so that Israel, mingling with and imitating their heathen neighbors, had become worse than they. (See chapter 5:5-7). None endeavored to close these gaps to restore true separation to God among the people of Judah, nor looked onward to the day of the Lord (for Ezekiel’s prophecies leap over all the centuries of Gentile dominion without mention of them. That “day” is the period of at least one thousand years which occupies a large place in the Old Testament prophetic Scriptures, in which the Lord will set the world in order, cleansing it of all that offends Him.
Verse 5 tells what the false prophets had not done, neglecting their plain duty, if they had been what they claimed to be—servants of the living and true God. The sharp, unerring word of the Holy Spirit, the word of God, declares in two words what these men did and taught: “vanity” (in the sense of worthless, unsatisfying talk or pursuits), and “lying” (verses 6 to 9).
They professed to know His will by divination and by visions, but it was a fabric of falsehood. Ignorant souls, not looking to God for help, were deceived by these men into expectations that were not to be fulfilled (verses 6, 10). Changing “whereas” to “when” in verse 7 makes the meaning of that challenging inquiry clearer, The case against these wicked perverters of God’s truth is complete, and verses 8 and following tell of their end as far as this life goes. The judgment of the great white throne (Revelation 20) lies on before, but is not mentioned here.
We have noticed in the book of Jeremiah the character of these prophets; in their estimation (blinded, morally) Jerusalem would never be taken and destroyed; they are here (verses 10 to 15) in the same occupation, expressed as the builders of a wall with untempered mortar, which would fall before the “overflowing shower” of Nebuchadnezzar’s siege. In that day, near at hand then, the builders of the wall—the promoters of resistance to the revealed will of God concerning the king of Babylon—would perish.
How like the untrue prophets of our own times were these men of old! The latter saw “visions of peace, when there is no peace, saith the Lord God” (verse 16), and after the same pattern do they of today talk of peace and prosperity with no judgment to come, denying in terms the solemn words of Holy Writ.
There were women, too, in the days of Ezekiel who, like the men, prophesied out of their own heart (verse 17). They had enticements to catch souls, and lying was their constant practice. We may read the latter part of verse 18: “Will ye catch the souls of My people, and will ye save your own souls alive?” So also verse 20 has been retranslated, “Behold, I am against your pillows, that the souls which ye catch by their means may fly away; and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, the souls that ye catch, that they may fly away.”
God has His eyes upon His beloved and often tried people—those who trust in Him—as verse 22 brings freshly before us: “Because with lies ye have grieved the heart of the righteous whom I have not made sad.” Blessed God! the trials of His saints are all before Him. See Revelation 2:99I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. (Revelation 2:9), reading “railing” instead of “blasphemy” which is a translator’s mistake.
Little do they think, who preach a false gospel, of the light in which God views their “Modernism”, so called, which is at least as old as the times of Jeremiah and Ezekiel “... with lies ye have...strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, to save his life...” These blind and wicked leaders would learn in the end (too late to do them good) who God is, and His people upon whom they imposed their lies would be delivered out of their hands (verse 23).
ML-09/08/1935