Ezekiel 13:8
Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Because you have uttered vain words and seen false visions, I am against you, declares the Lord GOD.
Sermons
Pretended ProphetsJ.R. Thomson Ezekiel 13:1-9
The Perils of FalsenessJ.D. Davies Ezekiel 13:1-9
The Sin and Punishment of False ProphetsW. Jones Ezekiel 13:1-16














Ye have not gone up, into the gaps, etc. Our text suggests the following observations.

I. THE PRACTICE OF SIN EXPOSES MEN TO THE GREATEST DANGERS. The text suggests the figure of a besieged city, in the walls of which breaches have been made, through which the enemy rushes in to fight with its inhabitants and to take possession of its treasures. There is perhaps a reference to the approaching siege of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, in which that city would fall because of the sins of its inhabitants. So sin makes wide gaps in the defences of a people, deprives them of the Divine protection, and exposes them to the assaults of their enemies. The sins of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah made the wide breaches which let in the fiery flood which consumed them. The sins of the Israelites in the wilderness on one occasion made a gap in their defences through which the plague entered and slew fourteen thousand and seven hundred persons (Numbers 16:41-50). The sin of Achan in coveting, stealing, and concealing some of the spoils of Jericho, in defiance of express commands, opened a wide breach through which the enemies of Israel rushed, and put them to ignominious flight, and slew six and thirty of them (Joshua 7.). And when David sinned in numbering the people he made a gap through which the pestilence entered and destroyed severity thousand men (2 Samuel 24.; cf. Isaiah 42:24, 25).

II. THE CONTINUED PRACTICE OF SIN LEADS ON TO A CRISIS IN WHICH JUDGMENT WILL BE EXECUTED UPON SLYNESS. That crisis is here called "the day of the Lord." "The day of Jehovah," says Schroder, "is the time fixed by him with reference to the reckoning to be given in to him." It seems to us more correct to say that it is "the time of the arrival of the judgment." This crisis was rapidly drawing near to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. If sinners persist in making the gaps, it is certain that their punishment will enter thereat and seize upon them. Sinful character and conduct advance towards maturity, and when that is attained, if not before, the sinner, or the community of sinners, will meet with just retribution. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." The forbearance and long suffering of God with The wicked are very great; but if these be trifled with and presumed upon, he will cease to exercise them, and will appear for the execution of his judgment (cf. Romans 2:4-11).

III. IT IS THE DUTY OF THE FAITHFUL SERVANTS OF GOD TO ENDEAVOUR TO GUARD THE IMPERILLED PEOPLE AGAINST THE DANGERS WHICH THREATEN THEM. When the people by their sins have exposed themselves to their enemies, it behoves the faithful to go up into the gaps, and to make "up the fence for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord." This may be done:

1. By preaching repentance to the guilty people. When the people of Nineveh repented, the destruction of their city, which had been threatened because of their sins, was averted. If the prophets bad summoned the people to repentance, and the people had responded truly to that summons, then would the broach in the fence have been made up, and they would have been able "to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord." "There is no better wall than reformation of life." "If they have stood in my council, then had they caused my people to hear my words," etc. (Jeremiah 23:22).

2. By presenting intercession for the guilty people. There are a number of impressive examples in the sacred Scriptures of the servants of God stepping into the gap and saving the imperilled people by their prayers (cf. Exodus 32:11-14, 31-34; Psalm 106:23; Numbers 14:13-24; Numbers 16:41-48; 1 Samuel 7:8-10). God has often graciously heard the cry of his faithful servants on behalf of the guilty, and turned aside from them the stroke of his judgment. He has spared the wicked for the sake of the righteous.

IV. FALSE PROPHETS AND UNWORTHY LEADERS IN THE CHURCH OF GOD ALTOGETHER FAIL IN THIS IMPORTANT DUTY. These false prophets had "not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the fence for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord." They had neither preached repentance to the people, nor pleaded with God on their behalf; but had positively encouraged them in their sinful and false security; therefore the judgment of the Lord fell upon them to their utter overthrow. "I sought for a man among them, that should make up the fence, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none," etc. (cf. Ezekiel 22:30, 31). "False prophets cannot pray." They have neither "interest in heaven nor intercourse with heaven." And they have no heart to make a stand against the sins of their people, and so save them from ruin.

CONCLUSION.

1. How great a curse to a community are corrupt religious teachers and leaders! They lure the people to ruin, while they assure them that all is well.

2. How great a blessing to a community is the presence of godly and praying persons! They are "the salt of the earth;" they are saviours of society. - W.J.

Thy prophets are like the foxes in the desert.
1. These creatures are lovers of grapes, as we know by a common proverb; and consequently they did much damage in such countries as Judea, which abounded with vineyards, as is noted in Song of Solomon 2:15, not only by devouring the grapes but also by making holes in the walls and fences, whereby they laid open the vineyards to other ravenous beasts as well as to themselves. Just so did the false prophets to the cities of Judah: they did not only beguile people of their substance, by the character which they assumed, and the figure which they made among them; but by their false doctrines and subversions of the genuine will and Word of God they broke down the walls and fences from about them; I mean that blessing and protection of the Almighty which was annexed to the obedience of His own laws.

2. In another respect did these prophets resemble the foxes in the deserts, that they could make breaches, but had not the faculty of stopping them up again. They did not call the people to repentance; or if they did, it was but such a superficial fast as we read of (Jeremiah 36), at which they read his prophecy, and then cut it in pieces and threw it into the fire. Their making up of their breaches this way was but like the labour of unfaithful builders; one laid the stones in the wall, and others daubed it with untempered mortar.

3. These false prophets resembled foxes in their fraudulent practices. By crafty speeches and cunningly devised fables they misled the hearts of the simple. They studied how to suit their discourses to the various tempers of the people whom they conversed with; to prophesy smooth things to the stout-hearted, and terrible things to the timorous, that they might keep them all in the way which they would have them to walk in.

4. These false prophets had another property of foxes, which was a prowling ravenous appetite. When they came out of their colleges into the vineyard, they resolved that the making of their fortune, the arriving at a plentiful condition, a goodly heritage, should be the first and greatest of all their cares. So little were they concerned for the welfare of the people over whom they pretended to be guardians and spiritual watchmen, that they would sell their souls, as God complains here, for handfuls of barley and morsels of bread.

5. As foxes are of the number of unclean beasts, so these prophets were men of corrupt minds and loose morals. How prone they were to prevaricate with God, and seduce the people, to counterfeit a Divine mission, to run when they were not sent, to prophesy out of their own heart without a revelation, to proclaim their visions of peace when there was no peace, is abundantly set forth in this chapter.

(W. Reading, M. A.)

The prophets are like foxes: ruins are congenial to them; a condition of decay is their proper sphere; there they can burrow as their instincts prompt them. The main idea, however, is that their operations only increase the devastation, and Undermine and bring down anything that may yet be standing. In a declining and disastrous time the minds of men are excited and feed on the wildest schemes; and, feeling themselves helpless, they readily turn to those who pretend to speak to them in God's name. And it only adds to their ruin when those to whom they turn have no higher wisdom than themselves.

(A. B. Davidson, D. D.)

People
Ezekiel
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
FALSE, Behold, Declares, Delusions, Falsehood, Lie, Lies, Lying, Says, Sovereign, Speak, Spoken, Substance, Thus, Uttered, Vanity, Visions
Outline
1. The reproof of false prophets
10. and their untempered mortar
17. Of prophecies and their pillows

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Ezekiel 13:1-9

     9250   woe

Ezekiel 13:1-12

     1466   vision

Ezekiel 13:1-23

     7760   preachers, responsibilities

Ezekiel 13:6-9

     1469   visions
     4125   Satan, agents of

Ezekiel 13:6-10

     4123   Satan, deceiver

Ezekiel 13:7-9

     5943   self-deception

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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