False prophetesses, their characteristics and condemnation,
"Likewise, thou son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people," etc. God sometimes raised up and inspired women to be prophetesses to his people. Miriam (Exodus 15:20), Deborah ( 4:4), Hannah (1 Samuel 2:1-10), and Huldah (2 Kings 22:14-20) were genuine prophetesses of the Lord in the times of the Old Testament. And in the time of Ezekiel there were false prophetesses—women who pretended to possess Divine inspiration, and to speak with Divine authority, but who "prophesied out of their own heart," and grievously misled the people. Greenhill suggests that they probably exceeded the false prophets in doing mischief; "for women, by reason of the tenderness of their nature, sweetness of their voices, respect amongst men, have the advantage to insinuate their opinions, and persuade more powerfully, especially when they have a repute for holiness, and are esteemed prophetical, as these were." There are difficulties in the interpretation of this paragraph; but, happily, the permanent moral instruction which it conveys is not obscure. It sets before us—
I. THE ACCOMMODATING AND FLATTERING CHARACTER OF FALSE PROPHECY. The pretended prophetesses are spoken of as "the women that sew pillows upon all elbows, and make kerchiefs for the head of persons of every stature." The precise meaning of these pillows and kerchiefs is very uncertain; but it seems to us that they should be interpreted figuratively. The aim of these false prophetesses was to make the people feel secure and at ease. They represented the state of national affairs as safe, comfortable, and full of promise. They thus ministered to a delusive repose and pleasure. They, in this respect, resembled the prophets who said, "Peace, when there was no peace," and who daubed the flimsy wall of false hopes with the untempered mortar of deceptive assurances. As M. Henry expresses it, "They did all they could to make people secure, which is signified by laying them easy, and to make people proud, which is signified by dressing them fine with handkerchiefs." False prophets, preachers, and teachers whom God hath not sent make it their object to say what will please the people and bring popularity to themselves.
II. THE PERNICIOUS POWER OF FALSE PROPHECY.
1. It is blasphemous towards God. "Ye have profaned me among my people." They blasphemed the sacred Name by employing it to authorize their false and evil communications. Moreover, as Hengstenberg remarks, "They profane God among the people, inasmuch as they assign him a friendly position towards sin."
2. It is ruinous to man. The false prophetesses are charged with hunting the souls of the Lord's people, slaying the souls that should not die, and strengthening "the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, and be saved alive." They encouraged sinners in their sins by assuring them that they were secure. The propagation of religious error is destructive of the health and life of souls. Such errors act as deadly poisons upon the moral life of those who receive them.
III. THE SELFISH MOTIVE OF FALSE PROPHECY. "Ye have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread." They prophesied for their own profit, not for the good of the people. "There is nothing so sacred," says M. Henry, "which men of mercenary spirits, in whom the love of this world reigns, will not profane and prostitute, if they can but get money by the bargain. But they did it for poor gain; if they could get no more for it, rather than break they would sell you a false prophecy that should please you to a nicety for a beggar's dole, a piece of bread or a handful of barley; and yet that was more than it was worth." False and corrupt teachers are never actuated in their work by zeal for the glory of God or the good of men. They seek their own popularity or power, their temporal enrichment or comfort. Our Lord said, "I seek not mine own glory." And the true Christian minister can say, with St. Paul, "I seek not yours, but you."
IV. THE READY ACCEPTANCE OF FALSE PROPHECY. "Your lying to my people that hearken unto lies." Isaiah speaks of people who say to the prophets, "Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits." And there are people still who would rather hear pleasing fallacies than unpleasant truths; who wish to be soothed and comforted rather than summoned to repentance and conversion. What madness is theirs? "Is it wise in the man who has nearly ruined his constitution by intemperance, to ask the physician to tell him that he is in good health, and is carrying on a harmless course of indulgence? Is it wise in the man who is washing his property by neglect or extravagance, to persuade his friends to hush their reproving voice, and flatter him that his prosperity is secure? Would the deceit in the former case change the condition of the patient? or the falsehood in the latter repair the fortunes of the spendthrift? How much greater is the folly of the sinner, who, instead of turning from sin to God, through faith in Christ, and thus getting rid of his alarms by abandoning his course of sin, refuses to change his conduct, and asks for a false representation of his condition! He is walking to the edge of a precipice, and solicits those who see his danger to tell him that he is safe" (James).
V. THE JUDGMENT OF GOD AGAINST THE AUTHORS OF FALSE PROPHECY.
1. He will strip then of their seductions. "Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I am against your pillows," etc. (verses 20, 21). When the Chaldeans took Jerusalem, slew its inhabitants, or seized and carried them into captivity, the seductions of these false prophetesses were completely destroyed. They would "no more see vanity, nor divine divinations." They would be put to utter silence and clothed with guilty shame. Teachers of error must sooner or later be confounded; for in its conflict with truth falsehood must ultimately be completely vanquished.
2. He will defeat their designs. "I will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly [or, 'as birds'];… and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted." The dark designs of the false prophetesses would be frustrated by God, and they themselves would be involved in the dire miseries that were coming upon the people of Jerusalem. Every one who cherishes purposes and is engaged in enterprises which are opposed to the holy will of God is advancing to total and terrible disappointment.
3. He will convince them of his own Being and supremacy. "Ye shall know that I am the Lord" (see our notes on these words in Ezekiel 6:7, Ezekiel 6:10; Ezekiel 11:10).—W.J.
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