Ezekiel 13:20

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ezekiel 13:17-23

As God has promised that when he pours out his Spirit upon his people both their sons and their daughters shall prophesy, so the devil, when he acts as a spirit of lies and falsehood, is so in the mouth not only of false prophets, but of false prophetesses too, and those are the deceivers whom the prophet is here directed to prophesy against; for they are not such despicable enemies to God's truths as deserve not to be taken notice of, nor yet will either the weakness of their sex excuse their... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 13:20

Wherefore thus saith the Lord God, behold, I am against your pillows ,.... Not only had an abhorrence of them, but was determined to destroy them, detect their fallacies, and expose the folly of such actions, and them to shame and contempt: wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly ; to the places where they prophesied; into the toils and nets they spread for them, in order to catch them with their divinations and prophecies, and make a gain of them: or, "into the gardens",... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ezekiel 13:20

The souls that ye hunt to make them fly - לפרחות lephorechoth , into the flower gardens, says Parkhurst. These false prophetesses decoyed men into these gardens, where probably some impure rites of worship were performed, as in that of אשרה Asherah or Venus. See Parkhurst under פרח . read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Ezekiel 13:20

Verse 20 Here Ezekiel begins to threaten those women with what would shortly happen, namely, that God would not only render them contemptible, but also ridiculous, before the whole people, that their delusions and impostures might sufficiently appear. This is the Prophet’s intention, as we shall afterwards see; but the Prophet is verbose in this denunciation. God therefore says, that he is an enemy to those cushions, that is, to those false ceremonies which were like cloaks to deceive miserable... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ezekiel 13:17-20

Effeminate religion. If Ezekiel is not to be read with prosaic literalness as referring to the women of Jerusalem, but is to be understood to describe, in scornful metaphor, the false prophets as daughters of Jerusalem sewing pillows, he has here given us a picture of effeminate religion. I. THE RELIGION WHICH IGNORES STERN FACTS IS EFFEMINATE . 1 . There is a noble sphere for woman in religion. The women of the Bible give us many a fine example of exalted piety.... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ezekiel 13:17-23

False prophetesses. 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... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ezekiel 13:17-23

Effeminate religion. Moral evil is sadly contagious. The boastful, arrogant temper of the false prophets spread to the women also. It was a time of great excitement—a national crisis, in which all political considerations were intermingled with religion. Amid the general panic of fear, women as well as men were stirred to action. The party who sought God and desired to know his will were a small minority. The major part of the people, both men and women, were carried away by a spirit of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ezekiel 13:17-23

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... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Ezekiel 13:20

To make them fly , etc.; rather, with the Revised Version and Ewald, as if they were birds, carrying out the thought that the amulets on the arms of the prophetesses, and the veil cast over the heads of the votaries, were like the snare of the fowler. So the threat that follows, that the amulets should be torn off and the veil rent, is practically equivalent to the promise that the victims should be "delivered out of the snare of the fowler" ( Psalms 91:3 ; Psalms 124:7 ). They should... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Ezekiel 13:17-23

A rebuke to the false prophetesses, and a declaration that God will confound them, and deliver their victims from their snares. Women were sometimes inspired by the true God, as were Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, and Huldah; but an order of prophetesses was unknown among the people of God, and the existence of such a class in the last days of the kings of Judah was a fresh instance of declension into pagan usages.Ezekiel 13:18-21. Render thus: “Woe to the women that” put charms on every... read more

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