Ezekiel 14:4

"Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Every man of the house of Israel that taketh his idols into his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I Jehovah will answer him therein according to the multitude of his idols; that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Return ye, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations."

"That taketh his idols into his heart ..." (4). The repeated mention of the idols having been received in the hearts of God's people is exceedingly significant. It means that they had learned to love the pagan gods and goddesses. Their secret devotion belonged to their idols. The licentious ceremonies with which they had worshipped their idols were dear to their hearts, and they strongly desired to renew such practices. God's word they neither believed nor trusted.

"I, the Lord will answer him ..." (Ezekiel 14:4). Eichrodt labeled this as a "contradiction" of the proposition that idolatrous inquirers would get no answer from God. No, God did not indicate any such refusal to answer the inquiring idolaters; he merely declined to send them any message through a true prophet. They would get an answer, all right, it would be directly from God Himself. "This answer would not have any relation at all to the curiosity of the inquirers; there would be no words; it would consist of the execution of a sentence spelled out in Ezekiel 14:8."[4]

"That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart ..." (Ezekiel 14:5). God was here fighting to keep his people; and what is meant here is that, through his judgments against them, he will touch their consciences and bring down their proud hearts. God's purpose was always their restoration and salvation, never their destruction. "Still, this is a threat of punishment."[5] "After all, to turn to other gods was a crime worthy of death as clearly spelled out in the Law of Moses (Exodus 20:3-5; Leviticus 19:4; 26:1; and Deuteronomy 5:8; 12:3; 27:15)."[6]

"Return ye, and turn yourselves from your idols ..." (Ezekiel 14:6) The infinite mercy of God is here seen in the fact that, while in the very act of pronouncing a sentence of death upon his Chosen People, God here made one last solemn plea for them to forsake the evil idolatrous ways to which their hearts so avidly desired to return, in which guilty state they were already ensnared, and instead to give up all of their evil practices and return wholeheartedly to the Lord.