Ezekiel 12:22-23 - Homiletics.

A worthless proverb.

Ezekiel quotes a proverb with which the Jews are comforting themselves, and tells them that it cannot be relied on.

I. A PROVERB IS READILY ACCEPTED .

1 . Its aptness of expression attracts us. We are taken by neatness of phrase. A lie may be ably expressed, and a great fallacy may strike us as particularly well put. Thus the form disguises the substance.

2 . Its wide use throws us off our guard. We regard it as an embodiment of "the wisdom of the many." What "everybody" says is taken for granted as true. Passing freely in conversational commerce, the question of a familiar proverb's soundness is scarcely raised.

3 . Its antiquity makes it venerable. Proverbs are supposed to contain "the wisdom of the ancients."

II. A PROVERB MAY BE FALSE .

1 . Aptness of expression is no guarantee of truth. This is only a matter of form. Surely Descartes made a mistake in asserting that seeing a thought clearly was equivalent to an assurance of the truth of it. Lucidity of expression may cover falsity of idea.

2 . The mass of men may be in error. The voice of the people is by no means always the voice of God. When one common prejudice seizes many minds, they are all likely to be deluded into a common error.

3 . The venerableness of a proverb does not guarantee its truth. It is forgotten that, as Bacon tells us, we are the ancients, and those who lived in the early days belong to the childhood of the race. Other things being equal, the latest saying should be the truest. Certainly no premium is to be set on the knowledge of antiquity.

III. A PROVERB MAY BE MISAPPLIED . This was the case with the Jews to whom Ezekiel referred. They quoted a proverb revealing a startling insight into one remarkable feature of Hebrew prophecy which until lately had been almost lost sight of. The prophet sees the future as though it were present, and he describes it in such a way as to suggest to many that it is nearer than it proves to be. There is little perspective in prophecy. Its horizon often appears to move before us as its predictions are translated into facts of history. But this is not always the case, nor does the postponement of fulfilment mean its never coming. In the present case the proverb of postponement was misapplied, for fulfilment was close at hand. Here is the danger of general phrases. True in one set of circumstances, they may be utterly false in another application.

IV. A PROVERB SHOULD BE TESTED . We should treat our proverbs as uncertain coins, and ring them before using them. Then we shall find that not a few are of as base metal as Hanoverian sovereigns. There is a sort of proverbial orthodoxy constructed out of set theological phrases which has no other stamp upon it than that of preachers' usage. Loyalty to truth compels us to submit this religion's coinage to the test of Scripture, conscience, and experience. The most dangerous proverbial expressions are those that flatter ourselves. With the Jews the favourite proverb was one that postponed the prospect of the evil day and threw doubt on the Divine message. Cynical unbelief is full of sell-assurance. But it is not safe to trust to it simply because it may be clever or prevalent. Every idea that denies the Divine word is sure to prove delusive.