Ezekiel 13:10 - Exposition

Peace, when there was no peace. This, as in Micah 3:5 ; Jeremiah 6:14 ; Jeremiah 23:17 ; Zechariah 10:2 , was the root evil of the false prophet's work. He lulled men into a false security, and so narcotized their consciences. One built up a wall. The imagery starts from the picture of a ruined city already implied in Zechariah 10:4 and Zechariah 10:5 , and expands into a parable in which we note a parallelism

With an incisive sarcasm, Ezekiel describes what we should call the "scamp-work" of their spiritual building. They profess to be "repairers of the breach" ( Isaiah 58:12 ) in the walls of the spiritual Zion, and this is how they set about it. One built up a wall. This may point to a false prophet, but the "one" (Hebrew, "he") is probably indefinite, like the French on, equivalent to "some one." Some scheme is devised, an Egyptian alliance or the like, to which the people look for safety. It is, as in the margin of the Authorized Version, a "slight wall," such as was used for partition walls inside houses. They make it do duty as an outside wall ( kir in verse 12). It has no sure "footings," and materials and workmanship are alike defective. The false prophets would smear it over with untempered mortar (the Hebrew word is found only here and in Ezekiel 22:28 , and is probably an example of Ezekiel's acquaintance with the technical vocabulary of his time)—with a stucco or plaster, which is hardly better than whitewash, used to hide its detects and give it a semblance of solidity. They come, that is, with smooth words and promises of peace.