Ezekiel 13

REPROOF OF THE LYING PROPHETS AND PROPHETESSES IN JERUSALEM WHO DECEIVE THE PEOPLE WITH DELUSIVE HOPES.

In this chapter Ezekiel explains the difference between true and false prophets. They differ in the motive urging them to speak (Ezekiel 13:2-3; Ezekiel 13:17; Ezekiel 13:19), in the spirit which controls them (Ezekiel 13:7), and in the agreement between their words and the historic fact (Ezekiel 13:8; Ezekiel 13:10; Ezekiel 13:16). Professor A.B. Davidson says: “Some modern writers on prophecy have exhibited a good deal of sympathy with the false prophets, and one scholar has expressed his regret that all their productions have perished, and that we have only the judgment of their adversaries upon them and cannot hear them in their own defense. Nothing that we know regarding them would lead us to believe that their works, if any, would have added to the religious or ethical treasures of mankind” ( Expositor, July, 1895). Judged by the high moral and spiritual standard of such prophets as Isaiah and Ezekiel these prophets were false, and the verdict of history has sustained that view.