John Calvin Commentary Ezekiel 13

He speaks of the exiled prophets, as will be evident from the context. For among the captives there were those who assumed the name of God, boasting they were endowed with the prophetic spirit. But meanwhile, they intruded into the office and then vainly boasted in their deceptions. The end they proposed to themselves was to promise the people a speedy return, and so to win the favor of the multitude.

For the captives were already almost broken-hearted by weariness, and seventy years was a long period. Therefore, when they heard of returning after three years, they easily allowed themselves to be deceived by such flatteries. But although God is so fiercely angry with those impostors, it does not, therefore, follow that when He charges them with their crime, He absolves the people or even lessens their fault.

Nor could the people object that they were deceived by those falsehoods, since they willingly and knowingly threw themselves into the snare. They were not lacking true prophets, and God had distinguished His servants from false prophets by well-known marks, so that no one could mistake them except willfully (Deuteronomy 13:3). But in the midst of light, they blinded themselves, and so God allowed them to be deceived.

But that was the just reward of their pride, since they would not be subject to God and His servants. Then, when they sought enticements, as is evident from many passages, God also gave free rein to Satan, so that there would be a lying spirit in the mouth of all the prophets.

Micah reproves them because they desired prophets who would promise them large grape-gatherings and a plentiful harvest (Micah 2:11); meanwhile, when God chastised them severely, they roared and were tumultuous. We see, therefore, that while God denounces false prophets so sharply, the people’s fault was not diminished. Instead, each was led to reason with himself: “If God does not spare our prophets, what better hope do we have?”

Therefore, when the Prophet turns his address to the false prophets, there is no doubt of his intention to rebuke the whole people for listening to such deceptions while they despised the true doctrine—and not only so, but even rejected it with fury. Say therefore to the prophets of Israel while prophesying, say to those prophesying out of their own hearts. Here he concedes the name “prophets of Israel” to those who thrust themselves forward and rashly boasted that they were commanded to speak their own imaginations, or what the devil had suggested.

For at that time, indeed, no others were thought to be lawfully considered prophets unless divinely chosen. But because the wicked seized upon this title, they are often called prophets, though God’s Spirit is a complete stranger to them. The gift of prophecy, however, can only flow from that one fountain. This great struggle then occurred when the prophets, or those who assumed the title, engaged with hostility among themselves. For we are commanded to accept God’s truth alone. But when falsehood is offered to us instead of truth, what can we do but waver and eventually engage in conflict?

There is no doubt, then, that weak minds were thus greatly shaken when they saw contests and dissensions of this kind between prophets. Today, God wishes to test the faithfulness of His people by such a trial and to detect the hypocrisy of the multitude. For, as Paul says, there must be heresies, that those who are approved may be made manifest (1 Corinthians 11:19).

Therefore, God does not rashly permit so much freedom to Satan’s ministers that they should insolently rise up against sound doctrine. Nor yet without a cause does He permit the Church to be torn apart by diverse opinions, and fictions sometimes to grow so strong that truth itself is buried under them. He wishes indeed in this way to test the faithfulness of the godly and, at the same time, to detect the fickleness of hypocrites who are tossed about by every wind.

Meanwhile, if the conflict that we now perceive between those who boast of being pastors of the Church disturbs us, let this example come to mind. Thus, novelty will not endanger our faithfulness. What we suffer, the ancients also experienced: namely, the disturbance of the Church by internal disputes and a similar tearing apart of the bond of unity.

Next, God briefly defines who the false prophets are: namely, those who prophesy out of their own hearts. He will afterwards add, they have seen nothing, they only boast in the name of God, and yet they are not sent by Him. The same thing is expressed in various ways, but I shall treat other forms of speech in their own places.

Here, as I have said, we may readily decide at once who are the true and who the false prophets. The Spirit of God pronounces everyone who prophesies from his own heart to be an impostor. Hence, nothing else remains but for the prophets faithfully to speak whatever the Spirit has dictated to them.

Whoever, therefore, has no sure testimony to his vision and cannot truly testify that he speaks from God’s mouth and by the revelation of His Spirit, although he may boast in the title of prophet, is nevertheless only an impostor. For God here rejects all who speak from their own heart. From this, we also gather the extreme vanity of the human mind, for God establishes a perpetual distinction between the human mind and the revelation of His Spirit. If this is so, it follows that what men speak from themselves is a perverse fiction, because the Spirit of God claims for Himself alone, as we have said, the office of showing what is true and right.

Woe to the foolish or disgraceful prophets! The word נבל, nebel, signifies “a vile person,” “a castaway,” just as נבלה, nebeleh, means “foulness,” “crime,” or “wickedness,” although nebel is more often taken for folly, and I willingly embrace this sense as it is generally received.

He calls false prophets foolish because they undoubtedly fiercely insulted the true servants of God, acting like upstarts puffed up with immense self-conceit. For the devil, who reigns in them, is the father of pride. Hence, they carry themselves haughtily, arrogate all things to themselves, and wish to be thought of as angels come down from heaven.

And when Paul speaks of human fictions, he grants them the appearance of wisdom (Colossians 2:23). Hence, there is no doubt that these pretenders of whom Ezekiel speaks were held in great esteem. Swollen with pompous language, they proclaimed surprising wisdom. But meanwhile, the Holy Spirit plainly pronounces them fools, for whatever pleases the world under the mask of wisdom, we know to be mere folly before God.

Now he adds, who walk after their own spirit, without seeing anything; that is, when no vision has been given them. Ezekiel explains himself more clearly, or rather the Spirit who spoke through him. As, therefore, he has previously condemned all who prophesy out of their own mind or heart (for the noun “heart” is here used for “intellect,” as in other places), so he now says that those who walk after their own spirit wickedly abuse the prophetic office.

Here he alludes to the prophetic gift when he speaks of “spirit.” For, because they might object that false prophets did not speak from their own heart but had secret revelations, he concedes to them the use of the word “spirit” by a rhetorical figure. Thus, he refutes their boasting, as if Ezekiel had said that those fictitious revelations are mere fancies. They indeed have something in them more than common, but still, they are fanatics.

This, then, is the sense of the word “spirit.” Meanwhile, there is no doubt that he repeats what he previously stated, and the contrast removes all doubt. Without seeing anything, he says. Thus, vision is opposed to the human heart and spirit. But what is vision if not a supernatural gift? When, therefore, God raises His servants above the limits of human ability and enables them to discern what no mortal power can bestow, that is a vision. If a vision is removed, nothing will remain but the spirit or heart of man. Hence, those who cannot truly show that their speech is evidently inspired will be compelled to confess that they speak from their own minds.

Therefore, Ezekiel exposes the snares of the false prophets. The ten tribes had been dispersed, much like a field or a vineyard removed from a populated area into desolate regions, where foxes then held sway. For they have many hiding places; they slip through hedges and all openings, and so break into the vineyard or field, and destroy its fruits.

Such, as I have said, was the condition of the people from the time of their dispersion. While the Israelites lived at home, they were, in a way, kept to their duty, as if fortified by certain ramparts. In Jerusalem, too, the High Priest presided over spiritual affairs, ensuring that no ungodly doctrine could creep in: but now, since the people were so dispersed, greater opportunity was given to the false prophets to corrupt them, as the miserable exiles were exposed to these foxes; for they were vulnerable to harm, just as if desolate regions surrounded them.

Being thus without protection, it was easy for these foxes to enter by deceptive methods and destroy whatever good fruits existed. Meanwhile, Ezekiel indirectly rebukes the people’s carelessness. Although they were dispersed and so open to the snares of the false prophets, yet they thought they were being attentive and cautious; God would undoubtedly have provided them with aid, as he promises his people the spirit of discretion and judgment whenever they need it (1 Corinthians 12:10). But when the Israelites were wandering exiles, and attention to the law no longer flourished among them, it happened that foxes—meaning their false prophets—easily entered. From this it follows that the people were not without fault, since they exposed themselves to the snares of these false prophets.

Therefore, he pursues the same thought, but presses the false prophets harder. He has said generally that they were sacrilegious, making a false use of God’s name when speaking entirely from themselves. He now separates them by another mark from the approved and faithful servants of God, namely, they had not gone up into the breach, nor built up a hedge to protect the house of Israel, that they might stand in the battle in the day of Jehovah.

This verse is explained in various ways: some refer what is said here to prayer; others twist it according to their own imaginations, but I restrict it to their teaching. Ezekiel not only blames their inner and hidden treachery, and not only assails their minds to show that they had no desire for piety and no zeal for God’s glory, but he also shows that their teaching must be completely rejected because they did not aim for the right objective.

But what is the goal at which all God’s servants should aim? Surely it is to safeguard the public safety; and when they see signs of God’s wrath, to confront those signs and prevent the impending calamity. These impostors saw the people not only as impious but also as rebellious, so that there was no hope of their repentance.

On the other hand, they saw God threatening; and although they were blind, they could still perceive the signs of God’s reproving vengeance. Therefore, it was their duty to go up to the breaches.

From this, we also understand what the Prophet means by “breaches”: just as an opening allows an enemy to storm a city when a breach is made in the wall, so also, when the iniquity of the people overflows like a deluge, a rupture is already made through which God’s wrath can penetrate immediately and lay everything waste until it is reduced to nothing.

Therefore, whenever we see God offended by the people’s wickedness, we should understand that a breach has been made, as if we were destined for destruction. Therefore, those who desire to faithfully carry out their teaching ministry should hasten to the breach, to call the people back from their impiety, and to exhort them to repentance.

Thus the wall is restored, because God is appeased, and we are able to rest in quietness and security. What follows has the same point—they have not restored the hedge. For when a people breaks through all that is right and violates God’s law, it is just as if they left themselves completely vulnerable, without God’s protection, as Moses reproves them when speaking of the molten calf: Behold, he says, this day you are naked; that is, because they had hurled themselves into destruction (Exodus 32:25).

So the Prophet says that these traitors did not hasten to restore the hedge when the house of Israel was exposed to robbers, thieves, and wild beasts, because it was no longer protected by the hand of God. What follows has the same point: that they should stand in the battle in the day of the Lord; that is, to set themselves against God’s vengeance.

This relates to prayers, as when Phinehas is mentioned in Psalm 106:30, and also in the same psalm, Psalms 106:23, where it is said of Moses, Unless Moses had stood in the breach to turn away God’s wrath. Here also, as I have said, the Prophet is focusing more on doctrine.

For here he sharply rebukes the folly of false prophets who had promised wonderful things. Now, when God truly drew near, all their prophecies vanished. Therefore, he says, they stood not in the battle in the day of Jehovah.

For if they had diligently exhorted the people to repentance, those sinners would have reconciled God to themselves. For we turn aside His judgment beforehand when we turn to Him in time, as Paul teaches (1 Corinthians 11:31). If, therefore, the people had been so diligently advised, they would have stood in the battle; that is, their teaching would have been a bulwark against God’s wrath breaking out to destroy them utterly.

Now, therefore, we see Ezekiel’s meaning: namely, that he shows how the deceptions of the false prophets could be perceived, since by their smooth words and flatteries they destroyed the people.

Here again he generally declares that those false prophets were vain, and this assertion depends on the principle that they had spoken from their own heart or spirit, for nothing false or vain can come from God. Therefore, it follows that they are condemned here for vanity and lying, because they dared to use God's name falsely when they uttered nothing but their own dreams.

He now confirms what we saw in the last verse, when he says, they hoped to establish their word. Thus, they inflated the people with vain hope when they said that God would not be so severe as to demand continual punishment from the holy and elect nation. True prophets also often call sinners back to God's mercy and magnify it, so that those who wrestle with despair may not doubt God’s long-suffering, since He is said to be slow to anger, and inclined to reconciliation; and His mercy endures for a lifetime, while His anger passes away in a moment. (Numbers 14:18; Psalms 103:8; Psalms 30:5).

True prophets indeed act this way; but they join two elements that must not be separated, otherwise God Himself would be, so to speak, fragmented. Therefore, when true prophets exhort sinners to hope and proclaim God’s readiness to pardon, they also speak about repentance. They do not indulge sinners, but rouse them—indeed, wound them sharply with a sense of God’s anger—so as to stir them up in some way, since God’s mercy is set before us for this purpose: that by it we may seek life.

Therefore, we must be dead in ourselves. But false prophets separate the two and divide God, so to speak, in half, since they speak only of His readiness to forgive and declare His clemency to be available to all, while they are profoundly silent about repentance.

Now, therefore, we see why the Prophet here rebukes these traitors who abused God's name, since they made the people hope. Indeed, without hope, the sinner could not be motivated to seek God; but these false prophets promised peace, as he will soon say, when there was no peace. Therefore, let us continue with the explanation.

Here God shows why He had previously pronounced that they brought forward nothing but vanity and falsehood: specifically, because they used His name falsely, and out of light created darkness. For by the pretense of speaking in God’s name, they darkened men’s minds. That sacred name is, as it were, a source of splendor, far surpassing the light of the sun; indeed, whatever light exists is made apparent and radiant by it.

But, as I have said, the servants of Satan turn light into darkness because they audaciously boast that God has said so. This passage and similar ones show us how diligently we should guard against Satan’s fallacies. This is their astounding boldness: to bring forward God’s name while they so recklessly trifle with His judgments.

For to boast that God has spoken is as if we wished, by impious profanation, purposely to draw Him into a dispute. For how can God tolerate us turning His truth into a lie? But there have been impostors in all ages who have thus carelessly flown in the face of God.

We are not surprised at pagans doing so. But among the chosen people, it was certainly an extraordinary offense and an intolerable disgrace—when they had access to all heavenly doctrine for the guidance of their conduct, and when God was daily raising up prophets, as He had promised through Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15–18)—to see these impious dogs who barked so, and that you pretended so proudly to speak in God’s name. Therefore, admonished by this warning, let us be on our guard when we see Satan’s servants endowed with such arrogance.