John Calvin Commentary Ezekiel 13:14

"So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered [mortar], and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be uncovered; and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I am Jehovah." — Ezekiel 13:14 (ASV)

This verse should be connected with the other: God says, I will throw down the wall. For the false prophets had gained so much favor that their boasting was esteemed as highly as an oracle. Therefore, the people were persuaded that what even these impostors dreamed was spoken by God.

Therefore, since they had so bound people’s minds to themselves, the Prophet was compelled to speak out vehemently against those impostures, as he would not have succeeded with simple language. This language, indeed, may seem superfluous; but if anyone considers how greatly these miserable exiles were deluded by the false prophets, they will easily acknowledge that God does not repeat the same thing so often in vain: for in this place He brings forward nothing new, but He so impresses what we have already seen as to confirm it.

I will pull down, therefore, the wall which you have daubed with untempered mortar, and I will lay it low on the ground, and its foundation shall be uncovered, or revealed. Here the Prophet indicates that God would so expose the fallacies of those who had deceived the people with vain hopes that no disguise would remain for them, but their disgrace would be plain to everyone.

Now, such was the shamelessness of these impostors that if they were convicted on one point, they still did not desist on that account. Instead, they took credit for themselves if anything turned out more fortunately than they could expect, as if they had not prophesied in vain, even when only a single thing came true.

Therefore, since the impious so turned their backs when God detected their folly, the Prophet adds that the false prophets would have nothing left, because God will not only overthrow whatever they seemed to build, but He will also uncover even the foundations, so that the people may understand that there was not a shred or the least particle of truth in them.

And it shall fall, and you shall be consumed in the midst of it. He had just said that it would be ruinously consumed: hailstones, he said, would fall to consume it. By this word, he understood that the final slaughter would be so severe that no hope would be left.

For as long as Jerusalem stood, the Israelites always looked forward to a return. But when they saw the kingdom not only weakened, but utterly destroyed, the temple overthrown, and the city ruined, whenever they heard of their dreadful dispersion, not the slightest remnant of hope survived.

Now this consumption is transferred to the false prophets. As that consumption was final, and without a gleam of hope, you shall be consumed, He says, in the midst of it, and you shall know that I am Jehovah.

He does not impress this particular so often in vain; but He inveighs with indignation against the wicked audacity of the false prophets, who dared so petulantly to oppose themselves to the true servants of God, to assume His name, and to trifle with Him like children. Such is the prodigious madness of mortals who dare to set themselves against God. For this reason, He says, they shall at last perceive with whom they have to deal.