John Calvin Commentary Ezekiel 13:8-9

"Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because ye have spoken falsehood, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord Jehovah. And my hand shall be against the prophets that see false visions, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the council of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord Jehovah." — Ezekiel 13:8-9 (ASV)

Here at length he begins to pronounce judgment against the false prophets. Until now, under the form of a complaint, he shows how wickedly they had corrupted and profaned His sacred name; then how impiously they had made prophecies contemptible by their lies, how cruel they were to the people whose safety should have been their primary concern, and how they drew the miserable to destruction.

For after God has so recounted their sins, He now denounces punishment. First, He generally says that He was their adversary. This clause is by no means superfluous, since such carelessness would not have stupefied the impious unless they thought themselves free from all accountability to God. Hence, they utterly reject all fear and sin with freedom.

But this could not happen unless they determined that God either sleeps, or does not observe human affairs, or treats things lightly as they do. Therefore, since false prophets corrupt God’s word very recklessly when they pretend it is a pleasant sport, God, on the other hand, pronounces Himself their adversary. It is as if He said, “Your contest shall not be with men, but I will be the avenger of such a wicked profanation of My name.”

Besides, He afterwards points out the punishment: My hand, He says, shall be against the prophets. For although God threatens to become an adversary to the reprobate, yet this is not sufficient to terrify them, they are so dull. But it is necessary to use another stimulus: namely, that God should display His power.

This is the reason why He now adds, His hand shall be against the false prophets. The hand is sometimes taken for a blow. But because God sees the impious lethargic in their sins, He says that He would not only be their enemy and an avenger of His glory, but He also brings His own hand to the forefront.

It follows, They shall not be in the counsel of My people. Some explain the noun סוד, sod, with more subtlety than is necessary for that experience of God which is offered to the elect for their salvation.

But this explanation is strained, for they are deceived in thinking that the Prophet’s meaning is different in the second clause, where he adds, They shall not be written in the list of the house of Israel. He repeats the same thing in different words. In the first place, he had said, they should not be in the secret of the people—for סוד, sod, signifies a secret, but it is taken for counsel: They shall not, therefore, be in the assembly of the people. Afterwards, he adds, They shall not be in the catalogue of the house of Israel.

He mentions a catalogue because judges and others elected to any office were written in a list. We see, therefore, what the Prophet intends—for I am compelled to break off here—namely, that those impostors who wished to enjoy the prophetic title were altogether outside the Church, since God had cast them off.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, since we are so lethargic in our vices that daily promptings are necessary to rouse us, first, that our destined pastors may faithfully call us to repentance. Then, grant that we in our turn may be so attentive to their exhortations, and so allow ourselves to be condemned, that we may be our own judges. Grant also, that when You chastise us severely, the taste of Your paternal goodness may never be so lost to us that a way may always be open for us to seek reconciliation in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

[Exposition continues from previous day's lecture]

We explained yesterday what the Prophet meant when he pronounces that the impostors who deceived the people should not be in the counsel of the pious nor in their catalogue, and we said that this was twice repeated. Now the question arises: Did the Prophet speak of the secret election of God, or only of an external state?

For although these traitors were at the greatest distance from the Church, yet we know that they boasted in a common title like Ishmael, who, until he was cast out of his father’s house, proudly boasted in his right of birth (Genesis 21:9). And today, we see how the Papists claim for themselves the name of “the Church,” since they assert their claim to perpetual succession; and truly, we are compelled to confess that the ordinary ministry is with them.

But because they have tyrannically abused their power and have completely overthrown that method of governing the Church which the Lord had appointed, we may safely laugh at their boastings. There was the same arrogance in the false prophets of old, who asserted that they held no insignificant rank among the people, because they were created prophets by God.

Hence, therefore, we gather that these words are not used of any external state, because a place among the elect people was always granted to them. Without doubt, then, we must understand the contrast between the true members of the Church and hypocrites, who falsely claim the name of God.

And for this reason it is said in Psalm 15:2, as well as Psalm 24:4, that not all who go up to the mount of God have a perpetual seat there, unless they are pure in heart and hand. The sum of the whole then is this: although false prophets thunder forth their boasts with puffed-up cheeks and claim the prophetic name, yet they are not to be reckoned in that rank, as they are entirely outside the elect people.

But a second question arises out of this. If the Prophet denies their right to be included in the council of the pious, he should not speak in the future tense, because as God’s election is eternal, so His sons were written in the book of life before the creation of the world.

But he says they shall not be written, and this seems absurd. Ezekiel, however, here accommodates his language to the usual custom of mankind. The language of the psalm is harsher: Let them be blotted from the book of life, since they are not written among the just (Psalms 69:28). For it cannot happen that he who is once written in the book of life can ever be blotted out.

But in the second clause, the Prophet explains himself—that they are not written with the just; that is, that they are not written in the catalogue of the just. So also Ezekiel now says: They shall not be in the secret of My people, and they shall not be written in the writing of the house of Israel. This is because for a time they seemed to be in the number of the pious; hence, a change of expression is used here, but only in accommodation to our limited understanding.

This passage is useful in this sense. The Holy Spirit admonishes us that it is not sufficient to consider men members of the Church because the greater number seem to excel others, just as the chaff is above the wheat and suffocates it.

Thus, hypocrites bury the sons of God, whose number is small, while they shine forth in their own splendor, and their multitude makes them seem exclusively worthy of the title of the Church.

Hence, let us learn to examine ourselves and to search whether those interior marks by which God distinguishes His children from strangers belong to us, namely, the living root of piety and faith. This passage also teaches that nothing is more dreadful than to be rejected from God’s flock. For no safety is to be hoped for, except as God collects us into one body under one head.

First, all safety resides in Christ alone. Then, we cannot be separated from Christ without falling away from all hope of safety. But Christ will not and cannot be torn from His Church, with which He is joined in an indissoluble knot, as the head to the body.

Hence, unless we cultivate unity with the faithful, we see that we are cut off from Christ. Therefore, I said that nothing was more to be feared than that separation mentioned here.

On the other hand, it is said in Psalm 106:4, Remember me, O God, in thy good will towards thy people: visit me with thy salvation. When the author of the Psalm prays in this way, he at the same time acknowledges that our true and solid happiness is found in the Lord’s embracing us with the rest of the faithful.

For God’s goodwill towards His people is that fatherly kindness by which He embraces His own elect. If, therefore, God considers us worthy of that fatherly favor, then we have a sure confidence of safety.

Afterwards, He adds, And they shall not return to the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am Jehovah. Ezekiel here presents an external sign as the mark of reprobation, since, while a free return was permitted to others, these were excluded. Hence, Ezekiel signifies that God’s anger would be evident in the case of false prophets by their exclusion from the benefits common to the people.

For when God shall open the door and issue a decree concerning a free return, they shall remain exiles and shall never enjoy that homeland to which they boasted they would shortly return. He confirms then by an external symbol what He has already said about reprobation.

For although many who were real members of the Church died in exile, such as Daniel and his allies, and many others, yet, as far as these deceivers were concerned, their exclusion was a sure sign of their rejection, particularly because they had boasted of a speedy return to their country. Therefore, since they were deprived of that advantage, God openly shows that they were unworthy of being reckoned among the elect people.