by Katrina
LINK: Ezekiel 13
BACKGROUND
Verses 1-16
One of the reasons the people didn't believe the prophesies of Ezekiel and Jeremiah was that there were so many other prophets telling a different message. These false prophets spoke of visions and inspirations from God, but God never gave them messages or visions. They made it all up and lied.
True prophecy was a spiritual protection for the people, like a strong wall surrounding a city. True prophecy always came from God and called His people to repentance and a deeper relationship with Him. But these false prophets were building a weak wall that would fall down. Its foundation wasn't sturdy because it was based on lies. They were giving the people false hope based on these lies.
The false prophets covered their weak walls with whitewash to make them appear to be sturdy. They covered up the fact that their words were lies by candy-coating them. They told the people what they wanted to hear -- that there would be peace and that Jerusalem would be protected from harm.
God laid out His judgment for these counterfeit prophets in verse nine. They would be removed from their prominent offices, removed from citizenship, removed from the land (either by death or exile), and not be permitted to return to the land.
Verses 17-23
Not only were their false prophets among the people, but there were also lying sorceresses. They claimed to be prophetesses, but practiced magical arts which were forbidden to the Jews (Deuteronomy 18:9-14). They made "magic charms" for people to purchase and wear on various parts of the body. These would supposedly protect them from evil.
Ezekiel compared them to birds of prey, hunting and killing the weak. These women preyed on the fears of the people and gave them false hope. They encouraged those who were wicked to continue in their wickedness and disheartened the righteous.
Their end would be similar to that of the false prophets. God would strip them of their charms and would not let them return to the land.
REFLECTION/APPLICATION
This chapter made me think how we need to be careful who we listen to. Sometimes it's just easier to listen to what we want to hear and think everything's okay. It's nice to hear reassuring words. We like to be told that we're doing alright. But sometimes what we need to hear isn't so comfortable. We may need to hear that we're doing something wrong or have a bad attitude about something. And whatever we hear, we need to search the scripture and test the message against it, rather than to jump on a bandwagon because it feels good. We need to make sure that the people we listen to are well-grounded in scripture and not getting carried away with their own ideas.
PRAYER
Thank you, Lord, for giving us your word and your Holy Spirit. Help us to discern which messages we hear are really from the world and which are your word to us. Amen.
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