Ezekiel 13 Study Notes
Share
13:1-3 In no sense were these people prophets of God. The source of their message was their own imagination (i.e., their heart) and their own spirit. This is also true of modern false teachers (2Pt 2:1-2). According to Dt 18:18, genuine prophets receive their messages directly from God and speak for him.
13:4 The sight of jackals scavenging in the ruins of the city pictures the despair of the people after the fall of Jerusalem (Lm 5:18).
shabath
| Hebrew pronunciation | [shah VATH] |
| CSB translation | rest, cease, stop |
| Uses in Ezekiel | 13 |
| Uses in the OT | 71 |
| Focus passage | Ezekiel 12:23 |
Shabath related to shabbath (Sabbath), means rest or cease (Gn 2:2; 8:22). Land has rest (Lv 26:35). Things or people quiet down, become quiet (Is 14:4), go (Pr 22:10), or leave (Lm 5:14-15) when ceasing activity. Accompanying other verbs, shabath suggests quit (Jb 32:1). With shabbath, shabath yields observe a Sabbath (Lv 25:2). Passive-reflexive verbs denote disappear (Is 17:3), be obliterated (Ezk 6:6), or come to an end (Ezk 30:18). Causative verbs describe stopping, removing (Ex 5:5; 12:15), omitting (Lv 2:13), preventing, eliminating (Ezk 34:10,25), or ending (Pr 18:18) things. Someone rids another of something (Is 30:11). Causatives suggest leave without (Ru 4:14) or cause to be without. One silences someone (Ps 8:2). God blots out memory (Dt 32:26). Killers do away with people (Am 8:4). One puts a stop/end to, makes cease, or causes to stop (Jos 22:25). Shebeth involves ending disputes (Pr 20:3). Mishbath is downfall (Lm 1:7).
13:5-7 The gaps in the wall are figurative. The prophets should have strengthened the people morally and spiritually.
13:8-9 The phrase I am against you is addressed to Israel one other time in Ezekiel (21:3). It was normally directed toward foreign nations.
13:10-16 Paul used this image—plaster it with whitewash—when he called the high priest in Jerusalem a “whitewashed wall” (Ac 23:3). The destructive hailstones recall the seventh plague on Egypt (Ex 9:13-35), Joshua’s victory over the five Amorite kings (Jos 10:1-15), God’s judgment on Samaria (Is 28:2,17), and the Lord’s defeat of Assyria (Is 30:30; cp. Ps 148:8).
13:17-23 Women practiced magic in Jerusalem (Jr 7:18; 44:17,19) as well as in Babylon. The Mosaic law condemned witches and necromancers (Lv 20:27; 1Sm 28:9; cp. Lv 19:31). There were a number of legitimate prophetesses in the OT, including Miriam (Ex 15:20), Deborah (Jdg 4:4), Huldah (2Kg 22:14), and Noadiah (Neh 6:14). Prophetesses are also mentioned in the NT (Lk 2:36-38; Ac 21:9; 1Co 11:5).
13:23 God will bring false prophecy and sorcery to an end (Am 8:11; Mc 3:6-7; Zch 13:1-6). Jeremiah 23:16-32 is very similar to this chapter. There were false prophets both in the exile and in Jerusalem. Counterfeit prophets attempted to thwart the prophets of God who announced the coming doom. The false prophets were motivated by self-interest. The Christian is to test every spirit (1Jn 4:1) and examine everything in light of Scripture (Ac 17:11).