Ezekiel 14:1-11

Insincerity of those who Consult the Prophets. Like prophet, like people. The prophets, as we have just seen (Ezekiel 13), were greatly to blame; but no less were the people partly because of their scepticism (Ezekiel 12:21), and partly, as we now see, because of their insincerity. This is illustrated by a question put by certain elders on the occasion of a visit to Ezekiel a question which neither deserved nor received an answer; for they are idolaters, certainly at heart and probably in fact; they worship Yahweh with divided heart, and are therefore inevitably excluded from a knowledge of His purpose and will. No answer can be given to such, but the answer of the Divine judgment; and if they continue their policy of impenitent compromise, their fate will be nothing less than terrible (Ezekiel 14:1). And not only their fate, but the fate of any prophet that gives them an answer. The only prophet who could accommodate himself to men like these would be one who was himself infatuated perhaps as the result of some moral obliquity; and such prophets, like those who consult them, must bear their punishment. Only through true prophets and a true people can the better day come (Ezekiel 14:9).