Ezekiel 13:10 - Meaning and Application

Here God speaks more plainly against the false prophets and tells more of the doom waiting for them. The people will one day be ashamed of these prophets, even if they once liked them. They will also be ashamed of the false messages they had trusted so confidently.

The false prophets deceived the people by saying, “Peace,” when there was no peace (Ezekiel 13:10). They even claimed to have seen visions of peace (Ezekiel 13:16). But the Lord God says there was no peace to be had, because he had not planned prosperity for them. So there was no reason for them to feel safe. Yet these prophets told sinners, including idolaters, that there was no harm in the path they were taking.

In this way they misled God’s people. They cheated them, led them into error, and pulled them away from repentance and reform, which the true prophets were urging them toward. Those are the most dangerous deceivers, who make sinners think less of sin and less of God’s holy fear. Their message is compared to building a weak, crumbling wall, much like Jesus’ picture of a house built on sand (Matthew 7:26). It looks safe for a while, but it cannot stand when trouble comes.

One false prophet first built the wall by saying that God was not angry with Jerusalem, and that the city would stay strong and prosperous. People liked that message, so he became popular. Then others came along and added to it, making it seem more believable. But they only “daubed” the wall, covering it with weak plaster. They had no solid reason for what they said, and their claims did not even fit together well.

They did not strengthen the wall. They only covered its cracks so it would look good to the eye. But when stress comes, and even more when disaster comes, such a wall will bulge, crack, and fall apart. In the same way, teachings that have no real foundation, even if they sound pleasant, are useless. Hopes of peace and happiness that are not grounded in God’s word will only deceive people.

God will soon uncover that deception through his righteous judgment. He will send a fierce storm against the wall. The Chaldean army’s attack on Judah and siege of Jerusalem will be like a flood, sweeping everything away. It will be like a storm with overflowing rain, hailstones, and a strong wind. Each hailstone is pictured like a cannonball striking the wall (Ezekiel 13:11). The danger is greatest because this storm comes from God’s wrath, not just from human enemies.

Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and his officers were angry with Zedekiah for his treachery, and that made the invasion frightening. But God’s displeasure was far greater than theirs. Their power was only the rod in his hand, the tool of his anger (Isaiah 10:5). An angry God can command wind and storm to shake secure sinners awake. When he is angry, who can stand before him?

This storm will bring the wall down. The wind will tear it apart, and the hailstones will destroy it (Ezekiel 13:11, 13). God says, “I will break it down” and “bring it to the ground” (Ezekiel 13:14). Then its foundation will be exposed, and everyone will see how false and rotten it really was. When the Chaldeans leave Judah and Jerusalem desolate, the prophets’ reputation will collapse with the city’s false hopes.

Then it will be plain that the prophets were wrong because they flattered the people, and the people were foolish to trust them. Their false security will end in shame when judgment surprises them. Whatever people build to shelter themselves from God’s judgment, while they refuse to turn from sin, will prove to be a refuge of lies and will fail them in the day of wrath (Isaiah 28:17).

Human anger cannot shake what God has truly built, for the threats of the mighty are only like a storm against a wall that God sustains (Isaiah 25:4). But God’s anger will tear down whatever men have built against him. They and all their false supports will be like a leaning wall or a shaky fence (Psalm 62:3, Psalm 62:10). When their empty predictions are proven false and their hopes collapse, it will be clear that neither had any solid ground. The day will reveal every person’s work, and the fire will test it (1 Corinthians 3:13).

The builders of the wall, and those who covered it over, will also be destroyed in its ruins. It will fall, and they will be consumed in the middle of it (Ezekiel 13:14). In this way God’s anger will fully carry out its just purpose against both the wall and the people who covered it up (Ezekiel 13:15). The same judgment that proves the false prophets false will also punish them for their lies. They will be caught in the disaster they told the people would never come, and they will stand as proof of the justice they had challenged.

If the blind lead the blind, then both the blind leaders and the blind followers will fall into the ditch together.

Those who deceive others will, in the end, find that they have deceived themselves. No judgment will be more terrible than the judgment of unfaithful ministers who have comforted sinners in their sin.

When the wall falls, both the deceivers and the deceived will rightly be mocked and shamed (Ezekiel 13:12). Those who believed the true prophets and feared the word of the Lord will say, “Where is the plaster you used on the wall? What happened to all the smooth words and fair promises by which you comforted your wicked neighbors? Where are the assurances you gave them that the nation’s troubles would soon be over?” The righteous will laugh at them, and God himself will also laugh at their disaster (Psalm 52:6-7; Proverbs 1:26).

They will say, “The wall is gone, and so is the one who plastered it. Your hopes have vanished, and so have the prophets of Israel who supported them” (Ezekiel 13:15-16). Those who claim honors that do not belong to them will soon be covered with the shame that truly fits them.