Ezekiel 13:20
Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly. Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly.
God condemns the false prophetesses who hunt and ensnare souls with flattering soothsaying devices that ease guilty consciences, seduce others into sin, and lead them to follow falsehood. He declares Himself against their pillows sewn to armholes and elbows, and He will tear them from their arms, break their power, and set the hunted souls free. The charge belongs to a wider rebuke of prophets like foxes in deserts who have not repaired the breach, who see vanity and lying divination and promise life to the wicked so he will not turn from his way. It is a prediction of the last days of the gospel age, now fulfilled in religious teachers who treat God's holy law with contempt, call it Jewish and abolished, and sow the wind that will reap the whirlwind of anarchy. The wall daubed with weak untempered mortar is the man-made Sunday institution set up by transferring the commands and sacredness of the seventh-day Sabbath to the first day, which cannot stand but will fall when the coming storm of judgment and the great hail of the seventh plague exposes it.
Meaning and Context
The verse condemns women false prophets who hunt and ensnare souls with flattering, soothsaying devices to make them follow falsehood. Under striking figures it condemns those who ease the consciences of souls in sin and seduce others to sin. The pillows sewn to the armholes, elbows, or joints of the hands, even to the armholes of statues, refer to customs not well known now. God declares He is against their pillows, will tear them from their arms, break their power, and let the hunted souls they sought to capture go free.
The verse belongs to God's charge that Israel's prophets are like foxes in the deserts who have not gone up into the gaps nor made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord. They see vanity and lying divination, say The Lord saith when the Lord has not sent them, and make others hope their word will be confirmed. The chapter describes the false prophets as profaning the sanctuary, violating God's law, and leading His people astray. With lies they make sad the heart of the righteous and strengthen the hands of the wicked by promising him life so he will not return from his wicked way. The root of the matter is in verses 19, 22 and 23.
The chapter pictures false religious work as a man building a wall that others cover with weak, untempered mortar, and that wall is unsound and will fall. Building that wall and daubing it is compromising the word of God, changing the law, and breaking the everlasting covenant. Covering sectarian prejudice with large charity and Christian tolerance is such incohesive work that cannot make a permanent, solid structure or stand. Deceptive teaching hides the church's errors and dangers, and the breach in the wall poorly covered with untempered mortar must be repaired by warning the church and correcting false teachings before each person's work is tested in the judgment. Deceptive, oppressive efforts against God's law cannot stand.
Prophecy and Application
The chapter is a prediction for the last days of the gospel age concerning the responsibility resting on religious teachers, now fulfilled in those who claim to be the voice of God, and it stands grouped with Isaiah 30 and Ezekiel 22 as describing the same time and people, the professed people of God in the last days. It charges Israel's prophets as like foxes in deserts who have not gone up into the gaps nor made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord, who see vanity and lying divination, say The Lord saith when the Lord has not sent them, and make others hope their word will be confirmed. With lies they make sad the heart of the righteous and strengthen the hands of the wicked by promising him life so he will not return from his wicked way, while God declares He is against their soul-hunting coverings, will tear them from their arms, and let the hunted souls go free.
It predicts the present contempt for law and government caused by the greater part of the religious world ignoring the basis of God's government, His holy law. Professed ministers call that law Jewish and treat it with contempt, abolishing in one breath the law Christ lived and died to honor and magnify while in the next demanding human governments enact their amended code into civil law. They make God like themselves and bring law and religion into disrepute instead of strengthening civil government by letting politics alone and preaching the gospel to individual men, thus sowing the wind from pulpits, legislative lobbies, platform and press to reap the whirlwind in oncoming wars of anarchy.
The chapter is connected with God's judgment on the wicked under the great hailstorm of the seventh plague, compared to heaven's artillery during the final battle. God opposes the pillows used to hunt and ensnare souls, tears them away, and releases the souls sought to be captured. That tearing away belongs to the same judgment that falls on the wicked at the end.
Its prophetic words are fulfilled in teachings that wrongly assign holiness to the first day and deny the holiness of the seventh-day Sabbath, claiming Sunday had been made a more sacred Sabbath with the original Sabbath's commands and sacredness transferred to it. The wall daubed with untempered mortar is Sunday as a man-made institution lacking support from the Lord and destined to fall when the coming storm exposes it. Prophets who claim divine authority for teachings God did not give are thereby exposed as ensnarers of souls whom God opposes.
Teaching an unmentioned one-seventh portion of time for rest instead of keeping the seventh day as the Sabbath of the Lord is such soul-hunting by doctrines of human inventing. It is an inference drawn from the very Scriptures that plainly command the seventh day while refusing the commanded day because the apostles did not repeat the command. It lets the unmentioned time always fall on the day made popular by tradition and the statutes of men, against which God declares He will tear the pillows from their arms and let the hunted souls go.
The chapter warns God's professed people against deceptive teaching that hides the church's errors and dangers. The breach in the wall poorly covered with untempered mortar must be repaired by warning the church and correcting false teachings before each person's work is tested in the judgment. Claimed gifts of the Spirit exercised with iniquity, or transgression and disregard of the commandments of God, are a vain vision and lying divination. Those who cry Lord, Lord and profess faith and claim to prophesy and do many wonderful works in Jesus' name while teaching that the commandments are abolished are self-deceived, have no vision from God, and will perish, for their prayer and religion are vain and God does not bestow His precious gifts where antinomianism rules, since antinomianism and the Spirit cannot go together.
The warning is against false teachers who prophesy lies in God's name, divine lies, say the Lord has said what He has not said, and lead people to trust what is false, endangering and destroying the souls of believers. Great condemnation rests on them, while those who believe them are not excusable for failing to find out truth. Even agreement by a great many in a practice with no scriptural authority but only the word of man does not excuse them, so that in the day when God's presence shows them to be transgressors they will every one be ashamed. The verse belongs to a warning against prophets who falsely claim the Lord's authority and promise peace and security; their assurances deceive people, but the wall they build will fall, bringing destruction on those who trust in it.