THRU THE BIBLE
EXPOSITION
Ezekiel: Effective
Ministry To The Spiritually Rebellious
Part XII: God's
Condemnation Of Deceptive, Manipulative Idolaters
(Ezekiel 14:1-11)
I.
Introduction
A.
People
who are rebellious against God may try to hide their rebellion from upright
believers or manipulate them to serve their own sinful interests. This situation leads to God's dealing in
judgment with the deceivers.
B.
Ezekiel 14:1-11
presents God's message of condemnation to secret idolaters who came to His
prophet under the guise of seeking God's will.
We thus view this passage for our instruction and edification (as
follows):
II.
God's Condemnation Of Deceptive, Manipulative
Idolaters, Ezekiel 14:1-11.
A.
While
Ezekiel was still confined by God to his house (Ezekiel 3:2; Bible Know.
Com., O. T., p. 1252), some of Israel's elders came and sat before
him. Ezekiel 14:3b reveals these culturally
superior elders sought Ezekiel's counsel on the future of Jerusalem or the
length of their exile, etc., Ibid.
B.
Ezekiel in
his humanity could not know the real motives of these men, but since he had
been led of the Lord to enter the prophetic ministry, and God knows the hearts
of all men (cf. 1 Samuel 16:7), the Lord discerned what these men held in their
hearts, and He told Ezekiel that they were idolaters in their hearts, Ezekiel
14:3a. They were seeking Ezekiel's
counsel in a manipulative way, using their cultural superiority over the
younger Ezekiel to get him to give them the information they wanted without his
awareness of their true motives.
C.
God
rhetorically asked Ezekiel if He should let Himself be consulted by such men, a
question that expects a negative answer, Ezekiel 14:3b. As David wrote long before this, if one
harbors sin in his heart, the Lord will not hear him, so neither will He
provide him the counsel from the Lord that he seeks, cf. Psalm 66:18.
D.
Accordingly,
God told Ezekiel to tell these elders that the Lord God of Israel claimed that
every man who took his idols into his heart and set the stumbling block of his
iniquity before his face and then came before His prophetic messenger Ezekiel
seeking God's counsel would be answered by the Lord in accord with the
multitude of that man's idols, Ezekiel 14:4.
God planned to lay hold of the hearts of all those in Israel who were
spiritually estranged from Him by their idols, be they public or secret idols
of the heart, Ezekiel 14:5.
E.
The
message God had through His prophet Ezekiel to Israel's secretly idolatrous,
manipulative elders was to repent and turn away from their idols and all of
their abominations, Ezekiel 14:6.
F.
Indeed,
God would hold accountable the deceptive idolaters or even foreigners who were
deceptive idolaters, answering them Himself when they manipulatively came
before His prophet seeking God's counsel, Ezekiel 14:7. The Lord would set His face against that
sinner in judgment, making him a sign and a byword, cutting him off from His
people presumably in death so that they would know that the Lord was God,
Ezekiel 14:8.
G.
If a
false prophet was deceived and spoke a word to these deceptive, manipulative
idolaters, that false prophet would have been persuaded by the Lord's
permissive will much as in the case of 1 Kings 22:19-23 where God let a lying
spirit influence Ahab's false prophets to lie, getting him to go to
Ramoth-Gilead that he might be slain in battle there, Ezekiel 14:9; Ibid., p.
1253. Thus, secret idolatry and
manipulation would be appropriately met by God's manipulative use of lying
spirits to punish the rebellious idolaters!
H.
God will
then punish the false prophet like He will punish the idolater who manipulatively
sought His counsel (Ezekiel 14:10) that the house of Israel might no more go
astray in being polluted with all their transgressions, but that God might be
their God and the people of Israel might be His people in truth, Ezekiel 14:11.
Lesson: When
the elders of Israel who secretly harbored idolatry in their hearts deceptively
came before God's prophet using their cultural superiority manipulatively to
inquire of the Lord on matters of their concern, God refused to give them
counsel by His true prophet, but warned them to repent of their secret
idolatry. Were they to remain
rebellious, God would meet their deception by letting deceiving prophets give
these secret idolaters errant messages, manipulating them into being set up for
divine judgment, and then punish the deceiving listeners and false prophets
alike that Israel might learn to part with all their sin and follow the Lord
with a true, humble heart.
Application:
(1) If we harbor secret idols in our hearts in place of the Lord, may we
confess it as sin if we would expect God to give us edifying, Biblical insight
on questions we have regarding matters of concern to us. (2) If we do not repent of such secret sins,
but seek to manipulate God or His messengers, we can only expect God to let us
fall prey to errant insight that leads not only to our harm, but to the harm of
the sources who give the false insight.
(3) God is omniscient, there are no secrets with him, so we must be
utterly candid with Him to be blessed by Him.