CHAPTER 14

(594 B.C.)

THE HYPOCRISY AND IDOLATRY OF THE ELDERS

¹Then came certain of the Elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me. (The Elders of Israel concerned those among the captives.)

²And the Word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

³Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them? (The phrase, These men have set up their idols in their heart, goes to the very seat of the problem. The statement means that these Elders were hankering after the old false worship in which they had once taken part. They had left Egypt, so to speak, but Egypt was still in them. In fact, this one Verse characterizes so much of modern Christianity. The idol in the heart was just as real as if they had been falling down to false gods as did the heathen.)

⁴Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD; Every man of the House of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the Prophet; I the LORD will answer him who comes according to the multitude of his idols (God can have no fellowship with evil. He, therefore, not only refuses to answer such prayers, but He replies to them with just judgments. Let me quickly state: Any object of faith other than Christ and Him Crucified is constituted by the Lord as an idol [I Jn. 5:21]);

⁵That I may take the House of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from Me through their idols. (However fair the outward profession of faith in God may be, the Holy Spirit can unmask the evil lodged within the heart.)

⁶Therefore say unto the House of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations. (God loved and pitied these hypocrites and the fact of this Love added to the certitude and horror of the just doom that was impending over them. He cried to them to repent, no longer to keep far from Him, and He would receive and acknowledge them as My People.)

⁷For every one of the House of Israel, or of the stranger who sojourns in Israel, who separates himself from Me, and sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and comes to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by Myself (the idea is: these particular individuals wanted help from God, but did not want to rid themselves of their sins. I the LORD will answer him by Myself, is found in the next Verse; however, it means that one cannot hold to God with one hand while holding to the world with the other):

JUDGMENT ON THE IDOLATERS

⁸And I will set My face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of My People; and you shall know that I am the LORD. (The threatenings in this Prophecy are, in substance and language, all found in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. This Passage, as so many others, completely refutes the unscriptural doctrine of Unconditional Eternal Security. I will cut him off from the midst of My People, says, at the same time, that for one to be cut off, one has to first of all be attached.)

JUDGMENT ON THE FALSE PROPHETS

⁹And if the prophet be deceived when he has spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out My hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of My People Israel. (I the LORD have deceived that prophet, actually means that the Lord permitted that prophet to be deceived, and actually aided the process, because this is what the prophet wanted. It is most just that God should cause one who deceives others to himself be deceived. The history of Jacob illustrates this moral principle.)

¹⁰And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him who seeks unto him (both the false prophet and his hearers can expect judgment. This is a clear condemnation, not only to the false prophet, but also to those who entertain and support his false message);

¹¹That the House of Israel may go no more astray from Me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be My People, and I may be their God, says the Lord GOD. (The heart of God beats in this Verse. It is the cry of the Holy Spirit that all transgressions be put away, and that these people may be My people, and I may be their God. This will eventually be realized in the New Earth [Rev. 21:3-7; 22:3].)

JUDGMENTS ON JERUSALEM

¹²The Word of the LORD came again to me, saying (here, a new section of Prophecy begins. What follows is strikingly similar to Jer. 15:1-2),

¹³Son of man, when the land sins against Me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out My hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it (we find from this Verse that the prosperity of a nation is directly linked to the spiritual prosperity of its people):

¹⁴Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls, by their righteousness, says the Lord GOD. (In Jer. 15:1, Jerusalem was told that the Intercession of Moses and Samuel [Ex. 32:11-14; Num. 14:13-20; I Sam. 7:8-12] would fail to revert her coming doom. In this Chapter it is added that the presence of Noah, Daniel, and Job would also fail to preserve it from destruction. From this, we learn that sinners cannot be saved by the righteousness of others.)

¹⁵If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts (the four sore judgments mentioned in this Chapter are: famine [Vs. 13], wild beasts [Vs. 15], war [Vs. 17], and pestilence [Vs. 19]):

¹⁶Though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate. (Once again, let us state: the righteousness of others cannot save the sinner. He must personally come to the Lord and be Born-Again [Jn. 3:3].)

¹⁷Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and beast from it (anytime war comes to a people or a nation, this Passage plus others tell us that the Lord allows such because of the wickedness of the people. As well, it proclaims that the Godly, by their Godly lives and Intercession, can at times hold off such. However, the wickedness of a people can become so great that even the righteous cannot hold back the judgment):

¹⁸Though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves. (Four times the Holy Spirit repeats this phraseology [Vss. 14, 16, 18, 20]. Such repetition is meant to impress upon all the severity of the situation.)

¹⁹Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out My fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast (in the Hebrew, the word blood expresses every kind of unnatural death):

²⁰Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, says the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. (The Lord testifies here to the Righteousness of Noah, Daniel, and Job. Of the three, Daniel was still alive.)

²¹For thus says the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast? (The argument of this Verse is that if these three men could not turn aside one judgment, how could they turn aside four sore ones?)

²²Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and you shall see their way and their doings: and you shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it. (The remnant addressed here concerns the few who would be saved from the judgments of Verse 21 and brought as captives to Babylonia. This means that the nation will be spared. And so it has been!)

²³And they shall comfort you, when you see their ways and their doings: and you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, says the Lord GOD. (No doubt many of the faithful captives had very near and dear relatives who were still living in Jerusalem. That the Wrath of God should fall on these must have perplexed and deeply agitated the Exiles. But when they were told of the evil and wickedness of Jerusalem, even among its spiritual leaders, they were comforted concerning the evil that God would bring upon them.)