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1. Then came certain of the elders
of Israel to me and sat before me.
2. And the word of the Lord came to me:
3. Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts and put
the stumbling block of their iniquity and guilt before their faces;
should I permit Myself to be inquired of at all by them?
4. Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord
God: Every man of the house of Israel who takes his idols [of
self-will and unsubmissiveness] into his heart and puts the
stumbling block of his iniquity [idols of silver and gold] before
his face, and yet comes to the prophet [to
inquire of him], I the Lord will answer him, answer him according to
the multitude of his idols,
5. That I may lay hold of the house of Israel in the thoughts of their
own mind and heart, because they are all estranged from Me through their
idols.
6. Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: Repent
and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your
abominations.
7. For anyone of the house of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in
Israel who separates himself from Me, taking his idols into his heart
and putting the stumbling block of his iniquity and guilt before his
face, and [yet] comes to the prophet to inquire for himself of Me, I the
Lord will answer him Myself!
8. And I will set My face against that
[false worshiper] and will make him a sign and a byword, and I will cut
him off from the midst of My people; and you shall know (understand and
realize) that I am the Lord.
9. [The prophet has not been granted permission to give an answer to the
hypocritical inquirer] but if the prophet
does give the man the answer he desires [thus allowing himself to be
a party to the inquirer's sin], I the Lord will see to it that the
prophet is deceived in his answer, and I will stretch out My hand
against him and will destroy him from the midst of My people Israel.
10. And they both shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the
iniquity of the [presumptuous] prophet shall be the same as the iniquity
of the [hypocritical] inquirer,
11. That the house of Israel may go no more astray from Me, neither
defile themselves any more with all their transgressions, but that they
may be My people, and I may be their God, says the Lord God.
12. The word of the Lord came [again] to me, saying,
13. Son of man, when a land sins against Me by committing a trespass,
and I stretch out My hand against it and break its staff of bread and
send famine upon it and cut off from it man and beast,
14. Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel and
Job were in it, they would save but their own lives by their
righteousness (their uprightness and right standing with Me), says the
Lord God.
15. If I cause ferocious and evil wild animals to pass through the land
and they ravage and bereave it, and it becomes desolate so that no man
may pass through because of the beasts;
16. Though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord God,
they would deliver neither sons nor daughters; they themselves alone
would be delivered but the land would be desolate (laid waste and
deserted).
17. Or 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,
18. Though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord God,
they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they themselves alone
would be delivered.
19. Or if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out My wrath upon
it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast,
20. Though Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, as I live, says the
Lord God, they would deliver neither son nor daughter; they would but
deliver their own lives by their righteousness (their moral and
spiritual rectitude in every area and relation).
21. For thus says the Lord God: How much more when I send My four sore
acts of judgment upon Jerusalem--the sword, the famine, the evil wild
beasts, and the pestilence--to cut off from it man and beast!
[Lev. 26:21-33.]
22. And yet, behold, in it shall be left a remnant (an escaped
portion), both sons and daughters. They shall be carried forth to
you [in Babylon], and when you see their [ungodly] walk and their
[wicked] doings, you will be consoled for the evil that I have brought
upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it.
23. And they shall console you when you see their evil ways and their
rebellious actions. Then you shall know (understand and realize)
that I have not done without cause all that I have done in Jerusalem,
says the Lord God.
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elders
of Israel:
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yet
comes to the prophet to inquire: apparently, the Lord had
a problem with the elders coming to the prophet as if they wanted to
hear from the Lord, yet they had these idols in their heart. He says
that He would "answer him according to the multitude of his
idols." When we come to the Lord with an appearance of
wanting to hear from Him, yet we have idols--we already have an answer
that we're looking for--the Lord may actually give us the answer we're
looking for (even if its not His will) so that we will suffer the
consequences of our sin so that in the end we will repent and turn back
to Him.
We have a New Testament
example of this in 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 where we're told that those
who do not love the truth will be sent a "strong delusion" by
God so that they will believe a lie. It's a dangerous thing to appear to
be seeking truth when in reality we already have determined what we
think the Lord will say to us about a situation. He goes on to say
in verse 8 of Ezekiel 14 that He will set His face against that
"false worshiper". The Lord doesn't take it lightly when
we have an appearance of worshiping Him, seeking Him, or desiring His
will and yet we allow ourselves to be swayed and distracted by other
things.
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But
if the prophet does... A prophet speaking for the Lord must be
aware of the possibility of others looking for a "word from
God" that will satisfy their own carnal whims. You may come
across those who are looking for affirmation that what they think or
feel is from God. And the warning here is not to just tell people
what they want to hear. God will deal with them directly
Himself.
However, even though the prophet must not yield to a person's idolatrous
heart, he must also keep from setting himself up as a judge over the
person. In all we do, we want to guide people to the Lord
and encourage them to seek the particular path He has set before them
without controlling or manipulating them, while still being able to
teach the principles of the Kingdom to those who want to hear without
compromise. To do this we must continually be aware of our own
heart motives and focus on remaining true to His Kingdom principles in
our own lives instead of worrying about what everyone else is doing.
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Noah,
Daniel and Job: The point here is that when God sends a
judgment on a land, even the most righteous will not be able to deliver
that land by their own righteousness. They will remain safe
themselves, but their righteousness will not deliver the land.
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