The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 1 — Section 248

22, 23). 2. The total overthrow and ruin of both themselves and their work. (Vern. 11-16.) Their work was to be swept away by overwhelming forces. The stormy wind, the overflowing shower, and the great hailstones represent the Chaldean army. 'l'hat army would make an utter end of the vain hopes which the false prophets had originated and fostered. No work can be stable which is begun and carried on again;t the will of God. Every wall which is built in defiance of his Jaws will soon fall into ruin. And in the case before us the presumptuous and foolish builders were ruined with their work. "It shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof." The wall of d~lusive hopes, which they had daubed with untempered mortar, would be thrown down, and Jerusalem wouhl be destroyed, and in its fall the faise prophets would be ruined. "Thus will I accomplish my fury upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with untempered mortar," etc. (vers. 15, 16). APPLICATION. Here is solemn warning against false prophets and teachers, who are not confined to any one age or people. When God is represented as love without righteousness, or mercy witb.out judgment; when men are assured of salvation without repentance for sin or renewal of heart; when peace is proclaimed to men who are living in sin,-then the spirit of the false prophets of Ezekiel's age is reproduced. We are warned in the New Testament of the rise of false Christs and of many false prophets (Matt. x.xiv. 11; Mark xiii. 22), of "false apostles, deceitful workers" (2 Cor. xi. 13), of some who "would pervert the gospel of Christ" (Gal. i. 7), and of "false teachers who shall bring in destructive heresies" (2 Pet. ii. 1). Wherefore let Christians take heed what they hear and read and receive. Happily, the test by which to prove religious teaching is not abstruse or difficult. Does it agree with "that which is inscribed in the writing of truth? " Does the teaching of man harmonize with the eternal law of God? Does it" make for righteousness"? "If any man willeth to do his will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it be of God, or" whether the te~hers "prophesy out of their own heart." Vigorous physical health is one of the most effective safeguards against the diseases which assail the body. And when the heart is susceptible to Divine influence, and the conscience loyally responds to the will of God, and the life is governed by that holy will, the man is not in much danger of being misled by erroneous teaching.-W. J. Ver. 5.-The breaches of sin, and the duty of closing them. "Ye have not gone up into the gaps," etc. Our text suggests the following observations. I. THE PRACTICE OF SIN ·EXPOSES M.EN TO THE GREATEST DANGERS. The text suggests the figure of a besieged city, in the walls of which breaches have been made, through which the enemy rushes in to fight with its inhabitants and to take possession of its treasures. There is perhaps a reference to the approaching siege of Jerusalem by the Chaldcans, in which that city would fall because of the sins of its inhabitants. So sin makes wide gaps in the defences of a people, deprives them of the Divine protection, and exposes them to the assaults of their enemies. The sins of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah made the wide breaches which let in the fiery flood which consumed them. The sins of the Israelites in the wilderness on one occasion made a gap in their defences through which the plague entered and slew fourteen thousand and seven hundred persons (Numb. xvi. 41-50). The sin of Achan in coveting, stealing, and concealing some of the spoils of Jericho, in defiance of express commands, opened a wide breach through which the enemies of Israel rushed, and put them to ignominious flight, and slew six and thirty of them (Josh. vii.). And when David sinned in num- bering the people be made a gap through which the pestilence entered and destroyed seventy thousand men (2 Sam. xxiv.; cf. Isa. xiii. 24, 25). II. 'fHE CONTINUED PRACTICE OF BIN LEADS ON TO A CRISIS IN WHICH JUDGlllENT WILL DE EXECUTED UPON SINNERS, That crisis is here called "the day of the Lord." "The day of Jehovah," says Schroder," is the time fixed by him with reference to the reckoning to be given in to him." It seems to us more correct to say that it is "the time of the arrival of the judgment." This crisis was rapidly drawing near to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. If sinners persist in making the gaps, it is certain that their punishment will enter the1·eat and seize upon them. Sinful character and conduct advance towards maturity, and when that is attained, if not before, the sinner, or the COIIlDlllllity of sinners, will meet with just retribution. "Whatsoever a man soweth, 244 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [OH, xm.1-23.