Woe to Foolish Prophets
Not Profits! Prophets!
A Message to Those Who Understand the Fear of God
Ezekiel 13:3: "Thus says the Lord God: "Woe to the foolish prophets, who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing!"
One of the ways I like to study the bible is to look at how God interacts with the different characters. To look at their choices, and how they react to God and God's response.
Take a look at 1 Kings 22.
To get a solid back ground, maybe even start at 1 Kings 20.
God had blessed Ahab with victory and mercy, yet he continually showed disrespect for God and committed crimes against his fellow Israelites. He sought is own pleasure and ease over the will of God
Ahab and Jezebel had become so powerful that the prophets told them whatever they wanted to hear. Some of these prophets were prophets of gods other than YHWH. However, Zedekiah, and presumably others, supposedly spoke for YHWH (God). Yet, they were more concerned with their own safety and prosperity than they were about speaking God’s word. Because they sought man’s approval over God’s, the Lord allowed a “lying spirit” to corrupt their prophesies. Even in rebellion, Satan ultimately serve’s God’s purposes.
There was one prophet, however, Micaiah, with the integrity to speak God’s word in spite of political and social pressure. He was willing to speak Truth, even to the point where he was willing to risk prison and his reputation as a prophet of God. Failure as a prophet could mean his very life [Deuteronomy 18:20-22]
A quick character study shows three types of people who were aware of God, aware of Him, but each respond to God's moves:
- Ahab and Jezebel - Receiving God’s blessing, but choosing the path of sin anyway.
- Zedekiah - Perhaps at one time he truly spoke for the Lord. Then, he allowed pride, his desire for comfort and approval of men to give Satan a doorway into into life.
- Micaiah - willing to put it all on the line to speak God’s truth, no matter what it costs.
Within Chrisitan circles, my observation is that many of us often take after Zedekiah. We often speak "doctrine" that we have been taught by people we trust, or we say things that will make us popular with our church friends. Maybe we think we can impress people by speaking for God. This is not simply wrong, it opens us up to deception.
"Woe to the foolish prophets, who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing!"