Page 65 - NOTES ON EZEKIEL

CHAPTER XIII. 50
face against the daughters of thy people, which pro­
phesy out of their own heart; and prophesy thou
against them, and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah;
Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes,
and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to
hunt souls! Will ye hunt the souls of my people, and
will ye save the souls alive that come unto you ? And
will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of
barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that
should not die, and to save the souls alive that should
not live, by your lying to my people that hear your
lies?” (Yer. 17—19.) The influence of women has been
great in this world for evil and for good; and as God
has deigned to vouchsafe to some of them His best
gifts, so we need not be surprised that Satan should
employ those he can for ill. The particular form of
evil here noticed is their pandering to the ears of their
victims and thus catching souls in their toils for the
most paltry objects in this life, morally slaying such as
should not die and keeping alive such as should not
live.
It is thus indeed that error ever acts. False doctrine
emboldens the bad and seeks to alarm the good. So
the world orders its religion. There may be curses and
warnings, but they are powerless because explained
away. Yet the rehearsal of them gives an appearance
of hating iniquity and loving righteousness; and thus
man walks in a vain show till in hell he lifts up his
eyes, being in torments. On the other hand, grace is
unpalatable to the world and seems a worse than
heathenish tolerance of sin. Hence believers, who
through love of ease and position go on with the world,