Ezekiel is speaking in 592 BC in Ezekiel 13. Israel’s hope of a soon return from Babylonian captivity came from “foolish” prophets who also spoke of any judgment coming in the distant future.

13:3-4 -  The foolish prophets are told to “Hear the word of the Lord” and not “Follow their own spirit.”

• “Foolish” is Hebrew nabal and means more than “stupid”.
• It includes spiritual and moral insensitivity contrary to the nature of a wise man.
• A fool is
• blasphemous in Psalms 74:18
• arrogant in 1 Samuel 25:25
• atheistic in Psalm 14:1
• Here a fool relies on their own heart, and not on God’s revelation (13:3)

Ezekiel is presenting in Babylon in 592 BC, within about twelve months of Jeremiah having
received and preached the same tone of message against the deviant prophets around
593 BC in Jeremiah 23:16-17:

“This is what the  Lord Almighty says:
‘Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you;
     they fill you with false hopes.
They speak visions from their own minds,
     not from the mouth of the  Lord.
They keep saying to those who despise me,
     ‘The  Lord says: You will have peace.’
And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts
     they say, ‘No harm will come to you.’ ’ ” - Jeremiah 23:16-17 in 593 BC

• The foolish prophet mistakes his own heart for the word of God.
• These "prophets" had "visions" that were psychological creation of thier minds.
• The things these false prophets saw were not revelations from the Spirit of God

13:4 – The prophets of Israel are compared to Jackals among ruins

• Prophets are the jackals. Ruins are the people/society.
• Jackals hunt through ruins to find a den for themselves.
• The prophets (religious leaders) are among the people/society only to secure a den for themselves.
• The prophets failed to help or prepare the people/society for the future, but instead used the people/society to provide for the prophets’ own immediate personal wellbeing.
• The prophets abused their gifts and office which dulled the people’s ears to hear Ezekiel’s message and the true message of others.

13:5 - The “breaks in the wall” (“breaches”) were the people’s violation of the Law of Moses.

• The prophets (religious leaders) should have identified the breaks in the law and repaired them by correcting the people’s understanding and behavior.
• Psalms 106:23 - Moses stood in the breach to keep God's wrath away
• Ezekiel 22:30 - The Lord was looking for a man to build up the wall and stand in the walls gap
• Isaiah 58:12 - repairers of the breach, repairer of broken walls

13:8-16- The flimsy wall is a partition wall (interior, non-supporting) used in place of an exterior supporting wall.

• The flimsy wall might have been an alliance with Egypt or a prophecy of peace and prosperity that led people to build houses and settle in for a time of false security.
• The whitewash (or, plaster) was used to cover up structure.
• The whitewash, like sheetrock, covers up the studs, headers, beams, etc. if they are there.
• Their wall was flimsy. Their wall was “false hope.”
• The white wash is the prophecies and teaching that encouraged people to trust it.
• Those who did the work are the foolish prophets.

“The time of business…does not with me differ from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clutter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess GOD in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees at the Blessed Sacrament.”
– Brother Lawrence
(1614-1691) in
“The Practice of the Presence of God”
in France (read it here.)

Throughout history most people believed the universe was eternal and unchanging. But, the Bible has taught that the universe was created and declining like an old garment (Hebrews 1:10-12). Modern science now rejects 1,000’s of years of previous scientific thought and embraces the biblical position with the Second Law of Thermodynamics (Entropy) which states that the universe and everything in it is running down, deteriorating and becoming less orderly. This is explained in
Psalm 102:25-26.