14 Then certain of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me. 2 And the word of the Lord came to me: 3 “Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them? 4 Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols, 5 that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, who 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 any one 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 before his face, and yet comes to a prophet to consult me through him, I the Lord will answer him myself. 8 And I will set my face against that man; I will make him a sign and a byword and cut him off from the midst of my people, and you shall know that I am the Lord. 9 And if the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, the Lord, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. 10 And they shall bear their punishment—the punishment of the prophet and the punishment of the enquirer shall be alike— 11 that the house of Israel may no more go astray from me, nor defile themselves any more with all their transgressions, but that they may be my people and I may be their God, declares the Lord God.”
Once again the elders of Israel are gathered in Ezekiel's house (1). Ezekiel is becoming well known as the man to whom God is speaking, and they are listening to him, as if to say, 'Is there any word from the Lord?' That word is now given in the verses that follow. The AV rendering of 5 does not read very clearly, and the RSV is better, 'That I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel who are all estranged from Me through their idols'. God's purpose is a pastoral purpose, even in judging His people, and His concern is to win them back to Himself, when they have strayed away so terribly from Him. The meaning of the prophecy is not immediately clear, but with a little patience we may see exactly what is being said. In 3 the reference to setting up idols in their heart is a significant one. They had been snatched away from Jerusalem by the aggressor, and snatched away, therefore, from their idols and idol worship in Jerusalem; but the idolatry was still in their hearts. They had not really repented, and they were still a rebellious house, not having yet learned their lesson. Outwardly separated though they had been from their idolatry, it was still within them; and because of this, God felt He could not be enquired of by them, and the only word He could possibly speak to them would be, 'Repent, before it is too late'. There is, in fact, no other word from the Lord to a rebellious people, except the summons to repent, and therefore it is really improper for men to come asking 'Is there a word from the Lord?' This enshrines a very important spiritual truth, and it may serve to explain why it is that sometimes, when we are desperately seeking a word from the Lord, nothing seems to come. What if, in such a situation, what the Lord is really saying is that until we repent and turn to Him nothing can really be said to us? Have you been looking to the Lord for some word in your particular situation? And if nothing seems to be coming to you, could it be that the Lord is first waiting for you to get right with Him?