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.”
The force of the point made at the end of the previous reading is made clearer in 7, which repeats the same idea, that is to say, there will be no prophecy for such people. God will answer them by action: 'I will set My face against that man ...'. No oracle from the Lord shall be given to such people for they have no right to be coming to Him enquiring for a word. God has nothing more to say to them, but will do something to them. This is God's answer to the boldness and the temerity with which hypocrites come before Him, and it is a very frightening word. The Psalmist once said, 'If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me' - that is true in the realm of our prayer life, but here is something deeper and even more solemn. If we regard iniquity in our heart, and have the temerity to come to the throne of God, with no intention of putting away that iniquity, then instead of finding an answer to our prayers, we will find judgment for our pains. This is Ezekiel's message. Furthermore, if a 'prophet' does give an answer to such hypocrisy, claiming it to be from the Lord, this will prove that that prophet is false. The test in such circumstances, whether the prophet is a prophet of God or a false prophet, would be whether he speaks or not. If he is like Ezekiel, he will keep his mouth shut and will have nothing to say; if he is a false prophet, he will concoct something out of his mind and hand it out, and by that very act prove himself false. And he will share in the judgment that comes upon the people.