“Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against your magic bands with which you hunt the souls like birds, and I will tear them from your arms, and I will let the souls whom you hunt go free, the souls like birds.
Here Ezekiel begins to threaten those women with what would shortly happen, namely, that God would not only render them contemptible, but also ridiculous, before the whole people, that their delusions and impostures might sufficiently appear. This is the Prophet’s intention, as we shall afterwards see; but the Prophet is verbose in this denunciation.
The devil works through prophetesses no less than through male false prophets, and their sex neither excuses their sin nor shields them from God's rebuke. These women prophesy from their own hearts, saying whatever comes uppermost, and they find eager listeners among people who prefer pleasing lies to hard truths. When sinners grow bold, reprovers must be bold as well.
AI summary
Commenting on Ezekiel 13:17-23
Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad,.... By polluting the name of the Lord; by hunting and decoying souls into their destructive nets; and by threatening such who would not give heed to their superstitious rites, lying divinations, and false prophecies: so false teachers make the hearts of such sad, who, having seen the insufficiency of their own righteousness, trust...