to ascend · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine plural
gaps
בַּפְּרָצ֔וֹתba.pe.ra.Tzot
H6556
a break (literally or figuratively) · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine plural absolute
up
וַתִּגְדְּר֥וּva.tig.de.Ru
H1443
to wall in or around · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural
hedge
גָדֵ֖רga.Der
H1447
a circumvallation · noun, common masculine singular absolute
house
בֵּ֣יתbeit
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine singular construct
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֑לYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
stand
לַעֲמֹ֥דla.'a.Mod
H5975
to stand · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
battle
בַּמִּלְחָמָ֖הba.mil.cha.Mah
H4421
a battle (i.e. the engagement) · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
day
בְּי֥וֹםbe.Yom
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָֽהYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Ezekiel 22:30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it:…
Psalms 106:23 Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he shoul…
Isaiah 58:12 And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be…
Isaiah 13:6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
Isaiah 13:9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners there…
Jeremiah 23:22 But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and f…
Jeremiah 27:18 But if they be prophets, and if the word of the LORD be with them, let them now make intercession to the LORD of hosts, that the vessels whi…
Lamentations 2:13-14 What thing shall I take to witness for thee? what thing shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? what shall I equal to thee, that I m…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 13:1-9
The false prophets, who are here prophesied against, were some of them at Jerusalem (Jer 23:14): I have seen in the prophets at Jerusalem a horrible thing; some of them among the captives in Babylon, for to them Jeremiah writes (Jer 29:8), Let not your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you. And as God's prophets, though at a distance from each other in place or time, yet preached the same truths, which was an evidence that they were guided by one and the same good Spirit, so the false prophets prophesied the same lies, being actuated by one and the same spirit of error. There were little hopes of bringing them to repentance, they were so hardened in their sin; yet Ezekiel must p…
not gone up into . . . gaps--metaphor from breaches made in a wall, to which the defenders ought to betake themselves in order to repel the entrance of the foe. The breach is that made in the theocracy through the nation's sin; and, unless it be made up, the vengeance of God will break in through it. Those who would advise the people to repentance are the restorers of the breach (Eze 22:30; Psa 106:23, Psa 106:30).
hedge--the law of God (Psa 80:12; Isa 5:2, Isa 5:5); by violating it, the people stripped themselves of the fence of God's protection and lay exposed to the foe. The false prophets did not try to repair the evil by bringing back the people to the law with good counsels, or by ch…
Ye have not gone up into the gaps - Far from opposing sinners, who are bringing down the wrath of God upon the place, you prevent their repentance by your flattering promises and false predictions. Ye have neither by prayers, example, nor advice, contributed any thing for the preservation of the place, or the salvation of the people's souls.
John Gill on Ezekiel 13:5
Ye have not gone up into the gaps,.... Or "breaches" (d); so the Targum. The allusion is to breaches made in the walls of a city when besieged; at which time those within gather together in great numbers to meet the enemy, and prevent his entrance by the breaches. These words are either spoken to the princes of Israel, the civil magistrates; or to the prophets, who seeing the sins of the people, like a mighty torrent, opening a breach for the wrath and judgments of God to pour in upon them, should have called them, and importunately pressed them to repentance and reformation, and to have put up their prayers, and made intercession to God for them; neither of which they did, and therefore are…
The Church Fathers
Whom does he mean by all those who have come before me? Those who say, "Thus says the Lord!" But the Lord has not sent them; they who have come on their own authority and have not been sent are the thieves and robbers.
To such men it is rightly said through the prophet: "You have not gone up against the enemy, nor have you set up a wall for the house of Israel, to stand in battle on the day of the Lord." To go up against the enemy is to oppose with the free voice of reason any powers that act wickedly. And we stand in battle on the day of the Lord for the house of Israel and set up a wall if we defend the faithful and innocent against the injustice of the perverse with the authority of justice. Because the hireling does not do this, when he sees the wolf coming, he flees.
Whence it is well said to Ezekiel, "Take unto thee a tile, and thou shalt lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the dry Jerusalem." And immediately it is subjoined, "And thou shalt lay siege against it, and build forts, and cast a mount, and set camps against it, and set battering rams against it round about. And do thou take unto thee an iron frying-pan, and thou shalt set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city." But although the ruler may nicely insinuate all these things, he procures not for himself lasting absolution, unless he glow with a spirit of jealousy against the delinquencies of all and each. For by the frying-pan is denoted a frying of the mind, and by iron the hardness of reproof.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Gap — A rent or opening in a wall (Ezek. 13:5; comp. Amos 4:3). The false prophets did not stand in the gap (Ezek. 22: 30), i.e., they did nothing to stop the outbreak of wickedness.
Vine — One of the most important products of Palestine. The first mention of it is in the history of Noah (Gen. 9:20). It is afterwards frequently noticed both in the Old and New Testaments, and in the…
Hedge · A fence — A fence
Hedges · Making up gaps in, alluded to — Making up gaps in, alluded to
Lukewarmness · FIGURATIVE — FIGURATIVE
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Ezekiel 13:5
5. You have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.
5. Non ascendistis ad rupturas [3] neque sepiverunt sepem super domum Israel ad standum in praelio in die Iehovae.
Hence he pursues the same sentiment, but presses the false prophets harder. He has said generally that they were sacrilegious, making a false use of God's name when speaking entirely in their own. He now separates them by another mark from the approved and faithful servants of God, namely, they had not gone up into the breach, nor built up a hedge to protect the house of Israel, that they might stand in the battle in the day of J…
Against the False Prophets
Their conduct. - Eze 13:1. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Eze 13:2. Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to the prophets out of their heart, Hear ye the word of Jehovah. Eze 13:3. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Woe upon the foolish prophets, who go after their spirit, and that which they have not seen! Eze 13:4. Like foxes in ruins have thy prophets become, O Israel. Eze 13:5. Ye do not stand before the breaches, nor wall up the wall around the house of Israel to stand firm in the battle on the day of Jehovah. Eze 13:6. They see vanity and lying soothsaying, who say, "Oracle of Jehovah;" and Jehovah hath not sent them…
The false prophets are compared to jackals digging in the ruins to prey on the small animals living there. The false prophets did not repair the breaks in the walls by calling the people who were suffering at the hands of the Babylonians to repent, live holy lives, and fight evil. Instead, they gained prestige—and perhaps money—by telling lies that encouraged the people to continue to rebel. Like jackals, these false prophets were actually breaking the walls down, not building them up (cp. Neh 4:3).
Rashi on Ezekiel 13:5
You have not gone up into the breaches You did not do good deeds so that you could prevent the evil from coming.
