(19) Handfuls of barley.--It was an ancient custom to bring presents to a prophet on consulting him (1 Samuel 9:7-8; 1 Kings 14:3); but as barley was a cheap grain, and handfuls a very small quantity, these words show the exceedingly small gains for which these false prophetesses were willing to pervert the truth, and lead the people to destruction. God was "polluted" by attaching His name and authority to that which was not true, and would not come to pass, thus "making Him a liar" like themselves. Like all falsehood, their lies tended both ways--to entice the upright to their ruin, and to give false security to the wicked. It is always impossible that a perversion of the truth, especially in regard to the Divine judgments, can be harmless.
Hear your lies.--Or, hearken to a lie. The words imply a willingness to listen to the pleasing falsehood, and the state of things is that described by Jeremiah 5:31. "The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means, and my people love to have it so."
Verse 19. - Will ye pollute me, etc.? rather, with the Revised Version, ye have profaned, the interrogative form not being continued in the Hebrew. The prophet dwells with scorn on the miserable pay for which the prophetesses were guilty of so great a sin. Not for rewards of divination, like those of Balsam (Numbers 22:7), but for gifts like those bestowed on the harlot or the beggar (l 1 Samuel 2:36; Hosea 3:2) - for handfuls of barley and pieces of bread - they plied their wretched trade. For examples of the lower gifts in kind offered to prophets, compare those of Saul (1 Samuel 9:8), of Jeroboam's wife (1 Kings 14:3), the false prophets in Micah 3:5. And they did this in direct opposition to the will of Jehovah. They "slew," i.e. drew on to destruction, the souls that were meant for life. They "saved the souls alive," i.e. "their own, which were worthy of death." That was the outcome of their "lying" divinations.
13:17-23 It is ill with those who had rather hear pleasing lies than unpleasing truths. The false prophetesses tried to make people secure, signified by laying them at ease, and to make them proud, signified by the finery laid on their heads. They shall be confounded in their attempts, and God's people shall be delivered out of their hands. It behoves Christians to keep close to the word of God, and in every thing to seek the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Let us so trust the promises of God as to keep his commandments.
And will ye pollute me among my people,.... Defile the name of the Lord, by abusing it, to cover their wicked designs and practices, pretending they were seat by him, when they were not; that what they said came from him, though he spoke not by them; and that it was his will they declared, when it was their own, and what came out of their own hearts and heads: so the Targum, "will ye pollute my will among my people"; to profane his name among the Gentiles was a great sin, but to pollute it among his own people was greater; attempting to draw them aside from his fear and worship, and that for gain, for small gain too:
for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread; which shows them to be abandoned creatures, that were ready to do or say anything for the meanest trifle; their consciences were seared; they gave up themselves to work wickedness with greediness, and for filthy lucre's sake, and for a small portion of that; which exaggerates their sin and folly; see Proverbs 28:21;
to slay the souls that should not die; by threatening the captives in Babylon, who had surrendered themselves in Jehoiachim's time, with destruction and death; who ought to have been comforted in their exile, and whom the Lord in his own time would deliver:
and to save the souls alive that should not live; by promising the inhabitants of Jerusalem long life, safety, and prosperity; when they should either die by the sword, famine, and pestilence; or be carried captive, which was as death; for so they did, or attempted to do, both the one and the other, by their false prophecies, as follows:
by your lying to my people that hear your lies? their false prophecies, which some hearkened to, and believed; and others were intimidated by, and feared that so it would be.
Hear your lies.--Or, hearken to a lie. The words imply a willingness to listen to the pleasing falsehood, and the state of things is that described by Jeremiah 5:31. "The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means, and my people love to have it so."
for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread; which shows them to be abandoned creatures, that were ready to do or say anything for the meanest trifle; their consciences were seared; they gave up themselves to work wickedness with greediness, and for filthy lucre's sake, and for a small portion of that; which exaggerates their sin and folly; see Proverbs 28:21;
to slay the souls that should not die; by threatening the captives in Babylon, who had surrendered themselves in Jehoiachim's time, with destruction and death; who ought to have been comforted in their exile, and whom the Lord in his own time would deliver:
and to save the souls alive that should not live; by promising the inhabitants of Jerusalem long life, safety, and prosperity; when they should either die by the sword, famine, and pestilence; or be carried captive, which was as death; for so they did, or attempted to do, both the one and the other, by their false prophecies, as follows:
by your lying to my people that hear your lies? their false prophecies, which some hearkened to, and believed; and others were intimidated by, and feared that so it would be.