Likewise, thou son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy
people, which prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy thou
against them, And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Woe to the women
that sew pillows to all armholes, and make veils for the head of
every stature to hunt souls! Will ye hunt the souls of my people,
and will ye save the souls alive that come unto you? And will ye
pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of
bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls
alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear
your lies? Wherefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against
your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly,
and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even
the souls that ye hunt to make them fly. Your veils also will I
tear, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no
more in your hand to be hunted; and ye shall know that I am the
Lord. Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad,
whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked,
that he should not return from his wicked way by promising him life:
Therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I
will deliver my people out of your hand, and ye shall know that I am
the Lord (verses 17-23).
And there were false women prophets among Israel likewise. This is a
significant fact. Women became religious leaders and teachers in the
days of Jerusalem's downfall and the worst degradation followed upon
that. They also prophesied out of their own hearts and added other
wicked things to it. They sewed pillows upon all elbows and made veils
for the head to hunt for souls. This has been interpreted in different
ways. It means that they used amulets, little idol images and other
things by which they practised the so-called divination--the
soothsaying. It is sorcery to which these women prophets gave
themselves up. The veils which they used were to give to it a priestly
air of mysticism. They practised the sinister art of magic, or as we
call it nowadays, occultism. It was witchcraft, this binding on of
pillows and other things. This they did for hire and to slay souls which
should not be slain and to sustain the wicked in their wickedness. Here
is also undoubtedly a hint about their wicked incantations, the spells
they claimed to cast that the innocent souls should die and the guilty
should live. But the Prophet declares now that the Lord will deal with
them, expose their wicked practises, tear off their devices and deliver
His people out of the snare.
All this is also done in the very midst of Christendom in the twentieth
century. Women prophets, the most subtle instruments of Satan, are
plentiful in these days. The fact has often been pointed out that the
prominent leaders in the evil cults of the last days are women. There
has been a strange modern day revival of occult practices upon Christian
ground. Spiritualism, Theosophy and Christian Science belong to this
class. All three started with women. Spiritualism with its mediums,
fortune-tellers and necromancers is almost entirely in the hands of
women, who claim to be religious leaders. The same is true of Theosophy,
with its Hindu philosophy and occultism, surrounded with an air of
unholy mysticism. Christian Science is closely related to these two
cults. Its founder practised for a time the calling of a medium.
Significant is the description of the work of these false prophets and
prophetesses in verse 22: "Because with lies ye have made the heart of
the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands
of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by
promising him life." The righteous in Israel were saddened by their evil
work. To the wicked they promised life, that there was no future
punishment for their sins. Hence the wicked continued in his wickedness.
And is the work of the false teachers, the false women-cults, any
different? The righteous are saddened. Each one of the false teachers
and movements like Spiritualism, Theosophy, Russellism, Christian
Science and others deny the eternal punishment of the wicked. They
strengthen the hands of the wicked by promising him life.