The comparison of the northern and southern prophets continues. The comparison begins with the word but
and what follows makes it clear that the prophets in the south had not done better by comparison but had in fact done worse. The Lord has seen a horrible thing in Jerusalem: they commit adultery and walk in lies.
The Hebrew word translated as lies
is seqer and it has been used often in Jeremiah to describe Baal worship. That could be the reference here, but there is probably also a more literal meaning in that the prophets of Judah were literally committing adultery and were walking in lies. These prophets were worse than their northern counterparts because they claimed to speak on behalf of the Lord of the covenant, not Baal, and yet lived in total disobedience to the covenant. They displayed blatant and arrogant hypocrisy.1
The devastating consequence of this hypocrisy is that the prophets strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his evil.
If the prophets, who are supposed to call the Lord’s people to covenant faithfulness in their daily lives, are themselves living in open unfaithfulness, then it is hardly surprising that people will simply continue, and in fact be strengthened, in their willful, unrepentant rebellion against the Lord.
14 But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies; they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his evil; all of them have become like Sodom to me, and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.”