”Then certain of the elders of Israel came unto me and sat before me. And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face. Should I be inquired of at all by them? Therefore, speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God: Every man of the house of Israel that sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him that comes according to the multitude of his idols, that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols. Therefore, say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God: Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations; for everyone of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourns in Israel, who separates himself from me, and sets up his idols in his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to a prophet to inquire of him concerning me, I the Lord will answer him by myself. And I will set my face against that man and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”(KJV Ezekiel 14:1-11, RE Ezekiel 5:8)
These teachings from Ezekiel are a great example of showing how idolatry can creep in among a people who have access to a prophet of God. How can they be idolaters if they are following a true prophet? It is apparent in this passage that the people respect Ezekiel’s relationship with God and perhaps envy it. So they come to inquire of Ezekiel regarding their questions about the Lord. The Lord asks, “Should I be inquired of at all by them?” It’s not that the Lord is disappointed with the questions they have. The questions are great. What is disappointing is how they go about to get answers to their questions.
Why is the Lord upset that men would come to inquire of a prophet? Where should men be taking their questions?
Remember the “provocation in the wilderness”? Moses sought diligently to sanctify the people that they might behold the face of God for themselves. But the people denied themselves that opportunity, by refusing the offer, saying to Moses, “Speak with us and we will hear, but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” (KJV Exodus 20:19, RE Exodus 12:14) This arrangement provoked the Lord to anger. Because they sought this arrangement, ”the Lord, in his wrath (for his anger was kindled against them) swore that they should not enter into his rest — which rest is the fullness of his glory — while in the wilderness” (D&C 84:24, T&C 82:13).
By hearing the word of God from a prophet but not receiving the word of God directly, they cursed themselves. Preferring what a prophet has to say to you over what God has to say to you, is idolatry.
The Lord wants all of his people — each one of them — to enter into ”the fullness of his glory”. But they were not prepared. They could not endure what was required of them to do that. Instead of each one entering into the fullness of God’s glory for themselves, they sought and received a lesser arrangement. This lesser form operates Moses having the fulness of God’s glory and then the people receiving what Moses gives them. This arrangement places Moses directly between the people and God. It is a form of idol worship. The people are putting Moses before God when the Lord seeks that they have no others gods before Him. The people were satisfied with this arrangement but God was not. The people could have even gone around singing “we thank thee oh God for a prophet!” But the arrangement provoked the Lord’s anger as they cursed themselves to not enter into the rest of the Lord for themselves. They were fine having Moses between them and God.
Prophets are to teach repentance, which is how the people can be prepared to meet God for themselves. There is a fine line between a prophet assisting the people by teaching them repentance in preparation for them to meet God and a prophet getting between them and God. A prophet can point to God but if the direction or focus is anywhere else, including on himself, it is idolatry.
Mimicking the model the Israelites adopted in the wilderness, is likely to bring about the same anger and cursing from the Lord that it brought to the children of Israel. We should not expect it to be any different when other people do basically the same kind of thing and use the same kind of model. Their model is a bad model to follow. It’s not the prophets are bad but they can be an idol.
We see in the days of Ezekiel, that the people are still doing the same kind of thing the people in Moses’ day had done. They have not repented of this form of idolatry but are still adopting the arrangement of placing the prophet between them and God. And again, the Lord is not pleased with it.
This small exchange between the Lord and Ezekiel with respect to men coming to inquire of Ezekiel for them to know the will of the Lord, can say a lot about the nature of idol worship among religious people. The Lord says that because they have sought direction through their idols (in this case Ezekiel), the Lord will answer them according to their idols. This is similar to the children of Israel receiving the “law of Moses” after provoking the Lord to anger in the wilderness and rejecting the Lord’s law. They received the law, which is appropriately named after a man. While it may have seemed respectful and a good thing to do, it proved to be a curse to them. It didn’t matter that the man was a true prophet of God. The law which they received through Moses was still a curse.
Did they know it was a curse? Did the fact that it came through a true prophet of God blind them to seeing it as a curse? Did they think that because they received it from a true prophet of God that it could only be a blessing and not a cursing? What was it?
How can a prophet be an idol? Could relying on a prophet to provide answers from God actually cripple those who do so?