“Say unto them which daub it with untempered morter, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones , shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.”
My Notes
What Does Ezekiel 13:11 Mean?
Ezekiel describes a wall built with untempered mortar—a wall that looks sturdy but is structurally worthless because the binding agent is substandard. Then he prophesies its destruction: an overflowing shower, great hailstones, and a stormy wind will rend it. The wall that was built to protect will be torn apart by the very forces it was supposed to resist.
"Untempered morter" (taphel) means whitewash or plaster without proper binding—it's cosmetic, not structural. The false prophets are the ones who daubed the wall (the preceding verses identify them). They covered a weak structure with an attractive surface. The wall looked good. It just couldn't withstand a storm.
The three agents of destruction—rain, hail, and wind—are the standard elements of a severe storm. The wall wasn't tested by anything extraordinary. It was tested by weather—the kind of forces that any properly built wall should survive. The failure isn't that the storm was too powerful. It's that the wall was too weak. The mortar was never real.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What in your life is built with 'untempered mortar'—looks good on the surface but lacks structural integrity?
- 2.Who are the 'plasterers' in your life—people who tell you what you want to hear rather than what's structurally true?
- 3.Can your faith, relationships, or lifestyle withstand a normal storm? What would happen if one came today?
- 4.What's the difference between real mortar (substance, truth, genuine faith) and whitewash (appearance, comfort, pleasant lies)?
Devotional
A wall plastered with whitewash instead of real mortar. It looks great. It looks solid. And the first real storm tears it apart—rain, hail, wind—because the binding agent was never real. The wall that was supposed to protect proves to be cosmetic decoration on a structural failure.
The false prophets are the plasterers. They covered weak structures with attractive surfaces—saying "peace, peace" when there was no peace, coating bad foundations with pleasant-sounding theology, making things look solid when they were anything but. The wall looked finished. It just couldn't survive a storm.
This metaphor applies to anything in your life that looks strong but isn't—anything built with untempered mortar. The relationship that appears healthy but has no real foundation. The faith that looks impressive but hasn't been tested. The theology that sounds good but crumbles under pressure. The lifestyle that seems sustainable but is held together by appearance rather than substance.
The storm doesn't have to be extraordinary to expose untempered mortar. Regular rain, regular hail, regular wind—the normal pressures of life—are enough to rend what was never properly built. If your life can't withstand ordinary storms, the problem isn't the storm. It's the mortar. What's binding your life together? Substance or whitewash? Real faith or pleasant-sounding plaster?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Therefore thus saith the Lord God,.... Confirming what he had before bid the prophet say, Eze 13:11;
I will even rend…
There shall be an overflowing shower - That shall wash off this bad mortar; sweep away the ground on which the wall…
We have here more plain dealing with the false prophets, and some further articles of their doom. We have seen the…
and ye, O great hailstones The apostrophe to the hailstones is rather unnatural. A different pointing gives the sense,…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture