Ezekiel 14:4

Will answer him that cometh. — The words that cometh, not being in the original, should be omitted. The verb answer in the original is in the passive, and has a reflexive sense=“I will show myself answering,” a softer form than the English. The principle that when man persists in going counter to God’s known will He will allow him to misunderstand that will, is abundantly established by such instances as that of Balaam (Numbers 22:20) and of Micaiah (1 Kings 22:15). No man can hope to know what God would have him to do unless his own heart is truly submissive to the Divine will. The threat here is, that the man coming to inquire of God with a heart full of idolatry, shall receive no true answer from that Omniscience which he does not respect; but will rather find himself deceived by the illusions of his own heart. This idea is more fully developed in the following verse. (Comp. Isaiah 44:20.)