These inquiring elders with wickedness in their hearts, give another illustration of the depth of degradation in which the people had sunken. He who searches the hearts knew what was in them. They came with pious, religious pretensions. It sounded well to inquire of the Lord and seek the prophet-priest for that purpose. Their hearts were full of evil. While their lips spoke of asking the Lord, their hearts were full of idolatry. They liked idolatry. Their hearts were in it and this stumbling-block of their iniquity they had put before their faces, which means they openly defied the Lord God of Israel by their doings. "Should I be inquired of at all by them?" To seek the Lord and inquire of Him in such a condition reveals a brazen spirit and the deepest depravity. Yet this also belongs to the conditions in which the professing people of God are when judgment overtakes them. We see much of it in our own days. There is a great deal of so-called religious exercise and activity, attempts to produce more "religiousness," as it is termed. There is, however, no real heart-turning to the Lord, but the idols are kept in heart and life. "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me" (Ps. lxvi:18). Then the Lord tells them through the prophet, "I, the Lord, will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of their idols; that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart because they are all estranged from me through their idols." Estranged from Jehovah through idols; this described the spiritual condition of these certain elders and the people. If God's people do not give the Lord the place of pre-eminence and follow Him wholly they become estranged from Him. And such is the condition of thousands of professing Christians who walk in a carnal way, who follow their idols instead of the Lord and who still maintain an outward religiousness. Then follows the call to repentance. "Repent and turn yourselves from your idols." Next is the announcement that the Lord Himself will deal with such miserable hypocrites. He will answer the unrepenting, idol follower, who separates himself from the Lord. No true prophet of Jehovah would certainly encourage the men who inquire of the Lord and have evil in their hearts, for fellowship with Jehovah is impossible for such.