Year 2, Week 19, Day 2 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 19, Day 2

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Ezekiel 18-19.

Today’s reading continues the Book of Ezekiel. Today’s reading proceeds further into the first segment of Ezekiel (chapters 1-24), which is a series of prophecies about impending judgment on the people of Judah for their persistent disobedience to the LORD. Today’s reading is a subunit in the first segment of Ezekiel, which runs from chapter 15 to chapter 19 and uses parabolic type statements and stories instead of the sign act dramatizations in order to convey the Word of the LORD: “The word of the LORD came to me: “What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? As I live, declares the Lord GOD, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel” (Ezekiel 18:1-3). Ezekiel 18 clarifies that the judgment that Judah would soon be facing would be for their own sins: “Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4). Ezekiel 19 completes the subunit with a focus on lament but also entails parabolic language: “And you, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, and say: What was your mother? A lioness! Among lions she crouched; in the midst of young lions she reared her cubs” (Ezekiel 19:1-2).

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading is what it teaches about personal sin and the justice of God. Ezekiel seems to be quoting a common saying that was circulating around in his time: “he fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” The point of this saying is that children suffer the consequences of their parents’ bad choices, even though they themselves have done nothing to deserve it. The current generation was experiencing God’s judgment in the form of the Babylonian invasion (many had already been deported), but they were blaming their forefathers in previous generations for its fate. This is the matter that Ezekiel addresses.

While it is in fact the case that Judah’s unfaithfulness and disobedience had been going on for a long, long time, it is not the case that the present generation was innocent. The present generation was not merely paying for the sins from the previous generations: “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin” (Deuteronomy 24:16). Ezekiel sought to help Judah grasp how the coming judgment was not merely for past sin, but that their own sin was being factored into the judgment: “Yet you say, Why should not the son suffer for the iniquity of the father?’ When the son has done what is just and right, and has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely live. The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself” (Ezekiel 18:19-20). Through the illustration of a righteous son, who is followed by a wicked son, who then is followed by a righteous son, Ezekiel seeks to promote personal responsibility and confession: “If a man is righteous and does what is just and right…he is righteous; he shall surely live, declares the Lord GOD…If he fathers a son who is violent, a shedder of blood, who does any of these things…He shall not live. He has done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon himself…suppose this man fathers a son who sees all the sins that his father has done; he sees, and does not do likewise…he shall not die for his father’s iniquity; he shall surely live” (Ezekiel 18:5,9b,10,13b,14,17b).

The concluding point that Ezekiel is making is that since one generation does not suffer the judgment of the LORD for another generation’s sin, the people should had realized that their coming judgment was rooted in their own sin: “But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him; for the righteousness that he has done he shall live” (Ezekiel 18:21-22). Ezekiel is seeking to invoke repentance in the present generation for their own sins: “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord GOD. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit!” (Ezekiel 18:30-31a). The LORD was providing a way of escape from the coming judgment through confession and repentance for the LORD: “Again, when a wicked person turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he shall save his life. Because he considered and turned away from all the transgressions that he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die” (Ezekiel 18:27-28). The call for repentance was rooted in God’s delight to pardon: “Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live” (Ezekiel 18:31b-32). This offer is possible because God put forward His own Son to ironically Jesus’ teeth set on edge because of the sour grapes we ate: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe