God Gives Second Chances (Ezekiel 18:1-32) Series

The Survivors in Judah

23 The word of the LORD came to me: 24 Mortal, the inhabitants of these waste places in the land of Israel keep saying, “Abraham was only one man, yet he got possession of the land, but we are many; the land is surely given us to possess.” 25 Therefore say to them: Thus says the Lord GOD: You eat flesh with the blood and lift up your eyes to your idols and shed blood; shall you then possess the land? 26 You depend on your swords, you commit abominations, and each of you defiles his neighbor’s wife; shall you then possess the land? 27 Say this to them: Thus says the Lord GOD: As I live, surely those who are in the waste places shall fall by the sword, and those who are in the open field I will give to the wild animals to be devoured, and those who are in strongholds and in caves shall die by pestilence. 28 I will make the land a desolation and a waste, and its proud might shall come to an end, and the mountains of Israel shall be so desolate that no one will pass through. 29 Then they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have made the land a desolation and a waste because of all their abominations that they have committed.

So the people still left in the city after it was captured and destroyed, look around at the city of Jerusalem, and the countryside, and they encourage themselves by applying the story of Abraham to themselves. In verse 24, they say, basically, "Abraham was a single guy, and he gained possession of the entire land. We are still many, relatively speaking (though many thousands of people have been killed and scattered), and surely the land has been given to us by God. We will be like a second Abraham." [Amusingly, compare to Isaiah 51:2-3. The problem isn't that the application is completely wrong; the problem is that the application is restricted to only half of God's people-- to one of the two groups-- and that it's applied to the land of God's exiled people].

And God's response to the people left in Jerusalem, is to say, "I'm not even close to done bringing judgment on you and on this city."

So twice in Ezekiel, we see this conflict between the exiles, and the people who remain in Jerusalem and Judah. And what's at stake, is the future of Israel. Who is God with? Who will receive God's blessings, going forward? Who will take possession of the land?

You with me? It's like the church has been split, front and back, and the question is, "Who will be God's people, God's church, from this day forward? Who gets the building, and God's presence, and God's blessings?" And there's a raging debate between the two halves, who have turned on each other, and are jockeying for position.

(2) Key #2: The literary context

The second key to getting the chapter right, is to pay really close attention to two things: (1) the first two verses, and (2) God's concluding challenge to his people.

It's going to be easy, as we get into the chapter, to get steered the wrong direction. God is going to have a lot to say, seemingly, about individual Israelites. A single father is responsible for his own righteousness, or sin. A single son is responsible for his own righteousness, or sin. And the fate of each individual person depends solely on that person.