Today, we have the privilege of working through a chapter of the Bible that I've been unsettled about, and wrestled with off and on, and changed my mind back and forth, for over 20 years. Ezekiel 18. If you're not familiar with the passage, that's fabulous. That's great. If you are, today's sermon is going to feel disorienting, and confusing, because whatever it is that you've read, and think is right about the passage, is going to get flipped on to its head. I'm going to spin the passage around, and challenge everything. So if that's you, just a heads up that today will be too much. You'll probably need a copy of my manuscript, a couple pots of coffee, and a few readings, before it makes sense. That, at least, was my experience, when I found myself slowly being convinced by one of my commentators who saw everything from a very different perspective (Margaret Odell, Ezekiel).
Ezekiel 18 is a confusing chapter, but I think there are three keys to getting it right.
(1) Key #1: The Historical Context
The first, is to understand the historical context to the chapter. It's hard, because we haven't read anything earlier than this in the book, but the thing we really have to understand, is that there are two groups of people in view in this chapter. The first group, which is the one Ezekiel prophesies to, is a group of exiles who live in Babylon (Ezekiel 1:1). Jerusalem, at the beginning of the book, hasn't yet fallen. But much of Israel has been captured by Babylon, and there have been waves of prisoners captured in Israel, who have been scattered throughout the Babylonian empire. The second group, which is mentioned at least a couple times, is the group of people who have been "left behind," and still live in Jerusalem. I think we should read both passages where we see these two groups.
Let's turn first to Ezekiel 11:14-21:
14 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 15 Mortal, your kinsfolk, your own kin, your fellow exiles,[a] the whole house of Israel, all of them, are those of whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, “Stay far from the LORD; to us this land is given for a possession.” 16 Therefore say: Thus says the Lord GOD: Though I removed them far away among the nations and though I scattered them among the countries, yet I have been a sanctuary to them for a little while[b] in the countries where they have gone. 17 Therefore say: Thus says the Lord GOD: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. 18 When they come there, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations. 19 I will give them one heart and put a new spirit within them;[c] I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20 so that they may follow my statutes and keep my ordinances and obey them. Then they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 21 But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations,[d] I will bring their deeds upon their own heads, says the Lord GOD.
So the people still living in Jerusalem/Judah, who weren't captured and sent into exile, are arguing that the whole land now belongs to them. The exiles abandoned God, and so God punished them by sending them into exile. God is now only with them, and not the exiles. The land now belongs to them, and not the exiles. There's been a transfer of ownership. Imagine a small rural church, made up of basically farmers, where someone comes in, and takes everyone in the front half of the sanctuary, and those people are just gone for like 10 years. At what point, do the people who are left start looking around and saying things like, "The building now belongs to us. God is with us." And God responds to this by giving his people words of comfort: (1) "I am your sanctuary away from home" (v. 16), and (2) I will gather you, and bring you home, and give you your land a second time" (v. 17).
We find this same idea in Ezekiel 33:21-29, after the city of Jerusalem fell. NRSV updated no reason:
21 In the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, someone who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me and said, “The city has fallen.” 22 Now the hand of the LORD had been upon me the evening before the fugitive came, and he opened my mouth when the fugitive came in the morning, so my mouth was opened, and I was no longer unable to speak.
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.
But people who end up arguing that, based on this passage, misunderstand the examples God gives, to clarify how things work. What God is doing in this chapter isn't removing all corporate responsibility, and saying each man is an island. What God is doing in this chapter, is saying this: With each generation of his people, God stands before his people and offers them two choices: (1) You can obey me, and I will be with you, and richly bless you, and give you all of the covenant blessings I promised your fathers; or (2) You can reject me, disobey me, do what I hate, and I will bring all of the covenant curses and punishments that I promised your fathers.
(3) Key #3: "Life and death" as covenant language
This leads me to the third key. In this chapter, we will hear a lot about "life" and "death." And if we are more NT people than OT people, we might find this confusing. Is God talking about eternal life? About heaven, and hell? Is God talking about getting to live a longer or shorter life? Let's turn to Deut. 30:15-20 (NRSV updated):
15 “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God[b] that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away and you do not hear but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today that you shall certainly perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him, for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”
When God talks about life and death in Ezekiel, it works the same way there as it does in Deuteronomy. "Life" isn't just about having a pulse. Life is a shorthand way of describing the abundant life that God promises his people, with blessings that include having a long life, big animal herds, successful harvests, many kids, victory over enemies, and freedom from sickness and disease. The life God offers, is a good life.
And when God threatens "death," He doesn't necessarily mean that you will drop dead in about 20 seconds. "Death," is the opposite of life. To receive death from God, is a shorthand way of saying that you will fall under God's curses, and judgments. You will have bad harvests, and miscarriages, and sickness, and defeat. You will be stuck in exile, living under the thumb of Babylonians. To be receiving death, is to live a life filled with lack, and hardship. And sometimes, once in a while, it does mean you'll drop dead in about 20 seconds.
So right now, the exiles and the Jerusalemites are both experiencing death. But the basic point God makes in this chapter, is that God holds out the offer of life to both groups of people. Both groups, all of God's people, can choose death or life. And God much prefers that they choose life.
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The interpretation I've taken in Ezekiel 18 closely follows that of Margaret Odell. I didn't start there, but she makes a strong case, and the chapter all fits together under her approach.
The more typical approach (with multiple variations) is to say that the main point of the chapter is to push back against exiles who feel like they are innocent, and that they are innocently suffering for the sins of their fathers. They feel like God is being unfair, not right, in how He's treating them. And they feel like there's no point in trying to serve God, because their fate and destiny have been determined by their fathers. Basically, they view themselves as the "son" in chapter 18, and their ancestors, particularly their fathers, are the "father."
There are several problems with this, some of which Odell points out:
(1) In general, Ezekiel's audience is referred to as "fathers," and not as sons. They are consistently described as fathers who have sons and daughters (Ezekiel 24:21; 14:12-23, esp. 16, 18, 20, 22; Margaret Odell, Ezekiel, 221).
Ezekiel 24:21:
21 Say to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord GOD: I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the delight of your eyes, and your heart’s desire, and your sons and your daughters whom you left behind shall fall by the sword.
Other views of Ezekiel 18 usually assume that the audience views themselves as the sons, and not the fathers. But that's not how it works elsewhere in Ezekiel.
(2) In verse 19, the exiles reveal their desire that the sons suffer. They are hoping, desiring, the son to suffer for the sins of the father.
19 Yet you say, “Why should not the son suffer for the iniquity of the father?”
The more typical reading of this chapter wants the exiles to say, "Why should the son suffer for the iniquity of the father?" But the focus is actually the opposite. The audience doesn't want to let go of the idea that sons are punished for their fathers' sins. They want a promise that God's judgment is coming. And that's really awkward.
(3) In verse 21, God promises that if the wicked turn, that God will give them life, and that if the righteous turn, God will give them death. The exiles think this is unfair, not right (v. 25). How? Why? Because the exiles in all of this aren't focused on themselves. They are using the proverb, and applying it to the Jerusalemites. They can't wait for God to bring judgment on the Jerusalemites. And God responds by saying, the future of the Jerusalemites is in their own hands; "I'm offering them the possibility of life, if they act righteously and justly."
English Bibles, by translating the "waw" as "yet" (v. 25, 29), muddy the waters. It's "and," not "yet."
(4) The more typical reading completely ignores the key phrase, "concerning the land," in verse 2. What God is criticizing in chapter 18, isn't the proverb itself necessarily, but its application.
(5) The proverb itself uses two yiqtols, imperfects, usually future tenses, to describe the fathers and the sons. "The fathers will eat unripe fruit, while the sons' teeth will be set on edge." And other views usually have to bend the Hebrew (I tried this myself) to make it work, because what they want the proverb to say, is that the fathers have past tense eaten unripe fruit, and the teeth are currently on edge." The proverb doesn't quite say what people want it to say. And it should also be noted that it's "fathers," not "our fathers." And it's "sons," and not "we."
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I could say more, but this is a huge passage, and at some point, we need to just dive in. So let's read verses 1-2:
(1) And the Word of Yahweh came to me, saying,
(2) "What do you (plural) mean, quoting this proverb about the land of Israel, saying,
'Fathers will eat (yiqtol) unripe/sour fruit, (Isaiah 18:5; Job 15:33)
while the teeth of the sons will be blunted (Ecclesiastes 10:10)/set on edge.'
Do you see the phrase in verse 2, "about the land of Israel"? That little phrase is really important for understanding the chapter as a whole. The people who are in exile, maybe including Ezekiel himself, are scolded by God because of the way they are applying a parable about the land of Israel. The land, is the ultimate focus of all of Ezekiel 18.
So the exiles are talking about the land of Israel-- about a place they no longer live. And they are talking about the people who live there-- the fathers, and the sons. They're not talking about themselves. They're talking about this other group.
And they tell each other a proverb (and Ezekiel is maybe put in with this "they"), to comfort themselves.
Now, the proverb itself is a little unclear, in two ways. First, is the fruit unripe, or is it sour? We know that those two things tend to go hand in hand, especially with the grapes that seem to be in mind here. Eat a grape before its ready, and it'll be sour, and pucker your mouth.
I think it's better to translate it here as "unripe." That's where the focus is in the two passages I put in your translation (Isaiah 18:5; Job 15:33). It's a rare word, but the focus of that word is always on the unripeness of the fruit, and not on its sourness.
So the exiles start off by saying that the fathers will pop unripe fruit into their mouths. Margaret Odell and Moshe Greenberg both point in the right direction, super helpfully, but they don't quite get the significance right, I think, of this common activity of eating unripe fruit quite right]. [Insert prop-- need a blackberry/raspberry container here].
Now, the secret to understanding the significance of this, is to understand my wife. So I feel like I'm uniquely able to explain all of this to you this morning.
City slickers think that raspberries are grown in grocery stores. They come nicely packaged, and weighed out. City folk buy the little container of raspberries in the store, take them home, and then they try them. If they're unripe tasting, they'll be sad, and disappointed, and feel slightly ripped off. They spent 20 cents on something that wasn't very good. They'll find themselves talking about the fruit being sour, and they'll pucker up a little bit.
My wife is a country woman, a gardener. By no means a city slicker. And my wife, as a dedicated gardener, watches over all of her plants as though they were her babies. She somehow sees her vegetables when they emerge from the ground, and they're still only 1/2" tall. She sees every new shoot, every new flower. She notices when something ate off a couple leaves. And she happily drags her husband out to look at all of it all summer, and see all the new things.
My wife knows that raspberries grow on bushes. And she sees the plants develop new shoots, and somehow magically grow flowers, which somehow magically turns into small green fruit, and at some point turn into something that's amazing. And one of the joys of having fruit bushes like honeyberries, and cherries, and raspberries, and chokecherries, is when you first get to sample the fruit off them. You know they're not quite ripe, because you're a superstar gardener, but you pop it in your mouth as a way to gauge how far along they are, and as a way to celebrate what's coming. Popping unripe fruit into your mouth is one of the highlights of the summer because that fruit is filled with promise, and potential. It's a moment of total happiness-- for a gardener, not for a city slicker.
So when the exiles quote this proverb in Ezekiel 18:2, they are acknowledging that someone else-- a group they hate, and who hate them, the fathers of the group left behind in Judah-- will get to enjoy this almost magical moment. I can picture a gardener (not my wife, obviously) quoting this proverb, peeved and upset, acknowledging that someone else is going to get to sample her grapes and raspberries and June berries. This group views the land as belonging to them. They think there's been a transfer of ownership (tie in to Ezekiel 33:23-24). And they are eating the raspberries, with that sense of happiness, and ownership. They're stealing the gardener's magical moment.
All of this is inevitable, and unavoidable. This is what "will" happen. But, the proverb continues by looking a little farther into the future. The day is also coming, when the sons' teeth will be dulled/blunted. My guess, if you asked a dentist, is that teeth usually become dulled, or worn down, when people have nasty habits like grinding their teeth or gnashing their teeth-- and those are things that are associated with stress, and fear, and lack. Whatever the verb means, exactly, the proverb expresses the hope that the fathers may get to pop unripe raspberries in their mouths, but the sons won't have the same good fortune.
And the hoped-for idea underlying this proverb, is that God's judgment is on its way. One day, those Judeans will suffer God's wrath. It may not be today. It may not be this growing season. But one day, the sons will suffer. And they look forward to that. They comfort themselves, by talking about how the sons of the Judeans will one day have something terrible happen to them, through God's hand. One day, those sons will suffer God's wrath, just like the exiles.
Let's start again at verse 1, and read through verse 4:
(1) And the Word of Yahweh came to me, saying,
(2) "What do you (plural) mean, quoting this proverb about the land of Israel, saying,
'Fathers will eat (yiqtol) unripe fruit,
while the teeth of the sons will be blunted/set on edge.'
(3) As I live-- utterance of the Lord Yahweh-- if this proverb will still continue [to be spoken] in Israel.
(4) LOOK! All of the lives, belonging to me, they [are]. ["belonging to me" is focused]
Like the life of the father, and like the life of the son, belonging to me, they [are].
God's first response to this proverb, is to say that all of Israel-- all of his people-- belong to Him. God cares about all of his people, across generations. It's not that He only cares about the adults, and not the kids. Or that God only cares about kids, and not adults. And the idea, then, probably, is God cares about all of his people regardless of where they live. God cares about his people still living in Judah. And God cares about his exiles. Those two groups may hate each other, and be unable to get along, but God cares about them both. And just notice in verse 2, it's fathers, plural, and sons, plural. We are talking about generations, and groups. Not individuals.
So that's the starting point, for everything that follows.
Starting in verse 4, line 3, God paints different pictures about what it means, why it matters, that all of God's people belong to Him. I'll read through verse 9. As I read, again, this will be a struggle, but try to remember that what God is actually talking about here isn't individuals, but generations. What God says is about "fathers," plural, and "sons," plural (the proverb of 18:2), and not about individuals:
The life who sins-- that one shall die, [Deuteronomy 30:15-20 on "life" and "death"?]
(5) while a man, if/when he will be righteous/faithful, and he acts rightly--
to the mountains he hasn't eaten,
while his eyes he hasn't lifted up to the idols of the house of Israel,
while the wife of his neighbor he hasn't defiled,
while to a wife during her period he hasn't drawn near,
(7) while a man he doesn't oppress/mistreat ;
someone's pledge for a loan, he returns;
stolen things he hasn't seized;
his bread to the hungry, he gives,
while a naked person he covers with a garment;
(8) with interest, he doesn't give,
while usury, he doesn't take;
from wrong, he brings back his hand;
fair judgment he makes between men (disputing something);
(9) in my statutes he walks,
while my rules, he has kept to do them faithfully--
righteous, he [is].
He will surely live-- utterance of the Lord Yahweh,
In verse 4, God starts off by saying that if a generation sins, that generation will die. Meaning-- that generation will fall under God's punishments, and judges, and curses, as described in the Mosaic covenant.
On the other hand, if a generation does what's right, it will live. And I could easily spend a whole sermon unpacking what it means to do what's right, but God lays out the specific things he's looking for. God spends a little time talking about acting rightly toward Him by not worshipping idols, and He spends a lot of time talking about the importance of acting rightly toward each other.
And a generation that does this-- that loves God, and loves people, will "live." They will receive God's covenant blessings.
So in this section, we see both possible futures held out to God's people. If they sin, we see in verse 4 (in a single line) that they will die. If they do what's right, verses 5-9, they will live. God holds out to his people the choice between death and life, and He invites them to choose life.
With this, we come to verse 10. And here we find ourselves dealing with the issue of generational punishments, or curses. So God spent most of verses 4-9 talking about how things work when people act rightly toward God and each other, and that results in life. It was about when a righteous generation, acts righteously. But then that generation, has another generation. A righteous father has a son. And in this first example, the son is a bad dude:
(10) and he has a violent son [who] sheds blood, and he does/acts, alas (DCH), from [any] one of these [bad] things,
(11) while he, all these [good] things he didn't do.
For, what's more/worse, to the mountains he ate,
while the wife of his neighbor he defiled.
(12) The needy and the poor he oppresses/mistreats.
Stolen things he seized.
Someone's pledge for a loan, he doesn't return,
while to idols he lifted his eyes.
A detestable/abominable thing he did.
(13) With interest, he gave,
while usury, he took,
and shall he live?
He shall not live.
All these detestable things he did.
He will surely die.
His blood, on him, it will be,
The son does all the bad things the father doesn't. And he doesn't do all the good things that the father did. He's the opposite.
And so the question is, what's his fate?
The answer is that he will die. Meaning, he will fall under the covenant curses.
That wicked son, in turn, has a son. A third generation is now in view. And this third generation "sees" what the second generation did, and chooses a different path. Verse 14-18:
(14) while LOOK! He has a son,
and the son saw all the sin of his father
that the father did,
and he saw,
and he wasn't doing like them.
(15) Upon the mountains he didn't eat,
while his eyes didn't lift up to the idols of the house of Israel.
The wife of his neighbor he didn't defile,
(16) while a man he didn't oppress.
Someone's pledge for a loan, he didn't require,
while stolen things, he didn't steal.
His bread, to the hungry he gave, ["to the hungry" is focused]
while the naked, he covered with clothing.
(17) From sin he brought back his hand.
Interest and usury he didn't take.
Justice/rules he did.
In my statutes he walked.
He shall not die because of the avon/sin/guilt/punishment of his father.
He shall certainly live.
(18) His father--
because he severely oppressed;
Stolen things, he stole from a brother,
while what isn't good, he did in the midst of his people,
while/and LOOK! He died because of his avon/sin/guilt!,
So we have a wicked dad, and a righteous son. The wicked dad dies. But the son is untouched by the wicked dad's actions. He receives life, and not death.
What we are seeing in this section, is God pushing back against the proverb of verse 2. The exiles were looking forward to the day when the sons would suffer for the sins of the fathers.
And God responds to that by saying, if the son does what's right, the son will receive life, and covenant blessing. There's a possible future where the sons' teeth have something good to eat.
Verses 19-20:
(19) and you (plural) say,
"Why didn't the son carry the avon/sin/guilt/punishment of the father?,"
while the son, justice and righteousness, he did;
All my statutes he kept,
and he did them.
He shall surely live.
(20) The one sinning-- that one shall die.
A son shall not carry/bear the avon/sin/guilt/punishment of the father,
while a father shall not carry/bear the avon/sin/guilt/punishment of the son.
The righteousness of the righteous, upon him, it shall be, ["upon him" is focused].
while the wickedness of the wicked, upon him, it shall be,
The exiles, in verse 19, reveal their hopes. They want the son to carry the avon/sin/guilt/punishment of the father.
And God's saying, that won't happen, if the son does what's right. The only thing that will be upon the son, is his own righteousness. No judgment will transfer over, or extend. There will be no generational punishment, or curses. There will only be blessing and life. It's only the wicked, who will carry avon, and who will have that wickedness upon them.
In verses 21-25, God gives the exiles more bad news:
(21) while/Now, the wicked--
if he returns from all his sin that he did,
and he keeps all my statutes,
and he does justice and righteousness--
he shall surely live.
He shall not die.
(22) All of the rebellions that he did, shall not be called to mind for him.
Through his righteousness that he did, he shall live.
(23) Do I actually delight in the death of the wicked? --utterance of the Lord Yahweh,
(24) while when the righteous one turns from his righteousness,
and he does evil;
just as all of the detestable things that the wicked did, he does,
and will he live?
All his righteousness that he did, shall not be called to mind.
Because of his adultery that he did,
and because of his sin which he sinned--
because of them he shall die,
(25) and you say,
"It's not right-- the way of the Lord."
The exiles are looking forward to God's judgment on the people left in the land. And God holds up his hand, and says, "Wait a minute. No one's future is set in stone. So long as people are alive, I hold out these two options to people-- life, or death. My preference is that they choose life; I don't want anyone to choose death. I don't delight in punishment. And so I hold out this offer to all of my people-- to everyone who belongs to me (v. 2). And this is true not only for the sons, but also for the fathers. The fathers still have this window of opportunity to turn back to God, and not receive judgment.
And we see that this, again, is not what the exiles want to hear. And the reason for this, again, is that the exiles are applying the proverb not to themselves, but to the people still in the land. So in verse 25, the exiles respond by saying that they think God should do things differently. The way God works isn't right, or fair. God should delight in punishment. He should want to bring death on the people in the land. The Judean fathers, and the Judean sons, should both suffer as they have. Once you sin, you should receive death-- covenant punishments, and curses-- and that should be the end of the story.
God responds to the exiles' challenging him, by challenging them about who is acting rightly:
Listen, please, O house of Israel:
Is my way not right?
Is it not your ways, that aren't right?
(26) When the righteous one turns from his righteousness,
and he does evil,
he shall die because of them (them=his evil actions).
Because of his evil that he did, he shall die,
(27) while when the wicked one turns from his wickedness that he did,
and he does justice and righteousness--
he will revive/bring back to life (Ps. 30:4; 71:20; Hosea 6:2) his life, ["his life" is focused]--
(28) and he saw,
and he returned from all his rebellions which he did--
he will surely live.
He shall not die,
(29) and the house of Israel says,
"It's not right-- the way of the Lord."
Are my ways not right, O House of Israel?
Is it not your ways that aren't right?
God says, "Isn't it right for me to be flexible, and to respond to my people's faithfulness or unfaithfulness? When my people return to me, I will give them life, and bless them. When my people turn away from me, I will give them death, and curses.
Is that wrong?
What would be wrong, and not right, is to be so rigid and locked in on judgment, that God gives up on his people, and on his relationship with them, just because they sinned.
And just below the surface here, we can feel that God isn't just talking about the Judeans anymore. He's also talking about the exiles. When God's people turn from their sin and rebellion, they will revive their lives (verse 27; Ezekiel 37). They will receive life from God, and not death. God doesn't enjoy punishing; He's not looking to maintain that punishment any longer than He needs to. The exiles don't have to keep suffering under God's judgment, and keep receiving death.
God doesn't quite extend an invitation in these verses to turn to Him, and turn from death to life. But the foundations for that appeal are all just sitting there. What God doesn't quite say, but what He points to, is that there's a better future available for everyone.
And in verse 30, God builds off that foundation ("therefore"), and invites the exiles to turn back to Him:
(30) Therefore, [with] each one, in accordance with his ways I shall judge you, O House of Israel-- utterance of the Lord Yahweh.
Return,
and turn back from all your rebellions,
and they won't be for you like a stumbling block of avon/sin/guilt/punishment.
(31) Throw off from upon you all your rebellions which you rebelled with them,
and make for yourself a new heart and a new spirit,
and why should you die, O House of Israel?
(32) For I don't delight in the death of the dying-- utterance of the Lord Yahweh,
and return, and live!
God cares about all of his people. All of them belong to Him. And all of God's people, whether they are living in Judah or in Babylon, at the time of Ezekiel 18, still have time this invitation extended to them, to turn from their rebellion, and turn back to God. To choose life, and not death. To receive a better future. There's a clear list of things that God is looking for: faithfulness to Him, turning from idols, and acting rightly toward each other. Don't steal from people; don't harm them. Don't sleep with your wife when she's having her period. Help the poor; lend to those in need, without taking advantage of them. Treat people with respect, and honor. Keep covenant with God and with each other. Do these things, and God will give you life, and only life.
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I ended up making two separate applications. The first-- which follows immediately-- is focused on the idea of generational punishments/curses, since this sermon was designed to follow Numbers 14. The second, which is separated by dashed lines, is how I'd maybe close if I was preaching through Ezekiel, and less interested in the idea of generational sin/guilt/punishment.
One of the things that many Christians spend a lot of time worrying about, is generational punishments, or generational curses. They know that God works not only with individuals, but also with groups. He relates to congregations, generations, as a whole. He relates to families, as a whole. And so they find themselves worrying sometimes about what impact those groups have on the way that God relates to them. Specifically, they worry that they under God's judgment, in one way or another.
This is particularly the case for certain people, who feel as though they are under a curse. For some people, life is just consistently hard, on a regular basis. Some people, some families, some churches, just always seem to have lots of problems. They're sick. They get hurt, all the time. Life is a constant struggle financially. Bad financial decisions are made. Things are constantly breaking. Relationships within those groups are explosive. It feels like things are on the verge of completely, irrevocably falling apart, but it doesn't ever quite hit that point.
It's reasonable to ask yourself, in these situations, if you are living under God's judgment. To not ask that question, in that situation, would be crazy. God brings judgment and punishment on his people when they persist in sin, and when life falls apart, it's worth just stopping, and reflecting. We can just look at Ezekiel 18, and see there's a list of behaviors that God expects from his people. And if we persist in some of those bad things, and don't do some of those good things, there's a real possibility that God will give us death-- covenant curses, and punishments-- instead of the life He'd rather give.
But often what Christians do, perhaps too early, and too quickly, is think about something else in this situation. Rather than focus on their own lives, and areas where they are knowingly and deliberately compromising, they focus on generational curses, and punishments. Even though they are adults, and have officially become "fathers" to use the biblical language, they find themselves wanting to blame their own fathers, or grandfathers, or great-grandfathers, for their current situation. [And so the reason the Bible only talks about "sons" and "fathers," and not grandfathers, is because "fathers" includes adults aged 20 and up, based on last week's sermon]. They find themselves thinking that the problem is there, because Yahweh is a God who brings punishment to the third and fourth generation (Exodus 20:4-5; 34:6-7; Numbers 14:18). They decide that they are living clean, doing what's right(eous), acting rightly, so the problem must lie elsewhere. But my guess, honestly, is that those people tend to not look closely enough at God's lists. They're involved in magic, or the occult, in a way that they think is harmless. They have an idol, or image, somewhere in their house of the sun god, or some African or South American god, that they view as a decoration, but it's far more than that. They have a dream catcher. They aren't really faithful to God. They're stealing from God, and not giving him what they should. They aren't acting rightly toward the people around them-- maybe toward someone, or some group, in particular. Something is off, and they are blind to their own sin.
At any rate, I think this passage in Ezekiel brings great clarity to the question of how generational punishments, and generational curses, work.
And, at the same time, I don't think that Ezekiel 18 is teaching anything new.
Exodus 20:4-6 (NRSV updated no reason):
4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me 6 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation[b] of those who love me and keep my commandments.
God punishes children for the iniquity of the parents to the third and fourth generation "of the ones rejecting me," or "of the ones hating me." When generation after generation persists in hating God, in not obeying Him, in rejecting Him, those punishments stack up. They compound. God gives them death, generation after generation, so long as they persist in their rebellion.
But we see in this passage, that it doesn't need to be this way.
First, when people return to God, God changes how He treats them. God gives them life, instead of death.
And second, when every new generation rises up-- when the sons become fathers-- they are given the same invitation by God, to choose faithfulness to Him, and to choose life.
God doesn't delight in giving death. God doesn't delight in handing out covenant curses and punishments. God sends prophets like Ezekiel, because He'd rather do something different.
So the encouragement that God gives the exiles, and that I think God will give you (at least, once you've become part of the "fathers' generation"-- fuzzy on the edges of this still), is that if you fully commit to God, and to acting rightly toward God and the people around you, that God will give you life. And the life He gives isn't mixed with death. It's not like God hands you a twist cone, with life and death and mixed together. God gives you life. And the only thing on you, is your own righteousness. Not your fathers' avon-- not their sin, guilt, punishment.
I just pause here, and clarify one thing. We saw last week in 1 Corinthians, that churches as a whole can fall under God's judgment. The Corinthian church didn't act rightly, and they instead showed favoritism to the wealthy against the poor, and God brought judgment on them. We also see the same thing in Jesus' words to the seven churches in Revelation. To some degree, they rise and fall as a whole. They are judged, as a whole. So I'm not saying that you can't suffer because of someone else's sin. If a church is living in sin, that punishment can partly fall on you. So when you think through the lists of what God expects, include that.
What I'm trying to say, is that God treats each generation of fathers with their kids separately. Each generation of fathers has the chance to receive life, and not death. And I think that's true for each generation of the church, as well.
And the challenge that God also gives the exiles, is that they need to be willing to accept that God acts rightly, and does what's fair, when He is willing to show grace and mercy not only to them, but also to this other group of God's people who they hate, and who hate them. All of God's people belong to Him. God doesn't want to give death to anyone. And we are supposed to accept that sometimes God doesn't bring vengeance, at all, on the people who have badly hurt us. Sometimes, those people return, and God gives them life, unmixed.
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The applications for if I was playing this straight, and not exploring the issue of generational punishments after doing Numbers 14 last week:
There are two things we for sure need to hear in today's passage. Here's the first:
There are times when God's people bring God's judgment down on themselves. They sin and rebel against God. They sin against each other. They choose death, and not life. And they refuse to listen to God's invitation to come back. And so God's judgment comes.
By the time that judgment comes, God's people tend to have strengthened their resolve to sin. They've seared their consciences; they've walled themselves off against God and against his Holy Spirit. It becomes difficult in that situation, to come to your senses, look at your situation, and acknowledge the truth about what's happened. And even if you do that, it's hard to remember that God doesn't delight in judgment. He wants to give something better, but He will only give life to those who turn back to Him.
If this is where you are-- you've rebelled against God, and chosen death instead of life, hear God's invitation to you today. Return to God, and live. Choose the better path. God is flexible. God wants the two of you, together, to have a better future together.
Here's the second:
There are times when God's people find themselves hoping that God will bring judgment down on his own people, for one reason or another.
Sometimes, a denomination loses its way, and veers off into stupid dangerous stuff. They get sucked in by the culture, and find themselves far from God. The congregations within that denomination then have a tough choice. Do you break off, and leave your crazy liberal denomination? Or do you stick it out?
And those of us outside of that denomination, see what it's promoting, see how far its fallen, and we what?
The tendency, in some circles, is to act a lot like Jonah (Jonah 4:5). We get ourselves a lawn chair, and a shady spot, and an iced tea, and we hope that God will bring judgment on everyone involved. We long for the day when He will punish.
If we find ourselves in that situation, we need to be really careful in what we are hoping for. It's one thing to hope that God brings judgment on a denomination by causing it, as a whole, to die out. You can maybe, possibly, hope that people wake up, and leave a church, and that the building eventually becomes a hollow shell. I think you can even celebrate when certain church doors close.
But when you shift your focus from denominations and buildings, to thinking about God's people, everything changes. There are probably people in every denomination, in every church, who are truly members of God's people (Revelation 3:4). Some of them are faithful, and are sticking it out at those churches, seeking to bring their churches back to God and to the truth (Revelation 3:4). Others, are unfaithful. They are rebelling, and sinning, and not doing what's right. And God cares about all of them. They all belong to Him.
So if you find yourself wanting God to bring judgment on his own people, God is going to have an issue with that. God's preference is that all of his people heed his invitation to choose Him, and choose life. So I'd just encourage you, if you're going to be Jonah, perched on his overlook, be really careful how you do it, and what you're hoping for. And I'd say the two groups of people who tend to struggle with this the most, the two who are most tempted to duke it out, and wish terrible things on each other, aren't actually conservatives and liberals. I'd say the two groups who struggle hardest, are charismatics and cessationists. Those are the people who have to be most careful, in what exactly they hope God will do to his own people. They are the ones most tempted to draw a line between who is, and who isn't, part of God's people, and who has, and who doesn't have, a future with God.
But I think the main reason God's people find themselves hoping God brings judgment on his own people, is when they've been mistreated, or hurt. And this part of Ezekiel 18 just totally snuck up on me this week. I was super surprised by that. Some of you have been badly hurt by churches, unfairly. I'm not talking about church discipline, where you did something wrong to harm the body, and church leaders exercised authority, and did something to you. I'm talking about where you did nothing wrong, but you were badly hurt. Maybe you were misunderstood. Maybe you were criticized, sharply, and it was super unfair. Maybe a member of God's people took advantage of you when you were down, and vulnerable.
We can all probably think back on times when we were innocent, and God's own people were unfair to us, or said terrible things about us, or did something terrible. We've tried to forgive, and maybe we have. We've tried to move on, and maybe we have. But we can name names, 10 or 20 years after the fact.
In Romans 12:19, Paul encourages people to not retaliate when they're wronged, but to leave the vengeance up to God. Leave it up to God, to repay people for the evil that they've done. And that's fine, obviously. That's biblical.
But we can add Ezekiel 18 to Romans, and realize that there are two ways to leave vengeance up to God. The first, is to be like Jonah, and find a lawn chair and a shady spot, and hope to see and taste the first fruits of God's wrath. To insist that God bring punishment on people who harmed you, and accept no other outcome.
The second, is to be open to the possibility that the people who hurt you will return to God. They'll repent. Maybe they'll even seek forgiveness from you. And if they do that, there is a real possibility that God will never bring judgment on them for what they did. The only thing on them will be their righteousness. And this might be true for people who aren't even Christians at all right now. You might have an enemy who does terrible things to you, and one day, that enemy bends his knee before Jesus, and God shows them grace, and mercy, and offers them life, unmixed.
It's possible, that all the people who hurt you, whether Christian or not, are people who God will treat with as much grace, and mercy, as He's shown you hundreds and thousands of times. And God expects you to be okay with that. That's right, for God to act that way. So pray for those who harm you. Repay harsh words with kindness. Hope, not that God will bring judgment, but that they turn.
Translation:
(1) And the Word of Yahweh came to me, saying,
(2) "What do you (plural) mean, quoting this proverb about the land of Israel, saying,
'Fathers will eat (yiqtol) unripe fruit,
while the teeth of the sons will be dulled/set on edge.'
(3) As I live-- utterance of the Lord Yahweh-- if this proverb will still continue [to be spoken] in Israel.
(4) LOOK! All of the lives, belonging to me, they [are].
Like the life of the father, and like the life of the son, belonging to me, they [are].
The life who sins -- that one shall die, [Deuteronomy 30:15-20 on "life" and "death"?]
(5) while a man, if/when he will be righteous/faithful, and he acts rightly --
to the mountains he hasn't eaten,
while his eyes he hasn't lifted up to the idols of the house of Israel,
while the wife of his neighbor he hasn't defiled,
while to a wife during her period he hasn't drawn near,
(7) while a man he doesn't oppress/mistreat ;
someone's pledge for a loan, he returns;
stolen things he hasn't seized;
his bread to the hungry, he gives,
while a naked person he covers with a garment;
(8) with interest, he doesn't give,
while usury, he doesn't take;
from wrong, he brings back his hand;
fair judgment he makes between men (disputing something);
(9) in my statutes he walks,
while my rules, he has kept to do them faithfully--
righteous, he [is].
He will surely live-- utterance of the Lord Yahweh,
(10) and he has a violent son [who] sheds blood, and he does/acts, alas (DCH), from [any] one of these [bad] things,
(11) while he, all these [good] things he didn't do.
For, what's more/worse, to the mountains he ate,
while the wife of his neighbor he defiled.
(12) The needy and the poor he oppresses/mistreats.
Stolen things he seized.
Someone's pledge for a loan, he doesn't return,
while to idols he lifted his eyes.
A detestable/abominable thing he did.
(13) With interest, he gave,
while usury, he took,
and shall he live?
He shall not live.
All these detestable things he did.
He will surely die.
His blood, on him, it will be,
(14) while LOOK! He has a son,
and the son saw all the sin of his father
that the father did,
and he saw,
and he wasn't doing like them.
(15) Upon the mountains he didn't eat,
while his eyes didn't lift up to the idols of the house of Israel.
The wife of his neighbor he didn't defile,
(16) while a man he didn't oppress.
Someone's pledge for a loan, he didn't require,
while stolen things, he didn't steal.
His bread, to the hungry he gave, ["to the hungry" is focused]
while the naked, he covered with clothing.
(17) From sin he brought back his hand.
Interest and usury he didn't take.
Justice/rules he did.
In my statutes he walked.
He shall not die because of the avon/sin/guilt/punishment of his father.
He shall certainly live.
(18) His father--
because he severely oppressed;
Stolen things, he stole from a brother,
while what isn't good, he did in the midst of his people,
while/and LOOK! He died because of his avon/sin/guilt!,
(19) and you (plural) say,
"Why didn't the son carry the avon/sin/guilt/punishment of the father?,"
while the son, justice and righteousness, he did;
All my statutes he kept,
and he did them.
He shall surely live.
(20) The one sinning-- that one shall die.
A son shall not carry/bear the avon/sin/guilt/punishment of the father,
while a father shall not carry/bear the avon/sin/guilt/punishment of the son.
The righteousness of the righteous, upon him, it shall be, ["upon him" is focused].
while the wickedness of the wicked, upon him, it shall be,
(21) while/Now, the wicked--
if he returns from all his sin that he did,
and he keeps all my statutes,
and he does justice and righteousness--
he shall surely live.
He shall not die.
(22) All of the rebellions that he did, shall not be called to mind for him.
Through his righteousness that he did, he shall live.
(23) Do I actually delight in the death of the wicked? --utterance of the Lord Yahweh,
(24) while when the righteous one turns from his righteousness,
and he does evil;
just as all of the detestable things that the wicked did, he does,
and will he live?
All his righteousness that he did, shall not be called to mind.
Because of his adultery that he did,
and because of his sin which he sinned--
because of them he shall die,
(25) and you say,
"It's not right-- the way of the Lord."
Listen, please, O house of Israel:
Is my way not right?
Is it not your ways, that aren't right?
(26) When the righteous one turns from his righteousness,
and he does evil,
he shall die because of them (them=his evil actions).
Because of his evil that he did, he shall die,
(27) while when the wicked one turns from his wickedness that he did,
and he does justice and righteousness--
he will revive/bring back to life (Ps. 30:4; 71:20; Hosea 6:2) his life, ["his life" is focused]--
(28) and he saw,
and he returned from all his rebellions which he did--
he will surely live.
He shall not die,
(29) and the house of Israel says,
"It's not right-- the way of the Lord."
Are my ways not right, O House of Israel?
Is it not your ways that aren't right?
(30) Therefore, [with] each one, in accordance with his ways I shall judge you, O House of Israel-- utterance of the Lord Yahweh.
Return,
and turn back from all your rebellions,
and they won't be for you like a stumbling block of avon/sin/guilt/punishment.
(31) Throw off from upon you all your rebellions which you rebelled with them,
and make for yourself a new heart and a new spirit,
and why should you die, O House of Israel?
(32) For I don't delight in the death of the dying-- utterance of the Lord Yahweh,
and return, and live!
