Ezekiel 18:1-32--The Soul Who Sins Shall Die

Ezekiel 18
English Standard Version

The Soul Who Sins Shall Die
18 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “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’? 3 As I live, declares the Lord GOD, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. 4 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.

5 “If a man is righteous and does what is just and right— 6 if he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor's wife or approach a woman in her time of menstrual impurity, 7 does not oppress anyone, but restores to the debtor his pledge, commits no robbery, gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, 8 does not lend at interest or take any profit, withholds his hand from injustice, executes true justice between man and man, 9 walks in my statutes, and keeps my rules by acting faithfully—he is righteous; he shall surely live, declares the Lord GOD.

10 “If he fathers a son who is violent, a shedder of blood, who does any of these things 11 (though he himself did none of these things), who even eats upon the mountains, defiles his neighbor's wife, 12 oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery, does not restore the pledge, lifts up his eyes to the idols, commits abomination, 13 lends at interest, and takes profit; shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon himself.

14 “Now suppose this man fathers a son who sees all the sins that his father has done; he sees, and does not do likewise: 15 he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor's wife, 16 does not oppress anyone, exacts no pledge, commits no robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, 17 withholds his hand from iniquity, takes no interest or profit, obeys my rules, and walks in my statutes; he shall not die for his father's iniquity; he shall surely live. 18 As for his father, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother, and did what is not good among his people, behold, he shall die for his iniquity.

19 “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. 20 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.

21 “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. 22 None of the transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him; for the righteousness that he has done he shall live. 23 Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? 24 But when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice and does the same abominations that the wicked person does, shall he live? None of the righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered; for the treachery of which he is guilty and the sin he has committed, for them he shall die.

25 “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way not just? Is it not your ways that are not just? 26 When a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it; for the injustice that he has done he shall die. 27 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. 28 Because he considered and turned away from all the transgressions that he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 29 Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ O house of Israel, are my ways not just? Is it not your ways that are not just?

30 “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. 31 Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? 32 For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live.”

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There was a proverb the people had been saying to say the older generation was forced to eat sour (bad) grapes (the events they were forced to live through were unpleasant, maybe even "sickening" and left a bad taste in their mouth) and the teeth of their sons were set on edge (meaning that they were annoyed or irritated--often a physical response to a sour taste, which is fitting with what the first line of the proverb said happened to the older generation.)

Perhaps the younger generation felt abandoned by the LORD or like they were being judged for the sins of their parents, which they would view as unfair, or just that the LORD was being malevolent towards them.  The LORD says that all of His people will be His again, and they will feel loved and welcomed by Him.  He will restore the blessings of the covenant to those who obey the Law of the LORD.  The son will no longer bear the guilt of his fathers' sin if the son is righteous, however, the father who commits these sins will die for his own sins according to the Law of the LORD.

There is grace though offered for the wicked man who repents and gives up his life of sin.  The LORD will let the curses of the Law pass over him and none of his sins will be charged against him.  "Blessed is the man whose sins are forgiven."  The LORD does not delight making sinners pay for their sin, but He is just and will do what justice requires when the time comes.  Until then, He will take our sin and guilt and punishment upon Himself (Jesus would do this on the cross for us) so that we might receive the blessings that we do not deserve.  However, the once righteous man that turns to a way of wickedness will be judged according to the Law of the LORD.  Past good acts do not give us a pass for current evil actions.  Only repentance will lead to grace, but we cannot earn grace by our previous good works.  There is no "building up credit" into your account--your account is either at positive or negative infinity depending on if you are looking at the value of your own works or the value of the works of Christ that were done on your behalf.

The people may complain that the LORD is not just in punishing the new generation for the sins of the former generation (staying in exile for 70 years would certainly leave only the youngest who were alive at the time of Babylon campaign against Judah when they were to return under King Cyrus.  However, the LORD was just even in this as the Land needed time to rest and the people needed to be separated from their place of comfort and complacency that gave them the idea that they could do whatever they wanted and would never be judged for it because they were "safe" at "home base." (Like when you play tag and no one can tag you when you are touching "home").  Exile was a better alternative than killing all of them--that is what they deserved.  It is the people who were unrighteous and there were really none righteous among them if they were judged on their own merits.  Even the palace and the Temple were full of corrupt leaders.  How then were the people supposed to walk on the straight and narrow path if the leaders were leading them astray?  How were they to hear and understand the voice of the LORD when the Land was full of idols and false prophets?

The LORD calls each and every one of the exiles to repentance so that they might live the eternal and abundant life that the LORD wants to give to them.  Maybe they will be living in exile for the rest of their natural lives, but they will not need to remain exiles in the life to come.  They only will remain in exile if they die in their sins and rebellion and refuse to repent.  Those who repent will be given a new heart and new spirit and their sins will not be remembered by the LORD.  The LORD will not kill all those who He planned to bring His covenant of grace through, for the Messiah is still to come and He will not kill all those through whom and to whom the Messiah was promised.