And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
The verse says only that God spoke to Ezekiel again. What follows is His answer to a saying the exiles kept repeating, which blamed their fathers for their troubles. The message defends God's fairness and puts each person's life in his own hands.
Writers tie this word to the vision that opened the book, where God's glory left Jerusalem. God also used Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, against the city.
This chapter and the next close a section of the prophecy. That section follows up the opening vision of the glory of God departing from Jerusalem, after His providential use of Nebuchadnezzar. It is a moral judgment. It proves the need of an outward judgment, in which they would know that the One who speaks and acts is Jehovah.
The word answers a proverb: the fathers ate sour grapes, and it sets the children's teeth on edge. One writer points out where the people were saying this — in the country God Himself had given them.
Notice that they were using this proverb in the land of Israel — the land God gave them, a land that was truly "a good land," a land He had brought them into by wonderful miracles… In this good land they could speak of "sour grapes" which their fathers had eaten, setting their children's teeth on edge through no failure of their own! … All the more, because these people are the objects of His love, for whom He has shown Himself mighty, must He silence this talk forever.
God does not brush the complaint aside. He turns it back on the people making it. If they object to paying for another's wrong, they cannot object to paying for their own.
At the captivity God acts on the murmuring of His people. He ends any further governmental dealings on the ground of Exodus 34:6-7. From now on He would take them on their own terms. They complained of the hardship of suffering for the failings of their fathers, so He would now give them what they themselves deserved. It is clear that a sinner must suffer for sin. If he challenges the justice of paying the penalty of a parent's evil, he cannot deny that he ought to be punished for his own.
The chapter states a change in how God governs His people. It also leaves an open door for anyone who turns back.
Ezekiel 18 contains an important principle of God's dealings, unfolded at that time. God would judge the individual according to his own conduct… But now, in His land of Israel, He set aside the principle of government laid down in Exodus 34:7. Souls belong to Jehovah one by one, and each would bear the judgment of its own sins. God would pardon the repenting sinner. For He has no pleasure in the sinner's death.
Readers often take the chapter's line about the soul that sins and apply it to eternity. Commentators read it first as a change in the rule of God's government.
The chapter replaces the Jewish principle of government, that the "children should die for their fathers' sins," with the declaration that "each should die for his own." From other teaching of the Holy Scriptures we may know, and do know, the terrible effect of a man's dying in his sins. But that is not directly the subject here… It is the government of Jehovah which is the subject of the chapter.
Another writer asks what "soul" means in Old Testament language, and who carries out this judgment.
It is "the soul that sins" that dies, true; but what is the soul in this Old Testament language? Just the person himself, the man God made "a living soul." … All this fits the whole character of Ezekiel's prophecy. That prophecy looks at the world, and at God's judgment of the nations as nations and of Israel as a nation. God carries out that judgment by special instruments — here by Nebuchadnezzar. Eternal judgment is entirely out of the question. It is not Nebuchadnezzar who inflicts eternal penalty.
The chapter is long and pressing. God takes the trouble to reason with people.
The statement of the chapter is very full, and God's earnestness about it is easy to see. It is not a small matter to Him what man, the creature He has made, may make of Him. He is saying here, as in the opening words of another prophet: "Come, let us reason together"… Man's arguments are only those of unbelief, of self-ignorance. Whoever does not know God, we may be sure, does not know himself to begin with.
- The complaint. A proverb about sour grapes blamed the fathers for the children's pain — and the people repeated it in the very land God had given them.
- The challenge. God answers the complaint instead of ignoring it. His earnestness shows that what people make of His character matters to Him.
- The transfer. He ends His dealings on the old ground of Exodus 34, and takes them on their own terms: each one now answers for his own sin.
- The scope. The soul that dies here is the person, and the death is judgment in this world under God's government. Eternal judgment is not the subject.
- The door. The same principle carries mercy. God pardons the one who repents, because He has no pleasure in the sinner's death.
What mean ye, ye who use this proverb of the land of Israel, saying, [The] fathers eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge?
Israel in exile had a favourite saying: the fathers ate the sour fruit, and the children's teeth ached for it. God cuts in with a question — "What do you mean?" The rest of the chapter is His answer to a people who had turned His own law into an excuse.
The proverb was a complaint about unfair suffering. The people saw the ruin around them and traced it back to a generation not their own.
Israel complained that they were in trouble and cut off because of their fathers' sins. The fathers had eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth were set on edge. Such was the law: the son bore his father's guilt, and the father's guilt fell on the children. This was to stop. The soul of the father belonged to Jehovah, and so did the soul of the son. The soul that sinned would die.
Where they said it makes it worse. They grumbled in the land God had given them, a land He won for them by open acts of power.
Notice where they were using this proverb: in the land of Israel, the land God gave them, the land that was truly "a good land." He had brought them into it by the most wonderful miracles... In this good land they could talk of the "sour grapes" their fathers had eaten, and of their own teeth set on edge through no fault of their own!
The proverb had a piece of Scripture behind it. God had said He visits the fathers' iniquity on the children. The people dropped the words that came next.
He Himself has assured us that He visits "the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation." But He adds words that are needed to stop it being misread: "of those who hate Me." Israel took up their proverb from just such a misreading, and elsewhere the Lord condemns that proverb in the strongest terms... He not only says it, but swears it: they will have no reason to use such a proverb.
Confessing a past generation's sin costs nothing. That is why the saying suited them.
They allow the wickedness of earlier generations — which is not as hard to confess as one's own — and so they admit that their fathers ate the sour grapes, but not themselves. But the commandment says something quite different. Those who love God and keep His commandments have in it a definite promise of mercy, so they could not come under a contradictory law of inheriting their father's sins.
God does not argue. He grants the terms they asked for, and those terms prove worse for them, not better.
At the captivity God acts on the murmuring of His people. He ends any further government dealings with them on the ground of Exodus 34:6-7. From now on He would take them on their own terms. They complained of the hardship of suffering for their fathers' wrongdoing, so He would now give them what they themselves deserved. Clearly a sinner must suffer for sin. If he questions the justice of paying for a parent's evil, he cannot deny that he should be punished for his own.
God's answer leaves Israel with nothing to say. Finding fault with Him only shows what the complainer has never seen.
The mouth of Israel is closed. Their murmurs were only quibbles. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? ... It is always so. Those who find fault with the Lord's ways, whether in mercy or in judgment, have never seen themselves in His light.
The chapter has a limit. The death it speaks of belongs to God's rule over Israel in this world.
It replaces the Jewish principle of government, that the "children should die for their fathers' sins," with the declaration that "each should die for his own." From other teaching in the Holy Scriptures we know the terrible result of a man dying in his sins. But that is not the subject here. If it were, a son's soul would have been lost under the law for his father's sins, and that is monstrous.
Within that rule, the door stands open: "where repentance was clear, God would pardon, for He had no pleasure in the death of the wicked" (W. T. P. Wolston).
- Complaint. The proverb blamed an earlier generation for present suffering — a charge that cost the speakers nothing.
- Misquote. It leaned on the commandment about visiting the fathers' iniquity. It dropped the rest: "of those who hate Me," and the promise of mercy to those who love Him.
- Answer. God swears the saying will end, because every soul is His alike — father's and son's — and each dies for his own sin.
- Reversal. He takes them at their own terms. The man who protests at paying for a parent's sin cannot protest at paying for his own.
- Exposure. Whoever finds fault with God's ways has never seen himself in God's light. Yet the door is still open: God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked.
[As] I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, ye shall not have any more to use this proverb in Israel.
Israel in exile had a saying: the fathers ate the sour grapes, and the children's teeth were the ones set on edge. God answers with an oath on His own life: His people will never say it again.
They did not make this complaint in a foreign land of misery. They said it at home, in the land God had given them.
It was in this good land that they could talk about the "sour grapes" their fathers had eaten. And their own children's teeth were set on edge through no fault of their own! These people are the ones He loves. He has shown Himself mighty for them. All the more, then, must He silence this talk forever: "As I live, declares the Lord GOD, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel."
The saying was not invented out of nothing. It leaned on a real word of God — the second of the Ten Commandments — twisted out of shape.
The second commandment of the law is what is in question here. That is what gave a seeming excuse for the saying itself. For God had declared that He was "a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments." The resentful thought of those caught up in the nation's present troubles seems clear. They felt the third and fourth generations were suffering for faults that were in no way their own. They admit the wickedness of earlier generations, which is not so hard to confess as one's own. So they agree that their fathers ate the sour grapes, but not themselves. But the commandment says something quite different. Those who love God and keep His commandments have in it a definite promise of mercy. So they could not fall under the opposite rule of inheriting their father's sins.
What God swears here is not a new law. It repeats what Israel's own statute book said long before.
Israel's statute book had already said this plainly: "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." (Deut. 24:16.) Long after this, the children of Israel were twisting the words of the law itself in the same way. In Ezekiel 18 God restates the principle of Deuteronomy, to vindicate the righteousness of His ways.
Ending the saying is not the relief the people were hoping for. If God will not judge them on their fathers' account, He will judge them on their own.
At the captivity God acts on the murmuring of His people. He ends any further dealings with them on the governing principle of Exodus 34:6-7. From now on He would take them on their own terms. They complained of the hardship of suffering for the failures of their fathers. So He would now give them what they themselves deserved. A sinner must suffer for sin. If he challenges the justice of paying for a parent's evil, he cannot deny that he deserves punishment for his own. All were God's, the souls of fathers and of sons alike; and the sinner must die. There was no relief or escape on any such pretext.
This chapter is often quoted to settle what happens to the soul. That use rests on a misreading of the word "die."
Another important thing to notice here is the misuse of the word "die." As spiritual people we may be quite right to see that men can be dead while they live. We can be dead in sin towards God while still alive. The judgment of death means being cut off from God, while the gift of life brings us, in principle, into blessedness with Him. But dying in its plain sense is never applied to the soul. Good people with good intentions constantly quote Ezekiel 18 for this. But it speaks only of death in this world — present judgment here; not for a father's sins, but for our own.
Taking away the excuse leaves only one honest road open. The alternative — keeping up the complaint — makes things worse.
God tested them on their own ground, with the same result of ruin because of their evil. How much better then to repent than to complain and murmur! Complaint only makes the evil worse and brings certain vengeance on such mounting rebellion against God.
- Excuse. The saying blamed the fathers for the children's suffering. People God had rescued and loved said it at home, in the good land He gave them.
- Twist. The excuse borrowed from the second commandment. But it ignored the other half: mercy for those who love God and keep His commandments.
- Oath. God swears by His own life to end the saying, restating a rule already written in the law — each one dies for his own sin.
- Reversal. Removing the excuse is no comfort. God now deals with each on his own terms. Whoever protests a parent's penalty cannot protest his own.
- Road out. With the excuse gone, only repentance remains. Complaint just adds to the guilt God judges.
Behold, all the souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine the soul that sinneth, it shall die.
Israel had a saying ready to hand: their fathers ate sour grapes, and their own teeth were set on edge. God does not argue back. He claims every person alive as His own, then sets a rule no one can dodge: each one answers for himself.
The saying was not harmless. They repeated it in the good land God had given them, among people He loves — and He means to silence it for good.
In this good land they could speak of the "sour grapes" their fathers ate, and of children's teeth set on edge through no fault of their own! These people are the objects of His love, and He has shown Himself mighty for them. All the more must He silence this talk forever... You can see His heart in the answer: "Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine."
The claim rests on God as Creator. Israel had a special place, but that ground reaches wider than one nation.
We must remember that God brought Israel into a special relationship with Himself as Creator... So, if God says to Pharaoh, "Israel is my son, my firstborn," a firstborn son implies there are other sons. And if there is a special promise to Abraham and to his offspring, that promise takes others in as well — indirectly, but just as truly: "In you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed."
The word "soul" in this verse is not the invisible part of a man set against his body. It stands for the person — a usage we still keep in ordinary speech.
Using "soul" for a person is common today. I say, "It is a town of fifteen thousand souls." Who misunderstands me? Israel complained that they were in trouble and cut off for their fathers' sins... As the soul of the father, so the soul of the son was Jehovah's. The soul that sinned would die.
They wanted God to judge each man for himself, not for his father. God gives them just that — and it leaves them no way out.
He would now give them what they deserved. It is evident that a sinner must suffer for sin; and if he challenges the justice of paying the penalty of a parent's evil, he cannot deny that he ought to be punished for his own. All were God's, alike the souls of fathers and of sons; and the sinner must die. There was no relief or escape on any such pretext.
Commentators are careful about how far this sentence reaches. The setting is God's government of a people living in the land, so the death in view is death here — which is not the same as saying nothing lies beyond it.
God would deal with each person according to his own conduct. It is not a question of what their fathers had been. Their own sins called for God's judgment, and would bring it. Long before, God had threatened to visit "the iniquities of the fathers upon the children" (Ex. 34:7). That principle is now set aside. Each was guilty on his own, and would be judged as such. Still, where they showed repentance, God would pardon, for He had no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezek. 18:23). Keep in mind that what is spoken of here is temporal judgment — physical death, because of sin now. It gives us no teaching about the eternal judgment of sin, which is taught elsewhere.
Some read this verse to mean that death ends a person's existence. Not so:
Death never means the end of existence — never; not even the second death, for the second death is the lake of fire.
If each must answer for his own sin, no sinner can rescue another. God's answer is a substitute He provides Himself.
When it is a question of sin, as God measures it, death is the just penalty — and the only one, as far as life in this world goes. "The soul who sins shall die." But that severe sentence would carry every soul into eternal punishment. So God, who does not want the sinner to die, brings in the principle of substitution. He carries out judgment to the full on His own Son, making Him, who never knew sin, to be sin for us. Then He preaches peace and life by Jesus Christ.
- Own — Israel wanted to stop paying for their fathers' sins. God agreed — and then held each one to his own account.
- Owned — "All souls are mine" is the Creator's claim on father and son alike. That is why He will not let the proverb stand.
- Person — "Soul" here means the responsible person, the way we still say a town of so many souls. It is not the soul as opposed to the body.
- Sentence — The death threatened is judgment on a man living on the earth. Commentators say it teaches nothing here about eternal judgment. And death never means the end of existence.
- Substitute — Every sinner must die for his own sin, so no one can die for another. God met His own sentence in His sinless Son, and now preaches peace and life.