Ezekiel: For His Gloryഉദാഹരണം

This chapter is the first of a pair with a similar theme of personal responsibility. 

It begins with an oft-repeated proverb of the time. The gist of it is: our fathers sinned but we are suffering for it (vv. 1–2; cf. Jer. 31:27–30). God strongly refutes this thinking; instead, He asserts the notion of personal responsibility (vv. 3–4; cf. 19–20). He illustrates His point with a three-generation case study (vv. 5–18):  

1. The righteous patriarch, who is careful to live in harmony with God, will live (vv. 5–9). 
2. By contrast, the wicked son, who is the opposite of the patriarch in his actions, will be accountable for his sin (vv. 10–13).  
3. The grandson of the patriarch will live, however, because he does not follow the path of his father (14–18). 

God continues by saying that a person’s past also does not determine their future (vv. 21–24). The wicked person can turn away from sin and live, his sins forgotten. The righteous person can turn to sin and die, his righteous deeds forgotten. 

But Ezekiel’s audience does not think this is fair (v. 25–29). What is God’s response? He repeats the same conclusion as vv. 21–24. His point? You can’t rest on your laurels. It’s not just the way we start that is important, but the way we finish. God weighs each person’s actions in the present. 

Of course, all generations of Israelites are culpable for the judgment that is about to come upon Jerusalem and Judah. But God urges each individual to take responsibility for their own sin, to repent, and to seek righteousness and justice (vv. 30–32). Indeed, He yearns for each person to repent and find life (vv. 23, 32). 

Reflection

God is just in His judgment: each person will suffer consequences for their individual sin. Yet even today God still takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked; instead, His desire is for "everyone to come to repentance" (2 Pet. 3:9).