Ezekiel 18-19
Dear RTB’ers,
Today’s first chapter seems straightforward – the essence of God’s judgment stated in verse 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. But we also see into God’s heart a few verses later, 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? (v. 23) Another verse often memorized.
Yes, that chapter seems straightforward, but my Study Bible further shed light to me on Ezekiel highlighting generational behavior. Verse 5-9 is a righteous man, the first generation; verses 10-13 is the first man’s son, an evil man, the second generation; then this evil man fathers a righteous son in verses 14-18, a third generation. Taken together God has eliminated generational guilt. Surprisingly, I recalled Jesus’ disciples asking Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Apparently they did not remember their readings from Ezekiel!
Ezekiel writes today’s second chapter as an allegorical poem, with clear reference to two of Judah’s kings and a bit of confusion as to another. The lioness in verse 2 is Josiah who fathered (at least) two sons. His first son was Jehoahaz (verses 3-4) who reigned only three months and was taken to Egypt where he died (II Kings 23:31-34; Jeremiah 22:10-12). Josiah’s second son was Jehoiakim (verses 5-9) whose reign was overwhelmed by Nebuchadnezzar. It’s not clear, however what eventually happened to Jehoiakim (see II Kings 24:1-6a), so the young cub who was taken to Babylon may have been Zedekiah. It was probably clear to the exiles as whom Ezekiel was referring, even if it’s cloudy to us.
Finally, for today, my Study Bible referred to the final verse in chapter 18 as “the most important message in the whole book of Ezekiel”. Here is God speaking: For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live. We would do well to embrace that verse.
Blessings.
Fred