Commentary on Ezekiel 18:1-10,13,30-32

As stated in the First Reading, there was a saying among the Israelites that the prophet quotes:

The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.

In addition to today’s reading, we can also find the saying in Jeremiah (31:29). The meaning was clear enough—whatever wrongs the ancestors had done, their offspring would pay the penalty. We see that the idea was still prevalent in the time of Jesus. One day as he walked along, Jesus saw a man who had been blind from birth. His disciples asked him:

Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? (John 9:2)

To which Jesus replied:

Neither…(John 9:3)

However, both Jeremiah and Ezekiel (not to mention Jesus) reject the idea. Jeremiah says:

But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of the one who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge. (Jer 31:30)

While Ezekiel, quoting Yahweh, says:

As I live, says the Lord God, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. Know that all lives are mine; the life of the parent as well as the life of the child is mine: it is only the person who sins who shall die.

In other words, if any people suffered (as the Israelites were suffering under Nebuchadnezzar at this time), the blame could not be put at the door of their parents or grandparents. Everyone is responsible for the effects of their own wrongdoing, then “only the person who sins shall die”.

There then follows a list of actions which can be expected from the virtuous, actions which were constantly violated by the inhabitants of Jerusalem. These violations led eventually to the utter destruction of their city and its Temple and their being either slaughtered or carried away to Babylon in exile.

Among the good things listed are:

• Not eating on the mountains. This referred to performing idolatrous rituals on the shrines in the mountains.
• Not raising their eyes to the pagan idols, which Israel was now worshipping.
• Not having adulterous relations with a neighbour’s wife.
• Not having sexual relations with a woman during her menstruation. (Contact with blood was always forbidden to the Jews.)
• Not oppressing people.
• Giving back a pledge which had been offered when money was paid back after a loan.
• Not committing robbery.
• Feeding the hungry and clothing the naked
• Not lending at interest or demanding extra payment for a loan.
• Judging fairly in a dispute between two people.
• Living by Yahweh’s statutes and observing his ordinances.

Such a person (irrespective of how badly a predecessor behaved) is a good person and will surely live.

On the other hand (again irrespective of how well a predecessor behaved), if a person violates all these things, he shall surely die:

…he shall surely be put to death; his blood shall be upon himself.

The reading concludes by Yahweh’s saying that he will judge:

…all of you according to your ways…

We are then urged to turn away from and be converted from all wrongdoing, and there will be no reason to find a person guilty in any way.

…get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit!…For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord God. Turn, then, and live.

Perhaps we do not exactly think like the Israelites of those days did, but how many times have we been guilty of laying the blame for things we did on other people—”you made me do it!” There is in our society a strong tendency to find scapegoats, or to concentrate certain areas of wrongdoing on one or a small group of people.

Today’s reading reminds us that we are wholly responsible for the guilt of our wrongdoing, but at the same time let us hear again those words of the Lord in today’s reading:

I have no pleasure in the death of anyone…

And Jesus told us:

I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
(John 10:10)

Let us open ourselves to receiving that life.