Ezekiel 33:10-20

B. The Possibilities of Repentance 33:10-20

TRANSLATION

(10) And as for you, son of man, say unto the house of Israel, Thus you have said: Our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we waste away in them; how then can we live? (11) Say unto them, As I live (oracle of the Lord GOB) surely I do not delight in the death of the wicked one, but rather when the wicked one turns from his way and lives. Turn, turn from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel? (12) Now as for you, son of man, say unto the children of your people: The righteousness of the righteous man shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression, and as for the wickedness of the wicked man he shall not be made to stumble by it in the day he turns from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous man be able to live thereby in the day of his sin. (13) When I say to the righteous man that he shall surely live; if he trust in his righteousness and commits iniquity, all his righteousness shall not be remembered, but he shall die in his iniquity which he has done. (14) And when I say to the wicked man: You shall surely die. and he turns from his sin and does what is just and right; (15) if the wicked man returns what has been taken in pledge, if he restores what has been seized by robbery, walks in the statutes of life, so that he does not do iniquity; be shall surely live, he shall not die. (16) None of his sins which be has committed shall be remembered against him; he has done what is just and right; he shall surely live. (17) Yet the children of My people say: The way of the Lord is not equal; but as for them, their way is not equal. (18) When the righteous man turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, he shall die in them. (19) And when the wicked man turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he shall live on account of them. (20) But you say, The way of the Lord is not equal. I will judge each man according to his ways, O house of Israel.

COMMENTS

Despair engulfed the exilic community after the fall of Jerusalem. For the first time the captives faced up to the enormity of their sin. There could be no other explanation of the disastrous overthrow of their holy city and shrine. How can we live? they asked in desperation (Ezekiel 33:10). The Jewish nation seemed doomed to extinction. Life more abundant and life eternal seemed remote for such sinners.

God had good news for those captives, as He always does for those who honestly face up to the sin problem in their lives. He underscores this good news by an oath (as I live!). God is not vindictive. He does not desire to see His enemies die in their sins. Divine chastisement is designed to move wicked people to repentance so that they might escape the ultimate consequences of their sin. Why will you die? The prophet responds to the despairing question of the preceding verse with a question of his own. The death of the wicked can be averted by repentance. Ezekiel urges the hearers to turn from their evil ways, for that is always the key to life (Ezekiel 33:11).

Ezekiel 33:12-20 set forth a great truth, that a man's past does not of itself determine future relations with the Lord. A backslider who formerly lived by the righteous law of God will not live, i.e., escape punishment, when he casts his lot with the wicked. By the same token, a penitent sinner will not stumble, i.e., suffer punishment or recrimination, because of his past life (Ezekiel 33:12).

God's promises to the righteous are conditional. The righteous man must continue to trust in God, not in his own goodness. Should he deliberately commit iniquity he would die for that iniquity (Ezekiel 33:13). Neither are the threats made to the wicked absolute. God has decreed that death physical, spiritual, eternal is the penalty for wickedness. But if the wicked man turns from sin to pursue a righteous and lawful life, that death threat is cancelled (Ezekiel 33:14). The repentance envisioned here is more than contrition for sin. The penitent person must (1) restore articles which had been pawned to him and which he had illegally retained; (2) restore that which had been taken by violence from another; and (3) walk in the statutes of life, i.e., those laws of God which lead to life more abundant and ultimately life eternal (Ezekiel 33:15), If the former sinner manifests this genuine repentance God would not hold his past against him and he would live (Ezekiel 33:16).

Some Jews argued against the proposition being set forth by Ezekiel. They argued that Ezekiel's teaching would make out God to be inconsistent in His rulership of the world. The wax of the Lord is not equal, they said. But to this reasoning the prophet replies that it is not God who makes the change, but man (Ezekiel 33:17). Righteous men do in fact turn from righteousness and pay the consequences (Ezekiel 33:18). Wicked men sometimes do repent and reap the reward (Ezekiel 33:19). God deals with men as they are in the present, not as they were in the past (Ezekiel 33:20).