Ezekiel 18:1-20, All Souls are Mine

For “souls” the Hebrew term is nephesh.  Fish and birds are living “souls” (Gen. 1:20).  Animals have nephesh; they are living “souls” (Gen. 1:24).  Man has a nephesh: And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (Gen. 2:7).

In Ezek. 18 it is clear that the “souls” God is concerned with are the men, the humans.  There was a proverb going around Israel (interesting that Jeremiah also dealt with this same proverb; Jer. 31:29).  The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.  What does it mean?  The children, the people of the day for Ezekiel and Jeremiah, were blaming their fathers, their ancestors, for the judgment they were experiencing from the Lord.  The fathers eat the sour grapes (sin); the children’s teeth react to the sour fruit (reap the consequences).

This has quite the application in our day.  Actually, it has fit every day since sin entered the world.  In the Garden of Eden Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent.  In our society it is standard procedure in the psychologists/counselors office to pin the blame for our poor health or rotten behavior on our parents and any other people we can find.  I don’t mean to be unmerciful but we need to think about this.  It is rare for anyone in our society to publicly take the blame for wrongdoing. 

Here is God’s bottom line declaration:

All souls are mine (father and son). 

The soul who sins shall die.

We encouraged you to read the entire section describing what God meant.  But it is so simple.  There is no blaming others for our actions.  We will be responsible to the LORD.  Maybe we can understand, that if a righteous man (18:5-9) begets a wicked son (18:10-13), well, sure, the son is guilty and deserves punishment.  But the fact is, there is a tendency to blame the father.  He must have failed in training up that son.  Have you not heard the same thing?

What if your dad was a terrible dad?  What if he beat your mom, or you, or your siblings?  What if he drank up the family’s money and left you destitute?  Or what if he just walked off and left his family?  Surely, he is to blame for the syndromes and disorders and whatnot of the family.  But God does not see it that way.  It is not the hopeless situation we often make it out to be.  That son who sees all the sins which his father has done can, in fact, consider these things and not do likewise.

This world is not likely to change.  The life-experts are not going to change their view on this matter.  But you need to understand: God’s love for you means He will help you if you cry out to Him in your situation.  Regardless of what you are told, you have a choice.  You are not bound to repeat the foolishness of your ancestors.  There is hope!  Remember: your soul belongs to the Creator, the LORD God!