Search the Scriptures, April 27

Ezekiel 18-19 TN

18:2] “What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’?

We need to understand the point of this saying in the minds of the citizens of Israel. What they were saying with this proverb is simple: don’t blame me for anything, blame my father. It’s all my father’s fault; he was a bad parent, so if you have a problem with anything I’m doing, blame him.

We live in a culture where children blame their parents for anything and everything. You can go to professional counselors, and they make a lot of money by telling people that nothing is their fault. It’s not your fault, it’s your father’s fault, or your mother’s fault.

It almost doesn’t matter what kind of job the parent actually did. A therapist can point the finger of blame at any parent and any parenting style, so that whatever the person in front of them does, the last thing they will do is take a good, long, hard look at themselves.

If a parent establishes clear rules, they are good rules, and the rules are enforced with appropriate discipline, then people will accuse the parents of being domineering, controlling, and punitive, even if it’s not remotely true. So the therapist says to the child, it’s not your fault you’re all screwed up. It’s the fault of your parents. Your teeth are on edge because your father ate sour grapes

We have the same dynamic right now in our entire culture. We want to find a way to excuse abominable behavior and lay it all off on bad parenting.

Now I don’t want to be misunderstood here. There is clearly a lot of horrible parenting going on right now in America, but we need to remember that there are good kids who come out of these home environments. Some children grow up in wretched circumstances, but make up their minds that’s not going to stop them. They are going to get the best education they can get, they are going to work hard at their studies, and they are going to work hard at their jobs. They wind up with a good education and start working their way up the ladder through hard work and perseverance.

Clarence Thomas is a terrific example. He had a hardscrabble upbringing, none of the advantages people today take for granted, yet he refused to let that hold him back. He is now the finest Supreme Court justice we have, in fact, one of the best we have ever had.

So, getting back to what Ezekiel says, yes, their fathers ate sour grapes. Some of them ate so many sour grapes that they wound up in prison. But their sons refused to use the failures of their fathers as an excuse. Instead, they looked at it as a challenge and worked hard to get past the obstacles their fathers placed in their paths. They became successful and productive adults and built lasting and satisfying marriages, families, and careers.

God says, Look, I understand you may have had substandard parents. The truth is, we all had substandard parents if the standard is God’s standard for parenting. But God says, I am not going to accept that as an excuse for your misbehavior. Blaming everything on your parents is not going to cut any ice with me. I’m going to hold you accountable for your own behavior, and I’m not going to let you lay your bad behavior off on your folks.

So, God says, in my world, I hold each man accountable for his own behavior, his own conduct.

4 Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die. God says, blaming your family of origin for how you turned out isn’t going to work with me. It is the soul who sins who will die, whether it’s you or your father. Fathers are going to have to stand before me and answer for what they did in this life, but their sons are going to have to do the same thing. Everybody is going to stand before me by themselves and answer for their own conduct. Everybody will be judged based on their own decisions and their own actions.

This is another piece of evidence, by the way, that the Constitution is a Christian document at its root. One of the things that is forbidden in the Constitution is holding a son culpable for what his father did.

So God says in 18:5&9:

5] “If a man is righteous and does what is just and right... executes true justice between man and man, 9] walks in my statutes, and keeps my rules by acting faithfully—he is righteous; he shall surely live, declares the Lord God.

But, He says in 18:10-14:

10] “If he fathers a son who is violent, a shedder of blood, who does any of these things (though he himself did none of these things)... In other words, the father set a good example for his son to imitate. 13] Shall the son then live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon himself. 14] Now suppose this man fathers a son who sees all the sins that his father has done; he sees, and does not do likewise: (he) obeys my rules, and walks in my statutes; he shall not die for his father’s iniquity; he shall surely live.”

So if a boy has a terrible upbringing but learns from his childhood not to imitate the terrible example of his father, he won’t be held accountable for what his father did. He will live.

18:19] “Yet you say, ‘Why should not the son suffer for the iniquity of the father?” This touches on the question of whether one generation should make reparations for what a preceding generation did. We have a lot of people today who argue for exactly that, don’t we? They say that today’s generation should be blamed for everything their fathers did and should be forced to accept the blame and flagellate themselves for things they themselves did not do. They should even pay a hefty fine to repair the damage done by their fathers.

This is not a biblical view. Ezekiel lays it straight out in 18:20. He says the entire concept of reparations is unbiblical. Men in one generation are not to be punished or blamed for something that was done by their fathers, their ancestors, or their forefathers.

18:20] 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.

God is quick to add that it is never too late for a man who had a rough go growing up. Maybe he got into some things he never should have gotten into, but it is never too late to turn things around.

18:21-22] “But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness that he has done, he shall live.

So, maybe it’s time for some parents to stop blaming themselves for how their kids turned out. And maybe it’s time for some kids to stop blaming their parents for how they turned out.

One additional note: a lot of people think that God enjoys inflicting punishment on misbehaving humans, like he is rubbing his hands in glee over the fire, has this fiendish smile on his face, and is almost giddy at the prospect of throwing people into the incinerator. That is a horribly unbiblical view of God. He says in 18:23&32:

23] 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?

32] For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live.”

God says I want men to live, to live forever. My Son came into their world so that they might have life and have it abundantly.