‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’ from Ezekiel 18:2
5 “If a man is righteous and does what is just and right— 6 if he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor’s wife or approach a woman in her time of menstrual impurity, 7 does not oppress anyone, but restores to the debtor his pledge, commits no robbery, gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, 8 does not lend at interest or take any profit, withholds his hand from injustice, 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. Ezekiel 18:5-9
10 “If he fathers a son who is violent, a shedder of blood, who does any of these things 11 (though he himself did none of these things), who even eats upon the mountains, defiles his neighbor’s wife, 12 oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery, does not restore the pledge, lifts up his eyes to the idols, commits abomination, 13 lends at interest, and takes profit; shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon himself. Ezekiel 18:10-13
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: 15 he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor’s wife, 16 does not oppress anyone, exacts no pledge, commits no robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, 17 withholds his hand from iniquity, takes no interest or profit, obeys my rules, and walks in my statutes; he shall not die for his father’s iniquity; he shall surely live. 18 As for his father, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother, and did what is not good among his people, behold, he shall die for his iniquity. Ezekiel 18:14-18
The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. Ezekiel 18:20
Notes from Exodus 33-35 : Okay so let us talk about these 3-4 generations and how they are being punished for the sins of their parents (YHWH, in His wisdom deems it so and we are not questioning His judgement, just examining the effects). If you think about it, back then families lived together with a few generations under one roof. 3-4 generations would have simply been great grandpa, grandpa, father, and son. Basically, if someone sinned against God, the result of that sin would have naturally been felt by the entire household. Just a thought.
One example to bring this to our own time is how an alcoholic and abusive father affects his household. His drinking and abuse would cause agony in the lives of every family member. They might be more likely to react abusively in other situations and studies show they would be more prone to alcoholism. This is just one of the ways curses can be passed down. Today we refer to them as “cycles of abuse”. I personally know families with generations of this behavior in them. It’s taught, passed down.
These are generational curses and more often than not they consist of new generations repeating the pattern set forth by previous generations.
In this way we either bless or we curse our children by how we live our own lives.
Very important note: It has always been possible to get out from under a generational curse- or the consequences of the sins of a previous generation-by repenting and turning to YHWH. There are many verses about this, here are two to get you started. Leviticus 26:39-42, Malachi 3:6-7
We will see, time and again in our reading, that though a civilization or people may condemn themselves through their behavior, YHWH always has a path for individuals in that group to repent.
Remember this extremely important point.
YHWH has always shown Grace to those who would turn away from that and back to Him.
“Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” Ezekiel 18:23
24 But when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice and does the same abominations that the wicked person does, shall he live? None of the righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered; for the treachery of which he is guilty and the sin he has committed, for them he shall die.25 “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way not just? Is it not your ways that are not just? Ezekiel 18:24-25
This is yet another passage where popular doctrines contradict what YHWH says, in this case it is the “once saved always saved” doctrine proven wrong yet again. We’ve read this being refuted a couple of times before in previous books so this is no surprise to us. The Father is defending Himself against those who say He is unjust by declaring, plainly, how just He actually is.
Something to think on: Who would declare that YHWH is unjust- one who seeks to repent or one who does not want to repent?
18 “And I said to their children in the wilderness, ‘Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, nor keep their rules, nor defile yourselves with their idols. 19 I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and be careful to obey my rules, 20 and keep my Sabbaths holy that they may be a sign between me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.’ 21 But the children rebelled against me. They did not walk in my statutes and were not careful to obey my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live; they profaned my Sabbaths. Ezekiel 20:18-21
“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…” Ezekiel 18:21-22
He has always been a God of Grace.
Always.
Test everything, hold tight to what is good.~ 1 Thess 5:21
We are saved by Grace alone: Obedience is not the root of our salvation, it is the fruit!
May YHWH bless the reading of His Word!
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