Reflections Reading EzekielMinta

“The word of the Lord came to me: 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?’ As I live, declares the Lord God, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel.  Behold all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sins shall die.” 

Ezekiel is known for any number of striking statements, maybe none more so than, “the soul who sins shall die.”  While this seems to comport with the Old Testament in general, it is in fact a revolutionary idea.  In saying this it is possible that Ezekiel was one the first people in history to see that everyone bears personal responsibility for their actions.  No longer is the sin of the father imputed to the son or vice-versa; neither father nor son would suffer for the wrongdoing of the other.  In a world where community and family overshadowed everything, it was normal to see responsibility being communal.  For Ezekiel to suggest that this would no longer be the case and that people would be judged or acquitted on their own account may have seemed out of place – to say the least.  

He is saying that everyone is equally valuable whilst at the same time everyone is equally responsible.  This is a new, individualised view of people, and it is an increase in responsibility.  It is unlikely one can genuinely exist without the other. 

There is a safety in numbers and people hide in numbers.  No longer, according to Ezekiel.  “Therefore, I will judge you, O house of Israel, everyone according to his ways.”  This may be a seismic shift in the tone of scripture, paving the way with a view to the individual.  What is common to us – salvation being offered to the believing individual – was far from common to those in exile with Ezekiel.  You were deemed as guilty or as innocent as the people around you, and while this holds some sociological weight, things have changed according to Ezekiel.  Who would have grasped what he was saying?  Like many prophets, he was a fore-runner as much as a fore-teller.