Theological Bites
While other prophets deal with the idolatry of Israel as the major cause of its problems, we see, in Ezekiel, another approach to the definition of the actual problem. Ezekiel argues that Israel has rebelled against its God and that rebellion has resulted in defilement of three key geographies: 1-the Land, 2- the City and 3-the Temple. According to Ezekiel therefore, the exile is a consequence of a defiled economy (social injustices), a defiled politics (abuse of a theocratic system of governance) and a defiled religion (an offense to Yahweh and his holies). The manner of this defilement is not disobedience but a rebellion.
To Ezekiel and other majority exilic prophets, the exile is not a work of heathen powers but Yahweh’s initiative to combat his covenant rebellious people. Yahweh is behind the exile and his intentions are two-fold:
- Hope of restoration to the repentant and
- Judgment and destruction to the ardent rebellious lot.
These prophets insist that the exile is not a predicament before it is Justice awarded to the nation of Israel by its God. It is for this matter that he raises prophets in the exile like Daniel and Ezekiel. Ezekiel is called to be;
A WATCHMAN
It is over a rebellious people that Ezekiel has been called to be a watchman over. Since this is no easy task, Ezekiel has to be processed to serve as a Watchman over such. In chapter three, the preparation of Ezekiel to serve as a watchman is presented in a three-stage setting:
- The Glory of God is revealed to him (3:23)
- The Spirit of the Lord indwells in him (3:24) and
- He feeds on the word of God (3: 27)
First, he is humbled by the presence of the Lord and he falls flat on the ground. Humility is the first stage of his calling. He demonstrates his inability through his recognition of the ablest one. His humility distinguishes him from his rebellious constituency. The Spirit of the Lord is presented in Ezekiel as an empowering agent to powerless commissioned watchmen.
This resonates clearly with Acts 1:8. The power that witnesses to both the disobedient and rebellious world is Spirit given. This is not to present the Holy Spirit as a divine force but rather it is to communicate the enabling power of an indwelling God. It is interesting to note that the idea of an indwelling God is presented in the prophets before we even get to the New Testament. The hearts of the humble are a dwelling place of God himself. Finally, the prophet to be a watchman is required to feed on the word of God to acquire authority.
Ezekiel as a watchman over Israel operates as a prosecutor and a defendant as well, he prosecutes Israel for its crimes and again functions as a defendant in reminding them that there is hope. He recognizes other watchmen like Noah, Daniel, and Job (14:14) to emphasize that the task is not exclusive to him. We are the modern watchmen in this exile known the world as well if we humble ourselves, be given the ability and feed on the word of God for the proper authority.
INDIVIDUALISM
In the Old Testament, attention is not on the community before it concentrates on the individual units of that particular community. While all humanity is created at once in Genesis 1:26-31, the camera switches and in Genesis 2:7, 21-22 a male individual is presented and a female as an individual as well. An individual tempted woman (Genesis 3:1-5) leads to the fall of the individual man and the fall of the individual man (Genesis 3:6) leads to the fall of the world (Genesis 3:17).
The debate of the historical Adam (whether from whom all races came or not), is resolved by understanding Old Testament individualism. For us who don’t believe all races came from one single man, insist that the word of God insists individualism communicate two truths;
- Man has a single ultimate problem and
- that problem has one single solution (1Corinthians 15:21-22; Romans 5:19).
The impact of an individual on the whole community is demonstrated in the blessing of Abraham extended to his descendants (Genesis 17:4-8; 22:16-18). God was bound to the Israelites because of his promise to individual patriarchs of Israel. Again, the individual righteous could save an entire wicked community from destruction (Genesis 18:32). Ezekiel depends on this theological understanding and argues that even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in the land they would not be able, by their righteous living, to prevent the disasters which God would bring upon it (Ezekiel 14:14,20).
INDIVIDUAL SIN RESPONSIBILITY
Another interesting theological aspect that Ezekiel addresses in contrast to existing theologies is the individual sin responsibility. Here is what he says:
“The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father; neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.” (18:20).
What Ezekiel introduces here is circumstantially hinted upon in Deuteronomy 24:16 but not practiced. In both the Old and New Testament, the practical belief is that people (family or community) are collectively responsible for the sin and guilt of one individual member. The OT taught consequence collective responsibility of individual sin and there is a number of examples where the innocence of many people is compromised by their relations to the culprit.
In Genesis 7-8, the floods drown innocent children who did not sin but were children of sinners. In chapter 19, the fires of Sodom and Gomorrah consume the children and likely the adult relatives of the guilty whom the fires targeted. In Exodus and Deuteronomy, guilty parents lead to the death of their entire family and so, it is with a guilty child (Deuteronomy 5:9; Exodus 20:5; 34:7).
In Joshua, the entire family of Achan is killed and the whole nation of Israel defeated because of Achan’s sin (Joshua 7:1-26) and so it is in some prophetic material (Isaiah 14:21; Jonah 1:8-12). In the days of the monarchy, the entire nation suffered due to the apostasy of the king and his wife Jezebel (1Kings 16-17:1-2).
The Judaism cult from the OT through the NT still held-fast to the teaching of the ‘collective responsibility of the individual’s sin consequence’. Even the best teachers in the NT like Paul insisted that all humanity was condemned when Adam (as an individual) was condemned (Romans 5:18) and that all men were made sinners by what Adam did (Romans 5:12, 18, 19). In the days of Jesus, the disciples believed the physical ailments of children (infants) were a result of the parent’s sin (John 9:1-2). Combating this belief, Jesus dismissed this theology (John 9:3) by agreeing with prophet Ezekiel 18:20 and Jeremiah 31:28-34.
Ezekiel’s message to the exiles is that, while we can still hope to be restored as a nation, let us also understand that the exile is due to individual sins. Yahweh is not punishing us because of anyone’s sinning but he is dealing with us in exile individually. Look not, any further away from the individual-you as the cause of your pain and the fault in the environment.
While it is true that physiologically your children can inherit your faulty or perfect genes with their ailments and their abilities, it is not so with sin. While it is true that the choice of an individual like a suicide bomber, wrong leader/teacher can have both a physical and psychological impact on the environment, it is not so with eternal destinies. For purposes of the gospel, the soul that believeth not, it shall eternally die and that which believeth shall live eternally. (Mark 16:16; John 3:18).
Salvation is not a BIOLOGY but a BELIEF (John 3:16-20; Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 3:28).
God bless you I invoke TRUTH, WISDOM, and FAITH (2Tim 2:7)
Priest Isaiah White (+256-775 822833 for further inquiries)
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