Context No. 2696 of 4322 · Ezekiel
Context · Reflection
Ezekiel 33:17-22: in context
17“‘Yet the children of your people say, “The way of the Lord is not fair;” but as for them, their way is not fair. 18When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he will even die therein. 19When the wicked turns from his wickedness and does that which is lawful and right, he will live by it. 20Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is not fair.” House of Israel, I will judge every one of you after his ways.’” 21In the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, one who had escaped out of Jerusalem came to me, saying, “The city has been defeated!” 22Now the LORD’s hand had been on me in the evening, before he who had escaped came; and he had opened my mouth until he came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no longer mute.
The exiles have a complaint against God: "The way of the Lord is not fair." God answers by holding the line he has drawn. The righteous man who turns to evil dies in it; the wicked man who turns to what is right lives by it. Each is judged by his present way, not his past record.
What they call unfair is actually a door left open. God refuses to let the wicked be written off forever, and he refuses to let the righteous coast on yesterday's standing. Then the chapter turns on a hinge: a survivor arrives with the news, "The city has fallen," and Ezekiel's mouth, mute for so long, is finally opened. The judgment the people resented as unjust has come, and with it the prophet is freed to speak again.
When God's dealings seem unfair to me, is it because he will not let anyone, myself included, live off yesterday's faithfulness?
Sources
- Ezekiel 18:25: "Yet you say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, house of Israel: Is my way not equal? Aren't your ways unequal?"
- 2 Peter 3:9: "The Lord is patient... not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
- Ezekiel 24:27: "In that day your mouth will be opened to him who has escaped, and you will speak, and be no more mute."