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May 23 Lesson 12 (KJV) PREACHING to the EXILES DEVOTIONAL

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May 23 Lesson 12 (KJV) PREACHING to the EXILES DEVOTIONAL May 23 Lesson 12 (KJV) PREACHING TO THE EXILES DEVOTIONAL READING: Psalm 147 BACKGROUND SCRIPTURE: Ezekiel 18 EZEKIEL 18:1–9, 30–32 1 The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying, 2 What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge? 3 As I live, saith the Lord GOD, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel. 4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. 5 But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right, 6 And hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbour’s wife, neither hath come near to a menstruous woman, 7 And hath not oppressed any, but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled none by violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment; 8 He that hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath taken an yin crease, that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath executed true judgment between man and man, 9 Hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord GOD. 30 Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. 31 Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? 32 For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye. Photo: Getty Images KEY VERSE All souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.—Ezekiel 18:4 PROPHETS FAITHFUL TO GOD’S COVENANT Unit 3: Courageous Prophets of Change LESSONS 9–13 LESSON AIMS After participating in this lesson, each learner will be able to: 1. Quote the mistaken proverb the exiles believed. 2. Explain the reasons for the exiles’ misconception regarding how God judges people. 3. Evaluate his or her preparedness to identify, avoid, and correct blameshifting. LESSON OUTLINE Introduction A. Imagined Righteousness B. Lesson Context I. A Proverb (Ezekiel 18:1–4) A. Repeated by the People (vv. 1–2) Selective Hearing B. Refuted by God (vv. 3–4) II. A Case Study (Ezekiel 18:5–9) A. A Man’s Actions (vv. 5–9a) B. God’s Verdict (v. 9b) III. A Call (Ezekiel 18:30–32) A. To Repent (vv. 30–31) B. To Live (v. 32) Autonomy Conclusion A. Actual Righteousness B. Prayer C. Thought to Remember HOW TO SAY IT Adonai (Hebrew) Ad-owe-nye. Canaanite Kay-nun-ite. Chebar Kee-bar. Elohim (Hebrew) El-o-heem. Jehoiachin Jeh-hoy-uh-kin. Yahweh (Hebrew) Yaw-way. Introduction A. Imagined Righteousness The phrase vicarious nostalgia refers to a feeling of yearning for a past that one never actually lived. This term could describe a person born in the 1980s who loves a 1950s aesthetic and thinks of those years as simpler and better in many ways. It can describe a desire to return to “the good old days” that didn’t actually happen the way one imagines or even remembers. For years, Garrison Keillor hosted a popular radio show in which he told touching and humorous stories about the citizens of a small fictional town in Minnesota. Each week he closed his program with the familiar sign-off, “Well, that’s the news from Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.” These descriptions are obviously caricatures, meant to capture a feeling of community pride more than an attainable reality. Yet, a place like Lake Wobegon can inspire vicarious nostalgia for all of us who live more complicated lives than the strong women, good-looking men, and brilliant children of that town. An overstated self-assessment is dangerous enough in nostalgia. However, lacking a correct view of oneself is a devastating flaw. In this week’s lesson, the exiles didn’t understand their own role in the difficult situation the nation was facing. They assigned fault to their parents while claiming their own moral innocence. B. Lesson Context Ezekiel, a contemporary of Jeremiah, prophesied during and after the final chaotic years of the kingdom of Judah. He was called by God “in the fifth day of the [fourth] month … which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin’s captivity” (Ezekiel 1:1–2). Jehoiachin reigned only three months in 597 BC before the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem and took him, along with thousands of the most prominent and skilled people of Judah, to Babylon (2 Kings 24:14). This detail dates the beginning of Ezekiel’s book in 592 BC. The group of deportees included the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:1–3). The ruin of Jerusalem was devastating for the exiles. Jeremiah’s book of Lamentations captures the anguish that the destruction of the city and loss of human life caused (see lesson 8). Though some were left in Jerusalem and wider Judah, the survivors to whom Ezekiel spoke were those taken away to Babylon (see lesson 8 Lesson Context). They lived together by the river Chebar. The Babylonian exile created great uncertainty about the people’s relationship with God. Could God, who had allowed His holy city to be ravaged and His people carried into exile, still care for the people? And if He still cared, could He actually take care of them in a foreign nation? I. A Proverb (EZEKIEL 18:1–4) A. Repeated by the People (vv. 1–2) 1. The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying. The word of the Lord is a common phrase used in Ezekiel to emphasize that the Lord spoke to His prophet. This phrase occurs dozens of time in this book—far more often than in any other Bible book. Its frequent use in Ezekiel emphasizes that God communicated with His people even in exile. His continuing to speak to Ezekiel was meant in part to reassure the people that God was still with them in a foreign land. SELECTIVE HEARING My son was playing a video game. At the door of his room, I shouted, “Turn that noise down!” No response. That’s when it dawned on me: he couldn’t hear. That’s why he doesn’t always do what I ask him! I thought. I went into the kitchen to look up the number of an audiologist as I popped the tab of a cold soda. I didn’t get the cola to my lips before I heard my son shout, “Would you bring me one too?” He couldn’t hear me ask to turn down the noise, but he heard a soda-can tab from two rooms away! He didn’t have an auditory problem; he had selective hearing. But don’t we all? We only hear fully what we want to hear. Like teenagers with parents, we can selectively ignore the word of the Lord. Are you really listening to God? —C. T. 2. What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge? As the exiles wallowed in the misery of their situation, now in its sixth or seventh year (Ezekiel 8:1; 20:1), they naturally tried to come to grips with the reason for it. In so doing, they landed on a proverb that became popular. A proverb is a short, pithy statement used to express a general truth in a memorable way. The prophet Jeremiah was also confronted with this same proverb in his situation back in Judea (Jeremiah 31:29–30). The Targum, a first-century AD Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Bible, gives the meaning of the proverb: “The fathers sin, the children suffer.” Therefore, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge expresses the belief that those in exile (the children) are unjustly bearing the punishment for the sins of earlier generations (the parents). Claiming that their problem is inherited, the exiles deny responsibility or guilt on their part. What Do You Think? What old sayings do you need to let go of? Who will hold you accountable for progress? Digging Deeper How does Lamentations 5:7 (lesson 8); Matthew 5:27–28; etc., illustrate a need to do so? The proverb has some truth to it in that the sins of one generation can have lasting effects on the next. We may think of how children suffer today when a breadwinning parent is sent to jail for a crime. Ezekiel himself pointed out that the exile was the result of covenant unfaithfulness by many generations of Israelites (Ezekiel 16). God had revealed himself as the one “visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation” (Exodus 20:5). The exiles’ ancestors were indeed guilty (example: 2 Kings 21:1–16).
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