Sermon Tone Analysis

Ezekiel 18

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I.     Introduction

            There are a lot of proverbs and sayings that are a common part of our life and culture.

“It never rains, but it pours,” “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” “Beauty is only skin-deep,” “All bad things come in threes.”

Some of them are even present in many cultures.

For example, I remember learning the saying, “Morgen Rot, Regen Drot, Abend Rot, Gut vetter bot,” in German, which is also in English, “red sky at morning, sailors take warning, red sky at night, sailor’s delight.”

Do we believe these sayings and, if we do, why do we believe them?

Some of them have a basis in science.

The “red sky at morning” saying is based on the scientific fact that all of our weather systems move from west to east.

However, we also believe them because we learned them from our parents and others as we grow up and they became a part of us.

We believe them because they are supported by anecdotal evidence, that is someone has a story of when the saying worked and that helps convince us that they are true.

Of course, not all of them are true.

I think it is superstitious to believe that all bad things come in threes.

Sometimes they come in fours and fives.

I also question this one because to make it work you have to manipulate which three count for the three that make up the list.

My mother taught me a weather related saying that said that if you can hang a pail on a crescent moon it will be a dry month and if you can’t it will be a wet month.

I have never believed that one because I can’t see how it has any basis in scientific fact.

If we believe these sayings we probably are influenced by them in how we live our life.

When I have been out in the wilderness and the only weather forecasting we have is watching the sky, we have made decisions based on the “red sky at morning” saying.

If we believe that all bad things come in threes, we may become somewhat apprehensive if we have one or two bad things happen, fearing the third, or we may relax when the third thing has happened.

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II.

The Proverb

The people of Israel had a proverb that was current in their life.

Ezekiel speaks about this proverb in Ezekiel 18:2 – “The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.”

I don’t have a lot of experience with eating sour grapes, but I can understand the concept that eating something sour results in a funny feeling on your teeth.

The proverb says that one generation ate the grapes and the next generation got the funny feeling.

What did this mean?

The Targum, a Jewish writing, puts it quite succinctly by saying, “The fathers sin, the children suffer.”

What is our experience with this proverb?

Probably the first place this proverb applies is when we blame Adam and Eve for our sin nature.

A direct fulfillment of the saying would be, for example, if a mother was an alcoholic and her child suffers with FAS.

Perhaps we feel that there are certain bad habits which we have learned from our parents which we just can’t shake.

They developed the bad habit and we suffer the consequences.

So it is a saying we can relate to.

!! A.  Why Did Israel Believe This Proverb?

Why did the people of Israel believe and quote this proverb to each other?

!!! 1.

It Was In The Bible

One reason was that it was written in the Bible.

In Exodus 20:5 God says, “You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me…”

It was also something that had happened in the Bible.

In 2 Samuel 12:14–18, the child of David and Bathsheba who was conceived because of David’s sin of adultery died because of that sin.

In 2 Sam 21:5–9 seven of Saul’s grandchildren were put to death because of Saul’s sin.

So the truth of the saying was well supported in Scripture.

One writer says, “Scripture warns us that there is such a thing as corporate responsibility.

None of us functions in complete isolation from the society and neighborhood to which we are attached.”

!!! 2.    It Was Their Experience

Of course we use sayings and proverbs, when we need them.

If I say, “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” I am probably saying this because I am trying to excuse laziness or because I really do need a break.

Why was the proverb about grapes and teeth set on edge current in the life and conversation of these people?

They were saying it because they were living it.

Daniel was a righteous man as we know.

Ezekiel was a prophet of God but where were they living?

They were in exile in Babylon because of the sins of their nation.

They were the children whose teeth were set on edge because of the sin of their fathers.

Ezekiel had warned them about the things that were about to happen to Jerusalem.

The whole nation – righteous and unrighteous – were about to suffer because of the sins of the nation from many previous generations.

Present problems were because of the persistent sin of previous generations.

Exile was due to accumulating disobedience.

!! B.  How Did It Affect Their Life?

What effect would such thinking have on people?

!!! 1.    Careless about sin.

The other day a parent told about their child.

He had done something wrong and knew that he was about to be punished and began to do a whole bunch of things wrong.

He thought that if he was going to be punished anyway, he might as well make it worth while.

If we live by this proverb and believe that we are being punished for things we have not done, we may think, “why not do some things wrong so that the punishment will be worthwhile.”

Seems kind of crazy, but some people think that way, they become careless about sin.

!!! 2.    It is not my fault

If we believe that we are suffering for things we have not done, it is easy and perhaps somewhat justifiable to blame others for our problems.

The quite natural consequence of that would be to blame others for all our wrongdoing.

This is, of course, the oldest dodge in the book.

Way back in the garden of Eden when Adam was approached about his sin of eating the forbidden fruit, he said, it is not my fault, Eve made me do it.

When Eve was confronted with her sin, she also passed blame on to the serpent.

Carla’s niece is married to a lawyer who works for some of the major car manufacturers.

He defends them against law suits.

He told us about a 16 year old who got a brand new Corvette for his birthday.

He was driving 160 miles per hour, crashed his car, walked away from it and was suing GM for his smashed up car because the air bag did not deploy.

A number of years ago a woman sued McDonalds because she had scalded herself while drinking hot coffee in her car.

These are examples of people not taking responsibility for their wrongs.

When we blame parents or others for our sins, we do the same thing.

!!! 3.    It is inevitable

Another consequence of living by this proverb might be giving up.

Since Israel was going to be punished for the sins of the fathers, they might have thought, “why even try?”

We can easily fall into this trap as well.

If we were to say, “well, that is just how my family is” in order to excuse anger or gossip or some other bad habit, we would be doing the same thing.

If we were to excuse our sins by saying, “I’m just human, we would be doing the same thing.

The proverb allows us to give up and keep sinning.

One writer says, “Fatalism results in inactivity and is deadly to the soul.

To live by the proverb of verse 2 is to capitulate and die.”

!!! 4.    God Is Not Just

A fourth consequence of this proverb is the thinking that God is not just.

This is exactly what the people were saying in 18:25 and 29.

If God punishes the children for the sins of the fathers, that just doesn’t seem right.

Our sense of justice causes us to question God because of this proverb.

Of course, such thinking has severe consequences.

If God is not just, then what hope is there for life.

If God rewards one person even though they have done wrong and punishes another even though they have done many good things, then we can’t really trust God.

Have you ever thought or felt that God is not fair?

If this proverb is true, then there is reason to believe that He is not fair.

If God is not fair, then why even relate to Him? why seek to know Him? why follow His ways?

There is no point!