Ezekiel 33:10

"And thou, son of man, say unto the house of Israel: Thus ye speak, saying, Our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we pine away in them; how then can we live? Say unto them, as I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? And thou, son of man, say unto the children of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression; and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness; neither shall he that is righteous be able to live thereby in the day that he sinneth. When I say to the righteous that he shall surely live; if he trust to his righteousness, and commit iniquity, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered; but in his iniquity that he hath committed, therein shall he die. Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right; if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that which he hath taken by robbery, walk in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die. None of his sins that he hath committed shall be remembered against him; he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live."

ADDRESSING THE PROBLEM OF DISCOURAGEMENT (Ezekiel 33:10-16)

"How then can we live ..." (Ezekiel 33:10)? The blunt and effective answer to this question rising in the hearts of the discouraged captives is given in the very next verse. Repent and live; why will ye die?

"Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways ..." (Ezekiel 33:11). In order to encourage such repentance upon the part of the captives, Ezekiel assured the people that God had no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that he rejoiced in the turning of the wicked from their evil ways.

"If the righteous commit iniquity ... if the wicked turn and do right ..." (Ezekiel 33:12-16). The principle enunciated here stresses what a man is at the present time, not what he had been in the past. Here was a glorious challenge for the captives to renounce and turn away from the wickedness that had resulted in their terrible punishment and to turn to God with their whole heart. Bunn summarized this thus: "God condemns the righteous when he sins, and forgives the sinful when he repents."[5] Thus, the two things Ezekiel stressed here are (1) the grace of God (Ezekiel 33:11), and (2) the importance of one's present state, rather than his past record.[6]

God had at this point in the chapter dealt effectively with the problem of the discouragement of the captives, mentioned above in the introduction to the chapter. It yet remained for him to address those conceited self-styled "sons of Abraham" in Judea. That will be taken care of in Ezekiel 33:23ff.

Evil men try to justify themselves and find it easy to criticize and find fault with the just judgments of the Lord.

The problem resident in that human error was next addressed,