In "What Were They Feeling?" and "The Other Side's Voice", I discussed the views of most Judeans in the time of Ezekiel. By and large, the Judeans did not accept Ezekiel's message, often for contradictory reasons, and they expressed their thoughts through catchy, popular slogans that the prophet tried to refute. Well, I keep encountering more slogans as I go through Ezekiel. Ezekiel 33 has a strange one, along with a refutation of a puzzling Israelite opinion.
In v 10, we read, "Now you, mortal, say to the house of Israel, Thus you have said: 'Our transgressions and our sins weigh upon us, and we waste away because of them; how then can we live?' (NRSV)." God responds in v 11 that he has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but he wants them to repent, do good deeds, and live. The Israelite people reply that the way of the LORD is unjust (v 17).
Again, the Israelites have contradictory responses to Ezekiel's message. Sometimes, they blow it off, thinking that nothing bad will happen to Israel. We see this in v 24, where they say that they will continue possessing the land, as Abraham did. In v 10, however, they acknowledge that disaster is coming their way.
The commentaries I read had different thoughts about the motivation behind the slogan. All of them agree that the slogan is a response to vv 1-9, where God tells Ezekiel to warn the people and give them an opportunity to repent and live. Some think that the people's reaction in v 10 is, "Oh, we've done so wrong! We don't even deserve to be forgiven! How can God forgive rotten worms like us?" In effect, they believe that v 10 reflects genuine sorrow. Others argue, however, that the people are trying to poke holes in Ezekiel's message, looking for any inconsistency they can find so they can invalidate it. Instead of seeing the jailer who asked what he might do to be saved, proponents of this position treat the Israelites like the village atheist who is criticizing the Bible.
I tend to go with the second interpretation, since Ezekiel's opinion of Israel is usually not that positive. I think their slogan reflects a belief that existed in the early stages of Israelite religion (according to many scholars), which says that God punishes all people for their sins, regardless of repentance or the absence thereof. According to this belief, there is a debt that people owe when they sin, and they pay that debt through experiencing punishment. After that process, they are clean. This perspective most likely underlies the "That's not fair!" comment in v 17. "What do you mean that God forgives sinners?" they are asking. "That's not fair! A just God punishes sinners, not forgives them."
Their response is puzzling, since they're basically condemning themselves out of their own mouths. I mean, do they actually want to endure the horrors of destruction and exile? They should be happy that God gives them second and third chances and is eager to wipe the slate clean.
They remind me of atheists or other non-believers who criticize the substitutionary atonement (Christ dying for our sins). I've heard non-believers say, "That doctrine is not fair--one person dying in place of another! Shouldn't people pay for their own sins?" When I hear that, I'm puzzled. "Do you actually want to go to hell?" I think in my mind. But then I realize that, on one level, they don't take the doctrine seriously. Or they're trying not to. They want to refute it so that they don't have to deal with it.
There are two lessons that I get from this. First, we should take the word of God seriously. There's a temptation for me as a Bible student or amateur theologian to treat religion as an abstract topic of discussion. We look at different perspectives and interpretations and possibilities and spins, and we evaluate their strengths and weaknesses according to rules of argumentation. The whole process is rather entertaining! But we should remember in all this that we are discussing truth, which relates to weighty, life-and-death issues. We exist under the authority of God, for better or for worse, and we shouldn't forget that as we debate Scripture or theology. We shouldn't be like that professor in C.S. Lewis' The Great Divorce, who enjoyed discussing theological possibilities (e.g., What would Jesus have contributed had he lived?) and missed the boat in the end. Let's make sure we don't neuter the Word of God in our lives by merely treating it as an entertaining topic of discourse or debate.
And, yet, let's still discuss! That's the second lesson I get out of this. God recognizes that the Israelites are asking their questions out of impure motives, but he still condescends to answer their questions. He wants them to understand him, and he is willing to meet people where they are.
I'm reminded of something I heard in Park Street Church in Boston. The pastor, Gordon Hugenberger, was giving the sermon, and he told us his conversion story. When he was a kid, he was at a camp, and a Christian counselor was witnessing to him. Young Gordon saw the whole thing as an intellectual exercise. He enjoyed his discussions with the counselor, who tried to answer his questions and objections. One day, the counselor was telling Gordon about the second coming of Christ, and Gordon said, "Maybe I'm Christ come back!" At that point, the counselor broke down crying. The counselor thought he was making progress, and then Gordon said THIS! Gordon was surprised. He had never seen a grown man cry before. He realized that Christianity was more serious than he thought, for it concerned his soul.
So let's discuss these issues rigorously, and yet let us remember what we're discussing. And praise God that he gives us second chances and meets us where we are.