But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not that he should return from his ways, and live? But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die. Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal? When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them: for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die. Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die. Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal? 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. 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? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye (verses 21-32).
They had accused the Lord of injustice. "The way of the Lord is not equal" (verse 25). And Jehovah answers, "Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?" He promises that the wicked is surely to live, if he turns from all his sins. Jehovah has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He desires his return so that he might live. How then would He punish them for the sins of others, if He was ready no longer to mention even their own transgressions? But if the righteous abandons righteousness and committeth iniquity, then "in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die." The latter case has often been used to defend the teaching that a truly converted and therefore saved person, may, by sinning, be lost. If only the Word of Truth were rightly divided such, and other misinterpretations, would cease. Here we are on the ground of the law dispensation, and, as already pointed out, the Lord answers Israel, who were in relation to Him through the law covenant and who refused to own their sins and their guilt. The dispensation of Grace, in which Grace reigns through righteousness has a different message. This is fully illustrated if we compare the call to repentance in verses 30-31 with the promise given in chapter xxxvi:26-17. The Lord pleads with them to acknowledge their sinfulness; He speaks to their conscience. "Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions, so iniquity shall not be your ruin. 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?" But in chapter xxxvi Grace speaks and promises to bestow, as a gift, what a righteous God demands. "A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them." The result of this gift of grace, a new heart and His Spirit, is true repentance. "Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations" (chap. xxxvi:21). It was Augustine who said, "Give what Thou requirest and then require what Thou will." All what God requires He bestows in His infinite Grace through Jesus Christ our Lord and then in possession of what Grace gives we can be what God requires. But the thirty-sixth chapter, where God no longer saith "make you a new heart," but promises to give a new heart to His people, awaits, as regards God's chosen people, its fulfilment. Here God pleads with them to convince them that they were a sinful people and that He is a just God.
In the last verse of this chapter the Lord answers the question of verse 23, "Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?" His own answer is, "For I have no pleasure in the death of Him that dieth, saith the Lord God, wherefore turn yourselves and live." And yet all these gracious pleadings were not heeded.
LAMENTATION OVER THE PRINCES OF ISRAEL.
Chapter xix.
This chapter ends that section of the book which began with the twelfth chapter. And it is a fitting conclusion, this great lamentation over the Princes of Israel, and over the land of Judah. The English translation does not do justice to the original Hebrew; the outburst of lamentation is written in a poetic form, some kind of an elegy. The lamentation has two sections.
I. The Lamentations over the Princes of Israel.
Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel. And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions. And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men. The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt. Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion. And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men. And he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof, by the noise of his roaring. Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit. And they put him in ward in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon: they brought him into holds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel (verses 1-9).
The lamentation is not the lamentation of Ezekiel, as so many expositors state, but it is the lamentation of Jehovah, the same who later wept over the same city and lamented over her coming fate. The words of divine lament were put into the mouth of the Prophet.
The Princes are Jehoahaz and Jehoachin. King Jehoahaz and his fate, being carried away captive into Egypt (2 Kings xxiii:33) is lamented in verses 1-4. King Jehoiachin who was taken as a captive to Babylon is lamented in verses 5-9. In Ezekiel, however, the word King is not used; the Kings are always called princes. The second verse may be rendered as follows:
"Thy mother was like a lioness, among lions.
She couched amid the young lions, she reared the whelps."