Fall Over or Fall Under?
“Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, each according to his conduct,” declares the Lord GOD. “Repent and turn away from all your transgressions, so that iniquity may not become a stumbling block to you.” Ezekiel 18:30 (T. Hegg translation)
Stumbling Block – We might think we know this word since the same translation is applied to Yeshua as a stumbling block for the Jews (1 Corinthians 1:23). But the Greek term skandalidzo (“to cause one to fall”) doesn’t have the same meaning as this Hebrew word, mikshol. Here the sense of the word is more like the use in Psalm 64:8. The ESV renders it “your ruin.” Iniquity brings ruin. It destroys life. It produces pain and sorrow. As Berkouwer notes, iniquity is insanity.
God clearly says that He will judge each of us according to our conduct. Since this is true, we must know what He requires of us so that we do not fall under His judgment. Therefore, we must know what God means by “iniquity” and what He means by “repent.”
The word “iniquity” is not the word we usually find for “sin.” Rather than hatah, this verse uses the word pesha’. It is principally about broken relationships. It includes violations of treaties, breaches of contract and refusal of agreements. In a word, pesha’ means rebellion. It is the rejection of God’s rightful authority over our lives. Pesha’ is declaring that I will live my life my way! It is not some individual transgression or some particular violation of an expected norm. It is an attitude of indifference toward God. In other words, God examines a life, its direction, its final intent, its willingness to obey. He looks on the attitude of the heart.
This gives us hope – and at the same time – severe consternation. We have hope because, as John tells us in his first letter, there is forgiveness for our individual transgressions. We may disobey and still be brought back as long as we are men and women after God’s own heart. This explains why David is so loved by God in spite of his enormous sins. But we also encounter concern for, if upon examination we do not find “fruit in keeping with repentance” (as John the Baptist puts it), we must call a halt to the direction of our lives. We must reconsider our trajectory. We must stop and wait on the Lord.
The Jews may have fallen over the stumbling block according to Paul, but when we hear the word of the Lord in Ezekiel, we are confronted with the possibility of falling under the monolith of His holiness.
Topical Index: mikshol, stumbling block, ruin, skandalidzo, pesha’, iniquity, rebellion, Ezekiel 18:30
Is it not true that if we ignore Paul’s warning in Romans 11 that we are not to think we have replaced Israel, and we consistently ignore the chesed G-d expects from His community, we are pesha as well? How do we think that we are “individually” exempt from the community G-d established? It is not OUR community, it is His…does HE not make the rules? If we are not “grafted” into the community of believers that follow His covenant, how can we rightfully say that we are His at all?
Well put. It makes sense that most of Paul’s writings fit into a category of ‘managing the assimilation’ of thousands of repenting Jews and Gentiles. His admonitions would then be instructions for the ‘grafting’ process.
Yes, that’s the problem, isn’t it? The tradition of the church has interpreted the text for us. Now we might as well have a Pope telling us what it means. If we could only read without the glasses of 1800 years of church revision, we might actually hear the words for what they are.
Skip, you are like the scribe in Matthew 13:52, who is bringing forth treasures new and old. We have been on the milk too long and now we crave meat.
To really understand Biblical principles (or Yeshua’s parables) a firm foundation of Torah is needed or we will be like the unstable, who twist the words of Paul into lawlessness (2 Peter 3:16)
Why not let the words speak for themselves? Isn’t the best commentary on the word of God, the word of God? Again, this is where this ministry has the potential to shine!- We need to know the words, (not the traditions of the Jews or the Gentiles.. aka “the church”- we need to know the words from the Word. Words ( I know this may sound trite) have meaning. Whether Greek or Hebrew (N.T. or O.T.) there is plenty for all of us to say grace over.
For instance, what a blessing it was for me to “discover” -(Example) ~ I AM come that you might have life and have it “more abundantly”- in the Greek: perisson – to the top and running over. Well, that ruins my “Greek” idea of “abundantly”- it is not about “stuff and things!” Also, this has a word of God honoring tie-in with “my cup runneth over” from Psalm 23! -Way cool!
So let us all let the common ‘taters commentate- the best commentary concerning the scriptures will be the scriptures themselves. Friends, ~ what do the scriptures say? ~ No comment. No spin. Let the word of God (alone) speak. – And isn’t God capable of speaking to each and to all through His own inspired (God-breathed) words? It is, after all- His Book.
But Carl, I think you are missing the point. Words have meaning WITHIN the culture. If you don’t acknowledge the cultural background of words, then you automatically interpret the meanings IN YOUR OWN CULTURE. You read as if the words were written to YOU. Paradigm blindness does not make good exegesis. It leaves you with a Bible that is read like yesterday’s newspaper – and with just about the same amount of depth. It is unfortunate that the evangelical world by and large perpetuates a view that all that is required to read Scripture is a willing heart and the guidance of the Spirit. This makes for very sloppy theology. And it robs the text of any historical development. Furthermore, this kind of thinking makes Israel UNNECESSARY. Israel is simply the replaceable channel that God used to get the message to us. What? YHWH is the God of ISRAEL, not the God of American Christianity.