Sour grapes

Ezekiel is considered one of the three major prophets of the Old Testament, along with Isaiah and Jeremiah. His warnings to his fellow-countrymen while they were in exile in Babylon, offer today's readers with ongoing insights. That's why writers encourage modern-day readers to stick with this book, despite its difficulties. The bottom line? That there is one God.

Perhaps one of the most famous passages from Ezekiel is that in Chapter 18 about the sour grapes. This passage teaches that God's law overrides the belief that the actions of a human parent govern the behaviour or symptoms of his or her offspring. The lovely promise is that "all souls are mine" (verse 4). We are all children of the one divine Parent, and we are each responsible for our own thoughts and actions. 

Mary Baker Eddy picks up on this passage in various areas of her writing, for instance in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures p. 211:19, she writes that "The transfer of the thoughts of one erring mind to another, Science renders impossible," and in her Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896 p. 72, "For the innocent babe to be born a lifelong sufferer because of his parents' mistakes or sins, were sore injustice..."

Readers might enjoy a poem called "Individual Proof", by Norman Aswald Walter in the April 4, 1983 edition of the Christian Science Sentinel. Interestingly this short and resonant poem mentions "cloth" - the subject of yesterday's blog post. Here is a snippet: "A father's stain, his cloth shows./ I know my fabric—uniquely mine—"

One commentator, writing in the Christian Science Sentinel August 3, 2009, concludes that 
"Ezekiel's words redeem the past and re-vision the future." I find that comment very helpful as I read this book.

Julie Swannell