Text: Ezekiel 18:1
OT Text Referred to: Deuteronomy 24:16
Subject: proverb of sour grapes
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Analogy
Significance: Ezekiel 18 addresses the exiles' fatalistic proverb about sour grapes—"the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge"—by reaffirming the principle of individual accountability established in Deuteronomy 24:16: "Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children for their fathers; each person shall be put to death for his own sin." Both texts insist on the justice of individual retribution, but Ezekiel extends the Deuteronomic legal principle into a comprehensive theological statement: "the soul who sins is the one who will die" (הַנֶּפֶשׁ הַחֹטֵאת הִיא תָמוּת, hannefesh hachotet hi tamut). The prophet thus corrects the exiles' misuse of corporate solidarity to deny personal moral responsibility.