What Do Christians Mean By Quoting This Proverb?

Question

"The Fathers Eat Sour Grapes, And The Children's Teeth Are Set On Edge'?

WHAT DO CHRISTIANS MAKE OF (Ezekiel 18)

PLEASE READ IT HERE:

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel%2018;&version=47;

Answer 1

please tell me, where did you get this poetry that you wrote to Renoz ? it made me cry........
I sought to share the life of snow and fire
but neither snow nor fire took me in
so, I kept my peace waiting like flowers
staying like stones
in love I lost myself
I broke away and watched
until I swayed like a wave between the life
I dreamed and the changing dream I lived.

Answer 2

A footnote:

1 [2] Fathers . . . on edge: a proverb by which the people claimed that they were being punished for their ancestors' sins rather than for their own; cf Jeremiah 31:29.

Ezekiel is basically a chapter on Individual responsibility. The passage is taken out of context if it is shown to be some kind of law. It is rebuked in the next verse.

Answer 3

It is God telling the ppoel of Israel to repent of their wicked ways. is it aslo an example of how the law was before Jesus. the convenant the Jews had contained all these things described in this passage in ezekiel. Then, when Jesus came, he created a new convenat with God, for man. Jesus did not come to abolish the law, but fulfill it. so we are still under the law, but free from it! So we no longer need to go through clensing periods, sacrificce animals, or burn whores at the stake lol.
the meaning of this proverb is unclear. Apparently, it has somehting to do with the sins of the fatehr being passed down to the son. So, in this passage, God is saying, "it doesn't matter what the sins of the father are, you must all repent!"

Answer 4

There a couple of things here, first keep in mind this clearly about the JEWS and not about Gentiles and it is before Christ brought the "new Law" so God maybe person by person calls as to who was "righteous" and would be "retro-actively" saved by Christ.

The saying is just talking about the fact that the son feels the effects of the Fathers wrong doing, but the passage is saying that as long as the Son sees what his father did was wrong and does otherwise he will not be judge for it.

However if a father ( remember only related to the Jews at this time) is righteous but he raises a son who is not he will be judged for that.

Answer 5

The idea here is that the children are reaping the consequences of the parents' sins. As Israel descended into idolatry, the whole nation suffered as a result.

As is mentioned later in the passage, God ensures that the proverb will no longer be quoted, because the one who sins will be the one to suffer for it.

Answer 6

I'm not a Christian, but I play one on TV. If your teeth are on edge, it means your mouth is tingling. So children who watch their dad eating a sour grape react as if they were tasting it themselves. Or something like that.

Answer 7

Ezekiel 17:2

The point of this scripture is:
The children suffer for their parents' sins. However this proverb was not true in the case of Israel and the Lord tells them that they may not use the proverb anymore.

Answer 8

It means that if parents drink too much (soured grapes = wine), they will not care after their children, who will wander around the house trying to eat furniture, ultimately knocking their teeth out on the corners of the tables (set on edge).

Answer 9

I already know what is in Ezekiel, I think what the grape thing means is that whatever you do affects your children. At one time the sins of the fathers carried down , but as it says that time is over. Still you affect the lives of your children, by taking or not taking them to church, by drinking to excess or not drinking, by respecting your spouse or by being combative, by warmth or by coldness.

Answer 10

It means that fathers have sin which cause sin on his children. Israel was a country of sin. If you read on it says;
As live, saith the lord God, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel. Behold all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

Answer 11

Great Question. God's people were quoting proverb that suggested they were suffering unjustly for the sins of earlier generations. The Lord corrected their faulty thinking. He always serves the righteous and opposes the wicked unbelievers,regardless of the moral statues of their fathers. Each man is judged on the basis of his/her deeds,not those of his father.They must repent and turn from their wicked ways,for God desired that they live, not Die!

dkw