"What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge'? As I live, declares the Lord God, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.
 Ezekiel 18:2-4 ESV


 ¶Israel cannot claim to be innocent sufferers. The judgement coming upon them can't be blamed on their fathers.  

"And you, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people, who prophesy out of their own hearts. Prophesy against them. Ezekiel 13:17 ESV ¶It is so easy to prophesy out of our own hearts. It is impossible to find wisdom, to respond wisely, in a situation if we are only thinking about ourselves, and how we are being effected by it. We are eager to blame someone else for our problems, and be relieved of the burden of personal responsibility. Integrity is being able to see all the way down, to examine our own motives and attitudes. This is difficult to do in a vacuum. It is not sufficient to judge by comparing ourselves with other people. We need a way to impartially "judge the thoughts and attitudes of our hearts". This God provides, in the alive, active, sharper than a two-edged sword that is the Word of God.

I will incline my ear to a proverb; I will express my riddle on the harp. Why should I fear in days of adversity, When the iniquity of my foes surrounds me, Even those who trust in their wealth And boast in the abundance of their riches?
 Psalms 49:4-6 NASB 

¶In the wisdom literature, wise sayings exist as riddles. A riddle looks at an existing situation and challenges us to think about it differently, to "think outside the box". We are asked to stop and think. The Buddhist sayings known as koans may seem enigmatic and contradictory, but they are not meant to be unanswerable. The answer may just lie outside the obvious. In Psalm 49: 4-6, surrounded by our enemies, the obvious first response is fear. The riddle, o little one, o ye of little faith, is this: "Why should you fear?"

Then he said to me, "Son of man, dig in the wall." So I dug in the wall, and behold, there was an entrance. So I went in and saw. And there, engraved on the wall all around, was every form of creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel. And before them stood seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had his censer in his hand, and the smoke of the cloud of incense went up. Then he said to me, "Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures? For they say, 'The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.'" He said also to me, "You will see still greater abominations that they commit." Ezekiel 8:8‭, ‬10‭-‬13 ESV ¶We have engravings, images, mantras, poetry, even music that we lift up as "inspired". People who write, draw, carve, sew, etc. who seem ...