or the sins of generations past and
present. "What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of
Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's
teeth are set on edge? As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not have
occasion to use this proverb any more in Israel! Behold, all souls are
Mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine;
the soul that sinneth it shall die. But if a man be just... he shall
surely live, saith the Lord God." Israel, therefore, was master of his
own destiny. If he persisted in erring from the right way, the hour
of salvation was still further removed from him; if he repented and
observed the law, the Divine anger would be turned away. "Therefore... O
house of Israel... cast away from you all your transgressions wherein
ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit; for why
will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death
of him that dieth... wherefore turn yourselves and live." 1 There were
those who objected that it was too late to dream of regeneration and of
hope in the future: "Our bones are dried up and our hope is lost; we are
clean cut off." The prophet replied that the Lord had carried him in the
spirit and set him down in the midst of a plain strewn with bones. "So
I prophesied... and as I prophesied there was a noise... and the bones
came together, bone to his bone. And I beheld, and lo, there were sinews
upon them, and flesh came up and skin covered them above; but there was
no breath in them. Then said (the Lord) unto me, Prophesy unto the wind,
prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God: Come
from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they
may live. So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into
them and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great
army. Then He said unto me... these bones are the whole house of
Israel.... Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up
out of your graves, O my people; and I will bring you into the land of
Israel.... And I will put My Spirit in you and ye shall live, and I
will place you in your own land; and ye shall know that I the Lord hath
spoken it and performed it, saith the Lord."

A people raised from such depths would require a constitution, a new law
to take the place of the old, from the day when the exile should cease.
Ezekiel would willingly have dispensed with