NOTES for Eze 7:1-27

The Lord addresses the prophet not only to tell him what the people are to endure. He also addresses Ezekiel as part of that people, and in his person rebukes all its sinners. The prophet himself did not commit the sins in question, but he listens to the Lord and does not object, because he does not separate himself from other people and is ready to share the guilt of others. In the same way, conscientious people who are innocent sometimes do not protest accusations levelled at them which concern a group from which they do not separate themselves, because they are ashamed even of the deeds of others.

Meanwhile, this trait helps us to glimpse, however faintly, the mystery of the sinless Christ taking our sins upon Himself. We are accustomed to the innocent often having to suffer for the sins of others, but all too often we see such suffering merely as payment. Yet the innocent person also suffers from the very fact of another's sin, and is tormented by what the sinners themselves do not feel for the time being.