Tafsiran yang Mengutip untuk Yehezkiel 33:12

Another meaning of the words ללכת בהם may be similar to the meaning of Ezekiel 33,12 who said: "the righteousness of the righteous one will not save him on the day of his iniquity." Ezekiel meant that even if a person had lived a perfectly righteous life all his years but turns to sin in the end he has lost the merits he accumulated during the years prior to his turning to sin. His merits will not accompany him on his way to judgment after death. [According to the Talmud this is so only if he regrets having lived a righteous life before he turned to sin. Ed.] When we consider the words of Ezekiel we must understand the words ללכת בהם to mean that a person has to walk in the path of the Lord's commandments in order that his merits will accompany him on his most important journey, i.e. on the way to the last judgment.

it was out of Divine grace to man -- this means grace, favor, and mercy - that the Creator granted man the ability to repent, because according to reason, "the soul which sins shall die" (Yechezkel 18:20) as is the custom for [human] kings of the land (who execute those who rebel). Only that G-d desires in kindness... "for I do not desire the death of the wicked, says the L-rd G-d, but that he repents and lives"... and (Yechezkel 33:11) "Say to them: As I live, says the L-rd G-d, I do not wish for the death of the wicked, but for the wicked to repent of his way so that he may live. Repent, repent of your evil ways, for why should you die?"

The sixth form of repentance is when he is old and does not have the strength to commit sins. He has regret even for the sins that he committed when he was young. When he repents with his whole heart, the Holy One accepts the repentance, as the verse says, “you return man to dust” [Psalms, 90:3]. This means, you should repent when you are old and have no more strength. Though you are buffeted and broken; yet the Holy One will accept your repentance. Concerning this, the Talmud says in the first chapter of [tractate] Kiddushin. Rabbi Simeon said: a righteous person who is righteous all his life and in his last days he becomes evil, he has lost all of his merits, as the verse says “the righteousness of the righteous shall not save him when he transgresses” [Ezekiel, 33:12].²²B. Kiddushin, 40b. This means, the righteous deeds that the righteous person did for a long time do not help when he becomes an evildoer in the end. When somebody was an evildoer all of his days and he becomes righteous, his earlier sins are wiped out, as the verse says, “nor shall the wickedness of the wicked cause him to stumble when he turns back from his wickedness” [Ezekiel, 33:12]. This means, the sins of the evildoer are not remembered when he repents for his earlier sins and regrets the sins that he had committed for a long time.