“If a man is righteous and does what is just and right— 6 if he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor's wife or approach a woman in her time of menstrual impurity, 7 does not oppress anyone, but restores to the debtor his pledge, commits no robbery, gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, 8 does not lend at interest or take any profit, withholds his hand from injustice, executes true justice between man and man, 9 walks in my statutes, and keeps my rules by acting faithfully—he is righteous; he shall surely live, declares the Lord God.
10 “If he fathers a son who is violent, a shedder of blood, who does any of these things 11 (though he himself did none of these things), who even eats upon the mountains, defiles his neighbor's wife, 12 oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery, does not restore the pledge, lifts up his eyes to the idols, commits abomination, 13 lends at interest, and takes profit; shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon himself.
14 “Now suppose this man fathers a son who sees all the sins that his father has done; he sees, and does not do likewise: 15 he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor's wife, 16 does not oppress anyone, exacts no pledge, commits no robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, 17 withholds his hand from iniquity, takes no interest or profit, obeys my rules, and walks in my statutes; he shall not die for his father's iniquity; he shall surely live. 18 As for his father, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother, and did what is not good among his people, behold, he shall die for his iniquity.
19 “Yet you say, ‘Why should not the son suffer for the iniquity of the father?’ When the son has done what is just and right, and has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely live. 20 The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.
21 “But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 22 None of the transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him; for the righteousness that he has done he shall live. 23 Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? 24 But when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice and does the same abominations that the wicked person does, shall he live? None of the righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered; for the treachery of which he is guilty and the sin he has committed, for them he shall die.
25 “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way not just? Is it not your ways that are not just? 26 When a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it; for the injustice that he has done he shall die. 27 Again, when a wicked person turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he shall save his life. 28 Because he considered and turned away from all the transgressions that he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 29 Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ O house of Israel, are my ways not just? Is it not your ways that are not just?
30 “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. 31 Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? 32 For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live.” Ezekiel 18: 5-32 ESV
Ezekiel 18 The Soul Who Sins Shall Die
…23But He brought us out from there to lead us in and give us the land that He had sworn to our fathers. 24And the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes and to fear the LORD our God, that we may always be prosperous and preserved, as we are to this day. 25And if we are careful to observe every one of these commandments before the LORD our God, as He has commanded us, then that will be our righteousness.”… Deuteronomy 6: 23-25
…23Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, for the Lord and not for men, 24because you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as your reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. 25Whoever does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.… Colossians 3: 23-25
…27He answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” 28“You have answered correctly,” Jesus said. “Do this and you will live.” 29But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”… Luke 10: 27-29
5-9 If a man is righteous and does what is just and right - Someone could say they are righteous, could perform some outward effects, rituals, offer a sacrifice for sin, but the clarity of what this righteousness looks like comes with the actions that will be described starting in the next verse. Remember, true faith will always produce the fruits of righteousness, as faith without works is dead.
…21Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and every expression of evil, and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save your souls. 22 Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves. 23For anyone who hears the word but does not carry it out is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror,…
…24and after observing himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom, and continues to do so— not being a forgetful hearer, but an effective doer— he will be blessed in what he does. 26If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not bridle his tongue, he deceives his heart and his religion is worthless.… James 1: 21-26
If he does not eat upon the mountains - These were the high places of idols and idolatry, and the man of God did not partake is such feasts.
Lift up his eyes to the idols - He pays them no mind, not a prayer or a wish; they are all dead things to him, the craft of the hands and the vanity of the warped mind. This man hasn't the slightest fear of them, for they are superstition.
…3You shall have no other gods before Me. 4You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath. 5You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,… Exodus 20: 3-5
Does not defile his neighbor's wife - He does not go after her even in his thoughts, for out of the abundance of the heart come all these things.
27You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ 28But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.… Matthew 5: 27-28
Or approach a woman in her time - I admit this is a head scratcher for me, and this falls under their cleanliness laws and relational laws in Leviticus. It comes up between the incest laws for which we can see obvious reason for from scientific observation of the decline in human genetics. Many of their laws were related to hygiene, clean and unclean, which their neighbors did not practice, but proved to be of benefit with things like disease. This is not readily apparent to me, and some answers that commentators have put forward seem stretched, but this much is clear, that there is blood and I would say it is safe then to assume the easier transmission of Blood Borne Pathogens. Whatever the reason behind it, we do not know all and it is not spelled out, but God told them not to, and that is enough.
…17If a man marries his sister, whether the daughter of his father or of his mother, and they have sexual relations, it is a disgrace. They must be cut off in the sight of their people. He has uncovered the nakedness of his sister; he shall bear his iniquity. 18If a man lies with a menstruating woman and has sexual relations with her, he has exposed the source of her flow, and she has uncovered the source of her blood. Both of them must be cut off from among their people. 19You must not have sexual relations with the sister of your mother or your father, for it is exposing one’s own kin; both shall bear their iniquity.… Leviticus 20: 17-19
But restores the debtor his pledge - In these times before central heat and air, a man might give a pledge of his cloak even, or of some other thing of value in order to receive a loan. It was his collateral, but if the night was cold then a righteous man could not bear the thought of his neighbor shivering while he held his coat, nor would he want to keep his oxen when the neighbor needed them to plow his field. He would return the cloak and take the man's word, hoping the man would not want to lose the value of it, especially when he didn't have much else.
…25If you lend money to one of My people among you who is poor, you must not act as a creditor to him; you are not to charge him interest. 26If you take your neighbor’s cloak as collateral, return it to him by sunset, 27because his cloak is the only covering he has for his body. What else will he sleep in? And if he cries out to Me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.… Exodus 22: 25-27
10-18 If he fathers a son who is violent - The prophet continues to establish the doctrine of individual responsibility, that each man is responsible for his own actions before God. There is also a pattern here, noted by commentators, that reflects a national and recent picture in three kings. King Hezekiah was a good king, his son Manasseh was wicked and God's judgment was promised to Jerusalem for the blood of the martyrs that occurred during his reign, including that of Isaiah. Oddly, Manasseh was the father of Josiah, who was a great reformer.
In Ezekiel 18, the prophet will use three examples: a righteous man (18:5-9), his wicked son (18:10-13), and his righteous grandson (18:14-18). “Three kings of Judah fit these descriptions-Hezekiah, Manasseh and Josiah.” (Feinberg)
10And the LORD spoke through His servants the prophets, saying, 11“Since Manasseh king of Judah has committed all these abominations, acting more wickedly than the Amorites who preceded him, and with his idols has caused Judah to sin, 12this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Behold, I am bringing such calamity upon Jerusalem and Judah that the news will reverberate in the ears of all who hear it.… 2 Kings 21: 10-12
His blood shall be upon himself - Regardless of the cause of physical death and no matter who administrates it, it is at his own hands, by cause of his own actions. In other words, the wages of sin is death and you sinned. Manasseh is a great example because he did not emulate his father, which would have served him well, and regardless of the riches in this life, or however long one may live here, yet it is nothing compared to eternity. Josiah sees the wickedness of his father yet goes another way.
19-20 Why should not the son suffer - They would almost have it both ways. In this case they need someone to suffer, so the son is left with the father's debt, revenge needs someone to pay. It is like the Hatfield's and the McCoy's, and since you have the same last name then you will suffice to pay, even though you are not the one who committed the crime. The avenger of blood was supposed to go after the taker of blood, that was justice. Oddly, this has been revisited in our time with talks of reparations, based not upon your own individual merit, but upon the amount of melanin in your skin.
“We have to reflect that, however reasonable it may appear to us, habituated as we are to the sense of personal responsibility, it was a revolutionary idea to present to Ezekiel’s contemporaries. They were more at home with the idea of collective righteousness and blame.” (Vawter and Hoppe)
21-24 But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins - This is the beautiful call of the gospel, repent and be saved. This is actually the only option, if any of his listeners are paying attention, if anyone of them searches their heart, listens to their arguing against God, all should realize they are sinners, none are righteous but in their own eyes.
“One can sense Ezekiel’s excitement as he announces the verdict for those who meet these conditions: He shall surely live! He shall not die! The past rebellious acts will be discounted, and his present righteousness will be all that matters.” (Block)
…4Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be proved right when You speak and blameless when You judge. 5Surely I was brought forth in iniquity; I was sinful when my mother conceived me. 6Surely You desire truth in the inmost being; You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.… Psalm 51: 4-6
One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23: 39-43
Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked - There is no gain here, it is eye for an eye, how much better when that which is lost is restored. God will be proven just in the death of the wicked, but there is even more rejoicing over a sinner that is saved, a prodigal son returned.
But when a righteous person turns away - That is the thing about tares, they grow up amongst the wheat, and many have learned the outward cues of righteousness, dressed the part, but our own righteousness is no more than filthy rags. Now the heart of the man has come for the body, and he is no longer wearing the right camouflage for the present arena. His works are exposed. That is one way of looking at it, while others will yet contend that this one was saved but then lost his salvation. Christ has put this to rest though in saying, "none that the father has given Me will I lose." None the less, the antinomian be warned, no right or ritual is anything to believe in as a justification to continue in sin.
…25Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have made a habit, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching. 26 If we deliberately go on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins remains, 27but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume all adversaries.… Hebrews 10: 25-27
18Children, it is the last hour; and just as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But their departure made it clear that none of them belonged to us. 20You, however, have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.… 1 John 2: 18-20
25-32 So turn and live - Why hold on to death? God does not delight in it, but His way is just, do this and you shall live. If He says it is a sin then why cling to it, especially since He has made it known that it is bound for destruction?
We have here the conclusion and application of this whole matter. After a fair trial at the bar of right reason the verdict is brought in on God's side; it appears that his ways are equal. Judgment therefore is next to be given; and one would think it should be a judgment of condemnation, nothing short of Go, you cursed, into everlasting fire. But, behold, a miracle of mercy; the day of grace and divine patience is yet lengthened out; and therefore, though God will at last judge every one according to his ways, yet he waits to be gracious, and closes all with a call to repentance and a promise of pardon upon repentance. - Matthew Henry
9What then? Are we any better? Not at all. For we have already made the charge that Jews and Greeks alike are all under sin. 10As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one. 11There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.… Romans 3: 9-11
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