Ezekiel 18:19

Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live. YET SAY YE, WHY? DOTH NOT THE SON BEAR THE INIQUITY OF THE FATHER? Here the Jews object to the prophet's word, and in their objection seem to seek a continuance of that very thing which they had originally made a matter of complaint. Therefore translate, 'Wherefore doth not the son bear the iniquity of his father?' It now would seem a consolation to them to think the son might suffer for his father's misdeeds; because it would soothe their self-love to regard themselves as innocent sufferers for the guilt of others, and would justify them in their present course of life, which they did not choose to abandon for a better. In reply, Ezekiel reiterates the truth of each being dealt with according...

1-20 The soul that sinneth it shall die. As to eternity, every man was, is, and will be dealt with, as his conduct shows him to have been under the old covenant of works, or the new covenant of grace. Whatever outward sufferings come upon men through the sins of others, they deserve for their own sins all they suffer; and the Lord overrules every event for the eternal good of believers. All souls are in the hand of the great Creator: he will deal with them in justice or mercy; nor will any perish for the sins of another, who is not in some sense worthy of death for his own. We all have sinned, and our souls must be lost, if God deal with us according to his holy law; but we are invited to come to Christ. If a man who had shown his faith by his works, had a wicked son, whose character and conduct were the reverse of his parent's, could it be expected he should escape the Divine vengeance...

WHY?... - Rather, “Why doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father?”...

EXPOSITION EZEKIEL 18:1, EZEKIEL 18:2 WHAT MEAN YE, THAT YE USE THIS PROVERB, etc.? Another and entirely different section opens, and we see at once from what it started. Ezekiel had heard from the lips of his countrymen, and had seen its working in their hearts, the proverb with which they blunted their sense of personal responsibility. They had to bear the punishment of sins which they had not committed. The sins of the fathers were visited, as in Exodus 20:5; Exodus 34:7;...

YET SAY YE, WHY?.... Why do you say so? why do you go on to assert that which is not fact, or which is contrary to fact, contrary to what we feel and experience every day, to say that children are not punished for their parents' sins? these are the words of the murmuring, complaining, and blaspheming Jews, quarrelling with the prophet, and with the Lord himself: DOTH NOT THE SON BEAR THE INIQUITY OF THE FATHER? have not we proof of it every day we live? are not our present case and circumstances a full evidence of it? or the words may be rendered, "why does not the son bear the iniquity of the father?" so the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions; or, as the Targum, "why is not the son punished for the sins of the father?'' and so they are an objection, which is foreseen might be made, and is here anticipated, to which an answer is returned; and so the Syriac version introduc...

Ezekiel 18:1. In Ezekiel 18:1, we find the false accusation against God and the divine answer, and this is followed in Ezekiel 18:5 by the conditions of life, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4). But the conditions to have life and to be just cannot be fulfilled by sinful man; nor is In these verses “eternal life” in view; these are not conditions to secure “eternal life,” but to escape physical death in the announced judgment. The conditions which bring death are given in Ezekiel 18:10. The son does not die for his father's sins, as th

_Yet say ye, Why?_ Rather: AND YE SAY, WHEREFORE DOTH NOT THE SON BEAR …? The prophet refers to the current view, and supposes it quoted as an objection to his principle. So long as the idea prevailed that the son was, so to speak, part of the father, it was natural to suppose that he should be included in the father's punishment; hence the people ask, Why doth the son not bear, lit. _bear part of, share in bearing_(so Ezekiel 18:20), the iniquity of the father? In opposition to this idea the prophet states his principle on both its sides, Ezekiel 18:19. Secondly, Ezekiel 18:21. As men shall not be involved in the sins of their people or their fathers, so the individual soul shall not lie under the b

YET SAY YE, &C.— _Do ye say, why doth the son not bear the iniquity of his father?—Because the son doeth that,_ &c. _Therefore he shall surety live._ Houbigant....

CHAPTER NINE DOCTRINES AND DIRGES 18:1-19:14 In Chapter s 18 and 19 Ezekiel brings to a close the long section of his book which began in chapter 12. The prophet's purpose in these eight Chapter s has been to reinforce the announcement of Jerusalem's judgment by refuting the erroneous bases of the exile's confidence which led them to believe that Jerusalem could never be destroyed. In these Chapter s Ezekiel deals with seven false attitudes which are in some cases explicitly stated and in other cases implied in the text. The chart below will serve as a review of the argumentation found in Chapter s 12-19. REVIEW OF CHAPTER S 12-19 Popular Rationalization Prophetic Response Prophecies of doom have failed to materialize God loves us too much to destroy us (Ezekiel 12:22) Judgments against Judah belong to some distant future age No cause for

GOD'S EQUITY VINDICATED The popular view of Israel's calamities, as expressed in a current proverb, was that they were the punishment of the sins of former generations. Though there was a measure of truth in this, the proverb was used in a false and mischievous sense. It led the present generation to ignore their own sin, to doubt the justice of God's providence, to despair of escape from the working of a blind fate. Ezekiel, consequently, emphasised in the strongest way the truths of individual responsibility, and of God's impartiality in dealing with every man according to his own character (Ezekiel 18:1). If a man is righteous he shall live (Ezekiel 18:5). If a righteous man has a wicked son, the son will not be saved by his father's righteousness, but will die ...