Ezekiel 18:9

Hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord GOD. TO DEAL TRULY - with integrity. HE SHALL SURELY LIVE - literally, live in life. He shall prosper in this life, but still more in the life to come (Proverbs 3:1, "Length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they (my law and my commandments) add to thee;" )....

We yesterday explained why the Prophet says that no one is just unless _he withdraw his hands from iniquity, _because many occasions tempt us to injure others: unless we restrain ourselves in a middle course we often hurt our neighbors. Now among the virtues of a just man he puts, _to judge according to truth: to act truthfully, _says he_, between man and man_. This seems indeed to be the proper duty of judges who discharge a public office, but yet it is suitable to private persons; for although no one argues his own cause except before some one endued with power to decide it, yet we see that the inclinations of men often pervert equity and rectitude in judgments. Again, many are chosen arbitrators who do not hold any public office. The meaning is, that what Ezekiel previously sought concerning equity is extended to the causes of others, that no one should turn aside from right and equit...

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...

Verse Ezekiel 18:9. _HATH WALKED IN MY STATUTES_] Not only acknowledging them to be right, but acting according to them. Especially in every thing that relates to my worship, changing nothing, neglecting nothing. _AND HATH KEPT MY JUDGMENTS, TO DEAL TRULY_] Has attended to my Divine direction, both with respect to things _forbidden_, and things _commanded_. These concern men in their _religious_ conduct. _HE_ IS _JUST_] צדיק הוא _tsaddik hu_. He is a _righteous_ man; he has given to all _their due_; he has _abstained_ from every appearance of evil, and done that which was _lawful_ and _right_ in the sight of God. _HE SHALL SURELY LIVE_] He has _lived to_ me, and he shall _live with_ me....

LIVE ... DIE - In the writings of Ezekiel there is a development of the meaning of “life” and “death.” In the holy land the sanctions of divine government were in great degree temporal; so that the promise of “life” for “obedience,” the threatening of “death” for “disobedience,” in the Books of Moses, were regarded simply as temporal and national. In their exile this could not continue in its full extent, and the universality of the misfortune necessarily made men look deeper into the words of God. The word “soul” denotes a “person” viewed as an “individual,” possessing the “life” which God breathed into man when he became a “living soul” Genesis 2:7; i. e., it distinguishes “personality” from “nationality,” and this introduces that fresh and higher idea of “life” and “death,” which is not so much “life” and “death” in a future state, as “life” and “death” as equival

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;...

HATH WALKED IN MY STATUTES,.... Respecting the worship of God and true religion; being observant of all laws and ordinances relating thereunto: AND HATH KEPT MY JUDGMENTS TO DEAL TRULY; in things moral and civil among men; regarding all such laws of God as oblige to such things: HE [IS] JUST; such a man is a just man, at least externally; and if he does all these things from a right principle, without trusting to them for justification before God, and acceptance with him, but looking to the righteousness of Christ for these things, he is truly, and in the sight of God, a just man: HE SHALL SURELY LIVE, SAITH THE LORD GOD; spiritually and comfortably here, and an eternal life hereafter; or rather he shall not be distressed with famine, sword, or plague, or go into captivity; but shall live in his own land, and eat the good things of it; and this shall be his case, let his father have b...

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

HATH WALKED, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Leviticus 18:5.Deuteronomy 4:1; Deuteronomy 5:1; Deuteronomy 5:6; Deuteronomy 5:1; Deuteronomy 5:2; Deuteronomy 10:12; Deuteronomy 10:13;...

Developement of the principle in three instances, chosen so as to exhibit it in its most paradoxical form 5 9. The man that is righteous shall live. First, his righteousness is defined generally as doing judgment or right and justice, Ezekiel 18:5. Then it is analysed into: (1) religious duties, Ezekiel 18:6; (2) duties relating to marriage and the relations of men and women, Ezekiel 18:6; (3) duties to one's neighbour, Ezekiel 18:7; and (4) finally all these duties are brought under the conception of obedience to the commands of God, Ezekiel 18:9....