Ezekiel 18:23 Komentář

Perhaps, in reading some of the foregoing chapters, we may have been tempted to think ourselves not much concerned in them (though they also were written for our learning); but this chapter, at first view, appears highly and nearly to concern us all, very highly, very nearly; for, without particular reference to Judah and Jerusalem, it lays down the rule of judgment according to which God will deal with the children of men in determining them to their everlasting state, and it agrees with that very ancient rule laid down, Gen 4:7, "If though doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?" But, "if not, sin," the punishment of sin,"lies at the door." Here is, I. The corrupt proverb used by the profane Jews, which gave occasion to the message here sent them, and made it necessary for the justifying of God in his dealings with them (Eze 18:1-3). II. The reply given to this proverb, in which God asserts in general his own sovereignty and justice (Eze 18:4). Woe to the wicked; it shall be ill with them (Eze 18:4, Eze 18:20). But say to the righteous, It shall be ill with them (Eze 18:4, Eze 18:20). But say to the righteous, It shall be well with them (Eze 18:5-9). In particular, as to the case complained of, he assures us, 1. That it shall be ill with a wicked man, though he had a good father (Eze 18:10-13). 2. That it shall be well with a good man, though he had a wicked father (Eze 18:14-18). And therefore in this God is righteous (Eze 18:19, Eze 18:20). 3. That it shall be well with penitents, though they began ever so ill (Eze 18:21-23 and Eze 18:27, Eze 18:28). 4. That it shall be ill with apostates, though they began ever so well (Eze 18:24, Eze 18:26). And the use of all this is, (1.) To justify God and clear the equity of all his proceedings (Eze 18:25, Eze 18:29). (2.) To engage and encourage us to repent of our sins and turn to God (Eze 18:30-32). And these are things which belong to our everlasting peace. O that we may understand and regard them before they be hidden from our eyes!

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 18 This chapter contains an answer to an objection of the Jews to the dealings of God with them in a providential way. The objection is expressed in a proverb of common use among them, and complained of as being without cause, Eze 18:1; however, for the future, no occasion should be given them to use it; for, though God could justify his proceedings upon the foot of his sovereignty, all souls being his; yet he was determined none but the sinner himself should suffer, Eze 18:3; and puts various cases for the illustration and vindication of his proceedings; as that a just man, who is described by his proper characters, as abstaining from several sins specified, and doing what is right and good, should surely live, Eze 18:5; but that the son of such a just man, being the reverse of his father's character, should surely die, Eze 18:10; and again, the son of such a wicked man, observing the heinousness of his father's sins, and abstaining from them, though his father should die in his iniquities, he should not die for them, but live, Eze 18:14; by which it appears that the dealings of God with the Jews were not according to the proverb used by them, but quite agreeable to his resolution; that the sinner, be he a father or a son, shall die for his own sins; and that the righteous man's righteousness shall be upon him, and the wicked man's sin upon him, and accordingly both shall be dealt with, Eze 18:19; which is further illustrated by a wicked man's turning from his sinful course, and doing righteousness, and living in that righteousness he has done; which is more agreeable to God that he should live, and not die in sin, Eze 18:21; and by a righteous man turning from his righteousness, and living a vicious life, and dying in it, Eze 18:24; from both which instances this conclusion follows, that God is to be justified; and that his ways are equal, and the Jews' ways were unequal, and their complaint unjust, Eze 18:25; and the same instances are repeated in a different order, and the same conclusion formed, Eze 18:26; upon which the Lord determines to judge them according to their own ways, their personal actions, good or bad; and exhorts them to repentance and reformation; and closes with a pathetic expostulation, with them, Eze 18:30.

But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness,.... This is to be understood, not of a truly righteous man; for no man can be so denominated from his own righteousness; but from the righteousness and obedience of Christ; and such a man cannot turn from his righteousness; for that is the righteousness of God, and can never be lost; and is an everlasting one, and will always endure; and with which eternal life is inseparably connected: but this is to be interpreted of one that is reckoned so from his own righteousness, what he himself has done, and not from another, from the righteousness of Christ, which he has wrought out; he is one that is righteous in his own esteem, and in the account of others; who is outwardly righteous before men; who trusts in himself that he is righteous, and trusts to his own righteousness; see Eze 33:13; whose righteousness is not an evangelical one, but either a ceremonial righteousness, or at most a mere moral one, consisting of some negative holiness, and a few moral performances, as appears from Eze 18:5; and from such a righteousness as this a man may turn, commit iniquity, sin and die; see Pe2 2:20; and is no proof or instance of the apostasy of real saints, true believers, or truly righteous men; besides, this man is represented as a transgressor, or "prevaricator", as the word signifies; a hypocrite, a man destitute of the truth of grace, and of true righteousness: and committeth iniquity; makes a trade of sinning; goes into a vicious course of life, and continues in it; which a truly gracious man, one that is born again, and has true faith in Christ's righteousness, by which he is justified, can never do, Jo1 3:8; and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth; such as theft, murder, adultery, idolatry, oppression of the poor, and giving upon usury, Eze 18:10; shall he live? in his own land, in peace and prosperity, enjoying all manner of good things? he shall not; much less shall he live an eternal life, so living and dying: all his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: or, "all his righteousnesses" (k); all the good works which he has done will never come into any account, or be of any avail; as they merited nothing, they will meet with no reward; they will not preserve him from present calamity, which his now sinful life exposes him to, nor secure him from eternal ruin; these may be mentioned and pleaded by himself, but to no purpose; God will not mention them, nor take any notice of them, nor the Judge at the great day of account, Mat 7:22; in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die; or, for his hypocrisy, "prevarication" (l), and vicious course of life he now lives in, a death of affliction shall come upon him; great calamities and distresses in this world; and, if grace prevent not, eternal death in the other; if he dies in his trespasses and sins, he will die the second death. (k) "omnes justitiae ejus", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius. (l) "propter prvevaricationem ipsius, vel suam", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Polanus.

He takes delight in the conversion of sinners, for he desires the conversion that follows their sins. Surely, he himself is the only sinless one.

A petition for pardon is a full confession; because one who begs for pardon fully admits his guilt. So, too, penitence is demonstrated as acceptable to God, who desires it rather than the death of a sinner.

If it had not been his will that they should hear and be saved, he ought to have been silent, not to have spoken in parables. But now by this very thing he stirs them up, even by speaking under a veil.

I mean, surely I seek nothing else than a mere end of their wickedness and a stop to their evil? Surely I look for no accounting of past deeds if I see them willing to change? Do I not cry aloud each day, “Surely I have no real wish for the death of the sinner as for his conversion and life”? Do I not take every means to snatch from destruction those ensnared in deceit? Surely, after all, if I see them changing I will not hesitate?… Surely I do not bring you from nonbeing for the purpose of destroying you? It is not in vain that I prepared the kingdom and the countless good things beyond description, was it? Did I not also make the threat of hell for the purpose of encouraging everyone by this means also to hasten toward the kingdom?

It is the will of God “who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” For everywhere that the purpose of God appears to be severe and stern, it is not the people but the sins that he condemns.

(Verse 23) In his righteousness, which he has worked, he will live. My righteousness will live not so much as mine, but as his. It is allowed for my righteousness to give good things to the good and bad things to the bad. Is it my will that the wicked should die, says the Lord God, and not that he should turn from his ways and live? (Ezekiel 18:23) Therefore it is the will of the Lord that all should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Wherever God seems to pronounce a severe and harsh judgment, He condemns not men, but their sins.

You have wished to die by sinning; he wishes you to live by being converted. O foolish, irreverent and ungrateful sinner, you do not yield in this respect to God, who wishes to have mercy on you, who prefers to save you because of his own goodness than to destroy you because of your sins.

Dearly beloved, if you are good, you must put up with the bad; if you are bad, you must imitate the good. The fact is, on this threshing floor grains can degenerate into chaff, and again grains can be resurrected from chaff. This sort of thing happens every day, my dear brothers and sisters; this life is full of both painful and pleasant surprises. Every day people who seemed to be good fall away and perish; and again, ones who seemed to be bad are converted and live. “God,” you see, “does not desire the death of the wicked but only that they may turn back and live.”

See, then, how God instructs and incites you, so that you may be converted from your sins, late though it is, and come to salvation. See how he exhorts you, doomed to death as you are, so that you may live; and with what sweetness and gentle compassion he cajoles you, so that he does not deny a father’s love even to the sinner.

One person prays to the Lord almost all his life, another is converted in middle age, another is saved at his life’s end.… God with merciful patience awaits the hour of our conversion at any time, and so he bears with the guilty and awaits sinners with the words, “It is not my will that a sinner should die, but that he be converted and live.” The only requirement is that in this life we confess all our sinning, for here we fail through human frailty.

The Jews, in Ezekiel's time, complained of God's dealing hardly with them in punishing them for the sins of their forefathers, Eze 18:1, Eze 18:2; their temporal calamities having been long threatened as the consequence of the national guilt, (Jer 15:4, etc.); and, from the general complexion of this chapter, it appears that the Jews so interpreted the second commandment of the Decalogue and other passages of like import, as if the sins of the forefathers were visited upon the children, independently of the moral conduct of the latter, not only in this world, but in that which is to come. To remove every foundation for such an unworthy idea of the Divine government, God assures them, with an oath, that he had no respect of persons, Eze 18:3, Eze 18:4; strongly intimating that the great mysteries in Providence, (mysterious only on account of the limited capacity of man), are results of the most impartial administration of justice; and that this would be particularly manifested in the rewards and punishments of another life; when every ligament that at present connects societies and nations together shall be dissolved, and each person receive according to his work, and bear his own burden. This is illustrated by a variety of examples: such as that of a just or righteous man, Eze 18:5-9; his wicked son, Eze 18:10-13; and again the just son of this wicked person, Eze 18:14-20. Then a wicked man repenting, and finding mercy, whose former wickedness shall be no impediment to his salvation, Eze 18:21-23; and a righteous man revolting, and dying in his sins, whose former righteousness shall be of no avail, Eze 18:24. The conduct of the Divine Providence is then vindicated, Eze 18:25-29; and all persons, without any exception, most earnestly exhorted to repentance, Eze 18:30, Eze 18:31; because the Lord hath no pleasure in the death of the sinner, Eze 18:32. As the whole of this chapter is taken up with the illustration of a doctrine nearly connected with the comfort of man, and the honor of the Divine government, the prophet, with great propriety, lays aside his usual mode of figure and allegory, and treats his subject with the utmost plainness and perspicuity.

Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? - No! That is foreign to him whose name is love, and whose nature is mercy. On the contrary he "wills that he should return from his evil ways and live." And if God can have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, he cannot have made a decree to abandon him to the evil of his nature, and then damn him for what he could not avoid: for as God can do nothing with which he is not pleased, so he can decree nothing with which he is not pleased. But he is "not pleased with the death of a sinner," therefore he cannot have made a decree to bring him to this death.

THE PARABLE OF THE SOUR GRAPES REPROVED. (Eze. 18:1-32) fathers . . . eaten sour grapes, . . . children's teeth . . . set on edge--Their unbelieving calumnies on God's justice had become so common as to have assumed a proverbial form. The sin of Adam in eating the forbidden fruit, visited on his posterity, seems to have suggested the peculiar form; noticed also by Jeremiah (Jer 31:29); and explained in Lam 5:7, "Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities." They mean by "the children," themselves, as though they were innocent, whereas they were far from being so. The partial reformation effected since Manasseh's wicked reign, especially among the exiles at Chebar, was their ground for thinking so; but the improvement was only superficial and only fostered their self-righteous spirit, which sought anywhere but in themselves the cause of their calamities; just as the modern Jews attribute their present dispersion, not to their own sins, but to those of their forefathers. It is a universal mark of corrupt nature to lay the blame, which belongs to ourselves, on others and to arraign the justice of God. Compare Gen 3:12, where Adam transfers the blame of his sin to Eve, and even to God, "The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat."

(Ti1 2:4; Pe2 3:9). If men perish, it is because they will not come to the Lord for salvation; not that the Lord is not willing to save them (Joh 5:40). They trample on not merely justice, but mercy; what farther hope can there be for them, when even mercy is against them? (Heb 10:26-29).