Ezekiel 18:19

19. 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 Eze_18:20), the iniquity of the father? In opposition to this idea the prophet states his principle on both its sides, Eze_18:19-20.

Secondly, Eze_18:21-32. As men shall not be involved in the sins of their people or their fathers, so the individual soul shall not lie under the ban of its own past.

The sinner who turneth from his evil and doeth righteousness shall live in his righteousness, Eze_18:21-23. And on the other hand, the righteous man who turneth away from his righteousness and doeth evil shall die in his evil, Eze_18:24.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eze 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.

Ver. 19. Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father?] Thus these unreasonable refractories will not be said, but continue chatting against God, quasi dicant, certe tu non potes negare, &c. {a} Some are ατοποι; {2Th 3:2} they have no topics; there is no talking to them; they will not be set down with right reason.

When the son hath done that is lawful and right.] What a meek, sweet, and satisfactory answer doth God make to these importunate complainers against him! Here we have their replication and his duplication; as Eze 18:25, we have their triplication and his quadruplication. Oh the infinite patience of our good God!

{a} Piscator.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eze 18:19-20. Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father? — God here puts into the prophet’s mouth what he knew the Jews would object (at least in their minds) to the foregoing declarations, namely, that they would deny what the prophet had said on this head, and would appeal to facts and experience that the son did bear the iniquity of the father; so that the sense of the first clause of the verse is, Why do you affirm this? does not experience show that the son bears the iniquity of the father? Is it not plain and undeniable, notwithstanding your fine discourse to the contrary? To be sure, we feel the truth of it in our own cases. To this cavil God makes answer in the following words, affirming that this was no otherwise so than when the son followed the example of his father’s iniquity; for that, when the son did that which was lawful and right, and kept God’s statutes, or lived a life of true piety and virtue, he should surely live, that is, should not be punished, or cut off, on account of the iniquity of his father. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him — That is, the righteous shall receive the reward of his righteousness. And the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him — That is, the reward of his wickedness. As certainly as it shall be well with the righteous, because he shall eat the fruit of his doings, so certainly shall woful punishment be executed upon the wicked who persist in their wickedness: see Isa 3:10-11.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

OBJECTIONS TO THE PRECEDING STATEMENT OF GOD’S PRINCIPLES OF GOVERNMENT ARE NOW MET, Eze_18:19-30.

19. Yet say ye, Why? etc. — Rather, And say ye, Why doth not the son bear a part of the iniquity of the father? (also Eze_18:20.) The people were so imbued with the common notion that the father must control the son’s destiny that they again asked in great surprise how it could really be that the son did not share at all in the father’s guilt and penalty. To this the prophet merely reaffirms Jehovah’s way of dealing with the just and the unjust, as previously laid down and illustrated (Eze_18:5-24).

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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; for 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 to his own merits [FAIRBAIRN]. But GROTIUS supports English Version, wherein the Jews contradict the prophet, "Why (sayest thou so) doth not the son (often, as in our case, though innocent) bear (that is, suffer for) the iniquity of their father?" Ezekiel replies, It is not as you say, but as I in the name of God say: "When the son hath done," &c. English Version is simpler than that of FAIRBAIRN.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(19) Why? Doth not the son bear?—It would be clearer to read this as a single question, “Why doth not the son, &c?” It is the question proposed by the people in objection to what has been declared. To them it seemed the law of nature, the necessity of the case, the teaching of history, that the son should bear the iniquity of his father. Their ideas had not risen to the conception of man’s individual responsibility to God; to them the individual was still but a part of the nation or the family. They ask, therefore, why this universal law should now be reversed. It was not true that any law was reversed, it was only that the superior prevailed over the inferior law; but, as usual in such cases, the Divine word does not reason with the human objection, but in this and the following verse only reiterates most emphatically the law of individual responsibility.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The soul that sinneth, it shall die,.... This is repeated from Eze 18:4, for the further confirmation of it:

the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; that is, as the Targum paraphrases it,

"the son shall not be punished for the sins of the father, nor shall the father be punished for the sins of the son.''

This is to be understood of adult persons, and of actual sins; for of such only the prophet speaks throughout the whole chapter, or of temporal, and not of eternal punishment:

the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him; he shall be rewarded with temporal good things in this life, according to his righteousness; which, as the Targum says, shall "remain" upon him; see Psa 112:9; he shall eat of the fruit of his own doings, Isa 3:10; this is true of a man that is evangelically righteous, or is so through the imputation of Christ's righteousness to him; which is upon him as a robe to clothe him, and will always remain on him, being an everlasting righteousness, and will answer for him in a time to come:

and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him; and not another; his sin shall remain on him unatoned for, unexpiated, not taken away or forgiven; the punishment of it shall be on him, and abide upon him.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Notwithstanding this method of the Divine justice, which renders to every one his own work, and gives to every one the fruit of his own doings, ye, proud, quarrelling, self-justifying debauchees, idolaters, adulterers, murderers, usurers, oppressors, will not see your own sins, for which you are punished, but cry you are innocent, that your fathers sinned and you suffer.

Doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father? The prophet here brings in what he met with among them; still every where they insist on it that they deserved not by any sin of their own what they now suffered, and so would cast the sin and guilt on their fathers, and the rigour and severity on God, and clear themselves to all; which the prophet answers by a recapitulation of what he had more largely spoken, and avows it, that the righteous son of an unrighteous father shall live, and not die.

Kept all my statutes; as Psa 119:44.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Why? doth not the son, etc.? The words are better taken, with the LXX, Vulgate, Revised Version, and most critics, as a single question, Why doth not the son bear, etc.? What is the explanation of a fact which seemingly contradicts the teaching of the Law? The answer to the question seems at first only an iteration of what had been stated before. The son repents, and therefore does not bear his father"s iniquity. A man is responsible for his own sins, and for those only. To think otherwise is to think of God as less righteous than man.

Vers. 19-22. Personal responsibility.

We can only account for the Prophet Ezekiel laying such special stress upon the principle of individuality in religion by supposing that, in his time and among those with whom he associated, there was a prevalent disposition and habit leading to the denial of what seems to us an unquestionable truth. Indeed, in some form or other, men do incline to shift responsibility from themselves to their parents, their early teachers, their companions, the society in which their lot is cast.

I THE VAIN AND DECEPTIVE CONTENTION THAT THE MORAL QUALITY OF ONE GENERATION IS IMPUTED TO ANOTHER. This contention may take either of two forms.

1. The son of a good father is apt to rely upon his father"s goodness. Thereis no doubt that such a one may inherit much that is advantageous, e.g. a good constitution, a happy temperament, a good introduction to life, the favourable regard of many helpful friends. And it is sometimes forgotten that all this does not interfere with responsibility; in fact, he who is so highly favoured is thereby raised to a higher level of accountability. Much is given, and much will be required.

2. The son of a bad father is apt to excuse his faults by casting the blamefor them upon the transmission of evil influences by heredity, or upon circumstances traceable to family relationships. It is the case that such a person starts heavily weighted upon the race of life; his temptations to error and sin are many and urgent, and restraining influences are weakened. Allowances are made by men, and no doubt by God also, for such disadvantages; but they do not destroy the moral responsibility of the free agent.

II THE WITNESS OF THE CONSCIENCE TO INDIVIDUAL AND INALIENABLE RESPONSIBILITY. Reference has been made to the attempts too often made by shiners to cast their responsibility upon others. But it may unhesitatingly be asserted that those who put forward such excuses are never themselves convinced by them. In their hearts they are well aware that there is no sincerity in such excuses, that they are mere subterfuges. The conscience within, which accuses and excuses, gives no uncertain sound. The religious teacher, the Christian preacher, who seeks to convince men of sin has the assurance that the inner monitor of his hearers supports his endeavour, that he neither upbraids nor pleads alone. When the Lord God exclaims by the voice of his prophet, "Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?" every man, convicted by his conscience, is reduced to silence; for there is no reply to be made. When conscience is awakened, its witness is plain and unmistakable.

III THE EXPRESS AND AUTHORITATIVE STATEMENT OF GOD"S OWN WORD AS TO MAN"S INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNTABILITY. The language of this chapter is peculiarly explicit upon this matter. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die; the righteous shall surely live, he shall not die." And these statements are in harmony with the whole tenor of Scripture teaching. The Bible magnifies man"s personality, and never represents man as a machine, an organism. Each living soul stands in its own relation to the Father of spirits, before whom every moral and free nature must appear to render an account for itself, and not for another. The teaching of our Lord and of his apostles is as definite and decided upon this point as the teaching of the Lawgiver and the prophets of the earlier dispensation. We are throughout Scripture consistently taught that there is no evading the great account. T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Why does the son not bear the iniquity of his father?

Yahweh speaks of a person being responsible for or guilty of iniquity as if the iniquity were an object that the person carries. AT: "Why is the son not responsible for the iniquity of his father?" or "Why is the son not guilty of the iniquity of his father?" (See: Metaphor)

The righteousness of the one who acts rightly will be on himself

For righteousness to be on a person is an idiom that means the person is responsible for that righteousness. AT: "The one who acts rightly will be responsible for his own righteousness" (See: Idiom)

the wickedness of the wicked will be on himself

For wickedness to be on a person is an idiom that means the person is responsible for that wickedness. AT: "the wicked person will be responsible for his own wickedness" (See: Idiom)

translationWords

son

iniquity

ancestor

just

righteous

statute

life

sin

die

evil

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.