Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 18:10-20
God, by the prophet, having laid down the general rule of judgment, that he will render eternal life to those that patiently continue in well-doing, but indignation and wrath to those that do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness (Rom 2:7, Rom 2:8), comes, in these verses, to show that men's parentage and relation shall not alter the case either one way or other.
I. He applied it largely and particularly both ways. As it was in the royal line of the kings of Judah, so it often happens in private families, that godly parents have wicked children and wicked parents have godly children. Now here he shows,
1. That a wicked man shall certainly perish in his iniquity, though he be the son o…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Ezekiel 18:14
The third case: a son who walks not in the steps of an unrighteous father, but in the ways of God; for example, Josiah, the pious son of guilty Amon; Hezekiah, of Ahaz (2Ki. 16:1-20; 18:1-37; 21:1-22:20).
seeth . . . and considereth--The same Hebrew stands for both verbs, "seeth . . . yea, seeth." The repetition implies the attentive observation needed, in order that the son may not be led astray by his father's bad example; as sons generally are blind to parents sins, and even imitate them as if they were virtues.
Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 18:14
Now, lo, if he beget a son that seeth all his father's sins - and considereth - Lays to heart the evil of his father's life, and the dreadful consequences of a life of rebellion against God.
And doeth not such like - Is quite a different man in moral feeling and character; and acts up to the thirteen points already laid down.
John Gill on Ezekiel 18:15
That hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hath not defiled his neighbour's wife. See Gill on Ezekiel 18:6; where the same things are mentioned as here, and in the same order; only that clause, "neither hath come near to a menstruous woman", is here omitted.
