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 18:16
Neither hath oppressed any,.... See Gill on Ezekiel 18:7.
hath not withholden the pledge; or, hath not pledged the pledge (h). The meaning is, not that he had not given one, but had not taken one. So the Targum,
"the pledge he hath not taken;''
or, if he did, he did not keep it beyond the time the law directs, but restored it to him whose it was;
neither hath spoiled by violence, but hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment. The rest of the verse is the same with Ezekiel 18:7.
(h) "pignus non pignoravit", Vatablus; "pignus non acceperit in pignus", Pagninus; "pignori", Montanus.
