Ezekiel 18:5

But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right,

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(5) If a man be just.—At the opening and close of the statement in regard to the righteous man (Ezekiel 18:5; Ezekiel 18:9), he is described in general and comprehensive terms; while in the intermediate verses various particulars of an upright life are specified as examples of the whole. These particulars have reference, first, to religious duties (Ezekiel 18:6 a), then to moral obligations, such as the avoidance of adultery (Ezekiel 18:6 b), and finally to duties negative and positive towards one’s neighbour (Ezekiel 18:7-8). The whole, including Ezekiel 18:5; Ezekiel 18:9, may be considered as a terse summary of the practical duty of man.

Benson Commentary

Ezekiel 18:5-9. If a man be just — Or righteous, rather, as the word צדיק properly signifies; for it is not mere honesty, but true religion that is intended. And hath not eaten upon the mountains — Feasted on the sacrifices they offered to false gods. Idolatrous worship was commonly performed upon mountains or high places; and eating part of the sacrifice was properly maintaining communion with the idol to which it was offered. Neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols — In prayer and adoration. And hath restored to the debtor his pledge — That is, what he could not be in want of without great inconvenience; such as clothes, bedding, and the like. God forbade the Jews to detain all night any pledge of this kind which they took from a poor man, (see the margin,) which was, in effect, to enjoin them to lend to the poor, without either pawn or usury. Hath given his bread to the hungry — After the offices of justice, come those of charity or beneficence: see margin. That hath not given forth upon usury — Usury, when exacted of the poor, has been generally condemned as no better than oppression, and is particularly forbidden by the law: see the margin. It is probable this sort of usury is chiefly here meant, because it is joined with oppression, violence, and want of charity. Every kind and degree of usury, however, was forbidden to the Israelites among one another, to promote a spirit of mutual kindness. But this law was peculiar to them: like their not reaping the corners of their fields, and their not gleaning their vines and olive-trees. Neither hath taken any increase — This seems to be meant of taking any advantage of the poor upon any occasion: see note on Leviticus 25:36. Hath executed true judgment between man and man — Whenever he has been appointed a judge or an arbiter of differences between men; or, according as he has opportunity of doing it. Hath walked in my statutes, and kept my judgments — My ordinances and commandments, attending diligently to the various institutions of my worship, and living in continual obedience to my will as revealed in my word, and that from a principle of faith in, and love to me, Deuteronomy 6:5; and Deuteronomy 30:20; to deal truly — Uprightly and sincerely, according to the best of his knowledge; he is just — Righteous in a gospel sense. Righteousness has been imputed to him, Genesis 15:6; Psalm 32:1-2; and implanted in him, Deuteronomy 5:29; Deuteronomy 30:6; Psalm 51:10; otherwise it would not be thus practised by him. His person has been justified, and his nature renewed, otherwise he would neither have inclination nor power to walk thus before God in all well-pleasing. He shall surely live, saith the Lord God — Shall enjoy the comfort and reward of his obedience, and shall not need to fear any of those punishments that befall the wicked. He lives to God here, and shall live with him hereafter: see notes on Psalms 15.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

18:1-20 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 on account of his father's piety? Surely not. And should a wicked man have a son who walked before God as righteous, this man would not perish for his father's sins. If the son was not free from evils in this life, still he should be partaker of salvation. The question here is not about the meritorious ground of justification, but about the Lord's dealings with the righteous and the wicked.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

All souls are mine - Man is not simply to ascribe his existence to earthly parents, but to acknowledge as his Father Him who created man in His own image, and who gave and gives him the spirit of life. The relation of father to son is merged in the common relation of all (father and son alike) as sons to their heavenly Father.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

5. Here begins the illustration of God's impartiality in a series of supposed cases. The first case is given in Eze 18:5-9, the just man. The excellencies are selected in reference to the prevailing sins of the age, from which such a one stood aloof; hence arises the omission of some features of righteousness, which, under different circumstances, would have been desirable to be enumerated. Each age has its own besetting temptations, and the just man will be distinguished by his guarding against the peculiar defilements, inward and outward, of his age.

just … lawful … right—the duties of the second table of the law, which flow from the fear of God. Piety is the root of all charity; to render to each his own, as well to our neighbor, as to God.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

So far is God from perverse and froward partiality in his judgments, that none ever had cause to complain hereof.

If a man, without respect of persons, every one, whoever he be, be just; faultless and unstained, which may refer to his temper and disposition of mind; and if his conversation hath agreed with the law of God and rule of justice in all points, in private and public affairs among men.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

But if a man be just,.... Not legally, as to be wholly free from sin, for there is no such just man, Ecclesiastes 7:20; but evangelically, through the imputation of the righteousness of Christ unto him; and who has a principle of grace and holiness wrought in him; a man of a just principle and good conscience; who is disposed by the grace of God to that which is just and right; for this seems to refer to the inward frame of the mind, as distinct from actions, and as the source of them, as follows:

and do that which is lawful and right; or "judgment" (c) and "justice"; true judgment and justice, as the Targum; that which is just and right by the law of God, and is so between man and man; the particulars of which follow:

(c) "judiciam et justitiam", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, &c.

Geneva Study Bible

But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right,

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

5–20. 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 18:7-8; and (4) finally all these duties are brought under the conception of obedience to the commands of God, Ezekiel 18:9.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 5-9. - The verses that follow are noticeable as forming one of the most complete pictures of a righteous life presented in the Old Testament. It ads characteristic of Ezekiel that he starts from the avoidance of sins against the first table of the commandments. To eat upon the mountains was to take part in the sacrificial feasts on the places, of which he had already spoken (Ezekiel 16:16; comp. 22:9; Deuteronomy 12:2). The words, lifted up his eyes, as in Deuteronomy 4:19 and Psalm 121:1, implied every form of idolatrous adoration. The two sins that follow seem to us, as compared with each other, to stand on a very different footing. To Ezekiel, however, they both appeared as mala prohibita, to each of which the Law assigned the punishment of death (Leviticus 18:19; Leviticus 20:10, 18; Deuteronomy 22:22), each involving the dominance of animal passions, in the one case, over the sacred rights of others; in the other, over a law of self-restraint which rested partly on physical grounds, the act condemned frustrating the final cause of the union of the sexes; partly, also, on its ethical significance. The prominence given to it implies that the sin was common, and that it brought with it an infinite degradation of the holiest ties. Ezekiel 18:5

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The Righteous Man Shall Not Die

Ezekiel 18:5. If a man is righteous, and doeth right and righteousness, Ezekiel 18:6. And doth not eat upon the mountains, and doth not lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, and doth not defile his neighbour's wife, and doth not approach his wife in her uncleanness, Ezekiel 18:7. Oppresseth no one, restoreth his security (lit., debt-pledge), committeth no robbery, giveth his bread to the hungry, and covereth the naked with clothes, Ezekiel 18:8. Doth not give upon usury, and taketh not interest, withholdeth his hand from wrong, executeth judgment of truth between one and another, Ezekiel 18:9. Walketh in my statutes, and keepeth my rights to execute truth; he is righteous, he shall live, is the saying of the Lord "Jehovah." - The exposition of the assertion, that God only punishes the sinner, not the innocent, commences with a picture of the righteousness which has the promise of life. The righteousness consists in the fulfilment of the commandments of the law: viz., (1) those relating to religious duties, such as the avoidance of idolatry, whether of the grosser kind, such as eating upon the mountains, i.e., observing sacrificial festivals, and therefore sacrificing to idols (cf. Deuteronomy 12:2.), or of a more refined description, e.g., lifting up the eyes to idols, to look to them, or make them the object of trust, and offer supplication to them (cf. Psalm 121:1; Deuteronomy 4:19), as Israel had done, and was doing still (cf. Ezekiel 6:13); and (2) those relating to moral obligations, such as the avoidance of adultery (compare Exodus 20:14; Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:22; and for טמּא, Genesis 34:5), and of conjugal intercourse with a wife during menstruation, which was a defilement of the marriage relation (cf. Leviticus 18:19; Leviticus 20:18). All these sins were forbidden in the law on pain of death. To these there are appended duties to a neighbour (Ezekiel 18:7.), viz., to abstain from oppressing any one (Exodus 22:28; Leviticus 15:14, Leviticus 15:17), to restore the pledge to a debtor (Exodus 22:25; Deuteronomy 24:6, Deuteronomy 24:10.). חוב is hardly to be taken in any other sense than as in apposition to חבלתו, "his pledge, which is debt," equivalent to his debt-pledge or security, like דּרכּך זמּה in Ezekiel 16:27. The supposition of Hitzig, that חוב is a participle, like קום in 2 Kings 16:7, in the sense of debtor, is a far less natural one, and has no valid support in the free rendering of the lxx, ἐνεχυρασμὸν ὀφείλοντος. The further duties are to avoid taking unlawful possession of the property of another (cf. Leviticus 5:23); to feed the hungry, clothe the naked (cf. Isaiah 58:5; Matthew 25:26; James 2:15-16); to abstain from practising usury (Deuteronomy 23:20; cf. Exodus 22:24) and taking interest (Leviticus 25:36-37); in judicial sentences, to draw back the hand from wrong, and promote judgment of truth, - a sentence in accordance with the true nature of the case (see the comm. on Zechariah 7:9); and, lastly, to walk in the statutes and rights of the Lord, - an expression which embraces, in conclusion, all that is essential to the righteousness required by the law. - This definition of the idea of true righteousness, which preserves from death and destruction, and ensures life to the possessor, is followed in Ezekiel 18:10. by a discussion of the attitude which God sustains towards the sons.