25<\/strong>. Yet ye say, The way equal<\/em> ] And<\/strong> ye say. The “way” of the Lord is the principle on which he acts, or his action on it, Isa 55:8<\/span>, cf. ch. Eze 33:17<\/span>; Eze 33:20<\/span>. The objection of the people may really have been expressed (cf. Eze 18:19<\/em><\/span>). The prophet’s principle of the freedom of the individual and his independence was a novelty running counter to cherished notions of that age, notions corroborated by much that is seen in history and life. The instance of Korah, whose children perished with him for his sin, the case of Achan, whose transgression was imputed to the whole camp, the history of Jonathan, and no doubt multitudes of instances were familiar to the people where men were treated as bodies and the individuals shared the fate of the mass though personally innocent. To us now the prophet’s principle is self-evident. Still even to us it is only a theoretical principle, and can be maintained against facts only by drawing a distinction, which the people in Israel had not yet learned to draw, between the spiritual relation of the mind to God and the external history of the individual. See end of chapter.<\/p>\n Equal – <\/B>literally, weighed out, balanced. Mans ways are arbitrary, Gods ways are governed by a self-imposed law, which makes all consistent and harmonious.<\/P><\/p>\n Eze 18:25<\/span><\/p>\n Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal.<\/em><\/p>\n Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not My way equal? Are not your ways unequal? <\/em><\/p>\n On the unequal distribution of happiness and misery<\/strong><\/p>\n Let us suppose an attentive observer to take a general view of the situation in which mankind is placed. The first thing that would strike him would probably be the variety of conveniences and comforts distributed around him, which are neither earned by his own merit nor produced by his own care. This would lead him to a second observation, that many, and the most essential, of these conveniences and comforts are bestowed promiscuously, and without exception, on the whole race of mankind: the sun rises on the evil and on the good, and the rain descends on the just and on the unjust. What other conclusion could he draw from these two observations than that the Power above us is friendly to mankind? From this pleasing prospect the observer might turn his attention to the evils and miseries which attend on human life. What are we to infer from hence? Is it that God is a capricious Being, or that He has pleasure in the misery, as well as in the happiness, of His creatures? To solve this question, we may observe a remarkable difference between the two cases: the benefits, which are common to all mankind, are numerous and important, and are enjoyed, without intermission, every day and every hour. On the contrary, the evils common to all mankind, if any there be, are much fewer than is usually supposed, and only occur on particular emergencies. How far even death, which is the only universal lot, is really in itself an evil, distinct from the pain which is supposed to attend it, has never yet been ascertained; and the pains of death are by no means common to the whole human race: many die instantaneously without any pain, and many in lingering diseases without a pang or a groan. It is not certain, therefore, that there is any one evil existing which affects, necessarily and inevitably, the whole race of mankind. I might add, in this place, that the evils complained of serve to answer many wise purposes of discipline and probation. Hitherto we have considered those benefits and those evils which arise from Gods own appointment, without any merit or demerit of our own. Let us next consider those which are the consequences of our own conduct. In this view the first thing that would strike an attentive observer would probably be that many vicious actions are attended with regular and constant effects, and carry a sort of punishment along with them. It would next be observed, that there are virtues also which bring their own benefits along with them: temperance and regularity lead to health and long life; industry and diligence to affluence and plenty; good faith and sincerity promote esteem and regard; and patience, equanimity, and command of temper lay the foundation for happiness, and form a constituent part of it. Yet still an observer might take notice, that the good effects of virtue are not in any degree so certain or constant as the ill effects of vice. This fact is remarkable, and deserves to be seriously considered. It seems to prove, that the distribution of good and evil, of happiness and misery, which arises from our own actions, our own virtues and vices, is regulated by a different and even opposite law, from that distribution of happiness and misery which comes immediately and gratuitously, from the hand of God. In the latter, the benefits and favours which we receive from God are more numerous, as we have seen, are more extensive, more constant, and more certain than the evils which we suffer. In the former, where our own actions, our virtues and vices are concerned, the evils and punishments of vice are more numerous, more constant, and more certain than the benefits or rewards of virtue. Shall we say, then, in this case, that God is inconsistent, or that He is less a friend to virtue than an enemy to vice? Not so, says the text.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>In the first place, you will readily allow it to be highly conducive to our piety and devotion that the dispensations of Almighty God Himself, which are unconnected with any human virtues or vices, should be, as becomes him, everywhere distinguished by marks of kindness, beneficence, and bounty.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>In the next place, it is highly conducive to our religious and moral improvement, that virtue should not, in this life, be attended with its distinct and immediate reward. The magnificent idea held forth by Christianity, of the value in which virtue ought to be held, would be totally done away; it would be to appreciate that which is beyond all price; to demand prematurely a momentary reward here, for that which, in the sight of God, and through faith in the merits of Christ, no earthly enjoyment and immortal happiness alone can repay.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>In the last place, it is highly conducive to our moral improvement that vice, on the contrary, should in many cases be attended with immediate punishment. It is evident that this is not an instance of Gods severity, but rather of His clemency and mercy. It restrains the sinner, in kindness, before it is too late, from treasuring up wrath, etc. It tends to check no one virtue which we have, and is the school in which we are best taught the virtues which we have not. (W. Pearce, D. D.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The inequalities of life<\/strong><\/p>\n The way of God and the ways of man<\/strong><\/p>\n There is no foundation for an intelligent faith without the admission that Gods attributes are unchangeable and His will as inscrutable as His being; that He is and was and is to come, the same yesterday and today and forever. It is not mans mission to vindicate the way of God to understandings which will not receive the impressions of faith and the reasoning of love. He who undertakes by what he may call wise arguments to prove to the discontented heart that God is love will lose his labour, and may perhaps be himself made captive by the unbelief he rashly attacks. The same power which is to convince the world of sin must also convince it of righteousness. The answer to every cavil is the offer of eternal life, without money and without price, to all. They complain of their lost inheritance, and a nobler inheritance is offered in exchange; they resent the imputation of their fathers guilt, and they are called upon to turn from their own, and then for their punishment they shall receive a double reward in the life of their soul, which he who loses shall gain nothing if he gain the whole world, and he who gains may well afford to lose home and lands and all earthly possessions and advantages if it be Gods will to deprive him of them. It is in the simplicity and universal application of this invitation of mercy that the Lord is content to risk the vindication of His goodness. His purpose has been single and its scope universal, and its means undeviatingly the same, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Away then with that delusion which holds that law has succeeded law, covenant superseded covenant, in such a sense that at one time salvation was by works, at another time by faith; once by the work of man, now by the work of Christ. He was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The law was and is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ; the law and the prophets testified of Him. Men may find fault with the ways of God, because He does not by large miracles pour out the flood of His Spirit upon the heathen; but the Lord replies, What have My people done to spread the knowledge I have given them? It is of the nature of light to expand its rays, and nothing but wilful obstructions can hinder it; why has the Church hidden her light? why have Christian nations neglected their mission? why have labourers been wanting when the field was ready for harvest? How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? how shall they hear except the Word be sent unto them? That complaint which, if not loudest heard, is most widely spread and most deeply rankles in the heart of man, arises out of the inequalities of fortune, the manifold chances and changes of this mortal life, whereby the wicked prosper while the righteous struggle, fools are set in high places while pious wisdom dies in obscurity, rich men are clothed in purple and fine linen while Lazaruses are laid at their gate full of sores; indifference has peace while sensitive hearts yearning for holiness and rest are left melancholy and disconsolate, despairing of the peace that is theirs, and making themselves labour out of their earnest search for rest. Heed not the prosperity of the unrighteous; load not your souls with the burthen of envy, and murmur not at comparisons which a moment of Gods wrath may show to be vain; though you be poor and of sad spirit, lonely and uncheerful, afflicted with the ills of life and partaker of few of its blessings; though sin and its perplexities may harass you; though happiness be to you a thing of the past, wrapt up in fruitless memories and darkened by shadows from the grave; though trouble should come or has come upon you;–let not the petulance of sorrow charge its weariness upon the caprice of a Father, the faithfulness of whose mercy and the perfection of whose judgments and the consistency of whose way are in nothing more certainly manifested than in the troubles whereby out of the curse of sin He brings the grace of everlasting life. In conclusion; remember that the way of the Lord in His dealings with man is equal, impartial, consistent. The way of His providence is equal, for all things work together for good to them who love God; the way of His grace is equal, for it is and ever has been comprised in the person of Jesus Christ; His providence waits upon His grace, and the purpose of both is the salvation of our souls. (A. J. Macleane, M. A.<\/em>)<\/p>\n Yet ye say; <\/B>you persist in your hard, unjust, and ungodly sentiments of an inequality in my ways, and are not afraid to speak as much. <\/P> The way:<\/B> it were too much for sinners to charge God with inequality in a single act, but here are some dare censure the way, the whole management of affairs. <\/P> Of the Lord:<\/B> strange frowardness! own him for Lord, yet condemn his government; grant his sovereign authority, and yet arraign the exercise of it! <\/P> Is not equal; <\/B>not right, steady, or consistent with his own declaration and law; so the Hebrew. This prodigiously wicked assertion they build upon a most gross ignorance, and intolerably proud conceit of their own righteousness: We, say they, are righteous, not wicked, yet punished. Unheard-of pride, to condemn God, with whom is no iniquity, and acquit themselves, in whom is all iniquity! <\/P> Hear now; <\/B>consider what I have proposed to clear my justice, hear me and my defence ere you condemn me, weigh well my defence. O house of Israel; both you that are in Jerusalem, and you also that are in Babylon at Telabib. <\/P> Is not my way equal?<\/B> Do you speak what you think, does your judgment thus conclude, when you know, or might know, that this is the general rule I proceed by, The righteousness of the righteous is upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked is upon him? Can there be inequality here? Your ways which you choose, keep, plead for, and obstinately hold to, these are the crooked, unsteady, and unjust ways: for the question is to be resolved into a vehement asseveration. <\/P> <\/p>\n 25.<\/B> Their plea for saying, “Theway of the Lord is not equal,” was that God treated differentclasses in a different way. But it was really their way that wasunequal, since living in sin they expected to be dealt with as ifthey were righteous. God’s way was invariably to deal with differentmen according to their deserts.<\/P><\/p>\n Yet ye say<\/strong>,…. Notwithstanding these plain instances, which show the equity of God in his proceedings, and vindicate his justice in the dispensations of his providence; yet such was the blindness and stupidity of these people, or rather their stubbornness, obstinacy, and impudence, that they still insisted upon it that<\/p>\n the way of the Lord is not equal<\/strong>; just and right; is not even, according to the rules of justice and equity; or is not ordered aright, is not steady, and firm, and consistent with himself, and the declaration of his will; a very bold and blasphemous charge, and yet the Lord condescends to reason with them about it:<\/p>\n hear now, O house of Israel<\/strong>; the ten tribes that were now in captivity; or the Jews that were carried captive with Jeconiah, with those that were still in Jerusalem and Judea; these are called upon to hear the Lord, what he had to say in vindication of himself from this charge, as it was but just and reasonable they should:<\/p>\n is not my way equal<\/strong>? plain and even, constant and uniform, according to the obvious rules of justice and truth? can any instance be given to the contrary? what is to be said to support the charge against me? bring forth your strong reasons if you cart, and prove what is asserted:<\/p>\n are not your ways unequal<\/strong>? it is plain they are; your actions, your course of life, are manifest deviations from my law, and from all the rules of righteousness and goodness; it is you that are in the wrong, and I in the right.<\/p>\n The Prophet here shows that those who used the vulgar taunt — that the children’s teeth were set on edge, because their fathers had eaten sour grapes — had broken away from all restraint; and nothing further remained to hinder them from uttering their blasphemies arrogantly against God: but their insolence and madness now increases when they say that God’s ways are not equal. And this is discerned in almost all hypocrites: at first they indirectly find fault with God, and yet pretend not to do so: while they endeavor to excuse themselves, they accuse him of injustice, and of too much rigor, yet they do not openly break out into such impiety as to dare to charge God with this crime: but after they profit nothing by their double dealing, the devil inflames them to such a pitch of boldness that they hesitate not openly to condemn God himself. The Prophet refers to this when he says that this disgraceful saying was bandied about among the Israelites, that the ways of the Lord are unequal. Lest, therefore, we should happen to resist God, and to contend with him, let us learn to restrain our rashness in good time before he becomes enraged against us. As soon as any thoughts spring up, tending to reflect upon the character of the Almighty, let us quickly restrain them; for if we do not, they will entangle us by degrees, and draw us into the extremity of folly, and then no sense of either religion or shame will deter us from open rebellion against God. But it is worth while noticing the source of this impiety: first of all, when we think of men’s relation to God, they should be ashamed to rise up against their Maker: for the clay does not cry out against the potter; and we are a hundredfold more insignificant than the clay, with reference to God. (Isa 45:9<\/span>; Rom 9:20<\/span>.) <\/p>\n But let us come to another consideration. We know with how much greater clearness the angels are able reverently to adore God’s wisdom than the human race. What, therefore, must we do? Not only is God’s wisdom incomprehensible, but his justice is the most perfect rule of all justice. Now, if we desire to pass opinions upon God’s works according to our own perceptions, and to weigh them in our balance, what else are we doing but passing judgment upon him? But we must remember that passage of Isaiah, As I live, says Jehovah, every knee shall bend before me, and every tongue shall swear by me. (Isa 45:23<\/span>.) Paul, too, is a faithful interpreter of this sentiment, when he forbids mortals to judge arrogantly, by saying, we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ (Rom 14:10<\/span>.) Since, then, it will be necessary for us to render an account before Christ heavenly tribunal, we must now acquiesce in God’s judgments; because, when at length our license has entirely spent itself, and our petulance has had its full scope, God will be our judge. We see, therefore, that when men claim to themselves the right of daring to pronounce their own opinions on God’s work, they first subject his wisdom to their own fictions, and then feel too much hostility and contempt towards his justice. But this one thing ought to be sufficient, that men are too forgetful of their own condition when they dare to open their mouth against their Maker, not only to murmur, but openly to condemn him, as if they were his superiors. Let us then obey the contrary rule; let us with sobriety and modesty learn to look upon those works of God which are unknown to us, and to concede to him the praise of supreme wisdom, although his counsels seem at first sight contradictory. Hosea also briefly reminds us of this. For after God had promised that he would be merciful to the people, and when he had discoursed on the slaughter which he had inflicted, he says, that at length he would heal them: he adds, Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? (Hos 14:9<\/span>\ud83d\ude09 because many might have thought it inconsistent to remit so many sins for the abandoned people; and others might object that what they heard was utterly incredible and absurd, since God suffered the people to be utterly torn to pieces, so that no hope remained. For this reason, then, the Prophet exclaims, that we have need of rare and singular prudence to comprehend and embrace that teaching. When he says, “who is wise?” it signifies that the number is but small of those who will wait patiently till God really fulfills his promises. Yet he adds, because the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them; but the impious shall stumble and perish. When he speaks here of the ways of the Lord, he does not mean only precepts, though the Scriptures often take the word in this sense; but he means the whole order of government which God upholds, and all the judgments which he exercises. He says, therefore, that all the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them, since the just will give God the glory calmly, and with the proper docility; and when they are agitated by various doubts, and through their infirmity are ever in a ferment through the force of many temptations, yet they will always repose on the providence of God, and briefly determine, by cutting off every occasion for long and perplexing and thorny questions, that God is just. Thus the just walk in the ways of the Lord, because they submit to all his works. <\/p>\n He says also, that the impious stumble and fall; for as soon as they begin to think that God does not act rightly or prudently, they are rebellious, and are carried away by blind impulse, and their pride at length hurries them headlong into madness. Thus they stumble in the ways of the Lord: because, as we see in this passage, they vomit forth their blasphemies against God. Hence we ought, to be influenced by this course of action, namely, adoring with humility the counsel of God, although to us incomprehensible, and attributing the praise of justice to all his works, though in our opinion they may not correspond, or be consistent with each other. — This, then, is the sum of the whole. Although the Prophet speaks of the penalties which God inflicts on the reprobate, and of the reward which he has laid up for the just, yet we ought to ascend still higher; and if God in his deeds seems to pervert the whole course of justice, yet we should always be sustained by this bridle — he is just; and if his deeds are disapproved by us, it arises from our error and ignorance. For example, we not only contend with God when he seems not to repay us a just reward for our good works, or when he seems too severe towards us; but when his eternal election is discussed, we immediately roar out, because we cannot penetrate to so great a height: the pious, indeed, are not altogether free from perplexing doubts which disturb them, but they restrain themselves directly as I have said. But some restive men break out in this way, — I do not comprehend — I do not understand: hence God is unjust. We see how many blusterers in the present day betray their desperate impudence, whence this teaching should recur to our minds — the ways of God are right. But since we do not perceive how it is so, another clause is added, that our ways are not right; that is, that all our senses are defective, and our intellect blinded, and that we are all so corrupt that our judgment is perverted. If, therefore, we conclude with the Prophet, that our ways are not right, the glory of God’s justice will remain untarnished and entire. Afterwards he adds — <\/p>\n (25) The way of the Lord is not equal.<\/strong>The word means literally, weighed out, balanced. <\/em>The accusation of the Israelites was still (here and in Eze. 18:29<\/span>) that the Lord was arbitrary and unjust. His statement in reply is that He rewards and punishes according to eternal and immutable principles of right. Every man must reap that which he has sown. (Comp. Rom. 2:5-10<\/span>.)<\/p>\n 25<\/strong>. <\/strong> The way of the Lord is not equal <\/strong> This is an objection raised by some of his hearers to the novel argument which the prophet has just developed. Is it indeed true that hereafter individual guilt shall determine individual punishment? (Eze 18:3<\/span>; Eze 18:20<\/span>.) Certainly heretofore in God’s dealings with men the guiltless individual has often suffered with the guilty (Joshua vii; 1 Samuel 14<\/span>, etc.). Was the unchangeable God about to change his dealings with his people, or was Ezekiel mistaken in his interpretation of the principles of retribution? This was the dilemma thrown into the teeth of the prophet. His reply was simply a strong, distinct reaffirmation of the principles already stated. He would not argue. He would not discuss theoretical questions; he would not even attempt to explain and justify God’s actions. He merely, with great emphasis, repeated the principles of God’s government as they had been revealed to him. The judge of all the earth would do right. Jehovah could not permit final injustice. In the ultimate outcome disobedience and iniquity would work ruin and death (Eze 18:26<\/span>; Eze 18:30<\/span>), while righteousness would keep the soul alive (Eze 18:27<\/span>). The righteous man “shall not die” (Eze 18:28<\/span>). We may well regret that Ezekiel did not elaborate and defend his theodicy. The generations would have been enriched by such an exposition. To harmonize the unjust inequalities of earthly condition with God’s justice has been a puzzle to all thinkers, from Job (Job 10:2-3<\/span>) and Asaph (Psa 73:11-14<\/span>) to the present time. Unbelievers in every age have been quick to decide that Ezekiel was wrong, declaring that experience contradicts his assertion that outward fortune, “either of the nation or the individual, is determined by the moral condition” (so also Kuenen, Prophet and Prophecy, <\/em> pp. 353, 354). But pious souls throughout universal Christendom have always believed that the prophet was right; and not only so, but more and more the student of history is being convinced that there is a power in the world that “makes for righteousness.” Moral quality is a determining factor in the life of the man and the nation greater than heredity or environment. Ezekiel did not mean to say that every disagreeable manifestation of fortune was a manifestation of God’s disapproval. He could not have overlooked the distinction between punishment and misfortune. The innocent may suffer temporary calamity which works good to the sufferer but such calamity is not punishment. Ezekiel knew many calamities in Israelitish history in which the guiltless had been involved with the guilty, and his favorite study was that law in which Jehovah had himself declared that the sins of the father should be visited on the children (Exo 20:5<\/span>; Exo 34:7<\/span>; Lev 26:39-40<\/span>; Num 14:18<\/span>); but he knew also that God was just, and therefore a just retribution or reward would at last overtake the sinner and the righteous. (Compare Methodist Hymnal, <\/em> 596.) He also knew that the calamity about to fall upon Israel which had been prophesied for many years was a divine punishment for sin, a punishment which might not yet be fully inflicted if they would turn and walk in the ways of their fathers and show themselves obedient to the word of God and the voice of his prophet. Ezekiel was chiefly concerned to meet the objections of his immediate hearers by bringing to their consciences a sense of guilt. However truly the proverb of the sour grapes might apply to some cases, it could not apply to this. They were guilty and were being justly punished, and could only escape by humble repentance. Yet, while this was the immediate purpose of the prophet, he did succeed in laying down certain universal principles concerning the sovereignty of the individual soul, and the irrevocability with which death follows unrepented sin, and life follows consistent and persistent virtue principles which were adopted afterward by Jesus and his disciples, and which are accepted to-day as ethical axioms of Christianity. Did this man, who, centuries in advance of his time, established these far-reaching principles, have any glimpse of a future life where the men whom God “took” (Gen 5:24<\/span>) lived on with God, and where earthly inequalities would be rectified, and did he actually see in the terms “life” and “death” some of that spiritual meaning which the Great Teacher afterward found there? Or did he suppose himself to be announcing merely the ideal principles of an ideal government which should come into operation upon the establishment of his ideal commonwealth? (40-48.) We cannot tell. In either case he “spake not of himself,” but as he was moved upon by the Holy Ghost. He may have had only a dim imperfect conception of the inner meaning of what he said. But, knowingly or unknowingly, he was the first great preacher of the blessed gospel that death, as a penalty for sin, never falls upon the righteous, that the righteous man never dies, that no man is the slave of circumstances, that even the hardened sinner may repent and receive a new heart, and that absolute justice is in some way compatible with everlasting mercy, and that both are being exercised even in this world, with all its mysteries and proud injustice and suffering innocence. Ezekiel’s certainty of conviction and tremendous grasp of faith, as he grappled with this momentous question of the centuries, amazes and thrills us. He did not creep up “the great world’s altar stairs” stretching lame hands and faintly trusting a larger hope; his was a more sublime and confident faith in God’s truth and the truth of his revelation.<\/p>\n “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not equal’.”<\/p>\n The unusual use here of ‘the Lord’ by itself (see also Eze 18:29<\/span> and contrast the usual ‘Lord Yahweh’) suggests that this had become a standard grievance of the people, so much so that it had taken a stereotyped form. They considered that God was not being fair to them. What they meant was that He was not fitting into the norms that they had laid down. They considered that guilt belonged to the group, and therefore to everyone in the group. And no doubt they considered that the group to which they belonged was of the better sort.<\/p>\n But they did not like God facing each of them up with their own sin. Of what benefit then was it that they had righteous forebears? Of what benefit that their family had a name as being ‘respectable’ and ‘religious’? Of what benefit that they walked in the way of their fathers, honouring them by doing as they did? Of what benefit that they were the people of the covenant, even if they had only followed it half-heartedly? God’s reply was ‘none’, and they did not like it. They did not like being faced with personal responsibility, and they considered it unfair.<\/p>\n DISCOURSE: 1107 Eze 18:25-30<\/span>. Ye say, the way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal? When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die. Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die. Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal? Therefore I will judge you, 0 house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin<\/em>.<\/p>\n THERE is a general disposition in man to reply against God; and rather to arraign his justice, than to condemn himself. Occasion was taken for this by the Jews of old, even from the declarations of the law and the prophets. The law had said, that God would visit the sins of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation; and the prophets had frequently declared, that the iniquities of Jeroboam, Manasseh, and others, should be visited on their descendants. From hence the Jews profanely characterized the Divine procedure by this proverb, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the childrens teeth are set on edge [Note: ver. 2.]. They did not consider, that they themselves were sinners like unto their fathers, and merited for their own iniquities every judgment which God had threatened to lay upon them; nor did they ever consider, that if God was pleased to exercise forbearance towards some, he was not necessitated to continue it towards all, when he saw that the very exercise of it emboldened men the more to sin against him: nor did they ever consider, that the menaces, which were uttered in reference to temporal judgments, were erroneously interpreted, when they were applied to the judgments of the eternal world. The prophet therefore was instructed to expostulate with them on their misinterpretation of Gods word; and to declare to them, that though in this world children must unavoidably participate in the judgments of their fathers, it should not be so in the world to come: there<\/em> the son should not bear in any respect the iniquity of the father, nor the father of the son; but the soul that sinned, it should die. In confirmation of this truth, the prophet argues with them in this chapter, wherein the whole plan of the Divine proceedings<\/em>, in reference to the different characters of mankind, is stated, vindicated<\/em>, and improved<\/em>. It is,<\/p>\n I.<\/p>\n Stated<\/p>\n If the righteous man turn away from his righteousness, and die in his sins, he shall perish Hear this then, ye professors of religion, ye who are accounted righteous, and who think yourselves righteous; ye may turn away from your righteousness, and perish. O let this consideration lead you to the utmost vigilance, and stimulate you to the most unremitting exertions in the path of duty!] One would think that such a procedure as this should not stand in any need of vindication: but men, not with standing the obvious and undoubted equity of it, will complain of it as unjust.] II.<\/p>\n Vindicated<\/p>\n Inequality indeed there is in abundance on the part of men Such are their modes of arguing on the subject of Gods final judgment. But we ask, What equity is there in such expectations as these? Is it equitable that a man who lives altogether without God in the world, should be placed on the same footing with one who devotes himself entirely to God? Is it equitable that a man who possesses no more than a form of godliness, should find the same favour with God as one who lives under the continued influence of its power? Is it equitable that a professor of religion who in no respect adorns his holy profession, should be honoured of God like one who is a bright pattern of every virtue, and daily increasing in a conformity to his Lord and Saviour? We ask, Is there any equity in such things? Will any reasonable being venture to say, that such a procedure is becoming a God of holiness and truth?] The prophet, assuming that after this statement there must be an end of the controversy, shews how these determinations of God should be,<\/p>\n III.<\/p>\n Improved<\/p>\n It is to no purpose that God has declared these truths, if they have not a practical operation on our minds.<\/p>\n The prophet therefore improves the subject for us, by a word, Of direction; Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions<\/p>\n [Repentance is necessary for every child of man: God commandeth all men every where to repent. But it is not a partial repentance that will suffice: we must turn from all<\/em> our transgressions: there must be no exceptions, no reserves; no right eye, which we will not pluck out; no right hand, which we will not cut off. The profane sinner<\/em> must abandon all his evil ways, and turn unto God with his whole heart. The proud formalist<\/em> must renounce all his self-dependence, and must live a life of faith on the Lord Jesus Christ, and a life of entire devotedness of heart to God. The inconsistent professor<\/em> also must be brought to a sense of his peculiar guilt and danger; and must become like his blessed Lord and Saviour in all his tempers and dispositions, in all his spirit and deportment towards God and man.<\/p>\n True it is, that these things cannot be done by any power of our own: but this is no reason that we should not address ourselves to the work; nor will it be any excuse for not accomplishing the work, since God has promised to give his Holy Spirit unto all that ask him, and has assured us that his grace shall be sufficient for us. This then is the direction which all must follow; and the foregoing statement clearly shews how important it is that we should follow it earnestly and without delay.]<\/p>\n 2.<\/p>\n Of encouragement; So iniquity shall not be your ruin<\/p>\n [Iniquity must be our ruin, if we do not thus repent: nothing can save us: God himself, if we may so speak, cannot save us; because he cannot depart from the rules which he has prescribed to himself for his procedure in the last day. However much he may desire to extend mercy to us, he will not do it to the dishonour of his own perfections, and to the destruction of all the established principles of his moral government. No: except we repent, we must all inevitably and eternally perish. But if we thus repent, all will be well: our iniquities, whatever they may have been, shall all be put away from us, as far as the east is from the west. Hear the declaration of the Most High God: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon [Note: Isa 55:7<\/span>.]. O let this sink down into our ears: let it encourage us to put away all our hard thoughts of God, and to seek him with our whole hearts. Let us search and try our ways: let us bring ourselves to the touchstone of Gods unerring word: let us now so judge ourselves, that we may not hereafter be judged of the Lord: and, if a fear arise in our minds that our sins are too great to be forgiven, let this thought comfort us, that where sin has abounded, grace shall much more abound; and that, as sin has reigned unto death, even so shall grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.]<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Eze 18:25 Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?<\/p>\n Ver. 25. Yet ye say.<\/strong> ] Ye will still hold your own, and no reason shall persuade you. A stubborn man standeth as a stake in a stream, lets all pass by him, but he standeth still where he was. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Is not my way equal?<\/strong> ] This he had said before but he saith it again, D . Cicero, aggravating the fact of a parricide, useth these words, Matrem tuam occidisti: quid dicam amplius? Matrem tuam occidisti<\/em> – Thou hast killed thy mother, man: what should I say more? then hast killed thy mother, I tell thee. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Are not your ways unequal?<\/strong> ] They are so, and that apparently: but that your mouth is out of taste, and ye cannot relish truth; your eyes are sore, and ye cannot behold the sunbeams; you are prejudiced, biased, perverted.<\/p>\n the LORD. This is one of the 134 places where the Sopherim say that they changed “Jehovah” of the primitive text to “Adonai”. See App-32. <\/p>\n equal, See note on “pondereth”, Pro 21:2, unequal. Note the Figure of speech Anticategoria (App-6). <\/p>\n Eze 18:25-28<\/p>\n Eze 18:25-28<\/p>\n “Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel: Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal? When the righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth therein; in his iniquity that he hath done, shall he die. Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. Because he considereth and turneth away from all his transgressions, he shall surely live, he shall not die.”<\/p>\n “The earnestness with which Ezekiel here pleads with Israel concerning the righteousness and justice of God’s ways shows that he is addressing people who simply do not want to believe it, as witness Eze 18:25; Eze 18:29.<\/p>\n way: Eze 18:29, Eze 33:17, Eze 33:20, Job 32:2, Job 34:5-10, Job 35:2, Job 40:8, Job 42:4-6, Mal 2:17, Mal 3:13-15, Mat 20:11-15, Rom 3:5, Rom 3:20, Rom 9:20, Rom 10:3 <\/p>\n my: Gen 18:25, Deu 32:4, Psa 50:6, Psa 145:17, Jer 12:1, Zep 3:5, Rom 2:5, Rom 2:6 <\/p>\n are: Psa 50:21, Jer 2:17-23, Jer 2:29-37, Jer 16:10-13 <\/p>\n Reciprocal: 1Sa 12:7 – reason Job 8:3 – God Job 33:12 – thou Job 33:23 – to Psa 17:2 – things Psa 18:25 – thou wilt Isa 59:13 – lying Hos 7:13 – spoken Hos 14:9 – for Mat 25:24 – I knew Luk 19:21 – because Rom 2:2 – judgment<\/p>\n Eze 18:25. Any accusation made against the Lord would be false, but this one was especially foolish in view of the declarations just made about the dealing meted out toward man. It shows that He treated all persons in an impartial manner in that a man’s past conduct, whether good or bad, was not used as a basis for the treatment of him at present. In spite of this, the people of Israel accused God of using ways that were not equal, which means that he was partial in his dealings.<\/p>\n Eze 18:25-29. Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal, &c. Yet ye allege that I do not act according to the strict rules of justice and equity: but the declarations I have so often repeated concerning the eternal rewards and punishments allotted to the righteous and the wicked, are sufficient to vindicate the justice of my proceedings against all your objections. When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, &c. It is an opinion that prevails among the Jews, even till this day, that at the day of judgment a considerable number of good actions shall overbalance mens evil ones. See Eze 33:13. So they thought it a hard case for a man who had been righteous the far greater part of his life, if he did at last commit iniquity, that his former righteousness should avail him nothing. In opposition to this doctrine, God here declares that a righteous man sinning and not repenting, should die in his sins; and that a wicked man, upon his repentance, should save his soul alive. Lowth. Again, when the wicked man, &c. These verses are, as it were, a repetition of what had been said before; or rather, the conclusion of the matter, or the whole of the chapter summed up and brought to a point; namely, that men suffer the divine punishments only on account of their sins; that they cannot enjoy the divine favour while they continue in sin; and that, in order to obtain it, it is indispensably necessary that they should turn from all their transgressions and become new creatures, and that even former righteousness cannot obtain for them, or preserve to them, the favour of God, while they relapse into and continue in subsequent iniquity. In a word, that sin and wickedness are the sole objects of Gods aversion and indignation, and holiness and righteousness of his favour and approbation.<\/p>\n 18:25 Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not {h} equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal?<\/p>\n (h) In punishing the father with the children.<\/p>\n In spite of God’s righteous dealings with people on the basis of their conduct, the Israelites were accusing Him of not doing right. The Lord asked if it was their ways rather than His that were not right.<\/p>\n Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal? 25. Yet ye say, The way equal ] And ye say. The “way” of the Lord is the principle on which he acts, or his action on it, … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 18:25”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20885\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
I. <\/strong>If we had to find an immediate and direct answer to this question, Is not My way equal? we should be disposed to say, Decidedly not. From the beginning to the end of life there seems to be inequality, not equality. Consider, first of all, how men are born. Birth is something so entirely removed from the region of personal responsibility that no one of us is to be held accountable for anything belonging to it. Yet how much depends on being well born! Some thinking men have said that half the battle of life is won or lost according as an individual is well or ill born. Now, when we examine into the facts of life, how very many people seem to be anything but well born! Gods ways do not seem equal in this respect. Certainly not on the surface. There are thousands of children born from vicious parents. Very little chance do these seem to have to be good men and women. Compare their heredity with that which belongs to some of our friends here present, in whose ancestry has been no known criminal of any kind, no unvirtuous man, no impious woman. When we make such comparison, it does not seem as if Gods ways are equal. Take a step forward, and again ask the question when nurture begins to tell. The word education covers a very much larger area of life than we ordinarily assign it. The home in which we live, the company we keep, the books we read for fun and not as tasks, all are contributory to education. The word environment comes in here. In regard to that, Gods ways do not seem equal. The opportunities of a pure and wise education which come to some, contrasted with the vicious ignorance and coarse immoralities by which others are surrounded, do not enable us easily to find an affirmative answer to this question, Are not My ways equal? saith the Lord. Once more, the child is born and schooled; educated, as we say, by all through which he has passed in these impressionable years of youth. And now the time comes for sailing out on the ocean of enterprise. One young man finds his boat ready built and ready manned and abundantly victualled, and he has only to step aboard and sail off. A second casts about hither and thither, applying to one and another to take him aboard, and let him scrub decks or do anything, and almost loses heart before he can get any kind of start in life. Things do not seem equal here, any more than in the other stages of life.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>Yet the more carefully we look into these facts, and the longer we dwell upon them, the more copiously will they supply us with something suggestive of the necessity of caution in dealing with them. We begin to think in this way: Let me not be too rash in lay affirmatives. This is not Gods perfect world. This is very far from an ideal condition of society. It is a society disturbed by sin. I cannot judge of the kingdom of God from what I see in society, every member of which is under condemnation as belonging to a sinful race. So I must be careful in forming my judgments. There are modifications and compensations discernible even now. First of all, it does not do to assume that happiness and unhappiness are in the ratio of external possession or non-possession. The man who has enough for all the legitimate uses of life is not at a disadvantage. He has no real wants. The artificial wants of society have nothing to do with the physical and mental necessities of life. Health, intelligence, aspiration, all that is wholesome and good, do not depend upon anything artificial. The disposition in our day, even among Christianised people, to make too much of externals needs to be studiously guarded against when we are speaking of equality and inequality. Has it not come to be one of the commonplaces of existence that poverty is not always a curse, and wealth is not always a blessing? When a child is born into the midst of the surroundings supplied by a luxurious home, he is at a considerable disadvantage in seam ways. You say he need not trouble about his future, so far as it consists in the providing for the necessaries and the comforts of life. Now, if some of these comfortable conditions are not as favourable to the putting forth of energy or the developing of strength of character as are the other less coveted conditions, immediately the question of equality becomes a little harder to answer. I say the more we investigate the facts of life the less disposed are we to say that all inequalities are of the nature of injustice. Often and often the rich mans son becomes indolent and ineffective, a mere lazy loafer on lifes highway, through want of that stimulus which comes naturally to the son of the poor man. It would be interesting to investigate that region more thoroughly. We must leave it for another remark bearing upon the answer we shall give to the question, Are not My ways equal? saith the Lord. The idea of responsibility comes in here. It becomes us ever to remember the words, To whom much is given, of him much will be required; and, To whom they commit much, of him will they ask the more. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel for all, but it is especially a gospel for the weary and heavy-laden, for the man who has been badly born, for the man who has been handicapped in the race of life, for the man whose chance has been of the poorest. There is a future, and it is not far off. There Lazarus gets his chance, and Dives learns the lesson he refused to learn here and now. (R. Thomas, D. D.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\nFuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
EQUITY OF GOD IN HIS JUDGMENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n
[This is a solemn truth, which men strive by every possible method to evade. When Christian principles<\/em> are insisted on, they will speak of practice:<\/em> but here, when practice<\/em> is spoken of, they will recur to principles<\/em>, and deny that a righteous man can<\/em> so turn away from his righteousness as to perish in his sins. They are like the Samaritan woman, who, when our Lord reproved her for her adulteries, had recourse immediately to controversial matters, and inquired, who were right, the Samaritans, or the Jews, as to the place where Divine worship ought to be performed? Ungodly professors of religion now fly off from what comes home to their own bosoms, and enter on controversy in order to avoid the awful truth that is brought to their ears. But it is a fact, that a righteous man may depart from his righteousness: Demas did [Note: 2Ti 4:10<\/span>.]: Paul was constrained to use the utmost possible care, lest he should [Note: 1Co 9:27<\/span>.]: and all are commanded to take heed to themselves, lest they should do so too [Note: 1Co 10:12<\/span>. <\/span>Heb 3:12-13<\/span>.]. As to Gods secret decrees, no man knows what they are, as relating to his own person, or to the person of any individual whatever: nor is there a man in the whole universe that is warranted in saying, I never can fall; at least, can never so fall as to perish<\/em>. David, and Solomon, and Peter, display sufficiently the instability of man; and, if they were restored, their restoration does not shew that they could not<\/em> have perished, but only, that God, for the magnifying of his own grace and mercy, did not leave them to perish. They might have perished, and would have perished, as much as Judas, if they had been left to themselves: it was not any gracious principle which they had in them, and that was in itself indefectible, that recovered them, but Gods unbounded grace and mercy, vouchsafed to them according to the good pleasure of his own will.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, if the wicked man turn from his iniquity, and do what is lawful and right, he shall live
[Delightful reflection! Hear it, ye sinners of every description: it is the declaration of the Most High God. You must turn indeed from your iniquities, and especially from your besetting sin, mourning over it, fighting against it, bringing it into subjection. You must also be doing all that God requires of you in his blessed word. You must flee to Christ for refuge from the wrath of an avenging God: you must trust altogether in his meritorious death and passion: you must renounce every other hope; and must seek to be found in Him, not having your own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. You must also, in dependence on his Holy Spirit, endeavour to fulfil the whole will of God, and to walk in every thing as Christ walked. And if indeed ye act thus, we declare, in the name of Almighty God, that ye shall never perish, but shall have eternal life. As the foregoing characters entertain too little fear, so you are apt to indulge too much; and, because things have been ill, you are ready to suppose they never can be such as to warrant an expectation of the Divine favour. To remove these apprehensions, God repeats<\/em> his gracious assertions respecting you, and declares that you, if you turn to him in the way before specified, shall surely live; you shall not die. Whatever your sins may have been, they shall all be blotted out as a morning cloud; nor shall so much as one of them ever be remembered against you: though they may have been of a crimson dye, you shall, in the sight of God himself, be white as snow. As the righteousness of the righteous shall never be remembered, when once he departs from it; so neither shall the wickedness of the wicked, when once he turns from it. The present character of every individual is that which shall determine his eternal state.<\/p>\n
In our text however it is,<\/p>\n
[Every description of sinners is chargeable with injustice towards God. The profane sinner<\/em> accounts it very hard that his sins are to be visited with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. What has he done that deserves such a sentence as this? Why did God give him passions, if he is to be punished to all eternity for the indulgence of them? and, supposing his conduct to be sinful, what proportion do the sins of a few days or years bear to the everlasting torments of hell? He cannot believe that God will ever be so unmerciful and unjust as to execute on men the threatenings of his word. The proud formalist<\/em> thinks it strange indeed that he is to perish. What! must he<\/em>, who has been so sober, so moral, so regular, so observant of all his duties to God and man, must he<\/em> perish, because he does not adopt the principles, and imitate the practice, of a few wild enthusiasts? No: he hates fanaticism; and will never believe that God requires all that strictness which some enthusiasts speak of; and much less that he will ever banish from his presence those whose whole lives have been so blameless as theirs. The hypocritical professor<\/em>, who can talk of Christ, and exert himself zealously to promote the Gospel, cannot imagine, that he<\/em> should be obnoxious to the Divine displeasure, or that God could be at all just in condemning him<\/em>. True indeed, he does not always adhere to truth, and perhaps is not very strictly just in his dealings: his cares about the world too engross almost all his thoughts; nor has he any pleasure in the duties of the closet: evil dispositions too are unhappily very prevalent in him; pride, anger, envy, hatred, malice, evil-speaking, uncharitableness, retain more or less the ascendant over him; perhaps too intemperance and impurity, if not indulged to such an extent as to expose him to public disgrace, are far from being mortified so as to give way to the habitual exercise of the opposite virtues. But can it be that God should reject him<\/em>, when all his confidence is in Christ, and in the covenant which God has made with us in Christ?<\/p>\n
But on the part of God there is no such inequality
[The moral and religious character of men will be the one ground of all his decisions in the day of judgment<\/em>: According to your ways and according to your doings will he judge you, O house of Israel. Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him; for they shall eat the fruit of their doings: but woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him; for the reward of his hand shall be given him [Note: Isa 3:10-11<\/span>.] This is what in Gods name we are authorized and commanded to declare. Respect indeed will be had to the means and opportunities which different persons enjoyed; and on this principle, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for the Jews, who rejected the ministry of our Lord: but still there will be one test to which every man will be brought, namely, How did you improve the privileges you enjoyed, and how did you act up to the principles you professed? No favour will be shewn to any man because he was a Jew, nor will any man be despised because he was a Gentile: the uncircumcision of the Gentile will be reckoned to him for circumcision, if he keep the law; and the circumcision of the Jew be reckoned for uncircumcision, if he break the law. The conformity of every man to the mind and will of God, as far as he had an opportunity of knowing it, will be the object of inquiry; much or little being required of him in proportion to what has been committed to him: and according as he has neglected or improved his talent, shall be the sentence passed upon him; regard being had, not to the state of a man at any former period of his life, but to his state at the time that he is summoned to the judgment-seat. Now can any man condemn this as unequal or unjust? Twice<\/em> does God appeal even to the very people that presumed to accuse him; and twice does he challenge them to say, on whose part inequality is chargeable, their own, or his?]<\/p>\n
1.<\/p>\n
<\/strong><\/p>\nFuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"