John Gill Commentary Ezekiel 18

And the word of the Lord came to me again, saying .
] The word of prophecy from the Lord, as the Targum; and its being mentioned is coming from the Lord is to give it weight and authority. This is a distinct sermon or prophecy from the former, and was sent and delivered out at another time.

What mean you, that you use this proverb concerning the land of
Israel
This is spoken to the Jews in Babylon, who used the following proverb concerning the land of Israel; not theten tribes, but the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, concerning the desolation of the land, and thehardships the Jews laboured under, since the captivity of Jeconiah, and they became subject to the yoke ofNebuchadnezzar: this expostulation with them suggests that they had no just cause, or true reason, to makeuse of the proverb; that it was impious, impudent, and insolent in them, and daring and dangerous; and thatthey did not surely well consider what they said.

The proverb follows: saying, the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth
are
set on edge ?
that is, as the Targum explains it, "the fathers have sinned, and the children are smitten," orpunished, as the ten tribes for the sins of Jeroboam, and the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin for the sinsof Manasseh;

hereby wiping themselves clean; and as if they were innocent persons, and free from sin, andwere only punished for their forefathers' sins, and so charging God with injustice and cruelty; whereas,though the Lord threatened to visit the iniquity of parents upon their children, and sometimes did so, todeter parents from sinning, lest they should entail a curse, and bring ruin upon their posterity; yet henever did this but when children followed their fathers' practices, and committed the same sins, or worse; sothat this was no act of unrighteousness in God, but rather an instance of his patience and long suffering;see (Jeremiah 31:29Jeremiah 31:30) .

[As] I live, says the Lord God This is a form of an oath; the Lord here swears by his life, by himself, because he could swear by no greater, (Hebrews 6:13); and it expresses how displeased he was with the above proverb, and how much he resented it, as well as the certainty of what follows; which, it might be depended on, would be assuredly done, since the Lord not only said it, but swore unto it.

you shall not have [occasion] any more to use this proverb in Israel ; signifying that he would no longer defer the execution of his judgments, but immediately bring them upon them; so that for the future there would be no use of the proverb; no occasion to make mention of it in the next generation; and, moreover, that he would make it so manifest to themselves and others, by his dealings with them, that it should be seen, and known, and acknowledged by all, that it was for their own sins and transgressions that they were visited and corrected.

Behold, all souls are mine By creation; they being the immediate produce of his power; hence he is called "the Father of spirits", (Hebrews 12:9) , or the souls of men; these he has an apparent right unto; a property in; a dominion over; they are accountable to him, and will be judged impartially by him:

as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine ; and therefore must be thought to have as great a respect and affection for the one as for the other; for the soul of a son as for the soul of a father; and not deal partially in favour of the one, and cruelly and unrighteously with the other:

the soul that sinneth, it shall die ; the soul that continues in sin, without repentance towards God, and faith in Christ, shall die the second death; shall be separated from the presence of God, and endure his wrath to all eternity: or the meaning is, that a person that is guilty of gross sins, and continues in them, shall personally suffer; he shall endure one calamity or another, as the famine, sword, pestilence, or be carried into captivity, which is the death all along spoken of in this chapter; the Lord will exercise no patience towards him, or defer punishment to a future generation, his offspring; but shall immediately execute it upon himself.

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" ^F3 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:

FOOTNOTES:

• F3: (hqduw jpvm) "judiciam et justitiam", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus