Commentaries:
Barnes' Notes
This passage anticipates the great moral principle of divine government Ezek. 18 that each man is individually responsible for his own actions, and will be judged according to these and these alone.
Ezekiel 3:20
I lay a stumblingblock before him - I bring him to trial by placing difficulties and temptations in his way (compare Ezekiel 7:19; Ezekiel 44:12 margin; Ezekiel 14:3-4). It is true that God tempts no man in order to his destruction, but in the course of His Providence He permits men to be tried in order that their faith may be approved, and in this trial some who seem to be righteous fall.
Because thou ... his blood ... - So far as the prophet was concerned, the neglect of his duty is reckoned as the cause of the seemingly righteous man' s fall.
His righteousness ... - Or, righteousnesses, i. e. acts of righteousness. The "righteous" man here is one, who had hitherto done the "acts of righteousness" prescribed by the Law, but when trial came was shown to lack the "principle of righteousness."
Ezekiel 3:21
The repetition of the word "righteous" is to be noted. There seems to be an intimation that sin is alien to the character of a "righteous" man. Compare I John 3:7-9.
Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Ezekiel 3:18:
Psalms 19:11
Psalms 19:11
Ecclesiastes 3:15
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