Page 165 - NOTES ON EZEKIEL

CHAPTER XXXIII. 159
thy people say, The way of the Lord is not equal: but
as for them, their way is not equal. When the right­
eous turneth from his righteousness, and committeth
iniquity, he shall even die thereby. But if the wicked
turn from his wickedness, and do that which is lawful
and right, he shall live thereby. Yet ye say, The way
of the Lord is not equal. O ye house of Israel, I will
judge you every one after his ways.’7 (Ver. 10-20.) It
was a day of judgment, not of grace, with which some
strangely confound it. Despair would avail nothing;
repentance would. Past righteousness should not screen
present sin, nor past sin hinder present turning away
from it. But let such walk softly. The ways of right­
eousness are immutable ; the wages of sin, death. The
fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom, and the
knowledge of the holy is understanding; whilst they
that confess and forsake sins find mercy. In vain
therefore did any complain of the Lord’s ways as not
equal; it were well if they felt their own iniquity.
Life is theirs who walk righteously; death for such as
turn from the Lord. They should be judged each
according to their deeds, challenging the Lord, as in­
sensible to their own state as to His goodness.
If the reading be correct (for there is a variation in
some copies, perhaps to lessen the interval), the tidings
of Jerusalem’s fall were long in reaching the prophet,
when he opened his mouth, long closed, and gave a
solemn warning of further judgment, and the rather
because of the pretension to take up the language of
faith, when their heart was far from the Lord. Grace
is sufficient for any one and for all circumstances, but
it is inseparable from the faith that gives glory to God,