5 “If a man is righteous and does what is just and right— 6 if he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbour's wife or approach a woman in her time of menstrual impurity, 7 does not oppress anyone, but restores to the debtor his pledge, commits no robbery, gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, 8 does not lend at interest or take any profit,withholds his hand from injustice, executes true justice between man and man, 9 walks in my statutes, and keeps my rules by acting faithfully—he is righteous; he shall surely live, declares the Lord God.
10 “If he fathers a son who is violent, a shedder of blood, who does any of these things 11 (though he himself did none of these things), who even eats upon the mountains, defiles his neighbour's wife, 12 oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery, does not restore the pledge, lifts up his eyes to the idols, commits abomination, 13 lends at interest, and takes profit; shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon himself.
14 “Now suppose this man fathers a son who sees all the sins that his father has done; he sees, and does not do likewise: 15 he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbour's wife, 16 does not oppress anyone, exacts no pledge, commits no robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, 17 withholds his hand from iniquity, takes no interest or profit, obeys my rules, and walks in my statutes; he shall not die for his father's iniquity; he shall surely live. 18 As for his father, because he practised extortion, robbed his brother, and did what is not good among his people, behold, he shall die for his iniquity.
19 “Yet you say, ‘Why should not the son suffer for the iniquity of the father?’ When the son has done what is just and right, and has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely live. 20 The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.
Such is the point that Ezekiel is making in this chapter, and he illustrates it well in the three examples he cites in these verses. They make his point perfectly, and bring home the inescapable reality of personal responsibility for actions, whether good or bad. And, in fact, most people know in their deepest hearts, when they are utterly honest with themselves and with God, that notwithstanding all their possible background, and the influences that have conditioned their lives from the past, they are indeed responsible for their own actions. But such is the deceitfulness of the heart, that we are always liable to deceive ourselves into believing that it is not our fault. Ezekiel came (cf Jeremiah 15:4) to the exiles who were hiding behind this unbalanced view of national responsibility in order to avoid the prophetic demands for repentance and a new way of life. As long as they were saying, 'It is not our fault, it is our fathers' fault, it is Manasseh's fault that all this has happened to us', and as long as this was their attitude, their minds were not amenable to the summons to repentance, and Ezekiel knew that his mandate from God was to go to them and charge home to their hearts and consciousness the responsibility for the plight that had come upon them.