(6) Eaten upon the mountains.--The various sins here specified are all enumerated again, with others, and charged upon Jerusalem in Ezekiel 22:2-12. The particular of eating upon the mountains is mentioned in Ezekiel 18:9, and refers to the feasts in connection with sacrifices to idols which were commonly held in high places. The Lord Himself, indeed, was also worshipped in high places, in express violation of the law (Deuteronomy 12:17-18), but the connection here points to the sacrificial idol-feasts (comp. Exodus 32:6; 1Corinthians 10:7). The lifting up of the eyes to the idols is probably meant to express any longing after them short of actual worship (comp. Genesis 19:26). The other sins mentioned in this verse were expressly forbidden in the law (Exodus 20:14; Leviticus 18:19), and were to be punished either with death (Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:22) or with excommunication (Leviticus 20:18).

18:1-20 The soul that sinneth it shall die. As to eternity, every man was, is, and will be dealt with, as his conduct shows him to have been under the old covenant of works, or the new covenant of grace. Whatever outward sufferings come upon men through the sins of others, they deserve for their own sins all they suffer; and the Lord overrules every event for the eternal good of believers. All souls are in the hand of the great Creator: he will deal with them in justice or mercy; nor will any perish for the sins of another, who is not in some sense worthy of death for his own. We all have sinned, and our souls must be lost, if God deal with us according to his holy law; but we are invited to come to Christ. If a man who had shown his faith by his works, had a wicked son, whose character and conduct were the reverse of his parent's, could it be expected he should escape the Divine vengeance on account of his father's piety? Surely not. And should a wicked man have a son who walked before God as righteous, this man would not perish for his father's sins. If the son was not free from evils in this life, still he should be partaker of salvation. The question here is not about the meritorious ground of justification, but about the Lord's dealings with the righteous and the wicked.And hath not eaten upon the mountains,.... Where temples and altars were built for idols, and sacrifices offered up to them; and where feasts were kept to the honour of them, and the sacrifices to them eaten; see Ezekiel 6:13; for otherwise it was not unlawful to eat common food on mountains, as well as on other places; but here it denotes idolatrous practices; and the Targum is,

"and hath not served idols on the mountains:''

neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel; their "dunghill gods" (d) as the word signifies; as not to the idols of the Gentiles, so not to those of Israel, as the calves at Dan and Bethel; these he does not worship, nor pray unto, or invoke, nor even give a pleasant and favourable look unto; but turned from them with abhorrence and contempt:

neither hath defiled his neighbour's wife; been guilty of adultery, by lying with another man's wife; or by marrying one divorced, not having committed fornication; which divorces were common among the Jews, and marrying such so divorced, Matthew 19:19;

neither hath come near to a menstruous woman: a woman in her monthly courses, even his own wife; who, according to the law, was set apart for her uncleanness for a certain term of time; during which she was not to be touched, nor anything she sat or lay upon; and all conjugal acts to be abstained from, Leviticus 15:19.

(d) "ad stercoreos deos", Junius & Tremellius, Polanus; "ad stercora", Piscator, Cocceius.