This morning at our Men’s Prayer Breakfast we read from Numbers 14 and when we came across verse 18 it struck a chord. The NKJV renders it this way.
The Lord is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.
The part I put in bold type is what is on my mind. I know this is basically quoted from the 10 Commandments recorded in Exodus 20:4-6 and again in Deuteronomy 5:9 which says….
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
What I am struggling with is there are other verses in Scripture that seem to contradict this. For example…
Deuteronomy 24:16
“Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin.”
Ezekiel 18:14-20
“If, however, he begets a son
Who sees all the sins which his father has done,
And considers but does not do likewise;
Who has not eaten on the mountains,
Nor lifted his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel,
Nor defiled his neighbor’s wife;
Has not oppressed anyone,
Nor withheld a pledge,
Nor robbed by violence,
But has given his bread to the hungry
And covered the naked with clothing;
Who has withdrawn his hand from the poor
And not received usury or increase,
But has executed My judgments
And walked in My statutes—
He shall not die for the iniquity of his father;
He shall surely live!
As for his father,
Because he cruelly oppressed,
Robbed his brother by violence,
And did what is not good among his people,
Behold, he shall die for his iniquity.
Yet you say, ‘Why should the son not bear the guilt of the father?’ Because the son has done what is lawful and right, and has kept all My statutes and observed them, he shall surely live. The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.”
How do I reconcile these verses?
This really shouldn't be all that difficult to understand, but maybe the doctrines and traditions of men have muddied the water so much that we can't see the manna that lays before us.
It is a common misconception about the "generational" curse that would have you believe that the sins of your great grandfather would be accounted to you. But that is not the application of the scripture as it was applied within the covenant made with Moses and the children of Israel. To reconcile these, we must understand the two different covenants. The one covenant made with Moses and the tribes of Israel, and the second covenant made with Christ and those in him.
Deuteronomy 5:2-5
The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. The Lord talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire, (I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to shew you the word of the Lord: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount;) saying,
Moses is saying here that this is NOT the covenant that was promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; but this is the covenant the Lord made with the children of Israel. If I may, I would like to point out a subtle difference. The covenant with Moses was made with the CHILDREN of ISRAEL. This covenant was NOT made with ISRAEL, as was the promise; but only to his children.
Deuteronomy 5:9
Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them:
for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me,
Jeremiah 31:27-32
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah
with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast.
And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them,
to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down,
and to destroy, and to afflict;
so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the Lord.
In those days they shall say no more,
The fathers have eaten a sour grape,
and the children's teeth are set on edge.
But every one shall die for his own iniquity:
every man that eateth the sour grape,
his teeth shall be set on edge.
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
that I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers
in the day that I took them by the hand
to bring them out of the land of Egypt;
which my covenant they brake,
although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord:
When the prophet states that they shall no more say the father's have eaten a sour grape and the children's teeth are set on edge, this is in reference to the new covenant and is a direct juxtaposition to the phrase in the covenant with Moses that says he would visit the iniquities of the fathers unto the third and fourth generation. Now if you would take a moment to consider the prophets Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel... that they were the children of Israel who were carried away captive to Babylon or in Daniel's case was raised in captivity in Babylon for the sins of their fathers; and they and their children, and their children's children remained in captivity before they eventually were allowed to return to their land. The whole nation was punished for the sins of the fathers, and that punishment carried on unto the third and fourth generation.
