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The Second Commandment: Exodus 20:4-6: "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6. but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
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"Visiting the iniquity" What does the phrase in the second commandment mean: "visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me . . . ?" (Ex. 20:5, 6) This phrase is translated in the NIV: "punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, . . ." Isaiah 65 seems to agree: Isa 65:6 "See, it stands written before me: I will not keep silent but will pay back in full; I will pay it back into their laps—both your sins and the sins of your fathers," says the LORD. "Because they burned sacrifices on the mountains and defied me on the hills, I will measure into their laps the full payment for their former deeds." Why would God punish the children for the sins of their fathers? Ezekiel makes the point that God does not punish children for the sins of their parents: Ezek 18:20 The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him. Is there a conflict here?
Guilty Jewish Leaders Jesus said of the Jews in His day: Mat 23:29-37 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers! "You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. The Jewish leaders, by killing Christ Himself and by persecuting the apostles and prophets Jesus sent to them, were saying, in effect, "Our forefathers did the right thing in killing those prophets."* And because the nation's leaders in Christ's time were in agreement with those who did these wicked things in the past, they will receive punishment for them as well. Their equivalent actions cast their vote in favor of the sins of the fathers.
The "Ditto" Effect The warning in the second commandment seems to be spoken in much the same vein? By inheritance and example sons often follow in the footsteps of their fathers. By doing this they are, in effect, saying: "My father did the right thing when he sinned." So the sons receive punishment for their fathers' sins, not only because they condone what their fathers did, but because they follow in their footsteps. And so the copy is complete. The sons "ditto" their fathers. This doesn't have to be the outcome, of course. No one has to "ditto" the sins of his forebears. Christ wants to step in and stop the dizzying death-grasp of sin that has caught us in its stranglehold. "Come unto me," he calls to us. "I will give you rest." And when He gives us His rest, we'll become a part of the "thousands of them" that love Him and keep His commandments. *I have in my file a document written by an Orthodox Jewish Rabi—a Pharisee—which states that the Jews in the time of Christ did the right thing in crucifying Him, because, being only a man, He claimed to be God.
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