What does the Bible say about generational curses?

Ezekiel 18 contains the important principle that the soul that sins, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him" (Ezek. 18:20). The individual would be dealt with by God according to his own conduct. It is not a question of what their fathers had been. Their own iniquities demanded and would entail God's judgment. Long before, God had threatened to visit "the iniquities of the fathers upon the children" (see Ex. 34:7). This principle is departed from. Individually they were guilty, and as such would be judged; nevertheless, where repentance was manifest, God would pardon, for He had no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezek. 18:23). It must be borne in mind that what is spoken of here is temporal judgment, physical death, because of sin now. It gives us no teaching as to the eternal judgment of sin, which is taught elsewhere.

As some find difficulty in the latter part of verse 7 it may be well to remark that God is here indicating how He deals with men on earth in His holy government. When it is a question of His judgment for eternity, the dead will be dealt with "according to their works" (Rev. 20:12-13) and there is no thought of a child bearing the sin of his father. In speaking to Moses, God was not dealing with the issues of eternity, but with His government of Israel under the law in the light of His mercy that had just been declared. In the working out of God's government in this world, the way in which the iniquity of a father adversely affects his children is a fact too obvious for any of us to overlook. The laws of heredity, which God has ordained, are very real.

The second commandment is related to the first, forbidding the making of images of any created thing, whether in heaven or earth or in the waters (v.8). Bowing down to such things or worshiping them is an insult to God. Israel did this in the case of the golden calf (Ex.32:1-8), but God is rightly jealous of His own glory, and if the fathers are guilty of such iniquity, God will visit the results of this upon the children to the third and fourth generation (v.9). It is always true that our children will suffer because of our disobedience to God. This does not affect the question of eternal salvation, for any one of the children may still call on the Lord and be saved, but their lives on earth will be affected by their parents' wrongdoing. If a man is a robber, his children will suffer on earth because of this, but they can still be saved eternally by receiving Christ as Savior.

In the government of God, children have to suffer for the sins of their parents, and nations for the sins of their rulers. Men may murmur against this, and characterize it as injustice, but the fact remains, that should a man squander his inheritance and abuse his body, his children will have to suffer for it in want and weakness. But this does not extend beyond this present life, and the sorrows here on earth are but short lived. No man will be made to undergo the judgment of Gehenna for the sins of others, but only for those he himself has committed. And as a way of salvation has been opened up for all, and entrance into a sinless, sorrowless world of unspeakable happiness, what else can be done with the man who refuses to avail himself of a place and portion there, but cast him out? Any observant soul can see the fact verified in numberless instances, that the iniquities of the fathers are visited upon the children, and that mercy is shown to the descendants of them that love God and keep His commandments.

He has Himself assured us that He "visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation," but then it is added as most necessary guarding of what would be otherwise misconstrued, "of them that hate Me"; and elsewhere the proverb which Israel had taken up from just such misconstruction is reprobated most emphatically by the Lord: "the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge." (Ezek. 18.) He not only says, but swears, that they shall have no occasion to use such a proverb; that the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, nor the father bear the iniquity of the son; that the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him; while the repentance of any shall avert his doom.

On the other hand, it is familiar to us all that the character of the father may have much to do with the temporal condition of the children; and that thus the warp and woof of human history proclaim the far-reaching consequences of sin. And all this is a witness from God as to it that could not be silenced without the worst results upon men at large. If we take, then; these guides and guards on either hand, we shall avoid serious mistake as to the moral character of what we have in this psalm, with all its solemn imprecations of judgment on the transgressor. So far as this affects his children it is overruled for blessing to them; as surely as they heed the lesson; nor can sin be bound upon Any, apart from the consent of their own character. And this the 14th verse here definitely shows: for the very prayer that the iniquity of his fathers may be remembered before Jehovah is grounded upon his own character in this way (ver. 16).

That which is here in question is the government of God. Now the principles of this government are laid open to us in the revelation made to Moses, when he went up the second time to Mount Sinai (Ex. 33). There was, first of all, goodness and mercy; then the declaration that the guilty shall not be held innocent; and, thirdly, a principle of public government, which caused the effects of misconduct to be felt, namely, that their children should bear its consequences (a principle which could not be applied where the soul is in question); but this principle important and salutary in the outward government of the world is verified daily in that of providence. This government of God was in exercise in the case of the kings; but the condition of Israel depended on the conduct of the kings.

There are two great principles in God's dealings, in connection with man on the earth, which are developed in the church of God, as such, and in the government of God. And these two things are very distinct the one from the other. In the church the riches of God's grace are manifested; but in His governmental dealings, righteousness, and the display of His attributes, as justice, mercy, and goodness. We have an example of God's governmental power in Exodus 34:6-7, "And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and fourth generation." Here it is in connection with the Jews, and not only among the Jews, but it shews also that which is outside in the world in God's dealings. What we get in Exodus 34 is not sovereign grace bringing a soul to eternal life, but governmental power; the exercise of which we may now mark every day around us. For if a man wastes his fortune, or ruins his health by intemperance of any kind, his children suffer for it. This is an invariable principle. We see also the exercise of righteous government in God's not clearing the guilty.

However, what follows seems practically contrary to this: “by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation.” This was really a mixture of mercy and law, or in other words, law tempered with mercy. If this had not been the case, Israel could not possibly have continued under law for the years they did. In fact, all the sacrifices they had to make continually were a constant reminder of God's mercy toward them, while at the same time they were told to obey the ten commandments.

Even under law God would forgive cases of sin, transgression and iniquity, which includes badly aggravated cases of sin, but such forgiveness could only be where there was genuine repentance. So long as one took sides with his guilt, he would by no means be cleared. Also, the iniquities of the fathers would have solemn results in their children and children's children to the third and fourth generation. If a man was a thief or an adulterer, his children would suffer for this, on earth. In spite of such governmental results, the children can still be saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus. Yet we know that even when law was tempered by mercy, Israel's failure and disobedience has been total and complete.

One remarkable feature in the second fourteen is the omission of three generations of kings in ver. 8, and of one in ver. 11. In ver. 8 we read, "And Joram begat Uzziah;" whereas in point of fact, Joram begat Ahaziah, whose son Joram, and grandson Amaziah, each wielded in turn the sceptre of Judah. The insertion of Ahaz, Manasseh and Amon, each one infamous for very great wickedness, appears to preclude the thought that they were omitted for such a reason from the list. Why are they excluded? Ah! here we have a striking example of the practical carrying out of the principle, so clearly expressed in the second commandment, viz. "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." The names of Ahab and Jezebel are painfully familiar to us all; and in marrying his son Jehoram to Athaliah their daughter, Jehoshaphat, though a good man personally, brought down upon his own descendants, to the third generation, the curse that rested upon the house of Ahab. For three generations we read of wholesale massacres in cold blood. Jehoram slew all his own brethren on his accession (2 Chron. 21:4); the Philistines and Arabians slew all his sons (2 Chron. 22:1); and Athaliah, on the death of her son Ahaziah, slew all the seed royal of the house of Judah save Joash (2 Chron. 22:10-11). The names of the son, grandson, and great-grandson of "Athaliah, that wicked woman," herself inheriting the fierce and idolatrous spirit of her mother Jezebel, are excluded from mention in "the book of the generation of Jesus Christ." Those who esteem it to be a light thing to become unequally yoked with unbelievers, should attentively consider the sad history of the house of Jehoshaphat unto the fourth generation; and such may readily perceive, that, by means of his having married his son to Athaliah, Satan all but accomplished the extermination of the royal house of David. The fact, made evident by the list given in Luke 3:23-38, of a reserve line from David, carefully preserved, does not in the least lessen the honour that rightly attaches to the name of Jehoshabeath the wife of Jehoiada, because her faithful preservation of the infant Joash prevented such a calamity from falling upon the nation (2 Chron. 22:10-12).

Suppose a third case — a son warned by the wicked ways of his father. "Now, lo, if he beget a son, that sees all his father's sins which he has done, and considers, and does not such like, that has not eaten upon the mountains, neither has lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, has not defiled his neighbour's wife, neither has oppressed any, has not withholder the pledge, neither has spoiled by violence, but has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment, that has taken off his hand from the poor, that has not received usury nor increase, has executed my judgments, has walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live." (Ver. 14-17)

These are then briefly discussed and compared in verses 18-20. "As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, spoiled his brother by violence, and did that which is not good among his people, lo, even he shall die in his iniquity. Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father? when the son has done that which is lawful and right, and has kept all my statutes, and has done them, he shall surely live. The soul that sins, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him." The wicked father must perish; the son warned by it shall live. There is thus the way clear for the maxim — "the soul that sins, it shall die;" neither the son suffering for his father's wrong nor the father for his son's, but each reaping as he had sown.