What is the iniquity of the fathers in Exodus 34:7?

This is much to be weighed. At the captivity God acts on the murmuring of His people and ends any further governmental dealings on the ground of Exodus 34:6-7. Henceforth He would take them on their own terms; and as they complained of the hardship of suffering for the delinquencies of their fathers, He would now give them their own deserts. It is evident that a sinner must suffer for sin; and if he challenge the justice of paying the penalty of a parent's evil, he cannot deny that he ought to be punished for his own. All were God's, alike the souls of fathers and of sons; and the sinner must die. There was no relief or escape on any such pretext.

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.

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).

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.

Next comes the question of the son of the wicked man, who "sees all his father's sins which he hath done, and considereth, and doeth not such like." This should ever be the result with one who has had such an object lesson before him. If he read it aright, so as to turn from his father's iniquity and to walk in the divine statutes, should he die for the iniquity of his father? Nay, he should surely live. Father and son are thus judged according to their own personal character.

But they raise the objection: "Why? Doth not the son bear the iniquity of his father?" Spite of many commentators, the second commandment of the law is evidently in question here. It was that which gave a seeming excuse for the proverb itself. For God had declared that He was "a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them, that love Me and keep my commandments." It seems evident that the resentful thought that is in the mind of those overtaken by the present calamities of the nation, is that the third and fourth generations were suffering for faults that were in no wise their own. Allowing the wickedness of former generations — which is not so hard to confess as one's own — they admit that their fathers indeed ate the sour grapes, but not themselves. But the commandment speaks quite otherwise than this; for those who love God and keep His commandments have in it the definite assurance of mercy to be shown them, and could not come, therefore, under the contradictory law of inheriting their father's sins.

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.

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.

These words have often produced painful and even rebellious thoughts in the minds of the uninstructed, principally because of their being almost invariably misquoted, for both books and speakers in general say, The Lord visits “the sins” of the fathers upon the children. That is not what the Word of God says.

Job asks, "How often is the lamp of the wicked put out?" It is certainly not always the case in this life, in fact it is not often the case (v.17). Sometimes, in an aggravated case, destruction might overtake them, but not often. They may be like straw or chaff before the wind, and therefore carried away eventually by death, but present judgment does not seem to be often carried out (v.18). It may be rightly said, however, that "God lays up one's iniquity for his children," that is, that the children may afterward suffer for their fathers' sins, as Exodus 34:7 indicates, speaking of God "visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation." This is certainly a warning to parents that their children will suffer the consequences of their parents' wickedness. God knows how to mete out recompense in an appropriate way (v.19).

(3) In this part Job fully admits that there will be a final manifestation of the sin of the wicked, but it is so often seen in the children instead of themselves; and what do they care for their house after them? (ver. 21). In opposition to Zophar, he reminds him "how rarely is the candle of the wicked put out," as ver. 17 has been rendered; how seldom does calamity break in upon them, as the scatterings of "snares" or "lightnings" in the wrath of God. While it is true, as the psalmist tells us, that the ungodly are "like the chaff which the wind driveth away" (Ps. 1:4), Job reminds his hearers that this seldom takes place in the present life; it is reserved for the "judgment." The two following verses, 19, 20, state the facts (which are put in the form of a desire in another rendering), that God layeth up the iniquity of the wicked for the children, "visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children." He shall eventually see the result of his evil, though the day is long deferred.