Good day,<\/p>\n
There are a few occasions in Scripture where God pronounces judgment on later generations (for example, I Kings 21:29). How do we explain this if sin is not judged upon another?<\/p>\nThanks.\n\t
When Israel was sent off into captivity, the captives told themselves that they were there because of their ancestor’s sins. The proverb they used was: “The fathers eat sour grapes, but the children’s teeth are set on edge<\/em>” (Ezekiel 18:2). God then proves the proverb to be false. “‘As I live,’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘you are surely not going to use this proverb in Israel anymore’<\/em>” (Ezekiel 18:3). He then shows that each person is responsible for his own sin (Ezekiel 18:20). The reason Israel was in captivity was that they continued<\/strong> the sins of their ancestors. “‘Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, each according to his conduct,’ declares the Lord GOD. ‘Repent and turn away from all your transgressions, so that iniquity may not become a stumbling block to you. Cast away from you all your transgressions which you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! For why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,’ declares the Lord GOD. ‘Therefore, repent and live’<\/em>” (Ezekiel 18:30-32).<\/p>\n Why did God bring disaster to Ahab’s son, Ahaziah? Because he continued his father’s sins. “Ahaziah the son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned two years over Israel. He did evil in the sight of the LORD and walked in the way of his father and in the way of his mother and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. So he served Baal and worshiped him and provoked the LORD God of Israel to anger, according to all that his father had done<\/em>” (I Kings 22:51-53). It is easy to forget that Ahaziah was an adult when God said disasters would come to him during his reign in I Kings 21:29. Ahaziah didn’t suddenly become evil when he took over as king. This was how he was living his life.<\/p>\n You can also see this when God promised the land of Canaan to Abraham’s descendants. God told Abraham that it wouldn’t happen for over four hundred years because the sins of the Amorites had not yet grown sufficient to warrant destruction (Genesis 15:13-16). Why were the Amorites destroyed? Because in 400 years, that generation would become so wicked that God would need to punish them.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Good day, There are a few occasions in Scripture where God pronounces judgment on later generations (for example, I Kings 21:29). How do we explain this if sin is not judged upon another? Thanks. Answer: When Israel was sent off into captivity, the captives told themselves that they were there because of their ancestor’s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[616,354],"class_list":["post-61575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-accountability","tag-responsibility"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9719,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-explain-what-it-means-that-the-sins-of-the-fathers-are-put-on-the-children\/","url_meta":{"origin":61575,"position":0},"title":"Can you explain what it means that the sins of the fathers are put on the children?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 10, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I found the passages that relate to the sins of the father, maybe you can give me a view on what they mean. I see how people can make their case, but let me know what it all means, or if needed, put it into context. \"You shall not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":45587,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-could-jesus-bear-our-sins\/","url_meta":{"origin":61575,"position":1},"title":"How could Jesus bear our sins?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I need help answering a question. I know I can always count on you to help me out. \"The soul that sins dies. The son does not bear the iniquity of the father, and the father does not bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29055,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-ahab-humbled-himself\/","url_meta":{"origin":61575,"position":2},"title":"When Ahab Humbled Himself","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 27, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton It might seem odd, but I love it when a student in a Bible class asks a deep question -- you know, a question that shows the student was thinking far beyond the immediate lesson. This morning, a student was working on a lesson about greed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5120,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-my-parents-adultery-affect-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":61575,"position":3},"title":"Does my parents’ adultery affect me?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 19, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I am a faithful Christian and try to the best of my ability to follow the teachings of Christ. But unfortunately, my parents are atheists, and they had me while committing the sin of adultery. Does their sin have any repercussions on me, and if yes, what should\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7333,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/doesnt-ezekiel-37-speak-of-the-restoration-of-israel-before-jesus-return\/","url_meta":{"origin":61575,"position":4},"title":"Doesn’t Ezekiel 37 speak of the restoration of Israel before Jesus’ return?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 9, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read your criticism of the article \"Eight Compelling Reasons why Christ is Coming Very Soon\" with somewhat amused interest since from the outset it was obvious where you were going. I understand why. However, you challenged the article on a point that I want to take up a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59310,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/responsibility\/","url_meta":{"origin":61575,"position":5},"title":"Responsibility","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 16, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Greg Litmer via That Ye May Grow Thereby. We live in a day and time when no one seems to want to take responsibility for their own actions and very few want to hold individuals accountable for what they have done. If a person commits a crime, it is society's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61575\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}