What did God mean by that?

[Abigailwc]

I was reading Exodus and when I came to the 10 commandments I stumbled on part of verse 5 of Exodus 20:

"....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".

Is it something God does that punishes the children for their fathers iniquity? Or, is it like a curse? Or does it mean the children will follow in their fathers' steps, by tradition or because of ignorance, or obedience ...? Why all the way to the 3rd and 4th generation?

In fact, it is not the only place in the Bible that we read about that visiting.

What does it mean?

[Dad Ernie]

"....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".

Is it something God does that punishes the children for their fathers iniquity? Or, is it like a curse? Or does it mean the children will follow in their fathers' steps, by tradition or because of ignorance, or obedience ...? Why all the way to the 3rd and 4th generation?

Greetings Abigailwc,

You may also want to consider:

Ezekiel 18:4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

Ezekiel 18:20 The soul that sinneth, 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.

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Blessings,

Dad Ernie

[Gerioke]

If you love God don't worry about it

If you don't love God, chances are you will have similar woes as your grand father and great grand father

That's what it means to me

[Guest Bro David™]

If you love God don't worry about it

If you don't love God, chances are you will have similar woes as your grand father and great grand father

That's what it means to me

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Whose the diplomat now...... LOL

[irishcowboy]

and also,

if I love God, I will keep His commandments.....

I do believe that the sins of the father will follow on to the sons....

and I also believe that the parents are responsible for raising the children and will be held accountable....

with Eli, he was held responsible for the actions of his children, not that they would be relieved of the consequences of their actions, but being that Eli, did nothing to stop them, he also would be answering for his inactions towards his children. and the childrens childrens childrens....

we can break the "generational" curse.

we tend to follow in our parents footsteps, if the father lives a certain life, the son will also tend to live the same type of life, and sometimes breaking the chain is very difficult....

my father lived a certain life style, and I was heading down the same path, when I realized, that if i continued down that path, i would end up in the same condtition he was, or maybe worse..... it took alot of effort and alot of faith in the Lord to break the chains of bondage, but it has been worth it... and now, I know, beyond any doubt, that I will be able to see the Most Holy Father, my Lord God, Creator of all things.

mike

[Gerioke]

I know I've broken generational curses by the grace of God

My father was a hard drinking womanizer and not much of a family man.

I drink only occasionally

I sewed my wild oats when I was young and made a committment in 1996 to be with only one woman altho I've been with her only since 1993

I love my kids, probably too much, as it burdens me to think of their future.

I think God has blessed me in this way

[his-servant-too]

Timothy Leary is gone... tune in,turn on, drop dead

Get it right Tune in, turn on and drop out

NO, NO, NO, hey's on the outside looking in.......

-------------------------------------------------

There are three side effects of acid. Enchanced long term memory, decreased short term memory, and I forget the third.

Timothy Leary

[LOVE SONGS]

Once we are saved and are children of GOD , we are no longer under any curse.

Not even a generational curse.

For CHRIST has redeemed us from the curse of the LAW.

By HIS precious blood shed at the cross. HE is our REDEEMER.

Galatians 3 : 13

CHRIST has redeemed us from the curse of the LAW

having become a curse for us ( for it is written,

" Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. "

LOVE and PEACE to everyone,

[Abigailwc]

It seems to me that the verse I mentioned means that God will take "revenge" on the children all the way to the 4th generation for the father's sin, no?

[craig911]

I take that to be what is says at face value. God is a jealous God and does not take lightly those who worship or bow to idols, images or false Gods.

Numbers 25:1-3

1 And Israel abode in Shittim and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab.

2 And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their Gods: And the people did eat, and bowed down to their Gods.

3 And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.

This is pretty clear and ties into what is being said in Exodus when taken into context.

But also note that Gods jealousy can be changed as reflected in Numbers 25:11

Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the chldren of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy.