_{Handout 26}

Exodus 34:7; Does God Punish Children for the Sins of their Fathers?

See similarly: Exod 20:5&6, Num 14:18, & Deut 5:9.

A. The Larger Issue which Is Involved Here:

There is a common impression that the nature and character of God in the Old Testament is more primitive or less noble than the God of the New Testament. Sometimes evangelical Christians will say this. People say that the OT emphasizes the justice and wrath of God, whereas the NT emphasizes the love and mercy of God. They will say, in the OT, it is “an eye for an eye”; whereas in the NT, it is: “turn the other cheek.” But is that accurate?

B. The Problem Apparently Posed by Exodus 34:7:

Exodus 34:7 can easily contribute to the impression that “the God of the Old Testament” is different from “the God of the New Testament.” As a minimum, Exod 34:7 seems to show that the way God did things back then is different from the way he does things as of the New Testament.

This is the way Exodus 34:6&7 reads in some recent English translations (our focus is on the second half of verse 7):

6 And He passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.”

This raises the question:

• Does God punish children for the sins of their fathers/parents?
• Or, is that what God did in the Old Testament, but no longer does as of the New Testament?

C. What does Exodus 34:7 mean? How is it to be understood?

1. A very tight, ‘wooden’ rendering of Exodus 34:7.

   A very wooden translation of the Hebrew words of Exodus 34:7 goes as follows:

   ”. . . he will not leave [the guilty] unpunished, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children’s children, to the third-ones and the fourth-ones.”

   The key line in this verse is the middle one, “visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children . . .”.

   What does it mean? How should it be translated?

2. The practical problem with the ‘wooden’ translation, “. . . visiting the iniquity . . . upon . . .”.

   There is a practical problem with the wooden translation “. . . visiting the iniquity . . . upon . . .”. The problem is that → it is not an expression that we use in modern English. So most Bible readers would not know what it means.

3. The serious problem with the recent translation, “. . . He punishes the children . . .”.

   There is a serious problem with the translation “. . . he punishes the children for the sins of the fathers.”

   The problem is this: It makes the verse say something that the Hebrew words do not say. It introduces an idea that is not in the verse to begin with.

   If we compare the ‘wooden’ translation to the recent translation closely, we can see that they make the verse say two different things:

   Translations	The verb	The object of the verb
   Hebrew / wooden	” . . . visiting	the iniquity of the fathers upon the children. . .”.
   Recent version	”. . . punishing	the children for the sins of the fathers . . .”.

   In the Hebrew, the object of the verb is . But the recent translations which use “punish” have restructured the verse. They make it look like the object of the verb is _the children_.

   Similarly, in the Hebrew, the children are the object of the preposition upon. But in the recent translations which use the word “punishes”, they make it look like the words the sins of the fathers are the object of the preposition.

   So the rendering, ”punishing the children for the sins of the fathers,” does not fit with the structure of the verse, or with the meaning of the Hebrew, in Exodus 34:7. It introduces ideas which are not present in the verse.

4. Another serious problem with the recent translation (“punishes”):

   It disagrees with(!) what the rest of the OT teaches about the justice of God. For example:

   • Deut 24:16 (cited in 2 Kings 14:6).

     “Fathers will not be put to death for the sins of their sons, nor will sons be put to death because of their fathers . . .”.

   These two problems with the ‘recent’ rendering of Exodus 34:7 are not(!) minor problems. The recent rendering can give the reader the impression that the God of the OT did things very differently from the God of the NT—if they are even the same God at all.

5. The dilemma between these two ways of translating Exodus 34:7 –

   The problem with the wooden rendering (“visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children”), is that the average Bible reader does not know what it means.

   On the other hand, the problem with the more recent rendering (“he punishes the children for the sins of the fathers”), is that Bible readers know what it means, but it is wrong.

   The solution → is to seek to understand the meaning of the expression “visiting the iniquity of somebody upon somebody else .” After that, we can find a wording which is readable, and which also expresses that meaning correctly.

6. The basic meaning of the verb in Exodus 34:7b: (to punish?? to visit??)

   The verb in question is used some 230x in the OT. It has a range of meaning.

   In some contexts, it can certainly mean “to punish someone.” But that is not(!) its only meaning, or even its main use. It often carries a more general sense along the lines of “to attend to someone, to pay attention to someone, to watch over someone.”

   It can also mean, “to exercise oversight over someone or something.” That oversight can be exercised for the benefit of the person, for that which is simply necessary, or for punishment. We do not have one single English word which captures all these uses.

7. What sense of this verb fits best in the context of Exodus 34:7?

   Again, it is true that this verb can sometimes mean “to punish.” But if we try to use that sense of the verb in this sentence, while maintaining the structure of the sentence, we get—

   ”. . . he punishes upon? onto? for? the children, and the children's children . . .".

   This makes no sense at all.

   True, this verse certainly doesn’t mean that God will spare the children from the effects of the sins of the fathers. Life teaches us that there is some effect, there is some negative consequence upon the children, as a result of their father’s sins. But the meaning here is not that the children are directly punished for their father’s sins.

8. A suggested translation of the second half of Exodus 34:7.

   In light of all this, we suggest that the best way to understand the second half of Exodus 34:7 is as follows:

   ”. . . yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he brings the consequences of the sins of the parents upon the children and their children to the third and fourth generation.”

   There is a very recent English translation which reflects this understanding of Exodus 34:7. This is how it renders Exodus 34:7 – [ ‘HCSB’ (Holman Christian Standard Bible, 1999, 2009) ]

   “But He will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ wrongdoing on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.“

   Based on the meaning of the Hebrew, the speaker believes that HCSB has translated this verse correctly. But there is one more significant detail which is vital to the larger issue involved.

D. An Important Detail Provided in Deut 5:9 and Exodus 20:5

Deuteronomy 5:9 and Exodus 20:5 read much the same as does Exodus 34:7. But they both provide a detail which is very important to the overall picture:

”. . . bringing the consequences of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations → of those who hate Me.”

These are the people upon whom God continues to bring the negative consequences of the sins of their prior generations: those who hate / scorn him. We move to our conclusions.

E. Overall Conclusions Regarding Exodus 34:7 –

• Exodus 34:7 does(!) acknowledge that there are consequences to sin, that that God brings the consequences of people’s sins onto their posterity, for three and even four generations.

• But Exodus 34:7 does not(!) teach that God directly punishes children for the sins of their parents.

• And the rest of Exodus 34:6 & 7 emphasizes God’s compassion & mercy. So it is clear that when people turn back to God, it starts to break that cycle of inter-generational negative consequences.

• The discussion of Exod 34:7 in this handout is one example. Your professor submits that when people read the Old Testament patiently and carefully, they will reach the conclusion that the God of the Old Testament is one and the same as the God of the New Testament.