Character of God (Punishment)

In the last article of this series, we are going to look at one of the toughest Scriptures to wrestle with. We’ve been going through the characteristics by which God describes himself. He calls himself compassionate, and gracious, loving and kind and forgiving. However this last part trips up a lot of people. Let’s look at this last characteristic. 

In Exodus 34:7 it says, “Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” This comes in stark contrast to the loving, merciful God we have been describing. A God who punishes the guilty even to the third and fourth generation. A God who punishes innocent people for the sins of those who lived before? Is this really correct? Let’s dive deeper. 

Another translation by the Robert Alter commentary is as follows, “He does not wholly acquit, reckoning the crime of fathers with sons”. This is also not the first trace of this phrase in Scripture. Back in the ten commandments God says, “punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me” (Exodus 20:5). This correctly identifies God’s punishment of generations of those who are against Him, which would be just. The idea is that God is not punishing innocent people. These are all people who are rebellious and against God. 

So we come to a point where there are two choices with this passage. Either each generation has a choice, and natural human pattern follows where the sons follow their fathers rebellion. Or this was an ancient way of viewing God’s mercy, in that instead of punishing every generation that follows the rebellious one, he only punishes to the third or fourth generation. I tend to lean towards the former view to be more accurate. 

This word “punish” in Hebrew also does not have a God-flaming anger connotation to it. Rather it can mean to pay attention to, to seek, or to number. This would make sense in light of the view that each generation follows the rebellious path of the former generation. 

As we have seen through the character of God, that Yahweh is a loving and gracious God that is overflowing with mercy to His people. He is also a just God that will deal with sin and rebellion but he has given us Jesus. In Him, we can be forgiven and repent so that we can receive the reward waiting for us.