Even to the third and fourth generations?
“Adonai passed before him and proclaimed: YHWH! YHWH Adonai is God, merciful and compassionate, slow to anger, rich in grace and truth; showing grace to the thousandth generation, forgiving offenses, crimes and sins; yet not exonerating the guilty, but causing the negative effects of the parents’ offenses to be experienced by their children and grandchildren, and even by the third and fourth generations.” - Sh’mot/Exodus 34:6-7 – CJB
Let’s examine this verse in CONTEXT. YHWH first mentions this “generational curse” in Sh’mot/Exodus 20:5:
The latter verse is taken from the first commandment, which clearly says that we are not to have other gods before Him nor make for ourselves carved images representing anything in heaven, on the earth, or in the water below. Basically, He is stating that idol worship is a HUGE no-no. I might add that it still is.You are not to bow down to them or serve them; for I, Adonai your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sins of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.
Fast forward to verse 23 of the same chapter. As if His commandment isn’t clear enough, He gets a little more specific saying,
Uh oh!You are not to make with me gods of silver, nor are you to make gods of gold for yourselves.
NOR ARE YOU TO MAKE GODS OF GOLD FOR YOURSELVES.
And what did the children of Isra’el do? Well, let’s take a look.
When the people saw that Moshe was taking a long time to come down from the mountain, they gathered around Aharon and said to him, “Get busy’ and make us gods to go ahead of us; because this Moshe, the man that brought us up from the land of Egypt – we don’t know what has become of him.” Aharon said to them, “Have your wives, sons and daughters strip off their gold earrings; and bring them to me.” The people stripped off their gold earrings and brought them to Aharon. He received what they gave him, melted it down, and made it into the shape of a calf. They said, “Isra’el! Here is your god, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!”
I tell you what! The children of Isra’el - who not only witnessed the wonders of YHWH in Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, the cloud by day, and pillar of fire by night – were quick to forget about the first commandment of YHWH! YHWH Himself says,
This transgression was serious! YHWH is trying to get these people prepared for the battles that lie ahead in order to take the land of promise. They are to be a set-apart people. Set-apart from what? Set-apart from the pagan nations that surround them and occupy the land that they are to inhabit. Those same nations that worship demonic gods; who bow down to idols of gold, silver, stone, and wood. Those same nations that sacrifice their children, practice homosexuality, and commit all manner of sexual immorality! Those nations! But no! They would rather disobey YWHW’s commandment willfully. Well, that disobedience cost the lives of 3000 men and brought upon themselves a plague. And that was actually an act of mercy, because YHWH would have destroyed them. If it weren’t for Moshe standing in the gap and repenting for the people, they surely would have been destroyed. Moshe atoned for their transgressions.Go down! Hurry! Your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have become corrupt! So quickly they have turned aside from the way I ordered them to follow!(Sh’mot/Exodus 32:7-8)
An example had to be made. The people had to know that YHWH was not an Egyptian deity or some Ba’al. They had to take His instructions in righteousness serious. If they did not take His commandments serious and continued to transgress, their children would no doubt continue in sin as well. YHWH is not unfair or unjust in allowing the sins of the fathers to pass to the children. I believe it’s pretty obvious that sinful behavior is passed on. It’s learned behavior. Just in my own life I have experienced this. And even though the context here is the worship of other gods, disobedience is disobedience. Sin is sin. Whether it be idol worship or sexual-immorality, a just God will not let it slide. Simply observe the patterns of sin in some families. Even in your own. However, His mercies are great. Turn away from transgression and be holy as He is holy. Blessings will replace the curses to the thousandth generation!
It takes the blood of Messiah to truly break you free from those “generational curses”. It takes sincere repentance. He is the only one that can sever the cords that bind and seal shut the doors opened by ancestors known and unknown. His blood covers a multitude of sins! Put an end to the “curses” and be the one in your bloodline to plead the blood of Messiah against every door that has been opened. Plead the blood against every oath known and unknown. Plead the blood against every soul-tie that binds you to another. Plead the blood against curses, hexes, spells, and all manner of sorcery. Plead the blood over it all!
Bless the Most High in all of His glory and majesty!
Shalom!
So, how do we reconcile your concept of "generational curses" with verses like Ezekiel 18:20 "The soul who sins is the one who will die. A son will not bear the iniquity of the father, and a father will not bear the iniquity of the son."?
What I find interesting is in Kings you see a evil king followed by a good king. 2Kings 21 describes Manasseh and his son Amon as evil, worshiping the host of heaven inside the temple of the Lord, among other evil things, and then we have in 2Kings 22 Josiah, Amon's son and Manasseh's grandson and he did right and God showed him mercy and there was no judgement from God while he ruled.
How badly are we gentiles screwed if all generations back to Noah were idol-worshipers and those curses remain accumulated down to this day? Or should we look back just for the past three or four generations from our generation? And do we look for the father's side only or complete genealogy?
I think we don't have to pay attention to those curses at all. With Jesus we either believe or we don't - we get saved or we don't. If we rejected Jesus we wouldn't need any "generational curse" - we would be cursed by default.
I wrestle with the concept of generational curses based on what happened in my own family history. My maternal grandfather had an aunt who could tell the future. So obviously there was occult involvement there. My grandfather's oldest son was a crib death. His youngest son died in a car accident at 18. His youngest daughter spent 6 months in the hospital from an accident involving a car she was riding in when she was 15. Another daughter had a history of mental illness. Another daughter married a man who used to beat her. It's all very unusual to all happen to a single family.
Generational curses most likely involve sins like alcoholism that are passed down from parents to children. My grandfather was an alcoholic. His son that died went out drinking with some friends. His friend got drunk, drove too fast, and my uncle was killed.
I have very similar stories in my family and yet none of my grandparents (as far as I know) had any involvement with the occult. I was the only one in my family who studied and practiced the occult.
It wouldn't be fair in my mind that my descendants should have to suffer for something I have done. If God wills it, I will endure whatever punishment I have coming for my sins, but I will do all I can to teach my children the bible so that they don't go astray as I did.
I believe that God does not punish innocents. And I understand the word used in Exodus and Deuteronomy is "paqad" which is translated as "visiting" in KJV and sometimes as "punishing" and "appointing" but it has the connotation of checking, caring, observing. I believe God keeps score of each and every of our action and choice, and idol-worship is indeed the greatest sin one can commit. So, we need to be extremely vigilant when it comes to that because if most of our family tree are idolaters, you're almost guaranteed to expect tragedy if you continue with tradition (and conflict if you break from tradition).
Thanks for sharing! My grandfather was a criminal, bootlegger, and alcoholic. He would beat my grandmother and raise all kinds of hell. He was not born-again. As much as his kids - my father, uncles, and aunts - despised his behavior, many of them (the sons) acted in the same manner. And guess what? I was on that same path of destruction. It took the Almighty - who I hated by the way - to radically change me in order for there to be a generational change. I am unworthy of His mercies. By rescuing me from the pit, He rescued my sons from a pagan/occultic father who was training them up in wickedness. Now they know the true GOD!
First of all, thank you for commenting and taking the time to read my post. The post, obviously, is not an exhaustive study in regards to “generational curses”. It wasn’t meant to be. However, I must admit that I was a bit scattered in my thoughts. How so? I failed to clearly layout the difference between INIQUITY and CURSES. Two very different words with two very different meanings.
Iniquity is sin – transgression of YHWH’s commandments – at its’ worst. Iniquity is rebellion in the worst kind of way. And when taken in the context of Exodus 34:6-7, YHWH is referring to iniquity. A curse (in many cases but not all), on the other hand, is a consequence of the transgression. We clearly see that in Genesis 3 where YHWH cursed the ground because of Adam. The serpent was cursed as well because of his iniquity. As a consequence of Adams sin, we have been cursed – generationally – with death (both spiritual and physical). Is that not the case?
The context of Ezekiel 18 is not summed up in verse 20. Its’ context starts much earlier and ends much later. YHWH is actually rebuking the Jews for seemingly accusing Him of being unjust, which is ridiculous. So, YHWH is laying it all out to them through his prophet. He basically sums up His instructions (law) to them and declares that He is and always has been just. Then He tells them very plainly, “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord GOD. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live.”
Bottomline, turn – repent - and live. A father who indulges in idolatry, sexual immorality, adultery, and rebellion is heaping curses upon his family. If he does not repent and cast away all the transgressions that he has committed, then he shall perish in his sins. The children are unfortunately affected by their father’s iniquity and they are cursed (afflicted/tormented/wounded) because of it. What does that mean? It means that they are more-than-likely going to repeat the sins of the father. That’s the “curse” that YHWH allows until someone turns from their wicked ways. Why? Because He is just. It's not about being fair. The iniquity of the father that is visited upon the children is broken when the child refuses to do as their father did and repent (King Josiah). Therefore the “son will not bear the iniquity of the father” because of their turning away and seeking after righteousness.
Like I said in my post, “Turn away from transgression and be holy as He is holy. Blessings will replace the curses to the thousandth generation!” It starts with repentance. And we know that our Heavenly Father is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins when we do so. Again, I was a bit scattered in my post. I do believe in “generational curses”, however, in two very different ways. The obvious “generational curses” – that can be observed carnally – are those of learned behavior, such as, anger, violent outbursts, alcoholism, drug abuse, adultery, physical abuse, etc. Those behavioral flaws are normally learned by the children and carried into their adulthood. I know, it happened to me and I have seen it with others. The not-so-obvious, are those curses brought about because of secret oaths, witchcraft, necromancy, paganism, and new-age practice. Again, I know, because I was a practicing pagan/occultist for most of my life and was passing that “curse” onto my children. Perhaps this whole discussion is more so a matter of semantics. Words do in fact matter.
Even though I was made a new creature in Messiah by His precious blood. Even though I was redeemed and delivered from all unrighteousness. I still had to deal with the “curses” that I had placed upon my family. I gave legal rights to demons in my household. I had to wrestle with them in the name of Y’shua/Jesus! I had to take back my household, property, and family! I had to be the priest of my household, Godly husband to my wife, and Godly father to my children. It was not an easy task, but by the power of the Holy Spirit, all the curses have been broken, severed, and sealed by the blood of my Master. I had to pray it and live it. My earthly father is still in bondage. He’s still angry and unforgiving. I had to pray against that which I had inherited from him; not for my sake but for the sake of my children’s children. Call it whatever you want, it had to be done and I have seen the fruit of it.
I hope this finds you well. Again, thanks for commenting and stopping by.
Blessings!