46 | AUGUST 24 • 2023
T
here is, on the face of it, a funda-
mental contradiction in the Torah.
On the one hand we hear, in the
passage known as the Thirteen Attributes
of Mercy, the following words: “The
Lord, the Lord, compas-
sionate and gracious God,
slow to anger, abounding
in loving-kindness and
truth … but who does not
acquit the guilty, holding
descendants to account
for the sins of the fathers,
children and grandchildren
to the third and fourth generation.” Ex.
34:7
The implication is clear. Children suffer
for the sins of their parents. On the other
hand, we read in this week’s parshah:
“Parents shall not to be put to death for
their children, nor shall children be put to
death for their parents. A person shall be
put to death only for their own sin.” Deut.
24:16
The book of Kings records a historic
event when this principle proved decisive.
“When Amaziah was well-established
as king, he executed the officials who had
assassinated his father. However, he did
not kill the children of the assassins, for
he obeyed the command of the Lord as
written by Moses in the Book of the Law:
“Parents shall not to be put to death for
their children, nor shall children be put
to death for their parents. A person shall
be put to death only for their own sin.” 2
Kings 14:5-6
There is an obvious resolution. The
first statement refers to Divine justice,
“at the hands of Heaven.” The second, in
Deuteronomy, refers to human justice as
administered in a court of law. How can
mere mortals decide the extent to which
one person’s crime was induced by the
influence of others? Clearly the judicial
process must limit itself to the observ-
able facts. The person who committed
the crime is guilty. Those who may have
shaped his character are not.
Yet the matter is not so simple, because
we find Jeremiah and Ezekiel, the two
great prophets of exile in the 6th century
BCE, restating the principle of individual
responsibility in strong and strikingly sim-
ilar ways.
Jeremiah says: “In those days people will
no longer say, ‘The parents have eaten sour
grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on
edge.’ Instead, everyone will die for their
own sin; whoever eats sour grapes — their
own teeth will be set on edge.” Jer. 31:29-
30
Ezekiel says: “The word of the Lord
came to me: What do you people mean
by quoting this proverb about the Land
of Israel: ‘The parents eat sour grapes,
and the children’s teeth are set on edge’?
As surely as I live,” declares the Sovereign
Lord, “you will no longer quote this prov-
erb in Israel. For everyone belongs to Me,
the parent as well as the child — both alike
belong to me. The one who sins is the one
who will die.” Ezekiel 18:1-4
Here the prophets were not speak-
ing about judicial procedures and legal
responsibility. They are talking about
Divine judgment and justice. They were
giving the people hope at one of the lowest
points in Jewish history: the Babylonian
conquest and the destruction of the First
Temple.
The people, sitting and weeping by the
waters of Babylon, might have given up
hope altogether. They were being judged
for the failings of their ancestors that had
brought the nation to this desperate plight,
and their exile seemed to stretch endlessly
into the future.
Ezekiel, in his vision of the valley of
dry bones, hears God reporting that the
people were saying, “Our bones are dried
up, our hope is lost.” (Ezek. 37:11) He
and Jeremiah were counseling against
despair. The people’s future was in their
own hands. If they returned to God, God
would return to them and bring them
back to their land. The guilt of previous
generations would not be attached to
them.
But, if this is so, then the words of
Jeremiah and Ezekiel really do conflict
with the idea that God punishes sins to the
third and fourth generation. Recognizing
this, the Talmud makes a remarkable
statement: “Said R. Yose b. Hanina: Our
master, Moses, pronounced four [adverse]
sentences on Israel, but four prophets
came and revoked them … Moses said the
Lord punishes the children and their chil-
dren for the sin of the parents to the third
and fourth generation. Ezekiel came and
To the Third and
Fourth Generations
Rabbi Lord
Jonathan
Sacks
SPIRIT
A WORD OF TORAH