Are Children Punished for Parents' Sins/1/he

האם ה' פֹּקֵד עֲוֹן אָבֹת עַל בָּנִים?

הקדמה

נושאים מוסריים מטרידים

שני קטעים מפורסמים מעשרת הדברים¹ ומשלוש עשרה מידות של רחמים² use virtually identical language to describe Hashem's methods of administering justice:³

עשרת הדברות (שמות כ':ה'-ו')	שלוש עשרה מידות (שמות ל"ד:ו'-ז')
לֹא תִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה לָהֶם וְלֹא תָעָבְדֵם כִּי אָנֹכִי ה' אֱלֹהֶיךָ אֵל קַנָּא פֹּקֵד עֲוֹן אָבֹת עַל בָּנִים עַל שִׁלֵּשִׁים וְעַל רִבֵּעִים לְשֹׂנְאָי. וְעֹשֶׂה חֶסֶד לַאֲלָפִים לְאֹהֲבַי וּלְשֹׁמְרֵי מִצְוֹתָי.	וַיַּעֲבֹר ה' עַל פָּנָיו וַיִּקְרָא ה' ה' אֵל רַחוּם וְחַנּוּן אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם וְרַב חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת. נֹצֵר חֶסֶד לָאֲלָפִים נֹשֵׂא עָוֹן וָפֶשַׁע וְחַטָּאָה וְנַקֵּה לֹא יְנַקֶּה פֹּקֵד עֲוֹן אָבוֹת עַל בָּנִים וְעַל בְּנֵי בָנִים עַל שִׁלֵּשִׁים וְעַל רִבֵּעִים.

Both of these verses describe how the sin of parents is ultimately followed by the punishment of their descendants. As they give no explicit indication that the children sinned⁴ or that the parents receive any punishment,⁵ these texts ostensibly lead one to the conclusion that Hashem defers the dispensation of justice and punishes innocent generations of the sinner's descendants in place of the sinner himself. This understanding, while supported by various other Biblical passages,⁶ raises several troubling theological questions:⁷

• עונש קולקטיבי של המשפחה – Do these verses advocate a form of collective punishment in which innocent children suffer for sins which they didn't commit?⁸
• עונש קולקטיבי בין דורי – While collective punishment generally expands the scope of the punishment horizontally to include others alive at the time of the infraction,⁹ these passages extend it vertically to subsequent generations. But why should later generations pay the price for crimes that they might not have even been alive to witness?¹⁰
• Vicarious punishment – Even collective punishment only widens the circle of those punished, but does not absolve the sinner. Yet, in the above verses the Torah seems to imply that the sinner himself will escape personal harm¹¹ and will be punished only vicariously through his descendants. How does this manifest Divine justice?

פסוקים סותרים

The principles of deferred, collective, and vicarious punishment implied by the above passages appear to place them in direct conflict with several other Biblical texts:

• דברים ז׳:י׳ states that Hashem immediately metes out justice to the sinner himself.¹²
• דברים כ"ד:ט"ז commands that children are not to be put to death for the sins of parents, but rather each person should be held responsible for their own actions.¹³
• ירמיהו ל"א:כ"ח-כ"ט prophesies how when Hashem redeems the Children of Israel, it will no longer be said that children are penalized for the sins of parents.
• יחזקאל י"ח describes in unequivocal terms the system of Divine justice, according to which only the sinner is punished, and no son is held liable for the wickedness of his father.¹⁴

What is the relationship between the two texts from Shemot¹⁵ and these four other Biblical texts? Can all of these passages be harmonized? Must any of them be reinterpreted? Does Hashem employ contrasting principles of justice in different situations? Is there a distinction between the Divine and human judicial systems? Is it possible that Hashem's doctrine of justice changed at some point in history, and if so, why?

התיעוד ההיסטורי

There are many cases in Tanakh which reflect the fulfillment of various facets of the principle of "פֹּקֵד עֲוֹן אָבוֹת עַל בָּנִים":

• Deferred punishment of the sinner – במקרים של עגל הזהב¹⁶ ודור המרגלים,¹⁷ punishment was postponed but ultimately meted out to the sinners themselves.
• עונש קולקטיבי של המשפחה¹⁸ – בסיפורים של דתן ואבירם ואמציה כהן בית אל, it appears that Hashem punished their children along with them.¹⁹ במקרים של עכן²⁰ ויבש גלעד, the Israelites seemingly kill children along with the guilty parents.²¹
• עונש קולקטיבי בין דורי – במקרים של עלי וגיחזי,²² Hashem ostensibly punishes them and all of their future descendants.²³
• Immediate vicarious punishment – בדוגמאות של דוד ובת-שבע וחיאל בית האלייהושע ו':כ"ומלכים א' ט"ז:ל"ד,²⁴ Hashem kills the children instead of the parents.²⁵
• Intergenerational vicarious punishment – במקרים של ירבעם, אחאב,²⁶ חזקיהו, ומנשה,²⁷ the Divine punishment for their actions is realized only during future generations.²⁸ The same is true in the story of צאצאי שאול והגבעונים, in which punishment is exacted from Shaul's descendants after his death.

One of the challenges is to explain why the principle is implemented in so many different ways. When is the punishment delayed and when is it exacted immediately? Why in some cases is just the sinner himself penalized, in others only his descendants pay the price, and in additional ones both the sinner and his offspring are punished? And what determines whether the punishment will be visited upon the second generation, the fourth generation, or upon all future generations for eternity?

¹ The text below is from Shemot 20. In the parallel verses בדברים ה׳:ט׳, there are three small orthographic differences (all related to the letter "ו") in the words "אָבוֹת",‎ "וְעַל שִׁלֵּשִׁים", and "מִצְוֹתָו".

² The text below is from Shemot 34 where the Attributes are first transmitted to Moshe. A condensed version appears in Moshe's prayer in במדבר י״ד:י״ח, where "אֵל רַחוּם וְחַנּוּן",‎ "וֶאֱמֶת",‎ "נֹצֵר חֶסֶד לָאֲלָפִים",‎ "וְחַטָּאָה",‎ and "וְעַל בְּנֵי בָנִים" are all omitted, while the central theme remains intact.

³ There are also some noteworthy discrepancies between these two passages:

1. Shemot 20 contains the qualifying terms of "לְשֹׂנְאָי" and "לְאֹהֲבַי וּלְשֹׁמְרֵי מִצְוֹתָי" which do not appear in Shemot 34.
2. Shemot 34 adds "נֹשֵׂא עָוֹן וָפֶשַׁע וְחַטָּאָה וְנַקֵּה לֹא יְנַקֶּה".
3. The context of Shemot 20 is the sin of idolatry and the description of how Hashem punishes precedes how He rewards. In contrast, the focus of Shemot 34 is mercy and forgiveness, and the order of Hashem's attributes is reversed.
4. Shemot 34 inserts "וְעַל בְּנֵי בָנִים" in the middle of the list of punished generations (Bemidbar 14, though, reads like the Decalogue).

⁴ The question of whether also the children sinned hinges, at least in part, on whether "לְשֹׂנְאָי" (which appears only in Shemot 20 and not in Shemot 34) refers to the parent, his offspring, or both.

⁵ השוו "וְשַׂמְתִּי אֲנִי אֶת פָּנַי בָּאִישׁ הַהוּא וּבְמִשְׁפַּחְתּוֹ" בויקרא כ׳:ה׳, וראו גישות פרשניות לפירושו של המעמרויקרא כ':ה'אודות ר' מאיר וולף. Exegetes who claim that also the parents are punished in the verses in Shemot would maintain that the point of these verses is to emphasize God's wrath in exacting retribution not just from the sinner but also from his descendants. Whether "פֹּקֵד עֲוֹן אָבוֹת" constitutes an attribute of mercy or vengeance will be discussed in גישות פרשניות.

Additional questions which impact the understanding of these verses include:

1. Do the terms "אָבוֹת" and "בָּנִים" refer to individual sinners or to successive generations of the entire nation?
2. What form of penalty do the descendants receive, and is this really more of a punishment for their parents?
3. Does the principle of justice presented in these verses apply across the board or only to specific sins?
4. Is the punishment visited upon all subsequent generations or only upon the fourth generation?

⁶ There are a number of different categories of verses:

1. For children being punished for the sins of their parents, ראו ויקרא כ׳:ה׳ regarding the Molekh worshipper and his family, ישעיהו י"ד:כ"א, ירמיהו ל"ב:י"ח, and איכה ה':ז'. In the latter three passages, it is certainly possible that the children are being punished in place of their parents, and see גישות פרשניות לפירושו של המעמרויקרא כ':ה'אודות ר' מאיר וולף לפסוק בספר ויקרא.
2. For children being punished both for the sins of their parents as well as for their own sins, see ויקרא כ"ו:ל"ט-מ', ישעיהו ס"ה:ז', ירמיהו י"ד:כ', תהלים ק"ט:י"ד, דניאל ט':ט"ז, נחמיה ט':ב'.
3. For the possibility that the terms "כרת" and "ערירי" refer to the death of the sinner's descendants, ראו כרת.
4. For Biblical stories which reflect the implementation of deferred, collective, and vicarious punishment, see below.

⁷ These difficulties are inherent in the transferring of the punishment to the descendants, not in the mere deferring of the punishment. To some extent, they are a specific subset of the larger questions of "צדיק ורע לו" and "רשע וטוב לו", and many of the approaches overlap. Cf. the בבליברכות ז'.אודות הבבלי which utilizes those formulations in this context.

⁸ Even if "לְשֹׂנְאָי" implies that the sinner's family continues in his path, this would only explain why they should be punished for their own sins, and would not explain their being punished for the actions of their ancestor.

⁹ In some cases the logic may be that the community bears responsibility for abetting or at least not preventing the culprit from committing the crime. For more, see ענישה קולקטיבית.

¹⁰ It is possible to interpret the verses of "פֹּקֵד עֲוֹן אָבוֹת" as saying that punishment is limited only to the generations who are alive during the lifetime of the sinner, but it is difficult to say that in all cases four generations were alive at the time of the sin.

¹¹ See שמות ל״ד:ז׳ which states that Hashem is "נֹשֵׂא עָוֹן וָפֶשַׁע וְחַטָּאָה" before describing the punishment of subsequent generations.

¹² It is noteworthy that דברים ז׳:ט׳ which speaks of the reward for the righteous is almost identical to the Decalogue.

¹³ This question is posed by the מדרש תנאיםדברים כ"ד:ט"זאודות מדרש תנאים and בבליברכות ז'.סנהדרין כ"ז:אודות הבבלי.

¹⁴ This question is the backdrop for the statement in בבלי מכות כ"ד.בבלי מכות כ"ד.About the Bavli that Yechezkel annulled the Torah's principle of "פֹּקֵד עֲוֹן אָבוֹת".

¹⁵ This question applies equally to the collection of assorted Biblical texts cited in the note above which also imply the existence of collective or vicarious punishment.

¹⁶ The Thirteen Attributes of Mercy were first given in the context of the atonement for this sin. See also the similar language of "וּבְיוֹם פָּקְדִי וּפָקַדְתִּי עֲלֵהֶם חַטָּאתָם".

¹⁷ While the generation of the Exodus perished over the course of the forty years in the wilderness, במדבר י"ד:ל"ז implies that the Spies themselves died immediately. There is room to question whether the forty years in the wilderness was a punishment more for the generation which perished (but lived out their lives) or for their children who had to sit and wait out the process.

¹⁸ For cases of general collective punishment or destruction which do not specifically target family members, see ענישה קולקטיבית.

¹⁹ This is indicated by במדבר ט"ז:כ"ז-ל"ג and דברים י"א:ו'. In contrast, במדבר כ"ו:י"א states explicitly that the sons of Korach did not perish, and Korach's descendants later become prominent Levites. Regarding Korach, Ramban and Ralbag emphasize that no innocent family members perished.

²⁰ This appears to be the simple reading of יהושע ז':כ"ד-כ"ה. However, many commentators reinterpret these verses. See Bavli Sanhedrin 44a that the children were only brought to witness the execution, וראו פרקי דרבי אליעזר ל"ח ורד"ק יהושע ז':ט"ויהושע ז':ט"ואודות ר' דוד קמחי who say that the children were killed only because they were complicit in the crime. להרחבה, ראו גישות פרשניות ומשפחת עכן.

²¹ See also גישות פרשניות for the dispute regarding the case of the עיר הנדחת.

²² However, see רד"קמל"ב ה':כ"זאודות ר' דוד קמחי who says that only the sons of Geichazi who had abetted his actions were punished, and not their descendants.

²³ In שמואל ב' ג':כ"ט, David calls for Yoav's household to be similarly punished.

²⁴ The death of the sons is not explicit in these verses, but is implied by context.

²⁵ See also מפקד דוד where the nation is punished for the sin of its leader. R. Saadia, however, attempts to reinterpret this episode – ראו גישות פרשניות.

²⁶ In this case, while the full implementation of the punishment is deferred, Achav himself is punished – see מלכים א כ"ב:ל"ה-ל"ח.

²⁷ See also מלכים ב כ"א:י'-ט"ו and ירמיהו ט"ו:ד'.

²⁸ See also the need for the delayed punishment של האמורי in the Covenant of the Pieces.