To the third and fourth generation

In Numbers 14:18, “Yahweh punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.” And Moses accepts this as “the Lord’s strength being displayed” too (17).  

But how on earth can punishing children – who aren’t responsible for their parents’ sins – show Yahweh’s “strength”? There’s a clue in Exodus 20:5, where “punishing to the third and forth generation” is first mentioned in Scripture, in the second commandment about “not making idols of anything in heaven or earth and bowing down to them (4-5) – FOR,” and here’s Yahweh’s reason for it – “I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God,” so “I punish those who hate me, but show love to thousands who love me and keep my commandments.”

This is amazing, that Yahweh, the supreme commander of the universe, is deeply affected emotionally by how this tiny group of ex-slave Israelites feel and act toward him. Do they love him or hate him? And why was that important to him? Because his reason for choosing these people out of all the nations on earth was to “take you as my own people, and I will be your God,” Exodus 6:7. 

He knew that no other god could do for Israel what he could do for them. Only in his all powerful and loving care would they flourish. And this is what he wanted Israel to know. He was just like a young man desperately wanting to give his all to the woman he’s come to love, and desperately hoping she’ll see that in him enough to happily commit her life and love to him in return. Because if she does he will fiercely and jealously protect her and care for her, and if it came to it, die for her. 

Imagine, therefore, how he’d feel if, after proving to her that he really loved her in both his words and actions, that she turned against him, accusing him of wanting to wreck her life instead. Because that’s exactly what Israel did to Yahweh. The whole bunch of them cried out in Numbers 14:2-3, “If only we’d died in Egypt, or in this desert. Why did the Lord bring us here to let us die, and our wives and children be taken as plunder? Better for us that we go back to Egypt instead, right?”

Which was like a stab to the heart for Yahweh (11). But how to get that across to these foolish, dumb Israelites? By “The loving power of punishment”….(next blog)