約伯倫理 第 755 章

Verse 19. — 'God shall reserve the father's sorrow for his children: and when He shall have repaid, then he shall know.' 57. How God punishes the sins of parents in the children. — We know it is written: 'Who repays the sins of the fathers upon the children and grandchildren, unto the third and fourth generation' (Exodus 34:7). And again it is written: 'What is it that you turn among yourselves this parable into a proverb in the land of Israel, saying: The fathers ate a sour grape, and the teeth of the children were set on edge? As I live, says the Lord God, this parable shall no more be to you for a proverb in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine. The soul that sins, the same shall die' (Ezekiel 18:2;

Jeremiah 31:29). Since therefore in each of these two sentences a dissimilar sense is found, the mind of the hearer is instructed subtly to inquire into the way of discretion. For we draw original sin from our parents; and unless we are loosed through the grace of baptism, we bear even the sins of our parents: because as yet we are indeed one with them. Therefore He repays the sins of the parents upon the children, when for the parent's guilt, from original sin, the soul of the offspring is polluted. And again He does not repay the sins of the parents upon the children: because when we are freed from original guilt through baptism, we have no longer the guilt of our parents, but that which we ourselves commit. Which nevertheless can also be understood otherwise:

For whoever imitates the iniquity of a wicked parent is bound also by that parent's transgression. But whoever does not imitate the parent's iniquity is in no way burdened by his transgression. Hence it comes about that a wicked son of a wicked father pays the penalty not only for his own sins which he has added, but also for his father's; since he does not shrink from joining still his own malice to the vices of his father, by which he knows the Lord to have been provoked. And it is just that he who, beneath a strict Judge, does not fear to imitate the ways of a wicked parent, should be compelled in the present life to pay also for the faults of that wicked parent. Whence it is also said there: 'The soul of the father is mine, and the soul of the son is mine. The soul that sins, the same shall die.'

For in the flesh sons are sometimes destroyed even because of the father's sin. But once original sin has been blotted out, they are not held in their soul on account of their parents' wickedness. For what is it that little children are very often seized by demons, save that the flesh of the son is punished because of the father's guilt? For the wicked father is smitten in his own person, and disdains to feel the force of that smiting. Very often he is smitten in his sons, that he may be more sharply scorched; and the father's grief is repaid upon the flesh of his sons, so that through the sufferings of the sons the wicked mind of the father may be punished. But when it is not little children but already grown-up sons who are stricken because of their parents' guilt, what else is plainly given to be understood, save that they too pay the penalties of those whose deeds they have followed?

Whence it is also rightly said: 'Unto the third and fourth generation.' For because unto the third and fourth generation the sons can see the life of their parents which they imitate, so far the vengeance is extended, that is, unto those who saw what they were following unto evil. The guilt of the ungodly closes their eyes; the penalty opens them. And because the guilt of the ungodly closes their eyes, but at the last the penalty opens them, it is rightly added: 'And when he has repaid, then shall he know.' For the ungodly man does not know the evils he has done, until he has already begun to be punished for those same evils. Whence also it is said through the prophet: 'And vexation alone shall give understanding to the hearing' (Isaiah 28:19). For then he understands what he heard, when he has already grieved to be vexed for his contempt.

Hence it is said by Balaam concerning himself: 'The man whose eye is stopped has said: the hearer of the words of God has said, who beheld the vision of the Almighty, who falls, and thus his eyes shall be opened' (Numbers 24:3-4). For he gave counsel against the Israelites, but afterward in his punishment he saw what he had first committed through guilt. But the elect, because they foresee that they ought not to sin, have their eyes open before the fall. The wicked man, however, opens his eyes after the fall; for after the guilt he now beholds in his punishment that he ought to have avoided the evil which he did. Concerning his knowledge, now already useless, it is added: