By: Jason Dulle
GENERATIONAL CURSES ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE
Generational curses, Breaking generational curses?
There are four passages in the Old Testament that speak of God “visiting the iniquity of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate God”: Exodus 20:5; 34:7; Numbers 14:18; Deuteronomy 5: 9. Hence many speak of a generational curse.
Deuteronomy 5:9 is probably the most familiar:
“You shall not bow down to them, nor serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.” Many are based on this to talk about a generational curse.
Do generational curses really exist? Are there those who are breaking generational curses? Or what does this these passages mean to us?
Many interpret these passages to teach “generational curses”: curses on children that result from the sins of their parents. There are entire ministries dedicated to helping people break free of these generational curses on their lives, they say they are breaking generational curses of which they are unaware.
BREAKING GENERATIONAL CURSES, IS THIS THE POINT OF THE PASSAGE?
Are we talking about generational curses?
Is this the point of the passage? Generational curse? Does it really mean conveying the idea that God punishes children for the sins of their parents? I do not think so. The context makes it very clear. Let’s look at Deuteronomy 5:9-10 as an example of this:
“You shall not bow down to them, nor shall you serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me. 10 And showing mercy to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments”.
While God’s wrath would be visited on the third and fourth generation for those who hate God, His mercy would be visited on thousands of generations for those who love God. Notice the contrast.
The point of this passage is not to communicate the number of generations that will be blessed compared to the number that will be cursed, but to communicate that God’s mercy far exceeds his wrath. Ironically, we have used these passages to emphasize the severity of God’s wrath over his mercy!
I do not suggest that this observation alone clears up the difficulty of this verse, because the point still seems to be that the innocent could be punished for the sins of their parents. Therefore, I would like to make a few more points to better address this notion, as well as the application of “generational curses” as is often taught today.
GENERATIONAL CURSES, SOME POINTS OF VIEW
Generational curses for those who hate God?
First, notice that curses are on those who hate God. It is not for those who love God but make some mistakes in life. One could argue, however, that your father or grandfather might have hated God. This is irrelevant, but it brings me to my next point.
Generational Curses: The Category of Mercy Instead of Damned
Using a hyper-literalist interpretation of this passage, if the Lord shows mercy for thousands of generations on parents who loved God, then all it would take for us to be in the “mercy” category instead of “cursed” is find a relative in the last thousand generations of people who loved and obeyed the Lord.
Isn’t it likely that we have at least one distant relative in the last 1,000 generations who loved the Lord and kept His commandments? The statistical probability is that we certainly do. And if we do, then we are part of the 1,000 generations to whom the Lord promised to show mercy, not curse.
Is God the active agent behind these generational curses?
The third point to consider is that God is the active agent behind these curses. This contradicts most interpretations of these passages in which it is assumed that God does not want us to be cursed.
BREAKING GENERATIONAL CURSES?
Breaking generational curses, why would God do it?
While the common interpretation assumes that the source of the curse is Satan, or even man himself, the text is clear that the source of the curse is God. Why would God break the curse that He is responsible for giving? After all, He would not have said that he was going to curse the third and fourth generation if he did not want the sinner’s third and fourth generations to be cursed.
Invoke God’s help by breaking generational curses?
Invoking God’s help to break your curse is asking God to want something other than what He expressly wants. That is contradictory and absurd. This undermines all ministries attempting to break generational curses as they are found to be fighting against God.
Fourth, empirical data contradicts the idea that children pay for their parents’ sins to the third and fourth generations, and that children are destined to repeat their parents’ sins. Consider David. David killed a man and committed adultery, but we don’t read of Solomon doing the same.
The outcome of their lives was very different. Or consider the kings of Judah. King Hezekiah was the fairest king of Judah next to David (II Kings 18:4), but his son Manasseh was the wickedest! Manasseh’s grandson Josiah, however, was a righteous king who brought a revival of Jehovah to the earth!
THE GREATNESS OF GOD’S MERCY AGAINST HIS JUDGMENT
It is not about breaking generational curses but about the greatness of God’s mercy
What happened to the mercies that God promised to show Hezekiah’s progeny for thousands of generations? What happened to Manasseh Curse to the 3rd and 4th generation? They do not exist, which should point us to the fact that Deuteronomy 5:9 is not about time limits on God’s mercies and curses, but about the greatness of God’s mercy against his judgment.
Jesus was not breaking generational curses on the blind man of John 9:3, rather it was for the glory of God to be revealed.
The fifth point to consider is Jesus’ statement in John 9:3. Seeing a man blind from birth, the disciples asked Jesus, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus replied: “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
Contrary to the disciples’ belief, the man blind from birth was not paying for the sins of his ancestors. In fact, his illness was not related to sin. It was for the glory of God.
EZEKIEL 18:1-15 CONTRADICTS THE IDEA OF BREAKING GENERATIONAL CURSES
Ezekiel 18 Contradicts Generational Curses
Finally, Ezekiel 18:1-5 contradicts the idea that God punishes children for the sins of the parents:
“The word of the LORD came to me again: 2 What do you mean by repeating this proverb about the land of Israel: ‘Fathers ate sour grapes, and the teeth of children are set on edge? 3 says the LORD this proverb already it shall not be used by you in Israel. 4 Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father and the soul of the son are mine: the soul that sins shall die.”
Ezekiel contradicts the passages that argue generational curses
Ezekiel expands on this idea in the verses that follow in much more detail, clearly stating that if the son of an evil man does not repeat his father’s sins (which contradicts the interpretation of the “generational curses” passages that children are destined for to repeat the sins of their parents) will not be punished, only the father.
The same is true of the corollary in which the son of a just man commits evil. The father will be blessed, but the son will be punished. Ezekiel summed up the matter by proclaiming:
The soul that sins will die. The son will not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor will the father suffer for the iniquity of the son; the justice of the righteous will be on himself, and the iniquity of the wicked will be on himself. 21 “But if a wicked man turns from all the sins he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is lawful and right, he will certainly live; he will not die” (Ezekiel 18:20-21)
Instead of generational curses, there is a personal responsibility for sin, we are responsible for the curse
In light of such clear teaching about personal responsibility for sin, any interpretation of Deuteronomy 5:9 and others that produces a contrary notion must be reconsidered.
Many understand these passages to refer to the cycle of psychologically and socially influenced negative behavior patterns that tend to repeat themselves from one generation to the next (eg, alcoholism, spousal abuse, uncontrolled anger). According to this interpretation, one’s upbringing, not God, is responsible for the curse.
Generational curses have nothing to do with God
But note that this understanding of generational curses has nothing to do with God. While it is true that the human tendency is for children to repeat the sins of their parents, this is not due to the fact that God has cursed them so they must repeat the same sins. There is nothing supernatural in it. It is a phenomenon of human nature.
We learn from example and influence. We tend to do what we have learned to do from the example of others. We don’t need a Bible verse to explain this social phenomenon. Scripture, however, affirms that the curse is supernatural in nature; It is attributed to the activity of God.
Generational curses do not depend on God
If our understanding of “generational curses” does not depend on God, and yet what these texts talk about depends on a specific divine action, that should tell us that our understanding of “generational curses” has nothing to do with these passages, and therefore cannot serve as a proper interpretation or even application of these passages.
While our observation that children tend to repeat their parents’ behavior pattern is true, that idea is not taught in these specific passages (correct idea, wrong Biblical justification).
We recognize that the bad behaviors we learned from our parents should not be repeated, and in fact do not need to be repeated. That’s why we try to help people change them. This task is only possible, however, if the psychological-sociological interpretation of these passages is the wrong interpretation.