Inheriting A Father’s Iniquity
This case study explores how a father’s iniquity can be passed on to his son. It is part of the bible study on Ezekiel 18: Fathers & Sons
1 Kings 21:25-29 says “But there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the Lord, because Jezebel his wife stirred him up. 26 And he behaved very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites had done, whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.
27 So it was, when Ahab heard those words, that he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his body, and fasted and lay in sackcloth, and went about mourning.
28 And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 29 “See how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the calamity in his days. In the days of his son I will bring the calamity on his house.”
King Ahab was the most evil King in the bible. He did abominable things against God. However, when King Ahab repented of his evil ways and asked for forgiveness, God forgave even his sin.
A Father Repents But The Son Does Not
King Ahab repented of his ways. However, God knew that King Ahab’s son, Ahaziah, would continue to walk in his father’s iniquity. And so, it would be Ahaziah, who would face punishment for the sins that originated with King Ahab. Ahaziah was not willing to repent and change as his father did.
1 Kings 22:51 to 53 – “Ahaziah the son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned two years over Israel. 52 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father and in the way of his mother and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin; 53 for he served Baal and worshiped him, and provoked the Lord God of Israel to anger, according[a] to all that his father had done.”
King Ahaziah paid for his father’s iniquity because he walked in the same way as his father. He thought the same way and lived according to the same philosophy as his father, King Ahab. Even though Ahab later repented of his sins and was forgiven, Ahaziah continued in his evil ways.
We can actually be punished for thinking like our forefathers’ philosophies when at the end of their lives, they may have repented from their ways of thinking and received forgiveness.
2 Kings 1:2 says “Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers, saying to them, “Go and consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, to see if I will recover from this injury.”
King Ahab repented from idol worshipping and God forgave him. Meanwhile, his son, Ahaziah committed the same sin as his father and continued to walk in his father’s evil ways. He lived according to the same philosophies as his father (ie. idol worshipping) without repenting. And so, he paid for his father’s sin. King Ahab’s iniquity was passed on from one generation to the next.
Check Out The Case Study Below: King Manesseh 2 Chronicles 33:1-24
Another Example Of A Father’s Iniquity Passed On To A Son
Manasseh Succeeds Hezekiah in Judah
33 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. 2 He did evil in the sight of the Lord according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord dispossessed before the sons of Israel. 3 For he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; he also erected altars for the Baals and made [a]Asherim, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. 4 He built altars in the house of the Lord of which the Lord had said, “My name shall be in Jerusalem forever.”
5 For he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. 6 He made his sons pass through the fire in the valley of Ben-hinnom; and he practiced witchcraft, used divination, practiced sorcery and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger.
7 Then he put the carved image of the idol which he had made in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put My name forever; 8 and I will not again remove the foot of Israel from the land which I have appointed for your fathers, if only they will observe to do all that I have commanded them according to all the law, the statutes and the ordinances given through Moses.” 9 Thus Manasseh misled Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the sons of Israel.
Check Out The Bible Study On Idol Worshipping
Manasseh’s Idolatry Rebuked
10 The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. 11 Therefore the Lord brought the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria against them, and they captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze chains and took him to Babylon. 12 When he was in distress, he entreated the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. 13 When he prayed to Him, He was moved by his entreaty and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.
When King Mannaseh repented of his evil ways, God heard his prayer and forgave him. After this, Mannaseh followed God’s ways.
14 Now after this he built the outer wall of the city of David on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entrance of the Fish Gate; and he encircled the Ophel with it and made it very high. Then he put army commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah. 15 He also removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord, as well as all the altars which he had built on the mountain of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside the city. 16 He set up the altar of the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it; and he ordered Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel. 17 Nevertheless the people still sacrificed in the high places, although only to the Lord their God.
18 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh even his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel, behold, they are among the records of the kings of Israel. 19 His prayer also and how God was entreated by him, and all his sin, his unfaithfulness, and the sites on which he built high places and erected the Asherim and the carved images, before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the records of the Hozai. 20 So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house. And Amon his son became king in his place.
Amon Becomes King in Judah
21 Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. 22 He did evil in the sight of the Lord as Manasseh his father had done, and Amon sacrificed to all the carved images which his father Manasseh had made, and he served them. 23 Moreover, he did not humble himself before the Lord as his father Manasseh had [d]done, but Amon multiplied guilt. 24 Finally his servants conspired against him and put him to death in his own house. 25 But the people of the land killed all the conspirators against King Amon, and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his place.
This is another case of a father passing on his iniquity to his son but then repenting. However, the son being unrepentant, continues with his father’s previous evil ways. In so doing, the son inherits the father’s sin and subsequent punishment.
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Case Study on Eli And His Sons: A Father Paying For The Iniquity Of His Sons
