Are we punished for the sins of others?
Yes, God often punishes innocent people for the actions of others.
God punishes children for things that their fathers, grandfathers, great-grandfathers, and great-great grandfathers did. He repeats it four times in the Bible in Exodus 20:5; Exodus 34:7; Numbers 14:18 and Deuteronomy 5:9;
Sometimes God slaughters children for the unspecified sins of their fathers as it appears in Isaiah 14:21 and Jeremiah 32:18.
In Scriptures, we find some examples of people who have been punished by God for the sins of others :
1st case : When Ham saw his father Noah drunk and naked, Noah cursed Ham's son Caanan and all of Caanan's descendants with slavery. This curse punished a son (and perhaps an entire race) for something (God knows what) his father supposedly did.
2nd case : God "closed up all the wombs" of the women in King Abimelech's court to punish him for believing Abraham's cowardly (half)lie about his half sister and wife, Sarah. So God punished the women for whatever it was that Abraham and Abimelech did.
3rd case : God punished all of Eli's descendants for the behavior of Eli's sons.
4th case : God was angry at David for having Uriah killed. As a punishment, God had David's wives raped by his neighbor while everyone else watched. (The "neighbor" that God chose to do his dirty work for him was David's own son, Absalom.)
6th case : God sent a three-year famine on David's kingdom. When David asks God why, God answers: "It is for Saul, and his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites." So God sent a famine to punish a kingdom for something that a former king had done.
12th case : God will punish the children of Shemaiah because their father taught rebellion against the Lord.
1st case : When Ham saw his father Noah drunk and naked, Noah cursed Ham's son Caanan and all of Caanan's descendants with slavery. This curse punished a son (and perhaps an entire race) for something (God knows what) his father supposedly did.
"And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father .... And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan [Ham's son]; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren." (Genesis 9:21-25)
2nd case : God "closed up all the wombs" of the women in King Abimelech's court to punish him for believing Abraham's cowardly (half)lie about his half sister and wife, Sarah. So God punished the women for whatever it was that Abraham and Abimelech did.
The LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham's wife. Genesis 20:18
3rd case : God punished all of Eli's descendants for the behavior of Eli's sons.
I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house ... I will judge his house for ever ... because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not. (1 Samuel 3:12-13)
4th case : God was angry at David for having Uriah killed. As a punishment, God had David's wives raped by his neighbor while everyone else watched. (The "neighbor" that God chose to do his dirty work for him was David's own son, Absalom.)
Thou [David] hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife ... Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. (2 Samuel 12:9-12)
And Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Go in unto thy father's concubines, which he hath left to keep the house ... So they spread Absalom a tent upon the top of the house; and Absalom went in unto his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel. (2 Samuel 16:21-22)5th case : To punish David for having Uriah killed and causing others to blaspheme, God killed Bathsheba's baby boy.
Because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die. ... And the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife bare unto David, and it was very sick. ... on the seventh day, that the child died. (2 Samuel 12:14-18)
6th case : God sent a three-year famine on David's kingdom. When David asks God why, God answers: "It is for Saul, and his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites." So God sent a famine to punish a kingdom for something that a former king had done.
There was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites. (2 Samuel 21:1)7th case : To appease God and end the famine that was caused by his predecessor (Saul), David agrees to have two of Saul's sons and five of his grandsons killed and hung up "unto the Lord." God stopped the famine after Saul's sons and grandsons were killed and hung up for him.
Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the LORD .... And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD. ... And after that God was intreated for the land. (2 Samuel 21:6-14)8th case : To punish David for a census that he (and/or) Satan inspired, God killed 70,000 men (and 200,000 or so women and children) in a pestilsence.
And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah. ... So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men. (2 Samuel 24:1-15)
And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel. ... So the LORD sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men. (2 Samuel 24:1-15)9th case : God was angry with Solomon, but decided to punish Solomon's son rather than Solomon himself, because he liked Solomon's father (David) so darned much.
Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant. Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy father's sake: but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. (1 Kings 11:11-12)10th case : Since Ahab humbles himself before the Lord, God decides not to bring evil on him; he'll bring it on Ahab's son instead.
Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son's days will I bring the evil upon his house. (1 Kings 21:29)11th case : Elisha makes his servant (Gehazi) and all his descendants lepers forever.
Elisha said unto him ... The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. (2 Kings 5:25-27)
12th case : God will punish the children of Shemaiah because their father taught rebellion against the Lord.
Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed ... because he hath taught rebellion against the LORD. (Jeremiah 29:32)
Are we punished for the sins of others?
No, God doesn't always punish people for the actions of others.
We confirm the truth in those following texts:
In Deuteronomy 24:16, it is written "The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin."
In 2 Kings 14:6, it is written, "But the children of the murderers he slew not: according unto that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, wherein the LORD commanded, saying, The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers; but every man shall be put to death for his own sin."
In Jeremiah 31:29-30, it is written, "In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge. But every one shall die for his own iniquity."
In Ezekiel 18:20, it is written, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
MY CONFESSION TODAY
I DECLARE BY THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE OF JESUS CHRIST WHO DIED AND SHED HIS BLOOD ON THE CROSS FOR ME, I WON'T BE PUNISHED FOR THE SINS OF MY FATHERS, MY FOREFATHERS OR MY ANCESTORS . . . I AM SAVED, I AM BLESSED, I AM RECONCILED, I AM MADE RIGHTEOUS ...IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST!
Justified by his blood, I AM SAVED FROM WRATH... I AM RECONCILED TO GOD by the death of his Son. ... By the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation ... By one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one I AM MADE RIGHTEOUS (Romans 5:9-19)
SO SHALL IT BE!
JESUS IS LORD!
JESUS IS LORD!
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