Various incidents in the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament, seem to indicate that God sometimes does punishes people for the sins of others.  For example, Exodus 20:5 states that God will visit “the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me.”   [Note:  When we quote Scripture in this article, we use the wording in the New King James Version of the Bible.]

In contrast with the statement in Exodus, Ezekiel 18:20 states that God does not punish people for the sins of others.  In this verse, God says,

“The soul who sins shall die.  The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son.  The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.”

In regard to the apparent discrepancy between Exodus 20:5 and Ezekiel 18:20, Basil Atkinson, Ph.D., states on page 164 of his book entitled Is the Bible True?,  

The Exodus passage is speaking about the temporal effects of sin in this world, and it is obvious that a man’s family suffers by his departure from God.  The Ezekiel passage speaks of the eternal results of sin, which, of course, apply only to the individual.

And, in their book entitled When Critics Ask, Norman Geisler, Ph.D., and Thomas Howe, M.A., express a similar viewpoint.  On page 285 they assert,

Ezekiel is speaking of the guilt of the father’s sin never being held against the sons, but Moses was referring to the consequences of the fathers’ sins being passed on to their children.  Unfortunately, if a father is a drunk, the children can suffer abuse and even poverty.  Likewise, if a mother has contracted AIDS from drug use, then her baby may be born with AIDS.  But, this does not mean that the innocent children are guilty of the sins of their parents.

Like the verse in Ezekiel, Deuteronomy 24:16 declares, “The fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall the children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin.”  However, Geisler and Howe indicate that the Deuteronomy passage is directed to Israel’s legal system.  In addressing this passage on page 130 of their book, they state, “It was not the right of the human courts to exact capital punishment from the children of guilty parents if the children were not personally guilty of the crime.”

Nevertheless, there are several examples in the Bible that seem to indicate that innocent people are sometimes severely punished for the sins of others.  We will consider the following cases:

• The child who was fathered by King David died as a result of David’s sexual intercourse with Bathsheba while she was still married to Uriah.

• Thousands of Israelites died, apparently because King David took a census of the nation of Israel that was contrary to the will of God.

• All the firstborn Egyptians died as a result of the final plague that God brought on Egypt to induce the Pharaoh to free the Israelites from bondage.

• On several occasions, tribes of people, sometimes including women and children, were killed by the Israelites.

The Child Who Was Fathered by King David Died as a Result of David’s Sexual Intercourse with Bathsheba While She Was Still Married to Uriah 

With regard to 2 Samuel 12:14-18, Geisler and Howe assert on page 130 of their book,   

[T]he Scripture does not indicate that David’s child was being punished for David’s sin.  Rather, the Bible indicates that the death of the child was David’s punishment. . . . If it is thought that allowing the child to die was an unjust way to punish David, it must be remembered that David trusted in the righteousness of God when he said in faith, “I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.”. . . David trusted that God had taken his child to heaven and that he would be with the child when he died.

And, on page 172 of their book, Geisler and Howe argue that “the child was probably spared a life of sorrow and trouble as the illegitimate offspring of the illicit relationship of David and Bathsheba.”

Furthermore, Gleason L. Archer indicates in his book entitled Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties that death is not as bad as many people seem to think.  On page 185 he declares,

[W]e may think of death as a fearsome menace, a terrible curse, a final stroke of judgment.  Insofar as death – that is to say, physical death with its separation of the soul from the body – means the end of all opportunity to find God and to glorify Him with a godly life, there is something very solemn and awesome about death.  But God’s Word tells us very plainly that physical death, regardless of how it looks to the human observer, is not the end for any man.  He goes right on into the eternal phase of his career. . . .

In other words, the physical death of a person who will spend eternity with God after they die is not a terrible thing.  Many Christians believe that a child who has not reached the “age of accountability” will go to heaven (i.e., will spend eternity with God).  The “age of accountability” can be defined as the time when a child first becomes sufficiently mature to understand that certain behavior is wrong (i.e., immoral or sinful).  Generally, a child reaches the age of accountability by the time he (or she) is 13, and sometimes several years earlier.  Because David and Bathsheba’s baby had not even been born, he obviously had not reached the age of accountability. 

[For further discussion of whether or not children who die before they reach the age of accountability will go to heaven, see our article entitled “Does God Make Exceptions for Those Who Have Not Heard the Gospel Message?”]

Thousands of Israelites Died, Apparently Because King David Took a Census of the Nation of Israel That Was Contrary to the Will of God

First Chronicles 21:1-14 states that approximately 70,000 men died from a plague that God inflicted on Israel, evidently as punishment for the sin that King David committed when he took a census that was against God’s will. 

On page 221 of his book, Archer speculates that David’s motive for taking the census was “pride in his achievements as a military genius and in the prosperity that the entire kingdom had attained under his leadership.”  He goes on to say, “It is a mistake . . . to assume that David’s countrymen were not also involved in this same attitude of pride.”  Perhaps, as Archer suggests, the Israelites’ sin was pride, but it may have been something else – in fact, they may have committed many sins. 

An account of the census is also given in 2 Samuel 24, which states in verse one, “Again the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel. . . .”  Although no reason is given in the 2 Samuel passage as to why God was angry with the people of Israel, it is clear that they were not innocent.

All the Firstborn Egyptians Died as a Result of the Final Plague that God Brought on Egypt to Induce the Pharaoh to Free the Israelites from Bondage 

The Exodus 12:29-30 account of the killing of the firstborn Egyptians raises the question as to why these people were slain, if they had no control over Pharaoh’s decision not to let the Israelites leave Egypt.  On page 114 of his book, Archer provides the following explanation:

The fortunes of the citizens of any country are bound up with the government that guides their national policy, whether that government be a democracy, a party dictatorship, or monarchy.

A foolish or wicked government . . . brings disaster and distress on all its subjects. . . . So it was with Egypt in Moses’ day.  The consequences of the decisions made by Pharaoh . . . were binding on all the people.

Geisler and Howe express the belief that, if the Egyptian people had tried to do so, they may have been able to persuade Pharaoh to let the Israelites leave Egypt.  On page 74 of their book, Geisler and Howe assert,

Although the power of the people is severely limited under a dictatorship as that of Egypt, it is conceivable that the people could have revolted so as to either force Pharaoh to change his mind, or to overthrow him. . . . The Egyptians were obviously content to leave such matters in the hands of their king.  By doing so, they were not innocent of the decisions which were made by their king.  The judgment of God was not directed only at Pharaoh or the heads of state of the land, but on Egypt as a whole, since they were equally responsible for the oppression and bondage of the people of God.

On Several Occasions, Tribes of People, Sometimes Including Women and Children, Were Killed by the Israelites

In one incident during their travel in the wilderness after leaving Egypt, the Israelites killed every Midianite male and every Midianite woman who “has known a man intimately” (Numbers 31:7-17).  In a subsequent incident, as the Israelites were seeking to conquer the land where they would settle, they killed everyone in Jericho, except for one woman and all her family members who were with her in her house (Joshua 6:21-23).  How can such actions be justified?

Concerning the killing of the Midianites, Geisler and Howe assert on page 110 of their book,

[I]t was not on the authority of Moses that Israel performed this destruction.  Rather, it was at the direct command of God. . . . The abominable nature of the influence which the Midianites had upon Israel in leading them into idolatry merited the destructive judgment of God. . . .The moral justification for this action is found in the fact that God has the right to give and take life.

In reference to the killing of the inhabitants of Jericho, Archer says on page 158 of his book,

Such complete destruction might appear to be needlessly harsh, since it included infants who were too young to have committed overt sin. . . .

In answer to this humanitarian objection, we need to recognize first of all that the biblical record indicates that Joshua [the leader of the Israelites] was simply carrying out God’s orders in this matter. 

The loss of innocent life in the demolition of Jericho was much to be regretted, but we must recognize that there are times when only radical surgery will save the life of a cancer-stricken body.

Subsequently, on the same page of his book, Archer explains that, if the inhabitants of Jericho had been permitted to live, their moral depravity might have infected the Israelites.  

Thus, in both of these instances, God instructed the Israelites to kill people who, as a nation, were extremely sinful, and who would have been likely to influence the Israelites to commit similar sins.  As for the killing of innocent children, we reiterate what we said in our discussion of the death of the child who was fathered by King David when he had sexual intercourse with Bathsheba while she was still married to Uriah:  Many Christians believe a child who has not reached “the age of accountability” will go to heaven (i.e., will spend eternity with God).

In conclusion, we realize that it is not always be possible for humans to completely understand the reasons for everything that God does.  Therefore, the explanations we have provided in an attempt to rationalize the killing of seemingly innocent people may not entirely satisfy the reader.  However, if God is the Creator of life, He is sovereign, so He has the right to terminate life, whether through the actions of people He instructs to do so or by His own actions.  Furthermore, if we are willing to accept the fact that God is righteous, as is taught throughout the Bible (e.g., 2 Chronicles 12:6; Ezra 9:15; Nehemiah 9:8; Psalm 11:7; 116:5; 119:137; 129:4; 145:17; Lamentations 1:18; Daniel 9:14), then we have good reason to trust Him to do the right thing in every matter.