Contradiction?

It seems to me that when Ezekiel was a prophet to Israel, the people had become cynical. It seemed that the punishment for the sins of the fathers or the previous generations had landed on them.

18 The word of the Lord came to me. He said, 2 “Why do you people say this proverb:

‘The parents ate the sour grapes,
but the children got the sour taste’[a]?”

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David's story however is a bit different. He was punished himself, but the legacy of his sexual peccadilloes carried on. He had several wives, and he took one of them by subterfuge, arranging for her husband to be killed in battle.

If there was a real victim, it was Tamar in particular. Absolom was responsible for his own sins, and his own fate.

But I think we can read between the lines and accept the sexual role model of his father underpinned what happened next. "If it's good enough for the old man (who was king)", Absolom probably thought, "then it's good enough for me". After all, he had a step-mother and half-brother hanging around the palace who were a constant reminder of his father's infidelity. He probably saw them every day.

I know my own father was somewhat lacking as a role model, not in the sexual area, but others. Yet no matter how much I tried to avoid "being like him", I found myself following in his footsteps in some negative ways.

Yes, it was a punishment on David, and it came about through his own family, which would have hurt him deeply. But he'd effectively murdered a man in cynical cold blood, and taken his wife, so I suppose the punishment was going to be severe anyway, no matter what form it took.

TommySoda said:

In the Bible it’s clear that children are not suppose to be punished for the sins of their parents Ezekiel 18:20

“The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them.”

However it seems like David’s children were punished for his sin with Bathsheba
(2 Samuel 12:10)
“Now therefore, the sword will never leave your house because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hethite to be your own wife.“ or in some translations

“Now, in every generation some of your descendants will die a violent death because you have disobeyed me and have taken Uriah's wife.”

David’s son’s died and Tāmār was raped.

Can someone explain this?

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Revelation in Scripture is progressive. Eze was written after the other place in OT. The earlier text Israel was under judgement. Eze more mature theology.

TommySoda said:

In the Bible it’s clear that children are not suppose to be punished for the sins of their parents Ezekiel 18:20

“The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them.”

However it seems like David’s children were punished for his sin with Bathsheba
(2 Samuel 12:10)
“Now therefore, the sword will never leave your house because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hethite to be your own wife.“ or in some translations

“Now, in every generation some of your descendants will die a violent death because you have disobeyed me and have taken Uriah's wife.”

David’s son’s died and Tāmār was raped.

Can someone explain this?

Click to expand...

While a sin committed by a parent may not then be inflicted upon a descendant, there is no doubt that sins have long-range consequences, beginning with Adam and Eve, whose sin impacted every one of us even though we had nothing to do with what went on in the Garden of Eden.