Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Thomas L. Thompson" <tlt AT teol.ku.dk>]

We find this theme also in the Hittite story of Telepinu, who not only--like 
Ezekiel 18--puts an end to collective guilt and confines punishment to the 
murderer, but he also, like Ezekiel, forgives the sinner who repents his 
crime and like Isaiah 2; Micah 4 and Joel 3 takes their weapons and gives 
them a farm yoke (See my Messiah Myth, p. 168).
Thomas
 
Thomas L. Thompson
University of Copenhagen  

        
         

        I thank all for the many contributions and insights on this issue. I 
recall
        that the Classical Greeks had a similar notion. Some histories and 
plays
        (so-called "Tragedies") mention a curse befalling a "house" and its
        "descendants" for the sins of some remote ancestor. Some have 
suggested this
        notion was developed to reign in the avarice and greed of the sinner. 
That
        is to say, he might curb his anti-social behavior being aware that it 
would
        affect not just himself  but his "innocent" future descendants who 
would
        also pay or suffer for his crimes. We know, from archaeology that the 
Greeks
        have a long connection via trade with the ancient Near East, their 
wares
        being found in ancient Egypt, Syria, and Canaan from Late Bronze Age 
to Iron
        Age times. Perhaps this notion of innocent children (descendants) 
being
        punished for some remote ancestor's trespass or sin, was part of the
        religious "baggage" of the Late Bronze Age (1560-1200 BCE) and Iron 
Age
        (1200-587 BCE) worlds ?
        
        Regards, Walter
        Walter Reinhold Warttig Mattfeld y de la Torre, M.A. Ed.
        mattfeld12 AT charter.net
        www.bibleorigins.net
        
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