Deuteronomy 24:16

24:14-22 It is not hard to prove that purity, piety, justice, mercy, fair conduct, kindness to the poor and destitute, consideration for them, and generosity of spirit, are pleasing to God, and becoming in his redeemed people. The difficulty is to attend to them in our daily walk and conversation.

The fathers shall not be put to death for the children,.... By the civil magistrates, for sins committed by them of a capital nature, and which are worthy of death: neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers; for sins committed by them that deserve it: every man shall be put to death for his own sin: which is but just and reasonable; see Ezekiel 18:4; which is no contradiction to Exodus 20:5; that respects what God himself would do, this what Israel, or the civil magistrates in it, should do; this is a command on Israel, as Aben Ezra observes; that the declaration of the sovereign Being, who is not bound by any law. Jarchi interprets these words differently, as that the one should not be put to death by the testimony of the other; and it is a rule with the Jews,"that an oath of witness is taken of men, and not of women; of those that are not akin, and not of those that are nearly related (p):''on which one of the commentators observes (q) that such that are near akin are not fit to bear testimony, because it is written, "the father shall not be put to death for the children"; that is, for the testimony of the children. Jarchi indeed mentions the other sense, for the sins of the children, which has been given, and is undoubtedly the true sense of the text.

The Targum of Jonathan gives both;"fathers should not be put to death, neither by the testimony, nor for the sins of the children; and children shall not be put to death, neither by the testimony, nor for the sins of fathers; but every man shall be put to death for his own sin by proper witnesses.'' (p) Misn. Shebuot, c. 4. sect. 1.((q) Bartenora in ib.

Deuteronomy 24:16 . Not be put to death — If the one be free from the guilt of the other’s sin, except in those cases where the sovereign Lord of life and death, before whom none is innocent, hath commanded it, as Deuteronomy 13:15 ; Joshua 7:24 . For though God do visit the father’s sins upon the children, (Exodus 20.,) yet he will not suffer men to do so.

(16) The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers. —A special note of the observance of this precept by Amaziah son of Joash is noticed both in Kings and Chronicles. See marginal references. It was not observed by the Persians in the case of Daniel’s accusers ( Daniel 6:24 ). The case of Achan, who “perished not alone in his iniquity,” falls under a different head. See Notes on Joshua 7.

Verse 16. - Among heathen nations it was common for a whole family to be involved in the penalty incurred by the head of the family, and to be put to death along with him (cf. Esther 9:13, 14 ; Herod., 3:118, 119; Ammian. Marcell., 23. 6; Curtius, 6:11, 20; Claudian, 'In Eutrop.,' 2:478; Cicero, 'Epist. ad Brut.,' 12, 15). Such severity of retribution is here prohibited in the penal code of the Israelites. Though God, in the exercise of his absolute sovereignty, might visit the sins of the parent upon the children ( Exodus 20:5 ), earthly judges were not to assume this power. Only the transgressor himself was to bear the penalty of his sin (cf. 2 Kings 14:6 ). Deuteronomy 24:16

Understand it thus, if the one be free from the guilt of the other’s sin, and except in those cases where the sovereign Lord of life and death, before whom none is innocent, hath commanded it, as Deu 13 Jos 7:24 . For this law is given to men, not to God; and though God do visit the father’s sins upon the children, Exo 20 , yet he will not suffer men to do so. For his own sin, understand only , and not for any other man’s sin.

16 . Responsibility for Crime is Individual. The opposition of this principle to that which prevailed in many ancient nations (Herod. iii. 119, Esther 9:13 f., Daniel 6:24 (25)), and which seems to have prevailed in Israel (JE, Joshua 7:24 , 2 Kings 9:26 , cp. Deuteronomy 14:6 ), when the family was regarded as a moral unit, and the children were put to death with their father in expiation of his crime, is very striking, and the more so that the ethical solidarity of the nation is so constantly assumed by D. It has therefore been doubted whether the law belonged originally to D. Some take it as dependent on Jeremiah 31:29 , or Ezekiel 18 on the ground that the principle of individual responsibility is there proclaimed as if for the first time, in opposition to the older ideas. But 2 Kings 14:6 records that Amaziah when putting to death the assassins of his father did not also slay their children—apparently an innovation on the usual practice. The deuteronomic editor of Kings quotes D’s law as the King’s authority for his clemency. But general laws so often rose from individual cases that it is possible that this law (which is not found in any other code) was the result of Amaziah’s innovating example, and is, therefore, one of the several incorporated by D from earlier sources. Note that it is not in the direct form of address nor otherwise deuteronomic in its phrasing. See further Jerus. ii. 113 ff.

Warning against Injustice. - Deuteronomy 24:16 . Fathers were not to be put to death upon (along with) their sons, nor sons upon (along with) their fathers, i.e., they were not to suffer the punishment of death with them for crimes in which they had no share; but every one was to be punished simply for his own sin. This command was important, to prevent an unwarrantable and abusive application of the law which is manifest in the movements of divine justice to the criminal jurisprudence of the lane ( Exodus 20:5 ), since it was a common thing among the heathen nations - e.g., the Persians, Macedonians, and others - for the children and families of criminals to be also put to death (cf. Esther 9:13-14 ; Herod. iii. 19; Ammian Marcell. xxiii. 6; Curtius, vi. 11, 20, etc.). An example of the carrying out of this law is to be found in 2 Kings 14:6 ; 2 Chronicles 25:4 . In Deuteronomy 24:17 , Deuteronomy 24:18 , the law against perverting the right of strangers, orphans, and widows, is repeated from Exodus 22:20-21 , and Exodus 23:9 ; and an addition is made, namely, that they were not to take a widow's raiment in pledge (cf. Leviticus 19:33-34 ).