Hi daq,
Since you wrote this,
And from these statements therefore of old time has there been the teachings of what is called the "generational curse" in some quarters.
I have been chewing on it, trying to make sense from my mainly Gentile-thinking New-Covenant-teaching perspective. Actually, I don't want to discuss generational curses, as although I've made the same jump-to-conclusion in the past as the one to which you refer, I think generational curses are something else, and God is more than able to break them. Of course, He is also able to pronounce curses which are totally binding.
What I
do want to discuss, is the limitation of the definition of 'scripture' to 'Torah'. Why?
Is not
all the word of God which has been recorded for us in writing, 'scripture'?
Jeremiah 31:27-30 KJV
27. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast.
28. And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the Lord.
29. In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge.
30. But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.
Ezekiel 18:1-4 KJV
1. The word of the Lord came unto me again, saying,
2. What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge?
3. As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel.
4. Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.
Ezekiel 18:19-20 KJV
19. Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live.
20. 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.
See the problem here? The prophets do not "change" the Law but rather expound the Law. To say that Jeremiah and Ezekiel have "altered" Torah is blasphemy and to say that they teach the altering or nullification of Torah also means that they would necessarily have to be considered false prophets and their works rejected. There is only one alternative because the Scripture cannot be broken and the foundation of all the holy Scripture is the holy Torah Law. What then is the answer? It is not that we and our fathers have not fully understood that there are necessarily four generations to the one man. This is the only choice if one will continue to believe both Torah and the Prophets who expound Torah such as Jeremiah and Ezekiel. This changes everything, but not the Word, rather it changes everything in our own understanding of it and this is especially true when it comes to the Prophets and the Writings. The following passage is another perfect example. Notice that the "fourth generation" of the man has a "leach with two daughters" attached to the "backside" of the passage, (making a sum total number of seven). Notice also that the fourth generation of the man has teeth like swords and jaw teeth as knives:
In my simplicity - and NOT in any way
'altering' Torah - the way I read the prophets quoted above, is with the emphasis on
'no more', in Jeremiah 31:29, and
'not ... any more', in Ezekiel 18:3. It seems unmistakable that God's intention is to
alter both understanding
and practice.
For instance, would Achan's children have been put to death with him (after Jeremiah and Ezekiel's
prophetic words? What about 'the houses', and 'households' pertaining to Korah, Dathan, Abiram and all those that joined themselves to them? It seems clear in the general revelation which God was making of Himself through His prophets after Moses, that He was increasing the level of grace He was willing to extend to His people.
Deuteronomy 23:2, 3 indicate that for certain people their fate was nothing to do with their own actions, but was entirely due to their first parents' behaviour. Could an Ammonite and a Moabite not be circumcised, and become accepted? Did not all the laws relating to the strangers living amongst Israel, apply equally to them? Does this mean that a bastard was not even circumcised? To what level was he excluded from
keeping 'the law'?
If I may put it this way... I have always understood that God was continuing to reveal Himself to mankind through His prophets. Eventually, our Lord came, and He closed some loopholes which had developed somehow, even more conclusively. You would not say that He 'altered' 'Torah', would you?
Okay. Now that I've written all this, I do see that you are
not saying that Torah was altered, but rather that
man's understanding was altered.
So... moving on to the four 'generations' of a man, please could you say more about the meaning of the fiery flying seraphs, and the sharp teeth? Are they references to death?
Also, please say more about the four generations when looking at it through the sons? What, in particular, do you see as important in the example which you gave, where Hezekiah was the 'fourth generation'?
If all these questions seem too many to tackle in one post, please take your time. I'm trying to keep up with you; and I have more questions, yet. :)