The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers. Every man shall be put to death for his own sin.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 16. Sin. Judges have no right to punish any but those who have transgressed. Calmet.—God may for reasons known to himself, which cannot be unjust, visit the sins of the fathers upon their children; (Exodus 20:5) and hence, (Joshua 7) he ordered the family of Achan to be involved in his punishment. Temporal sufferings, or death itself, are not however always a misfortune. They frequently prove a source of inconceivable blessings. Romans 5:3. Bible.—The Rabbins understand, that fathers and children are not to be received as witnesses against each other, (Onkelos) which seems foreign to the sense of the present law. Calmet.