Canceling the Sins of the Fathers

Canceling the Sins of the Fathers 

The Bible records numerous prayers of confession, offered for the sins committed by previous generations (Daniel 9:4–19; Ezra 9:6–7). During King Manasseh's reign, Judah's idolatry was so prevalent that even after the king publicly repented, the people didn't follow his example. Instead, they remained steeped in sin. Manasseh’s father, Hezekiah, walked before God in truth and did what was good in God’s sight (2 Kings 20:3). But Manasseh set Judah on a course that would lead to exile in Babylon. Manasseh not only worshiped false gods, setting up altars to idols in the Temple, but he committed the ultimate abomination when he sacrificed his own son. In the blunt judgment of 2 Kings 21:2, Manasseh “did evil in the eyes of the Lord.” 

Manasseh, however, repented! He turned back to God, changed his ways, and reinstated the worship of God (2 Chronicles 33:10-13). Yes, Manasseh received forgiveness. On a personal level, his repentance was sincere, which set him to become right with God. However, the decades-long legacy of leading the nation of Judah in apostasy was insufficient to stop his people's spiritual decline. The people didn’t repent. The damage during the reign of King Manasseh was irreversible for that generation. Even though Manasseh destroyed the altars to idols and reinstated true worship in God’s Temple, the people never entirely gave up their abominable religious practices (2 Chronicles 34:3). A decade later, God, through Prophet Jeremiah, repeatedly pleaded with Judah to return to Him by confessing and repenting of their sins and the sins of their fathers. 

Return faithless Israel, declares the Lord. Only acknowledge your guilt—you have rebelled against the Lord your God. (Jeremiah 3:11b-13) 

The people from Jeremiah’s time acknowledged that, 

We have sinned against the Lord our God, both we and our fathers; from our youth till this day, we have not obeyed the Lord our God. (Jeremiah 3:25b) 

The acknowledgment of wrongdoing doesn’t cancel the sin of committing it. Only confession and sincere repentance cancel the sin. Unfortunately, no one repented of their wickedness (Jeremiah 8:6), and Judah went into exile. 

Seventy years into the exile, Prophet Daniel reads Jeremiah’s writings and understands that the punishment for the rebellion would last seventy years. 

"'This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt,' declares the LORD, 'and will make it desolate forever.'" (Jeremiah 25:11-12) 

Prophet Daniel realizes that the seventy years of desolation are about to be completed, thus fulfilling the prophecy. He then applied the directives of Leviticus 26 and proceeded with confession and repentance on behalf of his people, Israel. 

So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer, petition, fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands, we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. (Daniel 9:3-5) 

These are the steps recorded in Daniel’s prayer.                                            

1) Penitent heart: Daniel turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, in sackcloth and ashes (Daniel 9:3).                                                                    

2) Confession and repentance of personal sins: Daniel acknowledged and repented from his sins (Daniel 9:5).                                      

3) Confession and repentance for the sins of the forefathers: Daniel prayed to the Lord, confessing the sins of his forefathers (Daniel 9:3-4a).                                                          

4) Seeking and accepting God’s forgiveness: Daniel pleaded for mercy (Daniel 39:15-18, 19).                                                                              

The Scripture recorded that the Lord God heard Daniel’s prayers and decreed the return of the Jews to their land. Similarly, Prophet Ezra prayed, 

O my God, I am too ashamed and disgraced to lift up my face to you, my God, because our sins are higher than our heads, and our guilt has reached to the heavens. From the days of our forefathers until now, our guilt has been great. Because of our sins, we and our kings and our priests have been subjected to the sword and captivity, to pillage and humiliation at the hand of foreign kings, as it is today. (Ezra 9:6–7) 

God heard Ezra’s prayers and enabled the Israelites to continue rebuilding the Temple of God.