61
και μνησθηση την οδον σου και εξατιμωθηση εν τω αναλαβειν σε τας αδελφας σου τας πρεσβυτερας σου συν ταις νεωτεραις σου και δωσω αυτας σοι εις οικοδομην και ουκ εκ διαθηκης σου
61
και μνησθηση την οδον σου και εξατιμωθηση εν τω αναλαβειν σε τας αδελφας σου τας πρεσβυτερας σου συν ταις νεωτεραις σου και δωσω αυτας σοι εις οικοδομην και ουκ εκ διαθηκης σου
8876. 'Visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the sons' means the consequent propagation of falsity from evil. This is clear from the meaning of 'visiting the iniquity of the fathers' as the propagation of evils, the reason why 'visiting' means propagating being that the subject is the state of those who completely reject the Divine, therefore who are receptive no longer of good but of evil, and constantly so since evil is constantly increasing with such people, which is the propagation of it (for the meaning of 'father' as good and in the contrary sense as evil, see 3703, 5902, 6050, 7833, 7834); and from the meaning of 'the sons' as truths, dealt with in 1147, 2623, 3373, and therefore in the contrary sense as falsities In the proximate sense 'visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the sons' does not mean that sons pay the penalty for the iniquity of their fathers, for that is contrary to the Divine, Deuteronomy 24:16. Rather the meaning in that sense is that evil increases with the fathers and so is passed on by heredity to their children, and that consequently the evil mounts up over successive generations, 2910, 3701, 4317, 8550, 8551. In the spiritual sense however 'the fathers' does not mean fathers but evils, and 'the sons' does not mean sons but falsities; therefore those words mean the constant propagation of falsity from evil.
8550. Each individual is born into the evils of self-love and love of the world inherited from parents. Every evil which has become second nature through habitual surrender to it is transmitted to offspring, thus from one generation to the next by parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and so on going a long way back. The evil transmitted in this way becomes at length so great that the whole of a person's own life is nothing but evil. This chain of transmitted evil is not broken or altered except by the life of faith and charity received from the Lord.