The answer
Truly … many saintly and godly men had children who were far from godly and very different from their parents. Why is that the case?
First:
Man has been created with free will, thus not every good father has a good son; likewise not every wicked father has a wicked son.
The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not hear the guilt of the father, nor the father hear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall he upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall he upon himself.” (Eze 18: 20)
Second:
Those righteous people and were neither faultless nor without sin for they are like us, human beings.
- Abraham feared for his life and lied. So did his son Isaac.
- Jacob (Israel) lived half his life in fraud: lying, cheating and greedy.
- Moses murdered a man in a fit of rage and in another angry outburst broke the two Tablets of Covenant.
- David committed adultery, was involved in a plot to murder a man and committed other sins.
- Solomon was a polygamist and worshipped idols for a period in his life.
Those prophets were justified by faith, hope and repentance, but their sins and mistakes testify to the generations that they needed salvation and redemption like all other human beings. Third:
Like any father who was careless in bringing up his children, some of those righteous prophets might have not done what they should to make sure their children were brought up the way they should. This is clear in the story of Eli, the priest …
Now the sons of Eli were corrupt; they did not know the LORD (1 Sam 2: 12)
The same applies to the stories of Absalom and Amnon (2 Sam 13, 15) and Simeon and Levi, the sons of Jacob (Gen 34). Those children might have been neglected from childhood, not being brought up into a life of prayer and righteousness and accordingly as righteous as their fathers.
With this faulty attitude, the children of those pious people were not used to the life of prayer, godliness and continuous repentance … and grew up quite different from their fathers.
Fourth:
Some prophets and fathers did not punish and discipline their children with appropriate level of firmness at the right time, hoping that they repent. The wise says:
- He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him promptly. (Proverbs 13: 24)
- Do not withhold correction from a child, for if you beat him with a rod, he will not die. (Proverbs 23: 13)
Eli should have disciplined his sons according to the law …
Now Eli was very old; and he heard everything his sons did to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. So he said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all the people. No, my sons! For it is not a good report that I hear. You make the LORD’S people transgress. If one man sins against another, God will judge him. But if a man sins against the LORD, who will intercede for him?” Nevertheless they did not heed the voice of their father, because the LORD desired to kill them.” (1 Sam 2: 22 - 25)
Likewise, David was weak with his sons and failed to discipline Absalom, which encouraged Absalom to deal with him in an impertinent way to the extent that he usurped the kingdom from his own father … So David said to all his servants who were with him at
Jerusalem, “Arise, and let us flee, or we shall not escape from Absalom. Make haste to depart, lest he overtake us suddenly and bring disaster upon us, and strike the city with the edge of the sword.” (2 Sam 15:14)
Fifth:
Righteousness and blessing are not transferred through the genetic route; rather, the ‘New Life’ is acquired through the Grace of the Holy Spirit … through faith, repentance and the participation of the Sacraments, as the Bible teaches …
… who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:13)
David was, therefore, not anointed king because of his being ‘the son of Saul’ … Judah was not chosen because of his being the eldest son of Jacob … while Esau lost his birthright, Jacob was chosen ... All this is done so that each human being’s role is clear in deciding his own eternity through his choices.
Fr. Daoud Lamei