Exodus 20:6

unto thousands, of them, &c. i.e. not thousands consisting ofthem that love me, but (notice the comma added in RV.) thousands belonging to them that love me (Heb. le, just as in v.5, properly - belonging to them that hate me"). The antithesis is between the narrow limits, the third or fourth generation of descendants, within which the sin is visited, and the thousands belonging to, i.e. primarily, descended from, though possibly those -belonging to" in a wider sense, as servants or other dependents, may be included, such as love God, who, in virtue of this relation, and for the sake of those who thus love Him, experience His mercy. The intention of the passage is thus to teach that God's mercy transcends in its operation His wrath: in His providence the beneficent consequences of a life of goodness extend indefinitely further than the retribution which is the penalty of persistence in sin. Naturally -thousands" is not to be understood literally: it is simply intended to convey an impressive idea of the greatness of God's mercy. It is not apparent how it can mean (RVm.) -a thousand generations": Deuteronomy 7:9 is a rhetorical amplification, not an exact interpretation, of the present passage.

that love me shew towards Him the pure and intense affection and devotion which we denote by the term -love." The thought is one strongly characteristic of Deuteronomy. -Love to God is in Dt. the essence of religion, and the primary motive for obedience to His commands. In no other stratum of the Hexateuch is this lofty conception of religion to be found" (Bä.). See Deuteronomy 6:5 [Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27], Deuteronomy 10:12; Deuteronomy 11:1; Deuteronomy 11:13; Deuteronomy 11:22; Deuteronomy 13:3; Deuteronomy 19:9; Deuteronomy 30:6; Deuteronomy 30:16; Deuteronomy 30:20; Joshua 22:5; Joshua 23:11 both Deuteronomic); and cf. the writer's Deuteronomy, pp. xxi, xxviii, lxxviii, 91. Love to God is not mentioned elsewhere in the Hexateuch, except in the parallel, Deuteronomy 5:10 (cf. Exodus 7:19: see, however, Judges 5:30).

It is, of course, not through extraordinary or miraculous interferences that the sins of parents are visited upon their children, but through the naturalprovidence of God, operating through the normalconstitution of society, which in its turn takes its organization and form from the character of human nature, which is His appointment. History and experience alike teach how often, and under what varied conditions, it happens that the misdeeds of a parent result in bitter consequences for the children. The principle here asserted is not in conflict with Deuteronomy 24:6 (children not to be put to death for the fathers): the legislator is not there dealing with a principle involved in the constitution of society itself; he is laying down a rule for the administration of justice by the State. See, on the distinction between the two cases, Mozley's Ruling Ideas in Early Ages, Lect. V.