Will We Be Better Ancestors? Chronicles' Final Gifts

Can we be forgiven for our sins against society? For the ways we hurt each other? Are we responsible for the wrongs committed by the ones who came before us?

These are big questions that some of us are always asking and many more of us are asking now as we wrestle with what’s going on in Gaza and how Israel is hurting as destruction of life impacts not just now but also future generations.

These are questions about life and death. And we are near the very end of Chronicles we hear these big existential questions between the lines, asked by the authors who not only tell us about kings and wars but also had a strong theological opinion about this concept of repentance and forgiveness.

We are nearing not just just the end of the 24th book of the bible —but the end of entire Hebrew Bible, on our Below the Bible Belt journey through all 929 chapters, started in 2022 and wraps it up next week with just 4 chapters now left-- wow - with a final timeless set of questions that speak directly to what’s going on - today.

Are we responsible for the wrongs of our ancestors? How can we be better ancestors?

The authors who wrote Chronicles, and likely had a hand in the final edits of the biblical canon —had a surprising theological innovation that they hint at throughout the book: We don’t suffer for our parents’ sins. We suffer for our own.

That’s a huge shift. Earlier texts—think Exodus or Kings—describe God punishing down his transgressing people to the third and fourth generation. But Chronicles reflect the evolution of theology into the later Second Temple period - where. every person, every generation, accountable for themselves.

Sarah Japhet, one of the great scholars of this book, wrote that in Chronicles, “the behavior of one generation cannot affect the fate of another; one person’s acts cannot determine another’s destiny.”

That’s why one king’s idol worship won’t affect the next king’s fate even as it leaves one generation with the burden or the blessing of the one before. Again and again we see this in the way the chronicles of the House of David are told. Forgiveness is possible.

This theology is both comforting and harsh. Comforting, because it says: you are not doomed by the mistakes of those who came before. We can begin again.

Harsh, because it also insists: if things are bad, it’s on you—your choices, your community’s choices—not your ancestors’. Stop blaming others. Do the right thing.

It is a familiar tension: today we talk about intergenerational trauma, even epigenetics. Science shows us that trauma can literally be carried in our DNA. History lives inside us—family wounds, tribal traumas. Right now we are living through a horror war which began long before October 7 and which will haunt us for generations - whether we see ourselves as victims or villains, complicit or checked out or all of the above.

So are we free of our ancestors’ wrongs, as Chronicles insists? Will our children be free of ours? Or are we bound to them, generation to generation, biologically and spiritually until we break the cycle of blame?

We know we inherit wounds we didn’t cause—traumas and privileges alike. We know we’re shaped by the past. But we also know we’re not powerless. We can choose what to pass on, and what to interrupt.

Jewish tradition has always wrestled with this tension. The Prophet Ezekiel - writing just before Chronicles - already pushed back against collective punishment: “The soul that sins, it shall die.” The rabbis of the Talmud nuanced it further: we may carry our ancestors’ scars, but we’re also called to repair them. That’s why teshuvah—repentance, renewal—is such a central Jewish practice.

Next week, we begin the month of Elul—the season of teshuvah - return to center, review and revision, repent and refresh - one month of preparation towards the Jewish New Year. What will this year bring us? How can we do our best to make sure it is better?

As we end this journey below the bible belt and prepare towards a new year the cycles of beginning and end overlap inviting us to ask: What have I inherited? What have I chosen? What will I keep or repair? How can I be less of the problem and more part of the solution towards justice and peace?

That’s the final gift of Chronicles, and of the Bible as a whole: Remember - we are not trapped by the past. We are responsible. THis is a relay race and it's on us to honor both heirlooms and horrors - and to heal as we can and we must.

We inherit wounds and wisdom, and the resilience to begin again. And we do it together, as Marge Piercy wrote: “The dream is too heavy to be carried alone.”

With this I want to thank all of you watching and reading, responding, supporting and cheering along -- almost at the finish line!

We will have a celebratory zoom next week, 8/28 at 5pm ET, and more online sessions through December to debrief lessons learned, big questions, and how to digest this biblical data with such critical intel to our modern challenges and realities.

AND to thank you all I created a special SOUVENIR.

THE BIBLE BELT!

We will launch this wknd - stay tuned for info so you can get your own and keep going BELOW the BIBLE BELT.. in style.

Check it out HERE.

Buckle Up. Bling it On.

Thank you for joining below the bible belt.

May peace prevail.

Shabbat Shalom!