“... In Exodus 20:4-6 (and the later version in Deuteronomy 5:8-10), false worship merited a punishment extending to the third and the fourth generation. The blessings for obedience will linger to the thousandth generation. Sure, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, which the Bible tends to do a lot when numbers are involved, but the point still sticks: when it comes to worshiping God, obedience and disobedience have multigenerational effects: children are blessed or punished for what their parents did. Remember that the sin that landed the Judahites in exile wasn’t something like stealing or adultery or murder, but the very same topic that occupies the Second Commandment, false worship, which had been sponsored by one dumb Judahite king after another. It’s hard to miss the implication of Ezekiel’s words: God clearly said one thing to Moses in the Second Commandment at the beginning of Israel’s journey, and then God clearly says something different through Ezekiel at the end. ...”