The old testament's intergenerational disposition also manifested in the form of cross-generational punishments
or curses, threatened or meted out by God for a single generation's wrongdoing. f24
Such curses may seem, superficially, to demonstrate an insensitivity or outright animosity on the part of God
towards later generations, but, considered in another light, the use of such warnings reflects an intense concern
on the part of the community for its descendants. As Auerbach explains, "If people did not care intensely
about the fate of their descendants, then the threat of God's punishment falling on their descendants would
not be an effective spur to action." f25
Elsewhere, the old testament evinces a more sophisticated notion of intergenerational justice, one which remains a useful maxim today:
"The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself." f26
Two hundred years ago, American politicians were well versed in these biblical ideas. Leviticus 25's jubilee
system was familiar enough for John Quincy Adams to confidently allude in his public speeches to "the jubilee
of the Constitution" and "the year of jubilee since the first formation of our Union." f27
Several of the original states retained in their legal codes the biblical mandate that the land lie fallow every
seven years. f28
To review briefly, then: the intergenerational philosophy of the old testament incorporates: 1) a conception
of society as an intergenerational community, 2) a conception of the earth as an intergenerational commons,
under the Creator's ownership; and 3) a conception of each generation's responsibility to steward the earth
out of respect for the Creator and for the benefit of all generations. All of these themes would prove to be
hugely influential upon later English legal theory, and upon the American framers who would rely so heavily
upon such theory.
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