Acts 12:18-25, 18: Now as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers, what was become of Peter. 19: And when Herod had sought for him, and found him not, he examined the keepers, and commanded that they should be put to death. And he went down from Judaea to Caesarea, and there abode. 20: And Herod was highly displeased with them of Tyre and Sidon: but they came with one accord to him, and, having made Blastus the king's chamberlain their friend, desired peace; because their country was nourished by the king's country. 21: And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them. 22: And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man. 23: And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost. 24: But the word of God grew and multiplied. 25: And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, when they had fulfilled their ministry, and took with them John, whose surname was Mark. In this essay on the sins of the fathers, we want to look at Herod and some others in the Bible. The Herod in this story is Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod the great. He was a nephew of Herod Antipas and father of Herod Agrippa II. Each of these Herod left his evil mark. Herod Agrippa I murdered Apostle James and imprisoned Peter; Herod the great murdered babies in Bethlehem with the intention of killing the infant Jesus. Herod Antipas was involved in the mock trial of Jesus and ordered the execution of John the Baptist and Herod Agrippa II was one of Paul’s judges ( Acts 26:1-3, 24-34) The Bible says in Exodus 34:5-7, “And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious , long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth. Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and to the fourth generation.” We have said (see the essay the father have eaten sour grapes and the children’s teeth are set on edge) that everyone is punished for his or her own sins and that God only “visits” the father’s sin on the children. However certain sins and traits seem to pass from fathers rather than mothers in the Bible to the next generations. Jacob deceived his father Isaac using an animal, by preparing him venison, such as he loved. The sons of Jacob deceived him by killing and using the blood of a kid of goat. Tamar the daughter of Judah (Judah being among the chief ones who deceived Jacob or Israel, his father) deceived him also this time with a kid of goat involved. The Bible gives us two accounts of two “races” of people in the Genesis chapters 4 and 5. Those descended from Seth and those descended from Cain. In the account of the line of Seth, always the Bible mentions their lifespan and then ended with this statement, “And he died.” No mention of any inventions whatsoever. However in the account of the line Cain we have accounts of inventions by the descendants of Cain, no mention “And he died", as if in anticipation of a resurrection. We also have another murderer in his line apart from Cain in the account, Lamech. And in this generation we have the first direct mention of polygamy in the Bible, as it were. So as it is, a line of good people, and a line of a bad people, all descended from a particular ancestor, himself being either good or bad. Also in the story of the sin of Adam, though it was the woman that originally committed the sin, but the Human race are said to have sinned through Adam and not through the woman. Sometimes people say, “it runs in the family", “it runs in the blood.” Why we should inherit sin through Adam is very deep, however the name Adam is formed in part from the Hebrew word Dam, which means blood. We seem to inherit our sins from our fathers rather than our mothers in the Bible. Why this concept is so I do not fully know. We seem to have many murderers in the line of Herod the great. Why is it that we usually see the evil traits of fathers in their children, especially if these children have lived with their fathers. Sometimes we seem to be spared somewhat, if we have not fully lived with our fathers. All said, we do not need to continue in the evil traits of our fathers. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creatur old things are passed away; behold all things are become new." But before this, in verse 16 of the same chapter of the Bible, it says “wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh; yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Yes every relation we have according to the flesh as been nullified as Christians and sons of God through Jesus Christ, spiritually. We knew him before according to the flesh, but now we are born into the kingdom of God “spiritually” through him. We do not need any longer to follow the evil traits of our parents.