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5 โ[1] ** ืืฉืืชื ืื ื ืืช ืคื ื, "then also l will set My face, etc."** The plain meaning of the text appears to be that if the people will not exact retribution then G'd will turn His wrath also against the whole family of that father. If the people had carried out the prescribed judgment, G'd on His part would have punished only the guilty **individual.** This seems a most unusual aspect of G'd's justice! If members of the family shared in the father's guilt why would G'd not punish them regardless of whether the father has been executed?
โ[2] We feel that the meaning of the verse is to tell us that whenever the judges appointed by G'd on earth fail to mete out justice, justice will be meted out in the celestial spheres. G'd announces this by saying: "I will set My face, etc." Once the heavenly tribunal opens the file of the accused, the files of his family members will be scrutinised at the same time. This is what the Torah meant by mentioning ืืืืฉืคืืชื, "and against his family." The Torah explained in our verse that G'd's setting His face against the sinner would result in his being being cut off, plus all others who had gone astray by making common cause with the father. The files of the family members will be examined each on his own merit. Any family member who will not be found guilty of the Molech cult whether in deed or thought will not be wiped out. The Torah uses the words ืืืื ืื ืืืจืื **ืืื ืืช**, "who go astray after him in order to go astray" (the Molech cult) in the present tense to tell us that even if they had not yet been guilty **in deed** they are considered as guilty as if they already had performed the abominable act. Ezekiel 14,5 expressed this thought more directly when he wrote ืืืขื ืชืคืฉ ืืช ืืืช ืืฉืจืื ืืืื, "in order to catch the house of Israel while (the sin) is still in their hearts." [We find independent confirmation of this in *Chulin* 142. Ed.]
โ[3] As a result of what we said we may intepret our verse as assuring us that if the people at large bring the guilty party to justice he alone will be punished and his family will not even be examined by the heavenly tribunal at that time. Should the people fail to get involved, G'd will involve the family of the sinner to the extent that they harbour thoughts similar to those of the father. If so, the family members will be punished by G'd for their ideology though they cannot, of course, be brought to trial on earth. This is the meaning of *Devarim Rabbah* 5,4 that "in a place where there is judgment there is no judgment, whereas in a place where there is no judgment there is judgment." The difficulty with this saying is that it is obvious that when judgment is carried out in our world that there is no need to carry out judgment in the celestial spheres. Why would the *Midrash* have to tell us something so obvious? When you follow our approach, however, the *Midrash* makes sense as the judgment in the celestial spheres referred to is that of the family of the guilty party. You will find that our sages said in *Rosh Hashanah* 16 that whenever the Book of judgment of a person is opened in the celestial spheres that person's life is in danger and he needs a special merit in order to emerge unscathed.
Version: Or Hachayim, trans. Eliyahu Munk
Source: http://www.urimpublications.com/or-hachayim-commentary-on-the-torah-5-vols.html
License: CC-BY