The question has been asked, How long shall the punishment of the wicked last? Will it be eternal? and if so, is it compatible with God’s goodness? This and similar questions do not concern us in the least. Our task is to do what the Lord has commanded us to do, and to trust, as regards the future, in Him, who knows best to combine goodness and justice. We must here bear in mind that “God’s thoughts are not ours.” Equally ignorant are we as to the cause of the suffering and of the death of each individual; but of this we are certain, if death is punishment, that every one dies for his own sin. This theory is so frequently repeated in the Bible that it is surprising how the theory of Vicarious Death and Vicarious Atonement could be considered as harmonising with the teaching of the Bible. We are taught that God visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation; but at the same time we are told that the children are only punished if they repeat the sins of their fathers, and even then only for their own sins (comp. p. 251). It has been asserted that Isaiah in chap. liii. assumes the principle of vicarious atonement. That this is not the case we can easily see if we turn from the Anglican Version to the original Hebrew, and translate it literally and in accordance with the context. Isaiah, in describing the future glory of the servant of the Lord (= Israel), tells us what those people who oppress Israel will then feel, and how they will give expression to their feeling of shame and regret, saying, “Surely he hath borne griefs caused by us, and carried sorrows caused by us: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded through our transgressions, bruised through our iniquities” (comp. Family Bible, Anglican Version, revised by M. Friedländer). Sin-offerings were brought, but not as a vicarious atonement, although the sinner might well have felt that he himself deserved the treatment endured by the sacrifice. The sin-offering could not have been a vicarious atonement, as it was not offered when the sin was committed knowingly. Maimonides explains the various laws concerning sin-offering as based on the principle that the sacrifices serve as the means of reminding us more vividly of our sins, and of their evil consequences (The Guide, III. xlvi.; comp. Mic. vi. 6–8). On the Twelfth Principle, p. 155. A belief in Messiah, although not directly taught, is assumed in the Mishnah as existing; and the days of Messiah (‏ימות המשיח‎) are spoken of as an event that admits of no doubt (comp. Mishnah Berachoth, i. 5). That this belief was in reality taught by the religious heads of the Jewish community is clearly shown by the introduction into the Amidah of a prayer [27] for the speedy appearance of Messiah.