Hey everyone, Here we are once again in our quest to answer the question Why is the world the way it is? We have made it thus far and we are now in part 4 of our series. We sure have come a long way together in this subject. Today we will basically only be building off of the last episode.
Although we are going to go over some of what has been said previously it would be extreamly generous to say “we will only be scratching the surface”. This is a very elaborate answer to a question that deserves a life time of reflection and rereading. All that to say if you wish to fully understand the context of that which we are going to be learning today, we highly advise any who has not listen to the other 3 part to do so first. Click here for Part 1, here for Part 2, and here for Part 3.
We have been seeking to answer the question Why is the world the way it is? with an Ancient Middle Eastern mindset. This is the worldview that the biblical authors shared with their immediate audience and their neighboring countries. As we have shared multiple times before we want to give the answer to this question through this lenses not our 21st century christian perspective.
Our hope is that by exposing people to this way of interpreting the scriptures they would learn the value in correlating the biblical narrative with its original context. In doing so not only is a much more detailed picture painted but in many instances we get a much more robust answer to question that are posed by the biblical text than we do by our modern worldview.
Where we left off
Why is the world the way it is? Our answer to the question is the same as the biblical authors, Second Temple Period Judaism (the Context in which the bible took its form), and that held by the 1st Century Church which we described as:
A proliferation of evil cause by three dual rebellions of both spiritual and human members of Gods family detailed in the opening chapters of the book of Genesis.
Again we talked about these three dual rebellions a lot in past episodes breaking them down in detail. I am not going to go over it again today but only give a brief outline to move forward with. We must not forget that the biblical authors used repetition as one of their main literary devices for teaching people. In the period in which the bible was being composed people mostly learned by hearing the text read aloud.
Remember that apart form a literacy issue which hindered lots of people from even being able to read the scriptures in the first place, the texts its self was a bunch of scrolls which were very expensive. This meant that people usually gathered together to hear the text read and through oral learning memorized the text. By the use of patterns or motifs, the hearers mind is more prone to connect the ideas that are repeated in any given story and therefor understand the deep truths the author is relating to their audience throughout their work.
Repeating patterns
Motifs are a powerful tool in the hands of the authors of the bible and these skillful artist use them bountifully. Over the past episodes we pointed out how these dual rebellions shared many common elements to get the readers attention that there should be a correlation made between stories.
What does God want?
The answer to this question shapes the whole of the biblical narrative. God wants a big blended family of both spiritual and physical beings who He shares His authority with to establish His kingdom in the world. This is what we see in the first pages of The Bible and continues with this same motif until the closing pages where the narrative comes to an end with this same picture. God gets what He wants but the whole of the biblical narrative is about how this takes place. Check out our in depth study of What does God want? here.
Three Dual Rebellions Motif
Here is a quick recap of the running motifs we noticed throughout the narratives for these three dual rebellions that took place in Genesis 3, Genesis 6, and Genesis 11.
In all three cases we have people who are living with in the ancient boarders of Eden, who have been given the same exact Edamic mandate to “multiply and fill the earth” while exercising dominion over creation. By different means an interaction with the spiritual world takes place. In the case of Genesis 6, and Genesis 11 after people multiply, although access to the spiritual world had been forbidden for human beings and these two world must now remain separated, the people make contact anyways. Disobedience ensues, and judgement is rendered on both the physical and the spiritual side of Gods family. Amazingly each time after all this a promise is given to humanity that one day there will come a chance for redemption while the spiritual family is condemned forever.
Getting back to the good stuff!
If all this was new news to you, awesome! We really hope that upon refection it brings clarity and a grounding in the biblical authors context. That aside hold on tight because we have more ground to cover. Last time we went over most of the recurring motifs in the third dual rebellion of Genesis 11 but stopped short of explaining all of Gods judgement and mercy. This is where we are picking up today.
God is done dealing with all humans in the same way after this third dual rebellion which took place in Genesis 11. Up until this point God show mercy to humanity and gives them a promise of redemption, but He also placed them back with in the ancient boarders of Edan and granted them once again a chance to share His authority by establishing His kingdom on the earth. True to form the biblical narrative keeps this pattern but in a completely different way.
Same old thing new way
The biblical authors teaches us that after this third worldwide dual rebellion at The Tower of Babel on behalf of both physical and spiritual members of Gods family, God does the same old thing in a new way. First He gives the people want they seemingly want. Access to the spiritual beings whom they have been longing to interact with. The bible tells us this
“Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you. When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. But the Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.”
Deuteronomy 32:7-9 ESV
While I usually quote the New International Version of the Bible for its simplistic reading ability here I used the English Standard Version for its accuracy of what the text is communicating. There is no perfect translation and while we all have our favorites we should always be searching for the most accurately portrayed meaning in any given text. This means more likely than not it is a good idea to check other translations rendering of the text.
Where the NIV has sons of Israel, the ESV has placed the oldest known meaning deriving from The Dead Sea Scrolls, The Sons of God. In every instance in the Old Testament this word in Hebrew appears it has the meaning of spiritual beings. In many cases it is the only possible meaning. For example
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”
Job 38:4-7 ESV
The Ancient Middle Eastern worldview is that God placed 70 spiritual beings over the 70 nations that rebelled at the Tower of Babel and then choose a nation for Himself. I believe this is the accurate account of what happened after the Tower of Babel rebellion for a couple of reasons.
- It fits in perfectly to the narritive that we have been looking at. Humans keep wanting to be in contact with the spiritual world apart from God. Therefor God is giving humanity what they have wanted, to be ruled by other spiritual beings other than Him.
- If we critically think about it having the nations put under the “Sons of Israel” doesn’t make any sense. In Deuteronomy Israel is a brand new nation so how would they “remember the days of old” or “consider the years of many generation” and still end up with the meaning be about them. It doesn’t work nor is there any other account like this in the biblical text. Obviously this passage is referring back to a time when Israel wasn’t even a nation, and I would argue, when Jacob hadn’t even been born yet.
- Other passages back up this rendering of the text and makes for a much clearer explanation of other wise convoluted questions about biblical topics such as where did all the other gods come from?, or why did God choose Israel?
- After reading this excellent resource I am absolutely convinced this is what the biblical authors wanted to communicate to us. If you are unsure about this topic or want to know more please read this book and look at the primary sources provided within. We highly recommend this resource to everyone.
U.S.- Supernatural: What the Bible Teaches about the Unseen World And Why It Matters– Book, Kindle Edition, Audiobook,
U.K.-Supernatural: What the Bible Teaches about the Unseen World And Why It Matters– Book, Audiobook,
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god of God
“Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since you saw no form on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth. And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own inheritance, as you are this day.”
“And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you. And there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.”
Deuteronomy 4:15-20, 27-28 ESV
These spiritual beings are the explanation of other gods in the biblical world view. God gave these 70 nations (all the nations we talked about from Genesis 10) over to loyal spiritual beings who were to rule over these nations as He would His own nation. God again is showing a sort of mercy to people who only continuously rebel against Him. The loyal spiritual family members are now tasked to rule over these nations and be ambassadors for God governing the nations as God intends.
Should we expect anything different?
By now I hope we all saw this coming a mile away. These spiritual beings reject Gods desire for them to be an extension of His authority over these nations and instead are corrupted by a desire of becomes gods themselves. It is the same old story on repeat. Via a literary device as simple as repetition, can you see how effect the biblical narrative is at relating to us the answer of why the world is the way it is?
“God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment: “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. I said, “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.” Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations!”
Psalm 82 ESV
There it is. These spiritual beings rebel in the exact same way as before and God pronounces a judgement on them telling them they are doomed. This is incredible in light of everything that we have talked about. These spiritual beings in the same way as those before are destined to now die like men. This is not the natural end for the spiritual beings! They were created to be eternal. Humans are finite, not these beings.
In one of the most unimaginable turn of events in all of history all rebel spiritual beings will in the end cease to exists like finite human beings with no chance of redemption, while the physical rebels who are finite will be given a chance to become immortal through a promised redemption. It is simply mind-blowing!
Next time we will continue to discuss how God uses this old pattern of doing the same thing only this time in a new way when we look at the call of Abraham together.
A lot to process
I know this may seem like a lot. That is exactly why I didn’t proceed too far in this teaching as well as in last post. It is a pretty big worldview gap between the Ancient Middle Easterners Three Dual Rebellions for the answer to the question why is the world the way it is? and our single modern answer of the fall in Genesis 3. Ultimately it comes down to a decision of how one is going to interpret The Bible. Do we want to import a foreign meaning to the text or let the text and its original context speak to us.
Along with the book that we have recommend above I wanted to give you a couple more resources for you to be able to get more familiar with this worldview.
Deuteronomy 32:8–9 and the Old Testament Worldview
The Bible Project- Spiritual Beings
Check out this short video series on Spiritual beings by our friends over at The Bible Project by clicking here. They are amazing and super helpful to better grasp what we will be covering in this series.