Potencias y raíces

As fascinating as the events precipitating the biblical flood of Noah are, it‘s the events that follow the flood that are most critical to understanding the way things really are—the matrix of human and divine reality in the biblical worldview. As we‘ve seen, Genesis 6:1-4, a passage relegated to arcane status by most interpreters, proved to be the backdrop for key elements and concepts in later Israelite history and theology. We‘ll discover the same is true of the next passage we need to rescue from obscurity.

The Tower of Babel

Genesis 11:1-9 reads:

1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. ² And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. ³ And they said to one another, ―Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.‖ And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. ⁴ Then they said, ―Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.‖ ⁵ And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. ⁶ And the LORD said, ―Behold, they are one people, and they have all one

language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. ⁷ Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another‘s speech.‖ ⁸ So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. ⁹ Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

You‘ll notice right away that there‘s the same sort of ―plural of exhortation‖ going on in verse 7 as we saw in Genesis 1:26.⁷⁶ The verse has Yahweh proclaiming ―let us go down and confuse their language,‖ but, as in Genesis 1:26, the plural announcement is followed by the actions of only one person, Yahweh: ―So the LORD dispersed them . . .‖ (11:8).

God declares what needs to be done to his divine council and then goes and does it. But this isn‘t going to be our focus in this chapter. There‘s something far more important going on.

Genesis 11 must be understood in conjunction with Genesis 10; the two are inseparable with respect to interpretation. Genesis 10 records what scholars have called ―the Table of

Nations,‖ the listing of the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, Noah‘s sons who survived the flood. But Genesis 10 actually gives us more than a list of physical

descendants. Many of the names in this listing are not people, but geographical regions or cities. This is why scholars have opted for ―Table of Nations‖ as opposed to

―genealogies‖ when describing this chapter. Genesis 10 (for the most part) gives us a list of the nations whose populace can trace their ancestry to one of the three sons of Noah.

My qualification ―for the most part‖ leads us to several important initial observations.

The Table of Nations assumes that the names of Noah‘s sons are behind the names of the nations. The total number of nations descended from Shem, Ham, and Japheth comes to seventy. This figure is produced by eliminating Nimrod (vv. 8-12). Nimrod doesn‘t belong in the total since Genesis 10:8-12 is a biographical rabbit-trail. The text gives us no indication that ―Nimrod‖ was to be understood as a nation, since Nimrod doesn‘t

―father‖ anyone (or a nation) in the list. The statement is merely that Nimrod came from Cush (v.8), not that he ruled over a land that would become known by his name. Rather, he ruled over Babel, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh, in ―the land of Shinar.‖

We learn in Genesis 11:1-9 that Yahweh dispersed the people of the earth. Prior to this dispersion the people all had one language. The story as it stands in Genesis 11:1-9 seems to end there. It appears there is little else to be learned about what went on at this division of the nations. But that‘s only because we haven‘t looked at what other Old Testament passages say about this event.

Dividing the Nations

Deuteronomy 32:8-9 reads as follows:⁷⁷

8 When the Most High apportioned the nations as an inheritance, when he divided up humankind, he established the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. ⁹ But the LORD‘s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.

Deuteronomy 32:8-9 describes how Yahweh‘s dispersal of the nations at Babel resulted in his disinheriting those nations. The statement in Deuteronomy 32:9 that ―Yahweh‘s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance‖ tips us off that a contrast in affection and ownership is intended. Yahweh‘s decision was a declaration that he was no longer going to be the god of those nations. That privilege would be granted to Israel alone.

God turned away from the nations of Genesis 10-11, instead making a new nation to be the object of his affection—Israel. I like to refer to this decision of God as the ―Romans 1 event of the Old Testament.‖ Romans 1 describes how God ―gave humankind up‖ to their persistent rebellion.

Most English Bibles do not read ―according to the number of the sons of God‖ in Deuteronomy 32:8. Rather, they read ―according to the number of the sons of Israel.‖

The difference derives from disagreements between manuscripts of the Old Testament.

There are many reasons why ―sons of God‖ is the correct reading, among them being that

this reading is found in the Dead Sea Scrolls.⁷⁸ While many modern English Bibles point this out in footnotes to Deuteronomy 32:8, several recent English translations (NRSV, ESV) have adopted the reading in recognition of its superiority.

Frankly, you don‘t need to know all the technical reasons for why the ―sons of God‖

reading in Deuteronomy 32:8-9 is what the verse originally said. You just need to think a bit about the wrong reading, the ―sons of Israel.‖ Deuteronomy 32:8-9 hearkens back to events at the Tower of Babel, an event that occurred before the call of Abraham, the father of the nation of Israel. This means that the nations of the earth were divided at Babel before Israel even existed as a people. It would make no sense for God to divide up the nations of the earth ―according to the number of the sons of Israel‖ if there was no Israel. This point is also brought home in another way, namely by the fact Israel is not listed in the Table of Nations.

So what happened to the other nations? What does it mean that they were ―apportioned as an inheritance‖ and to whom were they apportioned? As odd as it sounds, the rest of the nations were summarily put under the administration—given as an inheritance—of the lesser elohim of the divine council. What these two verses tell us is that Yahweh decided his own people would be Israel (which did not yet exist at Babel), and the other nations drawn up as a result of the dispersal at Babylon were numbered (―counted out‖)

according to the number of the sons of God. Interestingly, in Ugaritic literature, the number of the sons of God was 70—the same number as the nations in Deuteronomy 32:8-9.⁷⁹

That this interpretation is sound is made clear by an explicit parallel passage, Deuteronomy 4:19-20. There Moses says to the Israelites:

19 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 whom the LORD your God has allotted to all the nations under the whole heaven. ²⁰ 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.

Deuteronomy 4:19-20 is the other side of God‘s punitive coin. Whereas in Deuteronomy 32:8-9 God apportioned or handed out the nations to the sons of God, here we are told God ―allotted‖ the gods to those nations. Basically, they were made for each other! God decreed, in the wake of Babel, that the other nations he had forsaken would have other gods besides Himself to worship. It is as though God was saying, ―if you don‘t want to obey me, I‘m not interested in being your god—so here are some other gods for you.‖

Verse 20 of Deuteronomy 4 follows the ―allotment‖ with the same idea we saw in Deuteronomy 32:9 on the heels of the division of the nations: The Lord has chosen his own people—you, O Israel, whom he took out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

But why such a severe punishment to what happened at Babel? To understand God‘s response, we need to back up just a bit.

After Adam and Eve sinned in Eden, they were forbidden re-entry into Eden. Recall that Eden was the mount of God, the place where the divine council had been conducting business—the place where Yahweh ―resided‖ and where heaven and earth met. It had been Yahweh‘s intention that humankind, male and female, be part of his council. After all, they were his sons and daughters; they had a divine, royal pedigree. Humanity was to have dominion over the earth as Yahweh‘s imagers, his representatives—his earthly co-regents.

Part of the reason for the expulsion was to cut off Adam and Eve from the tree of life.

Their sin had cost them their immortality—an attribute of divine beings that was naturally part of ―council turf.‖ But expulsion also meant they were cut off from the council proceedings. This doesn‘t mean Adam and Eve (and so humanity) were disenfranchised from being God‘s imagers. That status was and is inseparable from being human. Rather, they were expelled from the council. But they were also forgiven.

They were still God‘s children and his imagers, but they there would be no living humans in the divine council. Only upon death would Adam and Eve be reunited with Yahweh in a personal, eternal relationship. Life on earth was like an indefinite, unpaid suspension or an involuntary leave of absence from a company you love and long for. Humanity has an unending desire for utopia because we‘re wired that way.

We can see a foreshadowing of the prospect of the new heaven and new earth here.

There‘s a reason why the book of Revelation ends with ―another Eden.‖ I can‘t go into the details of how the new heaven and earth in Revelation utilize divine council imagery, but for now let it be noted that God will bring all things full circle—human beings will indeed rule and reign with him and his heavenly host on earth.

The point of this remembrance for our current purposes is that, once expelled from the place of the divine council, it was a sacrilege to try and reverse that decision by one‘s own human efforts. The nachash had succeeded in seducing Eve in Eden with the promise that she could be like one of the elohim of the council—to have their

knowledge—before that knowledge had been granted by her Father, Yahweh (Gen. 3:22).

Genesis 1:26 informs us that it had been Yahweh‘s intention all along to make

humankind like the cosmic members of the council, to make them part of the council.

But what God planned it is God‘s right to bring to pass in his own time. Ironically, Eve had been seduced into wanting what was to be hers but not on her timetable.

The same is true of the Babel incident. It was a sacrilege to build a tower that would

―reach to the heavens.‖ Why? The reason isn‘t because God hates architecture or

construction work. The reason is that the heavens were perceived as the place where God lived—and where the council held session. This is demonstrable in several ways.

It is important to notice that the building of the tower attracts the attention of Yahweh and, ultimately, the divine council:

5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. ⁶ And the LORD said, ―Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. ⁷ Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another‘s speech.‖

Were this just a mundane building project, one would think God would have better things to do. Yahweh is not a glorified building inspector. The building of the tower of Babel represents an attempt by humanity to enter the divine domain. It is a rebellion against God‘s imposed limitations. After the debacle of Eden, Yahweh instituted an orderly relationship between the world of humankind and the world of the divine. Heaven and earth will only meet in a broad, inclusive way, at the new heaven and the new earth—

when we go back to Eden. The current boundaries are to be kept. As Genesis 6:1-4 was a transgression of the boundary or ―proper domain,‖ so was the building of the tower of Babel. The problem is that human beings, created like elohim (Gen 1:26) perpetually seek to be elohim. God has a schedule and plan for humanity‘s glorification, and it is not for humanity to make substitutions or alter the timetable.

Yahweh‘s response to this rebellion was decisive. Prior to Genesis 11, the Bible gives us the impression that God was still interacting with humanity in a personal way. It was in the time of Cain and Abel that people ―began to call on the name of the Lord,‖ at least implying anyone could have a personal relationship with Yahweh if they wanted. God has to clean the slate in Genesis 6-8, but then restores a relationship with humanity in Genesis 9. The tower of Babel marks a dramatic change in this circumstance, though.

According to Deuteronomy 32:8-9, at Babel God disinherits the nations of the world. No longer will he relate to them directly. It is as if to say God is giving them a bit of what they seem want—to be out from under his thumb so they can make their own decisions.

While the decision was harsh, the other nations are not completely forsaken. As we read the Old Testament, we discover that it was God‘s intention that the Israelites serve as a conduit for all the other nations to come back to the true God. This is one of the reasons why Israel is later called ―a kingdom of priests‖ (Exo. 19:6) and why the Law of Moses contained instructions for Gentiles being brought into Israel, thereby gaining re-entrance into the community of the people of God. Israel would be tended to by the ―God of gods‖ and the ―Lord of lords‖ (Deut. 10:17), and those disinherited would be in spiritual bondage to the corrupt sons of God. And yet Yahweh would offer a path of escape—but that path wound through Israel (and eventually Israel‘s messiah).

The Gods Can’t Be Trusted

One of the more interesting questions with all this concerns whether the sons of God set over the nations in the wake of the Babel debacle were servants of Yahweh in the council who eventually became corrupt, or were already rebels. Either is workable in Old

Testament theology, but we really are not told in Scripture. One thing we that is made clear, however, is that the gods of the nations did not direct the people under their

dominion to the true God, and abused their subjects. In fact, the gods of the nations—the sons of God of Deuteronomy 32—are the gods being judged in the now familiar text of Psalm 82:

1 God (elohim) stands in the divine council;

among the gods (elohim) He pronounces judgment.

2 How long will you (plural) judge unjustly, showing favor to the wicked? .

3 Judge the wretched and the orphan, vindicate the lowly and the poor,

4rescue the wretched and the needy;

save them from the hand of the wicked.

5 They neither know nor understand, they go about in darkness;

all the foundations of the earth totter.

6 I said, ―you (plural) gods (elohim),

sons of the Most High (beney Elyon), all of you (plural);

7 but you (plural) shall die as men do, fall like any prince.

8 Arise, O God (elohim),

judge (the command is singular) the earth, for you (singular) shall inherit all the nations.

In Psalm 82:2 Yahweh charges the elohim with being corrupt judges who favor the wicked. The wording of 82:3-4 suggests that God is asking rhetorical questions in that verse—spelling out the kind of judgment the elohim should be conducting, as opposed to what they‘re doing (82:2). We know that it is God speaking (and not the psalmist) by virtue of the first person in 82:6. It is most natural to assume that the speaker of verse 6 (―I said‖) is the same as the speaker in the preceding verses. After all, in 82:6-7 who else would be decreeing punishment against other elohim? And the basis for such a

punishment is decreed would be the charges leveled in 82:2-4. Psalm 82:8 provides us with the evidence we need for connecting this psalm to Deuteronomy 32, and hence to Genesis 11. The psalmist here calls for God himself—the true God who forsook the nations long ago—to rise up and take the nations back as his inheritance. The point in the verse is not that Yahweh wasn‘t the king over all the earth at the time the psalmist wrote.

Rather, it is that the only real solution for ending the enslavement of the nations is for the sovereign God to be their God—to enter a relationship with them as he has with Israel.

The situation created by yet another instance of the lack of trustworthiness of divine beings (cf. Job 4:18; 15:15) was serious. Psalm 82:5 basically tells us that the corruption of the sons of God over the nations threw affairs on earth into chaos. And while Yahweh did pronounce judgment against the corrupt elohim (―you will die like men do‖), the chaos was controlled—and even part of an intentional judgment on the nations who had been disinherited. As we know from our own experience, when God gives people up to their own sin and rebellion, the result is chaos. And yet God can use such misery as part of a later appeal to repent. What I‘m talking about here takes us back to Deuteronomy.

The ―Deuteronomy 32 Worldview‖

The ―Deuteronomy 32 Worldview‖