Discord
From Creation
The problem of discord, disruption, and division among people
in general and the people who call themselves Christians begins with Adam and Eve. Satan, termed the serpent in Genesis 3, manages
to worm his way between Adam and Eve; had Adam and Eve remained together, as their
one-flesh relationship suggests that they must, they might have summoned that confidence
and faith in God which should have enabled them to resist Satan’s temptation.[1] We are not told where Adam was, or what he was
doing, that distracted him from watching over his wife, or her from watching
over him: nevertheless, he was commanded to cleave unto her. That oldest of all tactics, divide and conquer,
worked: Eve was deceived; Adam, knowingly or unknowingly, wittingly or unwittingly,
followed his wife’s lead in embracing the temptation as well; Adam and Eve are expelled
from Paradise. Thus, the whole human race
was set at discord, by Satan’s sowing discord, from the very first days.
Murder
We blink once, and turn the page to Genesis 4, only to discover
that this discord among the earliest people has already progressed to murder: for
Cain has slain Abel, and disruption has fallen upon the human race. Now Cain is exiled from the rest of the small
human family. Strife escalates exponentially,
until, in five generations[2]
after Cain, Lamech is seen in his defiant saber dance.
Delusion
Seth is born; yet, the implication is that the human race is
now developing into two distinct tribes, following very, ethically and morally different
paths, in two groups. If we suppose that
Seth is the first of the good people, it only requires eight generations[3]
after Seth to disabuse us of our error: for, by the time of Noah, the human race
has fallen into nearly absolute wickedness.[4] From this tragic report we may glean several things:
One.
The immoral group of Cain is not as wicked as they possibly could be and
seem; Two. The moral group of Seth is not as innocent as
they possibly could, and at first appear to, be; the defilement of discord has infected
both groups, all mankind equally: there are only a handful of rare exceptions, holdouts
against the general tendency of discord.
Caprice?
We also note that God will destroy the whole human race except
for eight people; which some claim is arbitrary and unjust of God. Elsewhere in Scripture, God promises that He will
not permit unbearable temptation to exist.[5] We believe that this answers the claim that God
acts in arbitrary, and unjust ways. Even
though Noah is obviously somewhat less than perfect, he does love God, and is obedient
to Him. The rest of the human race is given
one hundred twenty years to repent; yet, no one does…. So, the grace that Noah finds is no way dependent
on any righteousness of his own; rather, Noah sought God’s righteousness, and God
happily gave it to him. However, Noah with
his family do obey God out of the freedom of their own wills; while the rest of
the human race, choose to ignore God, also from their individual free wills. As the condition deteriorates, had God left the
bulk of the human race alive; Noah’s little party of eight would have been confronted
with that very irresistible temptation which God cannot allow: for it would mean
that the freedom of will would have now been destroyed in Noah’s party as well as
among the wicked. The state of the wicked,
having the free will to disobey, removes any claim against God as being arbitrary
and unjust; since, the wicked have nobody to blame but themselves for choosing to
act in their wicked manner; and God is perfectly justified in maintaining a standard
of right and wrong: especially, since He patiently withheld judgment for one hundred
twenty years. The charges against God are
completely unfounded.
Fresh Start
Nevertheless, discord, disruption, and division have not been
removed from the human race. Before long,
Noah is drunken.[6] With all due fairness to Noah, he may not have
known that fermentation would take place, or how it might affect him; Scripture
does not ever condone drunkenness, it does permit drinking; nor does Scripture condemn
or even scold Noah for his actions: we simply cannot draw any conclusions about
Noah’s guilt or innocence. That being said,
grandson Canaan Ⅱ was somehow involved in an immoral act, which may have also included
Ham; as a result, Canaan Ⅱ is cursed: but, Ham is not cursed.[7] Now there is even more discord in the human race
and Canaan Ⅱ[8]
appears to be ostracized by being reduced to slavery.
Very possibly the oppression of Nimrod[9],
as well as the discord at Babel[10]
were coincident with Canaan’s or Ham’s ostracism; all of which were important factors
in the mass migrations that would take many of the earth’s people out of Mesopotamia
and into other regions of the world.
Downward
We need not summarize in detail the rest of Genesis to complete
the picture. The reader may easily complete
the study for himself. The families of Abraham,
Ishmael and Isaac, Esau and Jacob continue to be plagued with the strife of discord,
disruption, and the necessary ensuing division: Lot divides from Abraham with disastrous
consequences; Ishmael divides from Isaac with similar results; Esau divides from
Jacob. What startles us is that Jacob’s little
family holds together in Egypt under the new name Israel or Israelites. Thus, when Paul summarizes the Genesis eras, we
are compelled to concur.
“Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses [1406-1366 BC], even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him who is to come.”[11]
Redemption
So, when we flip another page into Exodus we are hoping for a
brighter, better future: redemption from slavery in Egypt at Pesach (Passover);
a new constitution, law, and nation at Sinai in Shabbat (Pentecost); a new land
of peace and rest at Jordan in Sukkot (Tents)[12]…
the gasp for fresh air never seems to arrive.
The old generation has perished in the desert; neither Aaron nor Moses will
enter the land; the hopeful entrants are immediately met by opposition; they are
not principally an attacking force: rather, they are attacked by the Canaanites
and compelled to defend themselves in a series of brief skirmishes. Ironically, they overcome larger, better equipped
and trained, well-established, military forces… great coalitions of battle hardened
troops. Still, they remain at Gilgal, for
the most part, and do not immediately move to occupy the land. Instead, the occupation seems to take place in
slow, reluctant stages; which, is a far, far better understanding of Judges, than
any idea of quick, complete, and thorough occupation.[13] Joshua and Judges tell a tragic tail of external,
as well as internal ongoing discord, disruption, and division. Joshua (1366-1356 BC) bewails this condition before
his death.
“And if it seems evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”[14]
Kingdom
Subsequently, it takes a full seven years for David (1010-970
BC) to build a national consensus. Long after
David’s death, the boundaries of the kingdom are being expanded by Solomon (970-930
BC). Then, the wheels come off the wagon. The kingdom falls to pieces under discord between
Jeroboam Ⅰ and Rehoboam; it will never recover from this disruption and division:
in the outworking of the political, worship is also wounded critically: Jeroboam
creates a new mixed cult with two new idol-worship centers.
Abandonment
By 586 BC, or shortly thereafter, the Israelites and Judeans
have, for the most part, lost any interest in God; according to Ezekiel, God has
abandoned them.[15] By 516 BC the Israelite-Judeans have been absorbed
into the Babylonian and Assyrian cultures; only to emerge as a new identity, the
Jews; with a new language (paleo-Hebrew transitioned into the block Aramaic form,
which we now mistakenly call Hebrew); and a new religion, Judaism. The average Jew can no longer understand the reading
of the Bible: it has to be translated and interpreted to him. Only a tiny band of Jews returns to Jerusalem,
where they are immediately met by more discord, disruption, and division. It takes years to complete the inferior second
temple. Still, God does not return.
[1]
We are suggesting here, that 1 Corinthians 10:13 expresses the distinct
possibility that being overly tempted is more than a New Testament concept; it
could very well be a universal principle which explains Adam and Eve’s
behavior, as well as God’s actions at the Flood: it suggests that believing
people together may resist temptation; people separated from others are unable
to resist temptation; and that God must intervene at some point in the
temptation process, lest all of creation be destroyed.
If this is not true, then the freewill nature of people in the
image and likeness of God cannot be maintained.
There seems to come a point in the lives of the willfully rebellious,
when human wills become so scarred, that they either can no longer operate at
all, or else they can no longer operate freely.
We have no other explanation for God’s justification in
destroying a massive portion of the human race at the Flood: people brought it
on themselves by willfully resisting God’s humility, kindness, love, and
patience. While God’s patience is
inexhaustible; human resistance to temptation is not inexhaustible: it
constitutes a danger to the whole human race: for God has designed the human
race to function around One New Man, Jesus Christ… if the human race is
obliterated by temptation, then God’s plan of incarnation, along with
everything that follows, is made void.
[2]
There may be more than five generations involved: genealogical tables do
sometimes seem to omit names.
Nevertheless, the intensity and brevity of the record indicates an
alarmingly rapid growth of rebellion.
Cain: 1 – Enoch; 2 – Irad; 3 – Mehujael; 4 – Methusael; 5 – Lamech.
[3]
Note the similarity of some of the names; which may indicate that communication
between Cain and Seth was not completely severed. Seth: 1 – Enos; 2 – Cainan; 3 – Mahalaleel; 4
– Jared; 5 – Enoch Ⅱ; 6 – Methuselah; 7 – Lamech Ⅱ; 8 – Noah
[4]
Genesis 6:3, 5-8
[5]
1 Corinthians 10:13
[6]
Genesis 9:21
[7]
Which is why we presume Ham’s innocence and Canaan’s guilt; yet, the details of
the account are not perfectly clear.
[8]
possibly, the same name as Cainan
[9]
Genesis 10:8-9; 1 Chronicles 1:10; Micah 5:6
[10]
Genesis 11
[11]
Romans 5:14
[12]
Tents remind us that “this land is not our own, we’re just passing through” (Jim
Reeves song). We seek a better city and
nation that’s “builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:10).
[13]
These are Kenneth Kitchen’s observations about Joshua and Judges found in, On
the Reliability of the Old Testament; they are not mine. It just seems to us that Kitchen is obviously
right: so, we bow to his wisdom and insight here.
[14]
Joshua 24:15
[15]
This is the second such abandonment. We
recall that God abandoned Israel during the Days of Sampson, Eli, and Samuel,
when the Ark was taken by the Philistines.
[16]
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