Angelic Conflict part 191: Human history (idolatry) – Gen 10:6-20; Psa 2; 105:23-25; Num 33:3-4; Rom 1:21-23; Exo 12:12.

The essence of our fallen world reveals the grace and mercy and law of God as it is available to mankind, as well as them that oppose God and His word and do so in a very tempting and deceitful way.

 

The times of the monarchy, starting with Saul and ending with Zedekiah were no different, but actually worse as only a few kings were godly and desired the ways of Jehovah. One man did more than the others and that was God's first choice as king, as opposed to the people's desire for Saul, and that of course was David. David was a prophet, priest, and king and one of the greatest types of Christ in the Old Testament.

 

The monarchy would move from Saul to David to Solomon and after Solomon the nation would split into two kingdoms. The northern ten tribes and the southern two tribes with Judah being the predominant tribe and the home of the capital Jerusalem as well as the temple and the ark. The north called themselves Israel and set up their own centers of worship for fear that their people would take pilgrimages to Judah during the feasts that required this. The south, with Simeon, was called Judah. As we have seen, both kingdoms had their awful incursions into idolatry. The northern kingdom was destroyed in 721 BC and the southern kingdom in 586 BC.

 

Idolatry defeated ... Egypt and the descendants of Ham.

 

The southern kingdom were allowed to return and rebuild the city and the temple. They would exist another 500 years. They would not return to idol worship en masse but rather turned to religion and took on the Mosaic Law, that their forefathers ignored, to the point where they believed it made man righteous.

 

Japheth arises built up by satan. Ecumenical religion arises and idolatry goes underground.

 

If satan can't get you with immoral degeneracy through the phallic cult he will go after you with moral degeneracy in religion and legalism.

 

Don't think the line between these two is definite. There is always some idolatry in religion and some religion in idolatry. Often it is hard to distinguish the two in some systems of worship.

 

Idolatry and the phallic cult came through satan’s influence over Ham.

 

Ham’s sons were…

 

GEN 10:6 And the sons of Ham were Cush and Mizraim and Put and Canaan.

 

GEN 10:7And the sons of Cush were Seba and Havilah and Sabtah and Raamah and Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.

 

GEN 10:8Now Cush became the father of Nimrod ["we will revolt"]; he became a mighty one on the earth.

 

GEN 10:9He was a mighty hunter before [in opposition to] the Lord; therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord ."

 

It is said means that he became a legend to others who desired what he did.

 

Nimrod the hunter in opposition to God became a tyrant and a hunter of men.

 

There have been many Nimrods in human history who have desired to found imperial kingdoms, proclaim peace and prosperity through anti-God, humanistic ways, become tyrants, and hunters of men.

 

GEN 10:10And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar [Babylon].

 

GEN 10:11From that land he went forth into Assyria, and built Nineveh and Rehoboth-Ir and Calah,

 

GEN 10:12and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.

 

GEN 10:13And Mizraim became the father of Ludim and Anamim and Lehabim and Naphtuhim

 

GEN 10:14and Pathrusim and Casluhim (from which came the Philistines) and Caphtorim.

 

GEN 10:15And Canaan became the father of Sidon, his first-born, and Heth

 

GEN 10:16and the Jebusite and the Amorite and the Girgashite

 

GEN 10:17and the Hivite and the Arkite and the Sinite

 

GEN 10:18and the Arvadite and the Zemarite and the Hamathite; and afterward the families of the Canaanite were spread abroad.

 

GEN 10:19And the territory of the Canaanite extended from Sidon as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; as you go toward Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.

 

GEN 10:20These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, by their nations.

 

Mizraim becomes Egypt. Canaan became the father of those who would live in the holy land and its environs. From Cush came Nimrod, the leader behind the tower of Babel project.

 

This was the beginning of organizing religion with tremendous cultish ritual after the flood.

 

Josephus in his work Antiquities of the Jews gives us a summary of the Jewish tradition of Nimrod. After writing of the early prosperity of the sons of Ham, and their desire to stay together, disobeying the commandment of God to fill the earth, Josephus says:

 

“They imagining the prosperity they enjoyed was not derived from the favor of God, but supposing that their own power was the proper cause of the plentiful condition they were in, did not obey Him. Nay, they added to this their disobedience to the divine will, the suspicion that they were therefore ordered to send out separate colonies, that, being divided asunder, they might the more easily be oppressed.

 

“Now it was Nimrod who excited them to such an affront and contempt of God. He was the grandson of Ham, the son of Noah, a bold man and of great strength of hand. He persuaded them not to ascribe it to God, as though it were through His means they were happy, but to believe that it was their own courage that procured that happiness. He also gradually changed the government into tyranny, seeing no other way of turning men from the fear of God, but to bring them into a constant dependence upon his power. He also said he would be revenged on God, if He should have a mind to drown the world again, and that he would avenge himself on God for destroying their forefathers.

 

“Now that multitude were very ready to follow the determination of Nimrod, and to esteem it a piece of cowardice to submit to God, and they built a tower together, neither sparing any pains, nor being in any degree negligent about the work; and, by reason of the multitude of hands employed in it, it grew very high, sooner than anyone could expect; but the thickness of it was so great, and it was so strongly built, that thereby its great height seemed upon the view, to be less that it really was. It was built of burnt brick, cemented together with mortar, made of bitumen [natural asphalt or pitch], that it might not be liable to admit water. When God saw that they acted so madly, He did not resolve to destroy them utterly, since they were not grown wiser by the destruction of the former sinners, but He caused a tumult among them, by producing in them diverse languages, and causing that through the multitude of those languages, they should not be able to understand one another. The place wherein they built their tower is now called Babylon, for the Hebrews mean by the word Babel, Confusion.”

 

Kingdoms from the Hamitic dynasty would prosper for centuries. Some, like Assyria, would repress the Jews, the sons of Shem, but only by God’s allowance by divine discipline. How the Hamites and satan must have gloated in the light of the fact that God had said that they were to be slaves. And here they were the masters. But God does not count history by minutes.

 

The defeat of the Hittites was so crushing that even as late as the nineteenth century there was no historical or archeological trace of them. Critics of the Bible have even used them as an example that the Bible was not inspired. But suddenly archeological discoveries were made that made these critics laughable.

 

This Psalm is quoted more times than any other in the NT. There are four voices in this Psalm.

 

Vs. 1-3; the voice of the nations - Conspiracy.

 

PSA 2:1 Why are the nations in an uproar,

And the peoples devising a vain thing?

 

PSA 2:2The kings of the earth take their stand,

And the rulers take counsel together

Against the Lord  and against His

Anointed:

 

PSA 2:3"Let us tear their fetters apart,

And cast away their cords from us!"

 

All true authority comes from God and unto men. Good Gentile nations of the CA hold up the laws of divine establishment and their authority protects the freedom of the people. In the OT, Israel, God's first client nation, was a theocracy (under the rulership of God) from Moses through the judges up until Samuel and then Israel wanted a king and they were given Saul. In every case the laws of establishment gave the nation prosperity and freedom.

 

The Scottish theologian P. T. Forsyth wrote, "The first duty of every soul is to find not its freedom but its Master." [PT Forsyth]

 

The nations of vs. 1-3 defy God the Father and His Son under the guidance of satan.

 

Vs. 4-6; the voice of the Father - Mockery.

 

PSA 2:4He who sits in the heavens laughs,

The Lord scoffs at them.

 

The peaceful scene in heaven is quite a contrast to the noisy scene on earth, for God is neither worried nor afraid as puny man rages against Him. He merely laughs in derision.

 

The peace of heaven in the face of conspiracy should be the peace in our hearts for we are citizens of heaven.

 

PSA 37:12-13

The wicked plots against the righteous,

And gnashes at him with his teeth.

The Lord laughs at him;

For He sees his day is coming.

 

PSA 59:7-9

Behold, they belch forth with their mouth;

Swords are in their lips,

For, they say, "Who hears?"

But Thou, O Lord, dost laugh at them;

Thou dost scoff at all the nations.

Because of His strength I will watch for Thee,

For God is my stronghold. 

 

PSA 2:5Then He will speak to them in His anger

And terrify them in His fury [final judgment]:

 

PSA 2:6"But as for Me, I have installed My King [Christ]

Upon Zion, My holy mountain."

 

Vs. 7-9; the voice of God the Son - Victory.

 

PSA 2:7"I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord :

He said to Me, 'Thou art My Son,

Today I have begotten Thee.

 

Ancient kings likened themselves to be gods. There is one God who is a man and to Him goes the victory.

 

MAT 3:17

and behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased."

 

PSA 2:8'Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Thine inheritance,

And the very ends of the earth as Thy possession.

 

Satan offered the kingdoms of the world to the Son but He refused for He would only worship the Father, MAT 4:8-11.

 

PSA 2:9'Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron,

Thou shalt shatter them like earthenware.'"

 

Vs. 10-12; the voice of God the Holy Spirit - Opportunity.

 

PSA 2:10Now therefore, O kings, show discernment;

Take warning, O judges of the earth.

 

PSA 2:11Worship the Lord  with reverence,

And rejoice with trembling.

 

PSA 2:12Do homage to the Son, lest He become angry, and you perish in the way,

For His wrath may soon be kindled [day of the Lord can begin at any time].

How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!

 

Psalm 1 starts with the word blessed and psalm 2 ends with it. Happiness is to all who place their trust and the trust for their understanding and lives in the word of God.

 

PSA 1:1 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners,

Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

 

PSA 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,

And in His law he meditates day and night.

 

PSA 1:3 And he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season,

And its leaf does not wither;

And in whatever he does, he prospers.

 

But satan has other plans. His plan is to deceive men into walking in the counsel of the wicked and to rise up peoples and nations, often those whom God has cursed, to oppose God and to join him in deceiving the world.

 

Satan made a special alliance with this son of Ham, Mizraim, from whom Egypt would come.

 

PSA 105:23 Israel also came into Egypt;

Thus Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.

 

PSA 105:24And He caused His people to be very fruitful,

And made them stronger than their adversaries.

 

PSA 105:25 He turned their heart to hate His people,

To deal craftily with His servants.

 

Satan built in him a colossal pride that race in the veins of this people and furnished them the physical force to tear at the rocks and mountains of their land as though to compensate for their curse. They were to be slaves? Then they would enslave every people upon whom they could forge chains, and they would arrange the cosmic disorder of barren, stony hills into intelligent mountains of pyramids and other monuments that would show the greatness of Ham.

 

Satan makes an alliance with those whom God curses.

 

All idols are going to be shown to be ridiculous.

 

NUM 33:3 And they journeyed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the next day after the Passover the sons of Israel started out boldly in the sight of all the Egyptians,

 

NUM 33:4while the Egyptians were burying all their first-born whom the Lord  had struck down among them. The Lord  had also executed judgments on their gods.

 

Egypt is a type of the world system and satan is the prince of the world and he was the prince of Egypt, influencing them through false gods.

 

DAN 10:20

Then he said, "Do you understand why I came to you? But I shall now return to fight against the prince of Persia; so I am going forth, and behold, the prince of Greece is about to come.

 

A hundred times in the course of the Bible narrative we have the record of the appeal to the first standard of power displayed when the Lord broke the bow of Egypt and set the mighty of that land to naught.

 

Egypt is nothing without the Nile River. It is the source of water for man, beast, and agriculture. It is 4,258 miles long and flows from south to north.

 

The history of humanity’s descent into devil worship is clear and detailed.

 

ROM 1:21-23

For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.

 

This is a perfect description of the religion of Egypt. All of their many gods came through a trinity of what Egyptians worshiped; the land, the water, and the sky.

 

At certain seasons of the year the river overflows its banks and deposits a rich topsoil which allows the land to bring forth abundance. And there is almost never any rain in Egypt, and the clear blue sky above, with its cloudless sun, drew the final area of worship: river, land, and sky.

 

Satan, so hungry for worship, had brought his principalities and powers into the land in great force and was collecting all of the adoration that both the cultured and educated leaders and the simple farm folk were capable of offering. It was against these gods that the Lord was to execute judgment.

 

EXO 12:12

'For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments —  I am the Lord.

 

But they're not real. They are images. They are false gods in the minds of the people. So what God is going to destroy is the image of power ascribed to these false gods that the Egyptians believe in their own minds.

 

god of the Nile - Hapi, one of the chief gods of Egypt. God turned the Nile to blood.

 

According to myth, the river flowed from Hapi´s home (near the First Cataract) through the heavens and the land of the dead before emerging from a cave somewhere in the mountains. The inundation was referred to as the "Arrival of Hapi" and during the flood the Egyptians would place statues of the god in the towns and cities so that they could implore his assistance at that time. They would throw offerings into the river at places sacred to the god in order to ensure the inundation was not too low (leaving insufficient water for the crops) or too high (risking the destruction of their mud-brick homes).

 

The water of the Nile and every vessel and pot was turned the blood. The fish died and they gave off a putrid stink.

 

godess of fertility - Heket who had the head of a frog. God made frogs come out of the Nile and infest the whole land.

 

Heqet (Heket) was a goddess of childbirth and fertility in Ancient Egypt. She was depicted as a frog, or a woman with the head of a frog. The meaning of her name is not certain, but possibly derived from the word "heqa" meaning "ruler" or "scepter". Frogs symbolized fruitfulness and new life, and it is thought that the her priestesses were trained midwives.

 

According to one tradition, she was the wife of Khnum, the creator god of Abu (Elephantine). He created each person on his potter's wheel, and she breathed life into them before they were placed in their mother's womb. Heqet holds an ankh (symbolizing life).

 

Pregnant women wore amulets depicting Heqet for protection, and during the Middle Kingdom ritual ivory knives and clappers inscribed with her name were used to ward off evil during childbirth. She could also bring on labor and offer protection during labor. Heqet assisted in this manner in the deliverance of three fifth dynasty kings, according to a myth

 

They would not kill the frogs but then God had them all die and again, just like the dead fish, their decaying bodies must have turned the fields, people’s homes, the banks of the Nile into a stinking horror.