God, the Bible and Political Justice: Chapter 3

GENESIS 10-37: THE RED THREAD OF VIOLENCE CONTINUES

The Celebration of Nations

In Genesis chapter 10 God’s turns His attention for a moment from man’s decline into violence to celebrate with us His unfolding dream of the proliferation of people, tribes and nations and their migration throughout the earth. God points out that each tribe had their own lands, borders, languages, families and mighty leaders. All of these elements of cultural life are celebrated, defined and protected throughout Scripture. God loves diversity. Nation creation and nation building are dynamic part of the Kingdom. Migration and immigration, rather than a problem, are a natural part of God’s ongoing plan. Culture, in all of its elements, reveals God. He loves the process.

If we do not take a moment to stop at chapter 10 and remember God’s ultimate plan for nations, enter into joy with Him as it unfolds, in spite of sin, we well become weary and disillusioned with the history Genesis reveals us. But if we see what God sees, we will persevere. We must become totally disillusioned with the human race before we can possibly understand justice from God’s perspective. We must understand what the Law will and will not do and the imperative of the cross. We must remember that all of these nations, languages and people will be gathered before Him in Revelation. All of their kings and leaders will be bringing gifts to throw at the foot of His throne. No matter how despairing the journey, God’s desire is to make peace with His human race. And He will succeed.

But, for now, the violence continues.

Trial #4: Imperialism

God vs. Babylon

By the time we reach Genesis chapter 11 the human race has conceived of a new kind of violence, political tyranny, and we return to the “red thread of violence.”

Genesis 11:3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.  5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. 6 The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

Some say that chapter 11 is the origins of diverse languages. I see no compelling reason in Scripture to draw this conclusion. Language development is a natural by-product of time and distance. There is nothing in creation that indicates God prefers uniformity. Why assume uniformity of language? Overwhelmingly creation demonstrates that God loves diversity. Further more diversity of language is part of what we see redeemed in the coming Kingdom:

Revelation 7:9 After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.

This does however; seem to be the beginning of our not being able to understand each other’s languages and of our great confusion in being able to communicate with each other.  Could this have been God’s way of safeguarding diversity in the development of cultures and nations? Where would we get that idea? Certainly it did not come from Genesis.

God does not desire one land, one government, one economy, one culture and one language ruling the earth and all of mankind. The empirical dreams, birthed here in Babylon, will spread throughout every region of the globe as man seeks to dominate his fellow man from Babel to Assyria, China, Greece, Persia, India, Macedonia, China, Rome, Russia, Japan, from the Frankish to the Barbarian, Vikings, Mongols, Aztecs, Ottomans, the Africans, British, Americas, and more. Each conqueror convinced that they are the one government, one economy, one language and one culture that should dominate the rest of the earth’s cultures.

Man has now invented two political poles: pre-flood “anarchy” and post-flood “tyranny.” Both lead to unbelievable violence.  God’s design for man is self-governance and freedom but without God the authority is abused.  How cam man be saved from his own violent nature while keeping his freedom and the image of God intact?  While the human race begins to debates political freedom versus control, God is trying to solve a completely different dilemma.  How does He keep the rights of the individual and the rights of the community intact while holding the violence and tyranny that either will create in check?

Elements of the trial #4:

Freedom and choice have led human society to a dangerous turning point. The Consequences of this plan in Babylon must be so great that there is now alternative but to bring Correction again through Permanent consequence.  God has the Testimony of Babylon’s own words and knows this Community sin will destroy human destiny. Remember, God has promised that He will never destroy all of mankind again as He did in the flood. Justice demands He acts. Compassion demands the correction be swift and universal. The boundaries of God’s Law are being crossed and Recognition of the innate value of human life demands intervention.

God sovereignty applies a corrective change in order to make the most excessive abuses of power impossible from here on. He weakens universal tyranny with confusion in communication. Knowing the centuries of violence brought about in the name of  “empire” with our limited language ability, who could disagree with God’s decision?

A Nation For All Nations: Abraham

In Genesis chapter 12 God initiates the next part of His plan for redeeming and ultimately reconciling the human race to Himself. He calls a man from Ur to leave his land, family, religion, tribe and culture in order to reveal to him and through his ancestors God’s design for building family and nation in His image. Ultimately, God will bring the One who can reconcile man to his Creator and make atonement for all the blood and violence through this new nation. God has let man go his own way, learning as he goes the destructiveness of his own heart.  Now, God will reveal for all His template of values for nation building. God calls Abraham to pioneer this new tribe.

What “Nations?”

It is important here to consider that God’s definition of “tribe” and “nation” is dynamic. It is more that the definition commonly used in anthropology and missions of a “mono-ethnic, mono-linguistic, mono-religious grouping.” While relevant to an in depth study of culture or a strategic missions planning, it is too narrow when applied to “discipling nations.” This definition of nation denies the forward movement and change that is automatically required by the migration and immigration of God’s overall plan. Nothing sets Abraham apart from the people he leaves to start a new nation except that God has called him to migrate. But, He is the beginning of a “new nation.”

Nations the exist in the Old Testament that do not exist when Jesus sends us to disciple nations in the New Testament and today there are nations that exist when Jesus spoke those words. Nation birthing and dying is a dynamic process that continues throughout human history. We are called to bless and disciple whatever nations there are at the time and add new nations as they come into existence.

Difficult Beginnings

Returning to Genesis, we walk through 22 chapters of Abraham and his offspring much of which is dominated by lying to foreign kings, fighting over land, sowing seeds of family infighting and future tribal conflicts with Ishmael and Isaac, the betrayal of Esau by Isaac, more tribal conflict, more lying to foreign kings, the tyranny of Laban and Jacobs return to Canaan.

Our only solace in the pain of all this unrighteousness is that at this point of Israel’s history is that they do not yet have the Law of God to guide them. They love God, for the most part anyway, but there is very little difference in how they think about how to live and the value of human life and the thinking of the nations that surround them.  They have the call of God to build a new nation but they do not have God’s revelation of how to do it.  They are “chosen” but they are neither wise nor good.  And this is perhaps part of God’s point in laboring their history. The call of God must be joined by the thinking of God to bear fruit.

Trial #5: Genocide

God vs. Israel

In Genesis 34 we come to the tragic tale of Jacob’s daughter Dinah and the Prince of the Shechemites.

Genesis 34:1 Now Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the women of the land. 2 When Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the ruler of that area, saw her, he took her and violated her. 3 His heart was drawn to Dinah daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke tenderly to her. 4 And Shechem said to his father Hamor, “Get me this girl as my wife.”

Verse two is most often translated that Dinah was “raped”. But some Hebrew scholars believe the English translation is “sex outside of marriage.” Regardless is it clear that Dinah loved Shechem and they wanted to do the honorable thing and marry. Jacob’s sons however, turn this into an opportunity for what can only be described as genocide. Treacherously they agree to the wedding on the condition that all the males of the Schemite tribe are circumcised. They then turn the physical weakness of the Shechemites into an opportunity to destroy the entire tribe and take all of their possessions.

Genesis 34:25 Three days later, while all of them were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city, killing every male. 26 They put Hamor and his son Shechem to the sword and took Dinah from Shechem’s house and left. 27 The sons of Jacob came upon the dead bodies and looted the city where their sister had been defiled. 28 They seized their flocks and herds and donkeys and everything else of theirs in the city and out in the fields. 29 They carried off all their wealth and all their women and children, taking as plunder everything in the houses.

How Could They?

In order to put this horrendous event in perspective we must remember that “circumcision” is the one and only “sacrament” God has given the tribe of Abraham at this point. Jacob’s sons have used the one sacred thing that God has given to mark them as His “holy,” “set apart to God” people to weaken and deceive, and slaughter their enemy. Can we even begin to imagine the pain of God’s heart as, again, His act of mercy is turned as a tool for violence against the object of His compassion: the human race. And, this time, by His chosen people!

There was no Godly virtue in what the sons of Jacob had done. There was no Kingdom justice here. This was pure violent greed and Jacob knows the fledgling tribe is in trouble.

Genesis 34:30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people living in this land. We are few in number, and if they join forces against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.”

An Inheritance of Violence

Abraham has lied to the Pharaoh of Egypt and King Abimelech over Sarah and financial profit. Isaac has lied to the same King over Rebeccah and his own wellbeing. Jacob has lied to his father and stolen Esau’s inheritance and blessing. He has manipulated his uncle. Now, Jacob’s sons have lied to the Shecamites over their sister Dinah and they have turned it into an excuse for genocide and the plundering of a whole tribe. Violence is escalating again, this time through God’s own chosen people. God holds trial number five.

God finds the tribe of Jacob guilty of genocide and prepares to bring sentence, beginning with the need again to flee to Bethel where Jacob offers a sacrifice.  While they are there, where God speaks to their father. Jacob’s sons having already committed mass murder and nearly returned to fratricide, jealous of their father’s youngest son, Joseph.  They were going to kill their brother but decided instead to sell him to passing Moabite slave traders.  Joseph goes to Egypt and God prepares for the correction of Israel’s culture of violence.  “How will He restore our value of human life without destroying us all together?” is still the burning question of God.

The 430-Year Life Sentence

God has already promised He will not wipe out the whole human race again.  He has given His precious animal kingdom to satisfy our bloodthirstiness.  And still violence has continued to escalate. It has evolved into political tyranny and now, tribal genocide. The violence must be stopped. God prepares the tribe of Abraham for two things. First the breaking of their arrogance and willfulness as a community through 430 years in captivity, 300 years of that as slaves and secondly for the coming of the Law of God through Moses. The experience of losing all their rights to Egypt will become a constant reminder from God in the Law of why they are to treat others differently in the land God is going to give them.

Elements of trial #5:

God deals with Community guilt and brings cultural correction through generation incarceration and limiting of freedoms with the purpose of redemption. The goal is to redeem man while not destroying him nor allowing him to destroy himself. This is God’s dilemma and ours.

We are fairly familiar with the rest of the story God selects for us in Genesis.  Joseph is amazingly exhalted in Egypt and is used to spare the destruction of his tribe. But after his death the next Pharaoh enslaves the tribe of Abraham. The people began to cry out to God to deliver them from this terrible labor and God begins to raise up a deliver in Moses.

At this point you must be tired of the violence.  Well, so is God.

It will take eleven generations in Egypt to prepare Israel to receive the Law in the wilderness, but the coming of this great heart of God revealed in the Pentateuch will begin to move the human race slowly towards greater political freedom and justice. More than any other single document in the history of man, the Laws of Moses will lead to the concept that “the people” being governed have the right and the responsibility to choose how, over what and by whom they will be governed. It will lead to the greatest understanding of the sacredness of life and the rights and responsibilities of every human being, individual, family, tribe and nation. And it will bring the highest quality of life that has ever existed in nations. It will not stop the violence but it will make the world progressively less tolerant of it and it will turn the attention of every just government of the world to how we stop the violence within and outside our boarders. It will conceive the idea that all human beings, even the enemy soldier, prisoner, woman, child and foreigner have rights. It will establish that the best way to achieve these goals is through self-governance.

But first we must look at the foundations Genesis has laid for our thinking.