His Hand Among The Nations eBook: Seeing God's Control In The Old Testament World

By Lyle L Luchterhand

Is the Old Testament still relevant today? Does the Old Testament still matter?Have you ever wondered why the Bible includes information about the rise and fall of kingdoms, nations, prophets, royal lineage, and family trees? How does it all relate to the gospel message about Jesus Christ?If you' ve wondered about any or all of the questions above, His Hand Among the Nations shows you how— and why— God masterfully guided and shaped world events in the days of the Old Testament. Through the eye-opening historical and biblical analysis in this book, your faith will be strengthened and renewed as you begin to see the connections in the Old Testament to God' s plan of salvation!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Northwestern Publishing House
• Release date: Jul 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9780810026452

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

Human hands can do marvelous things—give a gift, shield a child from harm, make a fist, tear something in two, or wipe a dish clean. Old Testament history shows that God’s hand can do the same, but on a far grander scale. God’s hand gave Abraham the gift of making him the father of a great nation. God shielded that nation, Israel, from harm as he brought it out of Egypt. He made a fist to punish it when it needed discipline. He tore that nation in two. And finally, he wiped it clean as one wipes out a dish.

History is not a chain of events shaped by the might and will of men. Rather, it is the result of the gracious planning and working of the God of Israel, who rules all nations with his mighty hand. History flows in accordance with his loving will and purpose. He guides each nation in a way that benefits his people of all times.

May your reading of this book help you recognize how the all-powerful and guiding hand of God moved among the nations in the years before Jesus’ birth. May it also help you recognize that his loving and guiding hand shapes the course of history for your sake as a member of his church.

Mesopotamia and Canaan in the Third Millennium

1

THE WORLD OF THE PATRIARCHS (3100–1899 B. C.)

Overview: God’s people at the time of the patriarchs

The flood made a new spiritual beginning possible, but the world quickly relapsed into unbelief. Though people born after the flood had been commanded by God to fill the earth (Genesis 9:1), they were determined to live together and make a name for themselves (Genesis 11:4). On a plain in Shinar, present-day Iraq, they built a great city and a tower that reached toward heaven. God responded by making them speak different languages so they could no longer understand one another. In this way God himself scattered them over the face of the earth.

After the flood, the descendants of Noah’s son Japheth began to move to the north, to the areas of the Baltic and Caspian Seas and beyond. The descendants of Noah’s son Ham generally moved south toward Egypt and beyond or west to the islands of the Mediterranean. One exception was Ham’s son Canaan, who moved only a short distance and settled in the land that would soon be named after him. The sons of Shem settled in the area that we know today as Palestine and Saudi Arabia.

In spite of mankind’s disobedience and unbelief, God in his mercy did not forsake the crown of his creation. He set in motion a series of events that would lead to the fulfillment of the promise of a Savior, which he had made to Adam and Eve. He began to establish a nation that would be called Israel. This new nation would be the channel through which God would funnel spiritual blessings to all the nations of the world. It would serve to remind all mankind of God’s promise to restore fellowship between him and mankind. It was from this nation that the Savior would be born.

God’s first step in establishing the new Israelite nation was to set apart a man to be this nation’s physical father. God called a man named Abraham out of Mesopotamia, a region of the world that was highly civilized but deeply mired in idolatry. God separated Abraham from his larger family and led him to Canaan, where he found a less populated tribal culture that was generally open to strangers. The people there practiced a polytheistic idolatry similar to the type he had left behind. God blessed Abraham in Canaan, kept him faithful, and made him wealthy.

Mesopotamia—the country from which God called Abraham

Genesis 2:10-14—A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah…. The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

Genesis 11:1,2,4—Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. Then they said, Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens.

History begins in a region once called Mesopotamia, an area that corresponds to present-day Iraq. It lies between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. In the book of Genesis, Moses seems to locate the Garden of Eden in or near Mesopotamia. The Tower of Babel was built there. Abraham was born in southeast Mesopotamia, in Ur, and moved to the northwestern end of the region with his father. It was from there, and specifically from the city of Haran, that God called Abraham to go to Canaan.

Mesopotamia is considered the cradle of civilization. It is just a few hundred miles south of the region where the ark of Noah rested on the mountains of Ararat (Genesis 8:4). The postflood people gravitated to the region, no doubt because of the availability of water and the fertile soil in which to grow abundant food. The northern half of Mesopotamia had sufficient rain. The southern half lacked sufficient rain but used the same irrigation methods that were used in Egypt. The people in Mesopotamia were well acquainted with the plow, and there is archaeological evidence that they used the wheel and the arch.

Writing, in the form of pictograms, was in use in Mesopotamia about a thousand years before Abraham. About 2700 B. C., or about five hundred years before Abraham, people in Mesopotamia began to use syllabic writing. Triangular reeds were used to mark symbols representing syllables in moist clay tablets. These became permanent when they dried. This kind of writing is called cuneiform and has provided a rich source of history.

The people who ruled Mesopotamia from 2700 to 2300 B. C. were called Sumerians. There were about a dozen independent Sumerian city-states, all of them with walls and some with populations greater than ten thousand. They were clustered mostly in the southern part of the Tigris-Euphrates plain.

Their religion was polytheistic, that is, they worshiped many gods. They built temples in the form of ziggurats dedicated to the local gods. Ziggurats were towers reaching into the sky, giving the gods easier access to the earth and offering the people easier access to the gods. In general, the Sumerians worshiped An, the god of the heavens, and Enlil, the god of the earth. Ea or Enki was the ruler of the freshwater depths beneath the earth. Inanna was the goddess of love and war. Utu was the sun god, and Nanna was the moon god. Besides these major deities, there were hundreds of minor ones.

Early in the Sumerian Period each city-state was ruled by an ensi. He was thought to rule on behalf of the local god. As the city-states grew larger and war between them became more common, new military figures developed called lugals. These later became secular kings, ensi-lugals, who protected the people and led them in battle.

Empires in Mesopotamia before Abraham

Genesis 10:9,10—[Nimrod] was a mighty hunter before the LORD…. The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Calneh, in Shinar.

Secular history tells us of an empire that developed in southern Mesopotamia about three hundred years before Abraham. A Sumerian named Eannatum, who ruled the city of Lagash, annexed practically all of Sumer and some parts of Elam to the east using terror to extend his rule. Archaeologists have discovered his Stele of the Vultures, which shows his violent treatment of his enemies. Though Eannatum’s empire collapsed shortly after his death, sometime later another Sumerian ruler, Lugalzagesi carved out an empire extending from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean.

To the north of the Sumerians, in the central Tigris-Euphrates plain, lived a Semitic people called the Akkadians. They got that name from the city of Agade, also called Akkad. The Akkadians were ruled by the Sumerians for many years. But then an Akkadian Semite named Sargon the Great came to power in the city of Kish. After many years of war, Sargon defeated Lugalzagesi’s forces and captured the king himself.

Not content with ruling just the Sumerian and Akkadian cities, Sargon began a series of campaigns that resulted in an even greater empire. The Akkadian Empire reached to Lebanon and Anatolia (southern Turkey). It extended far into the territory of Elam located on the eastern side of the Persian Gulf. Some scholars have identified Sargon with Nimrod, who is mentioned in Genesis 10:10 as the ruler of Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Calneh.

One of Sargon’s successors, a king named Naram-Sin, considered himself to be a god, calling himself the god of Akkad. When his subjects made an oath, they were required to swear in his name using a formula identical with that used in swearing by a deity. The Akkadian Empire lasted from about 2300 to 2100 B. C., although the Gutians (whom we shall soon discuss) were carving off bits of that empire during its last 50 years.

Trade in Mesopotamia before Abraham

There was a surprising amount of world trade carried out even before Abraham’s day. Archaeologists digging in Sumerian cities have discovered obsidian from Anatolia, lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, beads from Bahrain, and several seals inscribed with Indus Valley script. Cedar was imported from Lebanon. Resin that could come only from Mozambique was found in a tomb. Sumerian masons and jewelers made use of alabaster, ivory, gold, and silver. The Akkadians imported copper from Anatolia and stone from Oman. The Akkadian Empire had a postal service. Clay seals bearing the names of Sargon and his son took the place of stamps.

The Gutian Period

The Akkadian Empire was followed by what historians call the Gutian Period. The Gutian barbarians contested for power in Mesopotamia around the time of Abraham’s birth (2167 B. C.) and ruled much of the area for about a century. They apparently came from the Zagros mountains, which are just east of Mesopotamia. They swooped down in raiding parties at first, crippling the economy and making travel and work in the fields unsafe. The Gutians destabilized Akkad and finally conquered and destroyed it around 2115 B. C.

Little is known about the Gutians, no doubt because of their lack of a settled civilization. Apparently, none of their 21 kings ruled very long or were very good at ruling. The result was that civilization in the area declined. The canal network in the area was allowed to fall into disrepair. In addition, centuries of irrigation in the south, accompanied by rapid evaporation, had resulted in an increase of salinity in the soil and a loss of fertility. There is evidence that famine gripped the region as the Gutian Period came to a close.

God’s call to Abraham

Genesis 12:1-3—The LORD had said to Abram, Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

The Bible says that sometime after Abraham and Sarah married, Terah (Abraham’s father), Abraham, Sarah, and Lot (Abraham’s nephew) at God’s command moved from Ur of the Chaldees in southern Mesopotamia. By commanding Abraham to move to a new land, God was calling him out of the spiritual darkness of polytheism that existed in Mesopotamia. But was God also rescuing him and his family from a bad political situation? Was he protecting them from famine, from violence, and from the barbarian Gutians? That is a possibility. As stated above, Abraham was born about the time when the Gutian hit-and-run invasions were taking place. Though we are not privy to God’s thinking, it seems that Abraham’s physical and spiritual safety was greatly enhanced when God brought him out of Ur.

From Ur of the Chaldees Abraham and his family traveled about 500 miles to the northwest, to Haran, likely following one of the established trade routes of the day. After the death of Terah, God called Abraham to go to his final destination. Abram [Abraham’s initial name] was seventy-five years old when he … took his wife Sarai [a name God later changed to Sarah], his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there (Genesis 12:4,5).

The tribes and peoples of Canaan

Genesis 12:6—At that time the Canaanites were in the land.

Genesis 10:15—Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites.

Canaanites is a generic term for all the descendants of Canaan, the youngest son of Noah’s son Ham. The tribes descended from Canaan spoke various dialects of a common Semitic language. If Abraham and his ancestors were not fluent in Semitic, he certainly would have become familiar with it during his stay at Haran, where he would have had to communicate with the many Amorites who lived in the area. Knowing the Amorite language, Abraham would have been able to understand all the Canaanite dialects of his new homeland.

Canaan’s sons were the fathers of the tribes among whom Abraham would live in his new land. More is known about some of these tribes than others. We will take them in no particular order. Canaan’s