Family
Strife – The World in Turmoil – Part Three
In Part
One of this discussion I wanted to describe some of the factors that
Christians and other Bible students might consider when they look at the current
state of “strife” / violence / warfare affecting world affairs. My perspective was to view these events in the
context of the “family of mankind”, dating back to the first family of
Adam and Eve, through the family of Noah following the Great
Flood.
In Part
Two…I noted the events that resulted in the dis-unity / breakup of
Noah’s family after the LORD had scattered them and confounded their language at
the Tower of Babel. Remember, the family
/ descendants of Shem had been put at odds against the family / descendants
of Ham / Canaan by the curse of their father Noah. I then jumped ahead in history to show
how the “new family” of the Nation of Israel is playing a
role interacting with both these families under the influence of a descendant
of the family of Noah’s third and elder son Japheth. My intent was to focus on the current
strife / warfare that has affected the entire world, primarily in a negative
way. At the close of that post I
noted that , I hope that every Christian and other Bible students will read the
words of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Book of Matthew, Chapter 24. It is the lens through which we need to keep
these current events into focus.
Further, I
noted that in this Part Three, I would highlight some of the
intervening history that I skipped over, that had brought the initial strife / war between the descendants of Shem and Ham /
Canaan, and the “new family” of Israel to the world’s attention.
It is most
difficult trying to generate a timeframe related to these various events. An Internet search leads to a variety of
estimates. You might consider the following sources among others:
https://www.gotquestions.org/when-was-Noah-flood.html (Circa 2400 B.C.)
https://www.biblestudy.org/bibleref/antiquities-of-jews/the-tower-of-babel.html (Circa 2200 B.C. ); and https://www.lesfeldick.org/lestimel.html
After
an additional estimated 200 years of observing man’s violent behavior both
within and outside their respective genealogic families, and their refusing to
acknowledge Him as their Creator and only true God, the LORD moved to provide
His guidance. (Circa 2000 B.C.) Remember His ultimate objective was to
fulfill the commitment He made in the Garden of Eden, to restore man to Himself
after Adam’s fall to the Enemy. (Genesis 3: 15). Now the LORD would take steps to teach man His standards for “righteousness”. That included giving Him the honor and
recognition due to Him as the Supreme God over all, and their Creator. It also
included instructions to guide man’s living in harmony with his fellow beings.
That
next step was taken when the LORD chose one of the descendants of Noah’s second
son Shem to become the head / patriarch of a new family among
mankind. That descendant was Abram, the son of Terah. They were a small family who worshipped
“other gods” and lived in Ur of the Chaldees, a part of what is now Syria, (Genesis
11: 10-32; Joshua 24: 2) As you recall from Bible study, that “new
family” became the Nation of Israel, and came from the descendants
of Abram (later renamed “Abraham”), and his son Isaac, and Isaac’s
son Jacob (later renamed “Israel”).
Very importantly, the mechanism for God’s having mankind restored
to Himself would be through the Covenant that the LORD made with Abram (now
called the “Abrahamic Covenant”) while he was still in Terah’s
household. The Scripture said: “ Now the Lord had
said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy
country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that
I will shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee
a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and
thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that
bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all
families of the earth be blessed. (Genesis 12: 1-3)
In the context of our title subject, I’d like
to limit this post to the first part of the Covenant with the focus on the “Land
of Promise”.
There
are some clues in this Covenant suggesting what might result in “strife”
between this new “great nation” (the Nation of Israel born out of the
family of Shem), and the descendants of Ham / Canaan (the
Amorites, Hittites, Jebusites, Canaanites, et al) . Remember from your study and Part One
of this discussion, their father Noah had cursed Canaan that he should be a
“servant” to both his brothers Shem and Japheth. (Genesis 9: 26, 27) That curse would carry over to their
descendants.
On
another point, throughout man’s history there has been strife within and
outside of families related to the “ownership of land” and other resources.
But this time it was “personal”…a deep-seated family issue. The “land” to which
the LORD would lead Abram would already be inhabited by people who had claimed
the land for themselves. In this
important instance, the land was
inhabited by the descendants of the
family of Canaan, [But as man has
been prone to forget, the “ownership” of the entire Earth belongs to the
Creator LORD, and He maintains Supreme Authority.]
Although
as God He needed no justification for taking
a portion of His land from the Canaanites, the Scripture relates
that the LORD gave “Deed” to this “Promised Land” to Abram (Genesis
Chapter 15) . Later, the LORD
extended the gift of that same land to Abraham’s son Isaac (Genesis 26: 1-5) ,
and his grandson Jacob / Israel , and their future generations. (Genesis 35:
9-12).
Then
the LORD told Abram that his descendants would have to wait 400 years “for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.” (Genesis 15: 26) That “iniquity” (Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary # 5771) among the
Amorite people spoke to their evil, sinful lives; and perversion of God’s
laws. (See also https://www.gotquestions.org/sin-of-the-Amorites.html ) [As an aside, have you wondered why the LORD
noted only the “Amorites” whose “iniquity was not yet full”? I believe that by
implication the other descendants of Canaan had already “filled their iniquity”
in the eyes of God because their lands were also given to Abraham. (Genesis
15: 18-21).] The collective sins,
evil, idolatry, violence, etc. of the Canaanites undoubtedly contributed to
the LORD”s decision to take the land from all of them.
Up
to this point I’ve tried to outline a couple of the issues related to the
mindset of the family / descendants of Ham / Canaan…cursed by their father Noah
to be servant to their older brothers Japheth and Shem; and fated to be removed from their land as it
will be given by God into the hands of the families of their brother Shem,
specifically the Nation of Israel.
The “strife” between the early generations of Noah’s family /
descendants degenerated into the outright hatred and warfare that has continued
for centuries after Bible records were complete.
Now
before blaming the LORD for causing this family warfare, remember what the
Bible has shown us. It was through the
Enemy that sin and death entered the world. (Genesis Chapter Three). The sin-nature that resulted in violence,
even homicide / murder followed soon afterwards in that first family of Adam
and Eve when the first-born son Cain slew his younger brother Abel.
(Genesis Chapter Four). Also remember that sin / evil, violence and
murder were reasons God brought about the Great Flood to destroy the ensuing
generations, except for Noah and his family. But most of all remember that from
the beginning, God has given man the right and option to choose between good
and evil; right and wrong. Man knows the difference.
Through
His love for mankind, the LORD would not force man to live according to His
standards of morality and righteousness. He sought to educate us through the
Nation of Israel. Some would ask, why then would God allow the warfare
and violence in the disputes between Israel and the Canaanites over the
“Promised Land” to continue? Because it was man’s choice on both sides.
As
noted above, the Canaanites had continued in the ways of the sin and violence in
mankind that existed before the Great Flood.
To a great degree that same mindset existed in the Nation of Israel, but
they hadn’t had centuries of such “experience” as a Nation, nor weapons. But
they didn’t need those because the LORD would “fight” for them. By using the stinging insects hornets He
would drive the Canaanites from the Promised Land, and Israel wouldn’t need “traditional
weapons”., nor would they sustain any casualties! But Israel wouldn’t believe the LORD!!! (Exodus 23: 20-33; Numbers Chapters 13
and 14; and Deuteronomy Chapter Nine)
That
classic display of unbelief, and rejection of His instructions to enter
the “Promised Land” peacefully has delayed that event for thousands of years,
even into the future after the Lord’s Second Coming. God gave the people of Israel
free choice. They chose most poorly.
In
the interim period from then until now, Israel has been embroiled in warfare
with the neighboring countries to obtain, and lose, and then regain, and now retain
at least part of the Land that the LORD had promised and deeded to Abraham. (Genesis
Chapter 15)
Dr.
W. A. (Bill) Robinson
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