Difficult Divine Decrees: Devote to Destruction

This question came in from someone in our congregation.

To follow this arc, we must go back to the first 11 chapters of Genesis.

Let’s summarize:

A divine creature enters the garden to deceive

A battle of seeds is foretold

A battle of seeds is had (Cain/Able)

Another battle of seeds is had (Gen 6)

Here is how scripture indicates the order of creation

Framework of Creation

The Heavens (divine realm)

Mixed divine and physical

The Earth (physical realm)

It is in this mixed divine and physical realm that we have a problem

The divine/physical creatures that emerge which were never supposed to exist in creation.

This is scriptures explanation for the ‘god men’ of history (i.e., Gilgamesh, Hercules)

The story of Genesis 6 is not the only ancient story of divine beings descending to earth and mixing it up with humans

Now, some online argue that the lesser gods are trying to infiltrate the DNA of humans so that the seed of Eve is corrupted.

I don’t think that is the case.

It makes more sense that the lesser gods, in rebellion to Yahweh, are attempting to utterly destroy humankind

If there are no humans, then there is no seed of Eve

No seed of Eve and there is no defeat of the serpent

The lesser gods, the Sons of God, devoted to destruction humankind

Thus, God, devoted to destruction the rebellious divine beings

And their offspring.

Toward the end of Noah’s story, his son, Ham, sexually assaults his mother and that results in Ham’s son named Canaan.

Canaan is cursed and is said to never inherit a place in the land and family.

Canaan then proceeds to move into God’s land and setup tribes.

The primary group that is devoted to destruction are the Anakim. They are directly related to the giant clans and the nephilim.

There is another group called the Zamzummim

The Amorites displace the Zamzummim

The Amalekites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, Jebusites, and Canaanites

The Joshua conquest fails to eliminate all the giants in the land.

Later, David and his might men would eliminate the remaining giants (nephilim) in the land

And we never hear of them again

Herem fades from view and does not show up in the prophets often. When it does, we need to remember the prophets are speaking to Israel while they are living in the lands.

Did God command genocide?

Against the giants, nephilim, and rephaim, yes.

The rest of the people groups and nations, no.

He did command some to be ‘driven out’

MUST READ CAREFULLY!

And we see people from these groups continuing on, so their destruction was not whole

Not to mention some in Israel fell to Herem.

Does scripture say the giants, nephilim, and rephaim still exist?

Physically, it seems to me they do not exist on earth

But…what they did, what they set in motion, does.

Let’s read a large section of 2 Peter to see what Peter thought about this subject.

2 Peter 1:16–2:21 ESV

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you. They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness. These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.

We need a messiah to reverse three things

The exile from the Garden (overcome death)

The impact of Genesis 6 on humankind (overcome wickedness)

The impact of Genesis 11 (overcome Babylon)

So, the resurrection overcomes death

The Spirit overcomes wickedness

God will overthrow Babylon

What is one to do in the meantime…

2 Peter 3:14–16 NLT

And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight. And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him—speaking of these things in all of his letters. Some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction.

We are waiting for restoration, the full redemption of creation

Framework of Creation

The Heavens (divine realm)

The Earth (physical realm)

This is the model and it will be restored.

Difficult Divine Decrees: Devote to Destruction