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Pt.7g Did god abandon all nations and put 70 fallen gods over them? These 70 nations were being formed before Israel was made, which this means God did not have control over the nations at any time, instead, these divine (but fallen) creatures did, according to Mr. Heiser’s philo-sophical ramblings. But the Scripture says the opposite of God abandoning the nations. It says he rules over them directly. The first time we see this concept is in Ex. 34:24 “For I will cast out the nations before you and enlarge your borders” this takes place AFTER Israel is a nation. Heiser tries to wiggle around this by stating he rules through the gods he appointed. But Scripture does not say this, 2 Chron. 20:6 “and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations .”Ps. 47:8“God reigns over the nations; God sits on His holy throne.”There is no council mentioned ruling over the nations as Mr. Heiser teaches, it’s all imagination. Job says 12:23 “ He makes nations great, and destroys them; He enlarges nations, and guides them.” It is God who is in control, rules the nations, not the so called 70 sons of God, nowhere are they mentioned as a number or a group in the bible. So where does Heiser get his information to change the Scripture? The pagan Ugarit writings. One cannot refer to Babylon and the division of nations at Babel without the mentioning of Nimrod who appears in the book of Genesis. He was the founder of kingdoms which included the city of Babel and the infamous Tower of Babel. Gen 10:8-11 “ Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.” And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. One cannot understand what took place without Nimrod’s involvement. Heiser writes , “Immediately after the flood, Nimrod (whose name most likely means (“rebellion”) is called a gibbor…. It links Babylon back to Genesis 6 and its divine transgression .” Heiser is connecting dots that are not there, his inference is that Nimrod is a Nephilim. Nimrod is in the lineage of Ham through Cush, the name Nimrodcomes from the Hebrew word meaning “to rebel,” He is called a mighty hunter of animals, but of men also. This has a very negative inference as him being a cult leader, a tyrannical figure in history. According to the Jerusalem Targums: He was powerful in hunting and in wickedness before the Lord, for he was a hunter of the sons of men, as he said to them, “Depart from the judgment of the Lord and hear the judgment of Nimrod.” His wickedness before the Lord; He sought to incite men against God. He snared men with his words and to rebel against God (much like satan did in heaven with the angels to have them follow him). Nimrodbegan to stir up the revolt against God, bringing men together in unity which resulted in the Tower of Babel judgment of dispersing the people. “lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth . This was an act of rebellion against God violating Noah’s Covenant in Genesis 9:1, 7, which commanded them to scatter throughout the world. Their desire in their unity was: Let us make us a name. Babel means “the gate of God.” They being united want to reach to the heavens, one of the practices was astrology. Babel then became ‘confusion’ when God judged them and scattered them. Some scholars point out that Nimrod ,became the god Marduk, or as it appears elsewhere, Merodach, who was the chief god of Babylon. Heiser instead states, “Nimrod has not successfully been identified with a known historical figure from Mesopotamian texts. Other scholars consider the name a wordplay on rebellion and consider the description of him as a gibbor to be a clue to another polemic against Babylon. … name and the word gibbor point back to the Nephilim/apkallu polemic. The parenthetical comment about Nimrod would be the biblical writer’s way of saying that Babylon and her religious knowledge that survived after the flood are evil .” What a stretch, as the word gibbor means mighty in Hebrew does not equate him being a gibborim anymore than it does in Josh 1:14 which speaks of Israel’s “ all the mighty men (Gibbor) of valour, or Joshua 8:3 “ they giborim of Israel went against AI.” This word is used over 159 times and it does not have to do with race in these instances, it is a general description. גִּבּ֥וֹרgibbor is a general word for mighty. Nimrodis mentioned elsewhere, in I Chronicles 1:10 and Micah 5:6. Where the land of Assyria is called the” land of Nimrod,” being the ruler. As Heiser sets up his argument in Hegelian dialectic fashion to convince the reader that God divides the nations “among the sons of God,” the Scripture itself says nothing of this appointment in the text, that he divided the nations to gods whom he made before creation. Heiser views on these matters are extracted from the worldview of ancient pagans: “The notion that different nations were allotted to different gods or heavenly beings was widespread in the ancient world” (p. 119). Yes some Pagans held these views, does that mean its true, or accurate? Heiser’s conclusion is God’s divine plan would parallel them, when the Scripture does not say this at all, it actually goes against it. Heiser points out, “The connection of Nimrod to the giant Nephilim is the backdrop to several odd Jewish traditions about Abraham, including that his family lineage went back to the giants (Pseudo- Eupolemos, quoted from Alexander Polyhistor by Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica 9.18.2). An excellent essay on Nimrod traditions is Karel van der Toorn, “Nimrod before and after the Bible,” Harvard Theological Review 83.1 (1990): 1–29… who then says ‘Abraham traced his family to the giants. While these giants were living in Babylonia, they were destroyed by the gods because of their wickedness.” (Unseen Realm) Heiser has no qualms quoting spurious materials to try and connect his dots. When using these fragment of specious writings one needs to be extra careful, Heiser is not. So then Abraham is in the line of Nephilim according the doctors teaching. “Marduk is referred to as Merodach or Bel. Second Temple period Jewish texts contain a tradition about a giant who survived the flood named Belus , who was credited with building a tower in Babylon (the Tower of Babel), in which he lived.” “In other instances of linking Gen 6 to Gen 11, the intermediate link is Nimrod from Gen 10. The problem in this case, however, is that if Belus, one of the giants who built the tower, is identical with Nimrod, he also is said to have escaped the flood, which would imply an identification of Noah and Nimrod! ” ( Heiser quotes K. van der Toorn, “Nimrod before and after the Bible”) Again we will see how problematic this all is with the Bible as our authority on the truth. Which is of the utmost important in arriving at what actually took place and why we should not be entertaining speculations, imaginations as Heiser often does. We read Gn. 11:1-4 “ Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. Then they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth." God warned of the flood for at least 120 years, until it transpired. Now 150 years after the flood He disperses the nations. This is important to understand, they tried to be united without the true God, as we see it was the people collectively, not just Nimrod According Heiser Nimrod is a Nephilim… The same tradition “identifies Belus with the biblical Nimrod, and suggests Nimrod might also be identified with Noah.” All stem from second temple thinking which is basically useless in this matter. “identified with Noah”which is a crucial statement, also as Heiser said Abraham, including that his family lineage went back to the giants.” These elohim gods who were supposedly appointed by Yahweh (who are supposedly the head of this imaginary council) who ruled over the 70 nations got corrupted, but Heiser never explains exactly how. Except to refer to Ps.82. At what point do these gods become corrupt, Heiser says it was in Gn.6. But then he also says afterwards, but he does not know when or how, nor explains exactly why they became corrupt and fell (Unseen Realm p. 116). What he does say “From this the battle lines between themselves (the gods) are drawn challenging Gods control of the planet” (Unseen realm p. 123).Yet he also says in the same book“Yahweh alone commands the nations and their gods. Other gods serve him.”(Unseen Realm) Where does it say this in the Bible? The Scripture explains in detail how Day Star fell in heaven and became the Devil, who is Satan (which he disagrees with Rv.12). But instead with 70 appointed elohim over the 70 nations he does not explain how each god got corrupted. Was it the same for all, or different? Which God and nation fell first, and what was the name of these individual gods. We are to accept because he says so that each elohim is assigned to one of the 70 nations as godly, and they all failed? Who was the first nation or god to fall, what was his name, or nations name? Scripture does not say. Who was next, what was his name, scripture does not say. In fact nowhere does it say any of this? NOWHERE! One would think such an important event involving all the nations it would have some details, not general statements that Heiser magically turns into details. When or how does God appoint these deities to the nations, Scripture verse - none. If they fell and mislead people how does God call these nations to repent, after all, he has appointed these divine creatures to them. They are fallen but are still allowed to rule the nations, even today! This is a disturbing false doctrine made from the Ugarit and inserted into the Bible as Gods word. Ps 82:1-2 “God stands in the congregation of the mighty; He judges among the gods (elohim). How long will you judge unjustly, And show partiality to the wicked?” They are to be righteous rulers after they are judged for a rebellion? And then put in charge of the nations, how does that work? Can a fallen god do what is right? Why say this if they are fallen, how can they do right? Heiser theory falls apart with his own interpretations. Heiser uses Ps 82 about the council, but why would the Lord tell them to do what’s right one thousand years later after they are fallen? Are they redeemable? They can’t repent, or can they? No explanation just generalities that are theories divorced from the Word using the Ugarit or other non canonical writings. What are the names of all the gods in Scripture as the sons of God? The names most often used of the idols men built? When his ‘Heiserism’ is applied by his selective hermeneutic method it changes the Words meaning. Breaking this down, Heiser says that at Babel God’s decides to disinherit the (70) nations which begins a cosmic (spiritual) war for the planet. Heiser reinterpretation is based on God dividing up the nations according to the number of divine council members (70 sons of God-Deut.32), the nations become their inheritance, while taking Israel as his own inheritance (much later). That is a lot of Scripture changing to take in and this is where the confusion lies. God formed Israel to be a theocracy under him and left the nations to themselves, allowing individuals to seek him. How do we know this? He says so in Acts 17:26-28 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us” How do they know how to seek God, as stated before mainly from the Jews who worship him. In Scripture where is these gods influence seen in the garden, or seen over the 70 nations he gave to them? Heiser says they are still over the nations! But there are far more nations today, over 190, did God appoint more gods, did these gods also fall. If you can answer any of these you are better at deciphering his mythology than I. This is biggest load of chaff I have ever heard. The Number 70 The number 70 is used probably more than any other number in history and prophecy (Dan.9:2, 24), used for forgiveness (Mt.18:33), to disciples (Lk.10:1, 17), even Israel’s 70 years in Babylonian captivity. Where does Heiser’s doctrine have its basis? In the Ugarit writings not the Bible . “Literary and conceptual parallels discovered in the literature of Ugarit, however, have provided a more coherent explanation for the number seventy in Deuteronomy 32:8 and have furnished support for textual scholars who argue against the “sons of Israel” reading. Ugaritic mythology plainly states that the head of its pantheon, El (who, like the God of the Bible, is also referred to as El Elyon, the “Most High”) fathered seventy sons” There is no number 70 in this passage of Deut.32:8. What this has to do with the number 70 is missing, but not for Heiser who imagines a doctrine that he connects from the Pagan Ugarit to the Scripture. There is a further problem, if God fathered 70 sons and they all fell (as Heiser states), then there are no other gods (elohim), they all fell. The point that Heiser makes for Deut. 32:8 “ When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, When He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the children of Israel.” Dr. Fruchtenbaum comments on Genesis 10:“God showed His divine providence in the distribution of the nations. Second, God showed the relationship of Israel to the other nations (Deut. 32:8-9) in that when He gave different peoples territories on the earth, this division was based in part on the number of Jews that played a role in that nation’s history . Third: God showed the unity of humanity, that there is no such thing as racial or ethnic superiority. Even the election of Israel was not based on ethnic superiority, nor did the election of Israel give them ethnic superiority. On the contrary, Israel’s election was for the purpose of fulfilling God’s divine program, and it placed upon Israel a greater responsibility and accountability.”(Ariel Genesis commentary Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum) 70 or 75? In the Masoretic Text Genesis 46:27 it records that, “All the persons of the house of Jacob who went to Egypt were seventy.” Ex 1:5-6 “All those who were descendants of Jacob were seventy persons (for Joseph was in Egypt already). (Deut.10:22)Ex.24:1, the 70 elders are selected Numb.11:16. “Then Joseph sent and called his father Jacob and all his relatives to him, seventy-five people” (Acts 7:14). Why does Stephen have an extra five people? This is quote from the Septuagint Gn.46:2 7 “And the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in the land of Egypt, were nine souls; all the souls of the house of Jacob who came with Joseph into Egypt, were seventy-five souls.” (Ex.1:5) The Septuagint speaks of 70 elders in Israel. Heiser ignores the Septuagint reading again to keep his theory alive. Heiser writes, “That the text of LXX and the Dead Sea Scrolls is superior to MT in Deut. 32:8-9 is not in dispute.” No, there are many that would dispute his claim who do not accept his biased views as a textual critic. Most of the Qumran fragments can be classified as being closer to the Masoretic text than to any other textual group. The Masoretic text and the Dead Sea Scrolls were transcribed a thousand years apart, they are amazingly similar proving that the copying methods employed by the Jewish scribes over the centuries continued. [A good example is the one scroll Isaiah that is complete. For as comprehensive look at this see: https://www.ancient-hebrew.org/dss/great-isaiah-scroll-and-the-masoretic-text.htm ] Heiser’s bias is seen by his statements. He picks two ambiguous LXX texts out of 33 Dead Sea Scrolls copies of Deuteronomy. The majority of these are not agreeing with him. Actually, the LXX has 72 nations mentioned in Genesis 10, not 70 which puts a wrinkle in his canard. Again only 2 of support the reading of Heiser (4QDt j and 4QDtq), both of which were discovered in Cave 4 which contained 22 text of Deuteronomy. There are 11 caves in the near vicinity of Qumran: One needs to understand that it is this cave they did not put the manuscripts in jars for preservation. The reason quite possibly is because they did not see them as valuable as others, or that they ran out of jars. Breaking it down The Masoretic Text of Exodus 1:5 reads “seventy souls,” whereas the LXX (Septuagint) quotation in Acts 7:14 reads “seventy-five souls.” A DSS fragment of Exodus 1:5 reads “seventy-five souls,” in agreement with the LXX. So again Heiser rejects the Septuagint because of it not agreeing with his theory and instead accepts the masoretic text on this number Gen. 46:17; Ex 1:5; Deut 10:22. The Septuagint (LXX) reads 70 persons in one text: Deut. 10:22; The Septuagint (LXX) reads 75 persons in two texts of the old Testament: Gen. 46:27; Ex 1:5. Joseph was already in Egypt. And all the persons from Jacob were seventy-five .” (Exodus 1:5, LXX). Jubilees 44.33 (written 150 BC) has both the number 70 and lists 75 as the grand total and says 5 died in Egypt. Philo, a Jew was aware that the Hebrew and Greek texts before him used both 70 and 75. Dead Sea Scroll 4Q13, and 4Q Exod. 1:5 reads “75 persons” (Qumran, cave 4100 BC) The Hebrew manuscripts were in use long before the LXX for that is what the Septuagint was translated from. Origen's Septuagint adds nine names to Genesis 46:20 to make it add up to the 75 mentioned in Acts 7:14. Origen's Septuagint often changes the Old Testament to match the New Testament. Hebrew is ignored and the Greek Old Testament is made to match the Greek New Testament. While this difference f this amount of people may not be significant, in Heiser’s view it has to be 70 to fit or it is not accurate.The Septuagint and Qumran scroll both have seventy-five people that went to Egypt with Jacob. … five additional descendants from Ephraim and Manasseh. Which affects his correlation of 70 nations in relation to these 70 elohim and to Israel. The fact that he ignores the Septuagint on this and other matters that go against his theory shows that he picks and chooses what he uses in both Scripture and outside literature to prove his point. ‘The Origin of the World,’ a Gnostic texthas very similar concepts to what we find in Heiser’s theory. “Seven Archangels stand before the throne. Sabaoth is the eighth, and he has authority, and so there are seventy-two figures in all. From this chariot the seventy-two gods took shape, so that they might rule over the languages of the seventy-two nations .” The Gnostic text On the Origin of the Worldtranslation by Marvin Meyer; in The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: The Revised and Updated Translation of Sacred Gnostic Texts , ed. Marvin Meyer, Harper One (New York, NY) 2008, p. 207) Hesier writes,“The wording suggests that these seventy elders were drawn from a larger group—as were the elohim of Yahweh’s council, who were given different ranks and tasks. Not every member of the divine council has equal rank.2 The sons of God with authority over the nations were assigned that role , but they became corrupt and are the object of the sentencing of Psalm 82.3 The correspondences are deliberate. The seventy nations were placed under the dominion of lesser gods in the wake of Yahweh’s judgment of the nations at the Tower of Babel. Yahweh’s own kingdom is structured with a single leader (Moses for now), with whom he speaks directly, and a council of seventy. Historically, this leadership structure would continue into Jesus’ day, as the Jewish Sanhedrin, led by the high priest, numbered seventy.” (Unseen realm) They are all elohim, Gods but are not equal in rank? He knows this how? This is all such a stretch, not all number 70’s are equal in significance or appointment, there is no correlation to the number 70 except to 70 elders under Moses of whom the Sanhedrin is modeled after. What he is presenting is not doctrine, because it is not from the Scripture. He again changes actual facts there were a total of seventy-one members with the High Priest, not 70.“…a council of seventy. Historically, this leadership structure would continue into Jesus’ day as the Jewish Sanhedrin, led by the high priest, numbered seventy.”(Unseen world p.70) This is completely false, especially because it is following Exodus 24:1-2, 9-10 as his proof text. The text itself has Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, which equals 74; not Heiser’s magic number of 70. The Sanhedrin does not consist of 70 persons as a council. “The greater Sanhedrin was made up of one and seventy [judges] and the lesser [Sanhedrin] of three and twenty.” (Mishna) The number seventy-one may have come from Numbers 11:16 which has 70 elders. plus Moses makes it 1. The Sanhedrin included the high priest, who could break any ties in voting. The book of Enoch that Heiser refers to does not mention 70 nations ruled over by gods. And there are reasons why it was not accepted (as pro logumena), having many unbiblical concepts and teachings in it. It should not be used as a proof text for anything. Could Heiser’s divine council that he claims are ruling over the nations be the principalities and powers, demons that Paul speak of trying to lead people away from the true God, the bible describes them as this, not as gods of the nations appointed by God Num 14:31-38 But your little ones, whom you said would be victims, I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised. But as for you, your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness. And your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and bear the brunt of your infidelity, until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness. According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years, and you shall know My rejection. I the LORD have spoken this; I will surely do so to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.' " And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation complain against him by bringing a bad report of the land, those very men who brought the evil report about the lan d, died by the plague before the LORD. But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive, of the men who went to spy out the land.” Num 13:32-33 And they gave the children of Israel a bad report (evil - a false and exaggerated report) of the land which they had spied out, saying, "The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. 33 There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight." Lets make sense of this Num 13:33 "the giants" [ha-N¦piyliym (OT:5303)], refers here to their stature, but this does not mean they are the same species that died in the flood for Heiser’s theory that descendants of the Nephilim were the Anakim, a people descended from the Nephilim who were spawned by rival divine beings (p. 203). It is the Anakim, Heiser believes, not the Canaanites, who Joshua and Israel came to destroy, the Canaanites were collateral damage (pp. 210-211). Nephilim The Bible calls demons "evil spirits" and "unclean" (Matthew 10:1; Mark 1:27 ) and asserts that they are indeed the angels of Satan (Revelation 12:9). Satan and his demons also attack Christians (2 Corinthians 12:7; 1 Peter 5:8) They are not evil? The sons of God and the nephilim are not the same; that latter are offspring of the former . Lastly, we aren't even told that the flood was the fault of the sons of God, and so how would it be that their offspring, the nephilim, are fallen in the sense of being inherently evil? ( The Meaning of the Word Nephilim: Fact vs. Fantasy But so was mankind Gen 6:5 the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually " the other clans that spring from the nephilim are the enemies of Israel for sure (like the Anakim), and so could be seen as evil. The giants in the book of Enoch and other Jewish literature composed after the biblical material (as far as the existing texts we know about) are certainly evil." (The Meaning of the Word Nephilim: Fact vs. Fantasy) They weren't given some name because of some inherently fallen spiritual state (as though they could not be redeemed and were "more fallen" than humans ). (ibid) I alluded to the difference between NT demons and the OT gods of the nations (called shedim in Deut 32:17, unfortunately translated “demons”) in a footnote in Ch. 32 of Unseen Realm.However, the difference is summarized much better in Doug Van Dorn’s primer companion toThe Unseen Realm . Here are Questions 72 through 75: Question 72. Are these corrupt sons of God demons or fallen angels? “Demons are neither fallen angels nor the offending sons of God, yet they belong to the same spirit world because they are disembodied spirits. [1] The sons of God who sinned before the Flood were imprisoned until the time of the end, a and so they are not the demons of the New Testament. The corrupt sons of God put over the nations are called shedim, a term of geographical guardianship. [2] chapter 15 more unseen realm Divine Allotment Cosmic Geography.”(More unseen Realm)Which gods of what nation fell, there were no nations when they fell. Heiser does not say exactly When they fell and why each one fell? These and other questions are unanswered by him because this is all fantasy. There is no Scripture for any of this. He says the nephilim become demons, as the offspring of the sons of God. So there were no demons before them? But satan is called an angel in the Septuagint, the bible also says he is a Cherub, that he fell from heaven as Jesus said he saw this event, and who are those in heaven? Angels. Jesus said in Matt 25:41 you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his (nephilim-NO) angels” Nowhere does it say demons are Nephilim spirits
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