Did God give the nations to the angels? Deuteronomy 32:7-9.

 I listened “briefly” to a speaker on YouTube as they stated that Deuteronomy 32, verse 8, in the Greek Septuagint, tells how God gave the nations to the angels of God.

It is statements like this that prompt me to dig into the scriptures to prove or disprove if what they say is true. If it is true, then what are we supposed to do with this information? By the way, most of us cannot read nor understand the Septuagint Greek and would, therefore, be out of the loop and incapable of proving that something like this assertion is true or false. I happen to have a lexicon on my Bible program and was able to struggle through it by making comparisons to the Strong's numbers.

Before we begin our commentary, let's summarize the biblical verses we'll be discussing. These verses have a significant association with Genesis 6 and the sons of God.

“Remember the days of old, Consider the years of all generations. Ask your father, and he will inform you, Your elders, and they will tell you. "When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, When He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the sons of Israel. "For the LORD'S portion is His people; Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.”
Deuteronomy 32:7-9 NAS95

Let's consider several other translations of verse 8 before we move forward.

The New King James version reads like this:

“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.”
Deuteronomy 32:8 NKJV

An object of confusion is the interpretation of “ He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the children of Israel.” The variety of renderings reads like this:

• “according to the number of the children of Israel.” WEBA

  Consider this. When God's people left Egypt we are told there were over a million people. It is sometime later that God calls them His people or the children of Israel. So the burning question is, are there over a million nations? Seems like it sometimes but the answer is no. On the practical side God tells Abraham that his descendants will be as uncountable as the sands of the sea but God never said they would all be nations with boundaries.

• “according to the number of the heavenly assembly.” NET Bible

  The NET Bible is touted to be one of the best  in its alignment with original translations. On that note, if we can compare the nations to angels in heaven, and though Satan managed to deceive and draw one-third of the heavenly angels to follow him to earth, where they are harassing and demonizing living humanity. Those left in heaven are two-thirds of a vast and innumerable number. Two-thirds still hold to their original purpose and plans; they are messengers of God, which is one of the themes we can see when we do a word study.

• “under the care of divine guardians.” The Message

  Written by Eugene Peterson, this takes the Bible to an understandable but simplistic level. Some of what he said brought me to tears, while most is too vague and distanced from original texts to be meaningful. Still, it is odd that Mr. Peterson found what few others found, the implication of divine guardians. Unfortunately, these guardians are not defined, therefore we can only assume what side of the heavenly war they were on.

• “By the number of the sons of God [or sons of Israel].” LSV

  Ah, this is peculiar, not because it is improbable, but because we lack explanation. Here is where we tie the Biblical character Job into the narrative, for in the book of Job, chapter one, we see “the sons of God,” angels, presenting themselves before God, and Satan came among them. Satan, too, was a son of God. This leaves the door open to God assigning fallen angels over apportioned boundaries assigned to the nations. 

• “He assigned to each nation a heavenly being.” GNB

  Here, we have merely another way of saying what I just talked about. A Google search produced this, “some estimates say there are 6,500 living languages today, while others say there are 7,117.” Certainly, there are more than enough angels to fill all of God's needs and still have a massive army.

• “He made as many nations as there are angels.” ERV

  I essentially covered this topic when I covered the NET Bible, so it is beyond imagination to think that God would make the number of nations equal to the armies of heaven.

• “according to Israel's population.” CJB

  Deuteronomy 32:8 tells us that God set the boundaries of the people. The people we see associated with the tower of Babel, whom God separated and moved across the continents with new languages, are the nations. To the Jews, these nations are anyone who is NOT a Jew; they are non-Jewish, and godless by Jewish standards. At the time Deuteronomy was written, Israel's population was somewhat constrained and countable. The Jewish people are scattered everywhere, and their numbers are uncountable.

Enough of this speculation, as you should be able to ascertain that the variety of possibilities is painfully large, and most of those leaning toward angelic involvement as a direct assignment from God are typically the least reliable translations. The context directs me to focus on Israel, so when it refers to some group called “their,” I can know that the verse is talking about the Jews and Israel. 

Other questions that arise pertain to:

• What did they inherit?

  I have to consider the Jewish people—Abraham's descendants and those of Ishmael and Esau's lineage.

• Who is He referring to when He says “the sons of Adam”?

  The reality is that all of us are sons of Adam, but a tighter definition could be those who follow after the righteousness of God. What makes this statement odd is that even Noah was not that righteous.

• What people group is He talking about when He speaks of the boundaries of the people?

  In general, boundaries are meant to corral and restrict, yet we don't see that happening now; why? (It's a rhetorical question that does not demand an answer. The people group leans more toward which group, descendants, became the perpetual enemies of Israel and the Jews? The answer is the Assyrians – Islamic Middle Easterners.

• What is the significance of this statement, “according to the number of the children of Israel?

  I will address these questions in depth below.

• “ Consider the years of all generations.” Why direct the listener to do this?

  - Because you can learn of the character of God and how He interacted with humanity.

  - Ignoring instructions like this leads the foolish to make statements about God, declaring Him to be evil and dangerous.

  - Your considerations may also paint the picture of successes and failures when mankind followed or did not follow God's leading.

  The writer goes on to say,

  “Ask your father and he will inform you.”

  “Your elders, they will tell you.”

  Perhaps the reason behind the need to ask is that the answers bring information that is life-changing.

The context of Deuteronomy 32:8, as given by God, has everything to do with the next two assertions, and they focus on a time when:

• “When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance,”

  The nations and the Gentiles are one and the same.

  Since the Gentiles include the descendants of Ishmael and Esau, and they are descendants of Abraham, what kind of inheritance did the Gentiles get? 

  Note that Abraham, out of human emotion and love for Ishmael, cries out for God to accept Ishmael. The answer is NO.

  And Abraham said to God, "Oh that Ishmael might live before You!" But God said, "No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. "As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. "But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year." Genesis 17:18-21 NASB

  Consider the Middle East. Is it one nation? The answer is NO. So then, what is the commonality? Islam and their hatred of Israel.

  Genesis 10 helps to define the nations being divided after the flood.

  Genesis 10:32 KJV  These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.

  The King James version tells us that He divided the nations to their inheritance.

  This is a direct reference to Deuteronomy 32:8.

  “When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, When He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the sons of Israel.” Deuteronomy 32:8 NAS95

  This highly significant event is given to us in Genesis 11.

“And Jehovah came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of Adam had built. And Jehovah said, Behold, the people is one, and the lip one to all of them, and this they are beginning to do, and now all which they have purposed to do will not be restrained from them. Come, let Us go down and confuse their language so that they cannot understand one another's speech. And Jehovah scattered them from there, over the face of all the earth. And they stopped building the city. On account of this its name is called Babel, because Jehovah confused the language of all the earth there. And Jehovah scattered them abroad from there on the face of all the earth.” Genesis 11:5-9 LITV

Although Genesis 11 does not specifically say that He set boundaries, to some degree, these people stayed where they were put.

• And the time “When He separated the sons of man,”

  The sons of man are descendants of the first man, Adam. This also means that they are subsets of Noah's descendants. Within a few generations, they are deemed to be among those who built the tower of Babel, a symbol of evil.

  The logic behind all descendants being from Noah's descendants lies in the fact God had to destroy all of humanity, with a few exceptions because they were all genetically modified for evil. (This information is found in Genesis 6. The genetic modification aspect lies in the definitions of relatively simple Hebrew words.)  

  Many, like myself, make the religious assumption that Noah was a righteous man, following the Lord in every way. We continue our assumption by thinking that he would have taught his sons that following after the Lord was the right way to do things. Those instructions may not have been realized since all history was, for the longest time, orally preserved. Clearly, we can see that an oral history, which included the intimacy that Adam and Enoch had with God, was conveyed.

  Here is my religion interjecting itself in my attempts at Biblical understanding. After getting off the boat, we find a drunk Noah and Ham, one of the sons, taking some bizarre sexual advantage of his drunken father.

  Many of Ham's descendants end up in Egypt and the Northern African nations, but one stands out as evil and that is Nimrod.

  Japeth's offspring give us Gog or Magog, which play a role in several end times battles.

  Shem's progeny eventually produced the path to Jesus; however, some of Shem's offspring became enemies of God. One of those descendants is Elam. Elam is the name of a person, but in time, it becomes a place. A fascinating piece of information was uncovered when I looked up the Hebrew meaning of Elam. It means hidden or distant.  

  Read what Isaiah has to say about a future time for Israel.

  Isaiah 11:10-11 NKJV  "And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a banner to the people; For the Gentiles shall seek Him, And His resting place shall be glorious."  11  It shall come to pass in that day That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time To recover the remnant of His people who are left, From Assyria and Egypt, From Pathros and Cush, From Elam and Shinar, From Hamath and the islands of the sea.

  When the Root of Jesse, Jesus, finally stands as a banner to the people, Jew and Gentile will give Him honor. This can only happen during the millennial reign. The Jews today are still scattered among the nations.

  Try to imagine Noah and his family, with their wives and possibly children, stepping off the boat.

  How long did it take for their numbers began to become innumerable?

  Here is a chart that might help you.

  

  Soon you want warmer weather and room to move. It was during days like this that we got Genesis 11:5.

  “And Jehovah came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of Adam had built.” Genesis 11:5 LITV

  
  
  Now, God separated the peoples here at the Tower because they all spoke the same language and were of the same mind.

  Allow me to show what that same mind looked like.

  “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
  Genesis 6:5 NASB

• “He set the boundaries of the people according to the number of the sons of Israel.”

  He may offer us an explanation in the next statement.

  "For the LORD'S portion is His people; Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.”
  Deuteronomy 32:9

  "How many of these people who are working anywhere near the tower were a part of “the Lord's portion?”

  The short answer is none.

  Why would I say that?

  We do not see any of Shem's or Japeth's descendants involved in Babel, but we do see Nimrod, one of Ham's descendants, there, and we know that Ham and his descendants were cursed.

  We can know from scripture that the fallen angels returned and interfered with humans. Consider how many stories you have heard, whether it was some mystery show on television or it was a documentary that spoke of something that appeared to have a 

  human shape.

  “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.” Genesis 6:4 NIVHow do we explain the Titans of Greek Mythology?

  David, the shepherd, killed Goliath, a giant with an approximate height of 9 feet 9 inches. We are told of Og, who, “According to the Bible, King Og of Bashan had an iron bed that was nine cubits long, which is approximately 13.5 feet long.

  What do you think things like Bigfoot, commonly called Sasquatch and has many other versions and regions, are?

  If the techniques used in Genesis six to penetrate the human genome and make it useless for God's purposes were no longer practical, wouldn't it behoove the fallen angels to use an alternative approach?

  The things I mentioned above are clearly out there with no reasonable explanation short of fallen angel technology.

  Satan told Jesus that all the magnificence of earth's kingdoms and their riches were his to give. How would he have controlled them? Perhaps it is Satan who assigned fallen angels to have control over the nations.

With the concept of a mediator in place, we continue. Galatians 3:20-21

When we last saw our hero Paul - I am just kidding because it has been weeks since I stepped away from my commentary on Galatians. Like most of Paul's letters, this letter to the followers in Galatia is an admonition to those who grasp the expanse of this grace; it is the grace under which we live. Though we do not live under the Law/Torah of God, we still have constraints, such as walking in love. We call those never-ending rules, the perfect law of liberty.

If you followed my commentaries on Galatians, then you understand that Paul's target audience was, believing Jews. The letter to the Galatians was not written to a particular body of believers; he addressed what is effectively the Messianic Jewish congregations of Asia Minor.

Some might question, how do I know this?

• Galatians 1:2 says,”... To the churches of Galatia:”
  He is telling us to whom he is writing, and he continues with his customary greetings and blessings.
• After Paul's conversion, all we see him do was take his message into the synagogues. We see examples of this in:
  Acts 13:13-44 NASB “Now Paul and his companions ...arrived at Pisidian Antioch, and on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.”
  A significant portion of the chapter details what Paul said, and how the attendees clamored for more the following Sabbath.
  Acts 13:45-48 details how the Jews got jealous and began contradicting Paul and Barnabas.
  Paul's response, recorded here, is one of the primary places we find him saying, I am taking this message to the Gentiles. This reference about the Gentiles was convenient because there were a number of them that heard his voice as he spoke in the open, and they were excited about what they heard. And yet, Paul never explicitly took this message to the Gentiles. The other place we find multiple references to Paul taking the gospel to the Gentiles, is here in Galatians. The fact that most of us have found a relationship with Jesus Christ is evidence that Paul did just what he said; however, it is difficult to find a vast number of references to his doing so.

Because we can perceive the book of Acts as chronological, then virtually every example we find of Paul's preaching in the book shows him first entering a synagogue.

• Acts 14:1 they entered the synagogue.
• Acts 17:10 they went into the synagogue.
• Acts 19:8 And he entered the synagogue.

Since Gentiles were not allowed in the Synagogues, then it is safe to say there are only Jews there.

In Galatians 1:13-15 Paul tells the reader that he had a former life in Judaism, and how he, as one skilled in the Law and Prophets, persecuted the church, which was primarily comprised of Jewish followers. He also speaks of how God set him apart and called him to this grace that is found in the Messiah. None of this would have made sense to the Gentiles for they were not subject to Saul's (as he was known then,) brutal persecution.

Galatians 2:15-16 gives us the statement, "We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles;” Would make no sense to a Gentile, and they might find it insulting. The reason being that it is a Jewish way of thinking. Paul straightens this all out by pointing out that man is only justified through faith in Christ Jesus, not obedience to the Torah (law.) The Torah, or Law, also meant nothing to a Gentile.

One last passage to demonstrate who Paul was writing too.

Galatians 3:1 NASB You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?

If you read the letter to the Galatians, you would know that Paul went before the Jewish elders of this new Christian faith in Jerusalem, and told them the message that he preached before the Jews and the Gentiles. In a sense then, the statement, “you foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you,” could apply to anyone who has fallen back into their legalistic patterns. What makes this such a Jewish statement, is that the Gentiles had nothing to fall back into. Regarding law, the Gentiles only understood the law to mean whatever the Romans were enforcing. The Jews, however, had Roman law and their own, called the Torah.

Previously, we read this.

Galatians 3:17-19 NASB What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. 18 For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise. 19 Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made.

What happened, according to this section of scripture, 430 years previous? God made a covenant; a pact; a contractual agreement, with Abraham. That contract has never ceased to be valid; it has never stopped working as it should. Paul asks, why then add the Law? We are told the answer, although we may not grasp the reasoning, “it was added because of transgressions.” And, this Law would have to hold “until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made.” That seed and the mediator was none other than the Son, Jesus Christ.

With the concept of a mediator tightly in place, we continue.

Galatians 3:20-21 NASB Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one. 21 Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law.

Webster's dictionary defines "MEDIA'TOR," n. As "one that interposes between parties at variance for the purpose of reconciling them."

Because of Adam's transgression we were all put at variance with God.

Who then became the mediator, and what was the outcome?

The answers are found in scripture.

1Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

The entire eighth chapter of Hebrews explains the whys but focus on verse 6.

Hebrews 8:6 NET. But now Jesus has obtained a superior ministry since the covenant that he mediates is also better and is enacted on better promises.

As for reconciliation.

Romans 5:10-11 NET. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life? 11 Not only this, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.

So, not only do we find Jesus in the role of mediator, He has enacted and obtained better promises. Note, that it says promises, not laws.

Since one of the themes of Galatians is the grace and freedom we have in Christ, then shouldn't we be able to do anything without regard? The answer is NO because we live under the Law of liberty. Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 8.

I suggest that you pay attention to the entire selection.

1 Corinthians 8:9-12 NET. 9 But be careful that this liberty of yours does not become a hindrance to the weak. 10 For if someone weak sees you who possess knowledge dining in an idol's temple, will not his conscience be "strengthened" to eat food offered to idols? 11 So by your knowledge the weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed. 12 If you sin against your brothers or sisters in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.

What are some of the variables in this passage?

• “This liberty of yours.”
  Given the freedom of grace, it seems that many of us set our own standards for liberty. In trying to make a firm point about the grace we live under, the late Pastor Gene Scott would sit in a chair, in front of the television cameras, sipping Scotch whiskey and smoking a cigar. In the church, I grew up in, where grace was spoken of, you understood there were limits to this grace. These boundaries, it seems, were imposed by the church, and the older people who had been forced to live sterile, non-indulgent lives.
  Having spent some time in recovery, as a participant and a leader, you become acutely aware that some people are spiritually and emotionally fragile. Many, on a regular basis, “fall off the wagon.” Talking freely about what you are comfortable with can provoke, often unknowingly, others into pushing boundaries they don't need to keep exploring. I, put myself in recovery because I had anger issues. After time and some understanding, I have learned, most of the time, to step away from things that will agitate me and set off.
• “If someone weak sees you who possess knowledge.”
  I get it, you and I are not mandated to encourage co-dependency and weakness in others. But what harm does it do to set aside your so-called freedoms for a moment? Imagine the believer who lives in Amsterdam, where Marijuana is sold like Starbucks's coffee. Just knowing what it used to do to me when I was younger, precludes me from indulging.
  When someone recently tried examining the hows and whys involved with Jesus not sinning. I calmly responded with; He was born without the driving force that makes us do, what we want to do. Think about for a moment. When challenged, Jesus replied, I only do what I see and hear the Father do, NOT his own thing. So then, our so-called liberties are more a satisfaction of wants as we take advantage of this freedom we have in Christ, often to extremes.
• “dining in an idol's temple.”
  Wait a minute; this just took a twisted turn. That so-called weak person didn't just see you in the market; they saw you in an idol's temple. I am not sure what to equate this too, as we rarely find a building that is openly identified as an idol's temple. What we do have is other forms of worship that do not honor God. Such as lodges, fraternal organizations, bars, strip clubs, and organizations that qualify as cultist in nature.
  I suppose the question is, what do they idolize there?
  A former father-in-law paid for our steak dinners at a particular bar years ago. Since they were known for their inexpensive steaks, I thought little of it. But, if I were spotted frequenting a topless club, I can't imagine the “I go for the steaks” plea working.
  My first reaction when I read “dining in an idol's temple,” is that I am dealing with a Gentile world. But that is not the context here in Galatians. I already established that Paul was addressing a Jewish audience, and by Jewish law, there should be no idolatry. And yet, idolatry has been God's problem with His people since their inception.
  1 John 2:15-17 NET. Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, 16 because all that is in the world (the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance produced by material possessions) is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away with all its desires, but the person who does the will of God remains forever.
• “will not his conscience be "strengthened" to eat food offered to idols?”
  Strengthened typically implies something good happening, but that is not the case here. The concept is that the weak brother or sister in the Lord, who sees you, taking full advantage of your liberties by eating dinner in the temple of an idol, will be bolstered or reinforced to partake in behaviors that will cause them harm. You surely know that pathetic expression, if you can do it, then so can I.
• “So by your knowledge the weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed.”
  Your knowledge equates to your understanding of this grace given to us, through our relationship with Christ. However, taking advantage, without regard, can cause a person not just to stumble, they are destroyed.
• “If you sin against your brothers or sisters in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.”
  What do I make of all this? My unnecessary self-indulgence and misuse of liberty can cause the weak believer to be destroyed, and God calls this sin. Are they damaged to the point of losing God's love toward them? Probably not, but why, once again, do we think we need to test God to see if He has any boundaries.
  What do you think was happening when God sent Jonah to Nineveh or, destroyed all humankind with a flood? God had reached the limit of His boundaries. And yet, there was still enough mercy left for a short reprieve in Nineveh's case, and, here we are, a great expanse of time after the flood, discussing such matters. In my mind, this is merely one of the proofs that we serve a merciful God.