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.

Where the whore is. Revelation 17:15-18.

 In the previous post, I tried to give you a commentary on Revelation 17:12-14 based upon logic, scripture associations, historical evidence, and a bit of influence from other commentaries. I ended on Revelation 17:14. This is what verse 14 says.

"These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful." (Revelation 17:14 NASB)

The “these” is referring to kings that rise up – use that term kings lightly as it also refers to rulers and ruling bodies.

Waging war is in this case, limited to the time when Jesus comes back to earth as the warring Messiah that Israel has longed for. Verse 14 says “and those who are with Him are the called, the chosen, and the faithful.”

The word called is the Greek word klētos and means the invited or appointed.

Called, this word works, especially if you picture God looking over the earth and all who have been born or unborn and called them all to come back to Him. Not only were we all invited, but God takes it one step further, in that we have been appointed.

Appointed, according to Webster's dictionary means fixed; set; established; decreed; ordained; constituted; allotted. 2. Furnished; equipped with things necessary; as a ship or an army is well appointed.

Try this on for size.

You have been decreed and ordained, before you were ever thought of, to be equipped with the things necessary, to function as an emissary for and to God.

For those who wish to argue.

"Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born, I separated you for myself..." (Jeremiah 1:5a CJB)

Chosen is the Greek word eklektos. Other, more dominant usage options are select; and by implication favorite.

And the final word used to designate those who will be with Him is faithful.

Faithful is the Greek word pistos. Pistos also means a trusty person who shows themselves faithful in - the transaction of business, the execution of commands, or the discharge of official duties.

It also applies to:
- One who kept his plighted faith;

Plighted ranges between pledged and difficult. Some, after some missionary comes back and gives the entire church their field report, may decide to make a faith pledge that they will never keep. On the other hand, it seems this life of faith we live is filled with difficulties.

- One who is worthy of trust.
- And, those that can be relied on.

The first two terms (called and chosen,) can easily be seen as characteristics of a believer in Jesus Christ, as these terms are frequently applied to a Christian; this does not mean that the “Christian” will follow after or walk in their calling. The last term, faithful, can apply to a wide variety of people, and many of them are not in your church body. Consider Matthew 25 and the sheep and goats.

As we saw in the last post scripture interprets itself.

Revelation 17:15 CJB  Then he said to me, "The waters that you saw, where the whore is sitting, are peoples, crowds, nations, and languages.

As I talk with people in church few understand what the nations are. Perhaps this will help your understanding. There are only three people groups in the Bible.

• The Jews

  This is also deemed to be Israel.

• The nations

  The Jews call anyone outside of Judaism, the Gentiles. We, believers, are considered Gentiles, but we are NOT.

• And the church.

  To the Jews, the church is nonexistent, however, to the believer in Christ we are the church, and the church is in Christ Jesus. If a Jew comes to Christ then they are a part of the body and can also be a Jew. And, in a sense, we were all from the nations but are now in Christ. Very soon the church will be caught up to be with Jesus in the air, at that point there will only be two people groups on earth.

“The waters that you saw, where the whore is sitting, are peoples, crowds, nations and languages.”

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, "Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, (Revelation 17:1 NASB)

So the whore of Babylon is truly dealing with the nations – the Gentiles. Remember, if you are NOT a Jew, you are a Gentile; this includes the Ishmaelites - the Islamic nations, and all other third world nations.

If the whore represents the filthy rich, then how and why would they have anything to do with the downtrodden, the poor, the dirty, and the enslaved, you should be getting the idea?

Revelation 17:16 NASB "And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire.

• “ And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast,”

  These are two different entities, although they worked toward what we consider a common goal. Remember, the horns represent kingdoms or empires; this applies to both physical and financial empires.

  This is why God is causing them to go astray so that they will believe the Lie.
  (2 Thessalonians 2:11 CJB)

  Context, Paul wrote this letter to a Jewish community of Christ-followers. So when Paul says “them”, he is including the Jews in this group of people that can and will go astray and believe “the lie.”

  What is the lie?

  Paul does not define it, and yet, like in the movie “The Matrix,” the lie is all around you. I hear this in my spirit, many will read this statement and say, you stupid conspiracy theorist. Let me show you something.

  Do not love the world or the things of the world. If someone loves the world, then love for the Father is not in him; because all the things of the world—the desires of the old nature, the desires of the eyes, and the pretensions of life—are not from the Father but from the world. And the world is passing away, along with its desires. But whoever does God's will remains forever. (1 John 2:15-17 CJB)

  There, in 1 John 2, is the Matrix analogy.

  It is the drive to dominate, the lust for money, and the power they think it brings. It is intertwined throughout our governing bodies. It is an intricate aspect of “the swamp” that former President Trump described. And worse yet, for the beast, which will, in the last minutes of time will be a man, it will be the false belief that through his deceit and power grab, he believes his ideologies will overthrow God.

  The beast, while playing the game, will seem to have the same goal, global domination, but with an Islamic background, one that claims to abide by the Quran, his goal will be to make everyone a follower of Allah or they die. For the horns, the goal is global domination where they are treated in the manner in which they have become accustomed. Add this to the drive to bring the population down to a manageable level of about 400 million. Just for the fun of it, there are approximately 7.7 billion people on the earth today. Consider food for a moment, here in America it has become quite obvious that food shortages (an event that the Bible tells us will happen,) are man-made.

  Do you think for a moment that those who hold the power will do without?

  Not a chance. While we eat veggie burgers, they will dine on prime rib.

• “they will hate the whore, bring her to ruin, leave her naked, eat her flesh and consume her with fire. “

  We are still on Revelation 17:16 talking about the whore that rides the beast. As you might have noticed, I gave you the Complete Jewish Bible translation, and this is the language that they have used. “They,” in context, is the beast, however, the usage of the term they certainly move this beyond a singular man as the beast.

  Look at what the “they” do to these “rich” people do.

  • They hate the whore,

  • Bring her to ruin,

  • Leave her naked,

  • Eat her flesh,

  • And, consume her with fire.

What kind of backing would it take to take down George Soros, Bill Gates, and Klaus Schwab at one time?

A massive economic collapse might do it.

Revelation 17:17 CJB  For God put it in their hearts to do what will fulfill his purpose, that is, to be of one mind and give their kingdom to the beast until God's words have accomplished their intent.

• “ For God put it in their hearts”

  “Their hearts,” is referring to the people who have already aligned, and those who will align themselves with the beast/antichrist.

• “to do what will fulfill his purpose,”

  So the question is, whose purpose? Well, the answer is both; God has a purpose, and it will be fulfilled. The beast has a purpose that will also be fulfilled but there is a catch, it is all God's purpose. Let me show you.

  In their hearts, humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps.
  (Proverbs 16:9 NIV)

  Another place where we see God's purpose demonstrated is in Genesis 37.

  Joseph's brothers threw him into a dry well with the apparent intent of killing him.

  Judah said to his brothers, "What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? (Genesis 37:26 NIV)

  When a band of Ishmaelites came by the brothers opted to sell him. The Ishmaelites took him into Egypt and sold him. None of them had any idea that a massive drought was coming. Joseph rises to power and ends up serving God's purpose as he saves the entire family during the years of drought.

• “that is, to be of one mind and give their kingdom to the beast until God's words have accomplished their intent.”

  God's purpose is to cause them to be of one mind; to give their kingdom to the beast; and, for that to happen until God's words have accomplished their intent.

In finishing Revelation 17 we have this.

Revelation 17:18 NASB "The woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth."

• “And the woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.”

  What or where is the great city?

  I strongly suggest that it is Israel. Evidence for that, and it should be scriptural, although even scripture has a historical aspect to it.

  A Song; a Psalm of the sons of Korah. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, In the city of our God, His holy mountain. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, Is Mount Zion in the far north, The city of the great King.
  (Psalms 48:1-2 NASB)

  Another piece of information that feeds into this great city being Israel.

  When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, overcome them and kill them. And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. (Revelation 11:7-8 NASB)

  • When it refers to “they” here it is talking about the two witnesses that were sent from God.

  • Finished – having been here for 1240 days, they are done speaking and God allows them to be killed. They will be resurrected but not for three days. Quite symbolic, don't you think?

  • Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city which is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.

    Where does God put the two witnesses? Right in the middle of Jerusalem. The passage calls Jerusalem the great city.

    So, are the two witnesses lying in physical Babylon? NO, they are lying in the streets of Jerusalem.

    Did you notice that Jerusalem is referred to as Sodom and Egypt? This should be eye-opening, but there is a problem because it (sarcastically) says, where also their Lord was crucified.

    Where was Jesus crucified? On a hill called Golgotha, the highest point in Jerusalem.

Revelation 17 closes with “The woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.” Merely because the harlot has a name associated with Babylon through comments like “the great city” which most assume to be physical Babylon; and, the idea that this great city rules over the kings of the earth, does not mean it is Babylon. We have more evidence in scripture that tells us this is Israel. One of those examples comes from Ezekiel 16.

Everyone who makes up proverbs will say of you, ‘Like mother, like daughter.’
(Ezekiel 16:44 NLT)

Here again, most will assume this is referring to Babylon. If you chose to investigate the context of Ezekiel chapter 16, you would find that God is talking about Israel. This showing of evidence can drag out for pages, so I will leave that to you.

As I started pursuing an understanding of Revelation 17:18 I became aware that some will allow this to fire their prejudice and antisemitism, and go on rants against Israel and the Jews. I am saying this because I have heard it, and the majority has come out of the mouths of “Christian” folk. You should know that Israel is the center of God's heart and He will never forget Israel and His people. How fortunate we Gentiles are that we have been allowed to be grafted into the vine. Oh, and that Bible you are reading is a Jewish-oriented book. Maybe it's time we adjust our thinking?