What does Moses and Plato have in common?
Unsurprisingly, they shared a similar parts of a worldview together!
I covered this in the latest podcast (Episode 11), but wanted to share here as well. Unfortunately there wasn’t time in the podcast to cover all of Deuteronomy 32, so I wanted to highlight more of what the Bible says on the matter of these rebel members of the divine council that were responsible for the nations of the world. Let’s read some scripture together!
Deut. 8:19
And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish.
and
Deut. 32:7-8
7 Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you. 8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.
In verse 8, Moses is referring to the story from Genesis 10 and 11, the Table of Nations and the Tower of Babel incursion.
Deut. 32:9-12, 15-18
9 But the Lord's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage. 10 “He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. 11 Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions, 12 the Lord alone guided him, no foreign god was with him.
…..
15 “But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked; you grew fat, stout, and sleek; then he forsook God who made him and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation. 16 They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods; with abominations they provoked him to anger. 17 They sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come recently, whom your fathers had never dreaded. 18 You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you, and you forgot the God who gave you birth.
Plato
In his dialogues, Plato addresses what they know of these “gods.”
And again later…
So essentially what we have is at the Tower of Babel, YHWH divides the nations, gives the gods of the nations certain allotment of territory to govern and influence for good. However, this is not what happens. Instead they set up their own systems of government and worship. Having joined the kingdom of darkness, God condemns them, as seen in Psalm 82.
Psalm 82
1 God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
God calls his heavenly assembly together, all the other elohim charged with ruling the nations.
2 “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked?
He calls them out for misbehaving and misrepresenting Himself.
3 Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
4 Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
He tells them what they SHOULD have been doing the whole time: pursuing righteousness and justice.
5 They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
They all have joined in with the darkness and so here comes judgment!
6 I said, “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you;
7 nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.”
Judgment and sentencing, these rebel elohim over the nations will die and lose their power, authority to rule and will be doomed to die like mortal men.
8 Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations!
Call from the psalmist to YHWH to reclaim the nations that He had given over to the sons of God as their inheritance. YHWH’s plans for the nations are also forecasted in a Messianic psalm, Psalm 2. It also shows what God is going to do with the nations: he’s given them over to his son, Jesus.
Reclaiming the Nations from the Enemy
Psalm 2: 7-12
7 I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.” 10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
And guess what? Paul and the NT writers also pick this idea up of reclaiming the nations for God, that was essentially Jesus’ mission….take back the nations from these gods and bring about God’s kingdom. Here is a small sampling:
Mark 11:17
And as He taught them, He said, ‘Is it not written: “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations“ (Isaiah 56:7)
Matthew 28:19
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit..
Acts 13:47
For this is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’
Romans 16:26
“..but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey him
Revelation 5:9
“And they sang a new song: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.'”
And Paul in Acts 17, the sermon he delivers at Mars Hill in Athens,
Acts 17:22 - 31
22 So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious in all respects. 23 For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything that is in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made by hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; 26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might feel around for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His descendants.’29 Therefore, since we are the descendants of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by human skill and thought. 30 So having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now proclaiming to mankind that all people everywhere are to repent, 31 because He has set a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all people by raising Him from the dead.”
Notice Paul’s shared worldview with Moses? YHWH is Creator and above any other god. The nations were drawn by YHWH and it was YHWH’s hope for them to still find himself (“feel around and find Him”). To top it off the men also seemed to have understood what it meant to be image-bearers. But whereas they looked to created idols that bore resemblance to the gods of the nations, disciples bear resemblance to YHWH Himself, seen in the person of Jesus Christ.
2 Cor. 3:18
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
We are also now called sons of God ourselves, and co-heirs with Christ.
Romans 8:14, 16
For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God….The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God
Galatians 3:26
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
1 John 3:1
Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knows us not, because it knew him not.
We’ll share in reigning and ruling the nations (as God intended for us in the garden).
Revelation 2:26–27, cf: Ps. 2:6-7
He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, TO HIM I WILL GIVE AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS; AND HE SHALL RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON, AS THE VESSELS OF THE POTTER ARE BROKEN TO PIECES, as I also have received authority from My Father.
There’s a reclamation project going on and we are all called to be a part of it.
Matthew 28:16-20
16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”