Today’s Scripture Reading (April 15,
2015): Genesis 10
Ronald
Reagan once commented that if America “ever forgot that we are one nation under
God, then we will be one nation gone under.” Reagan seemed to love to invoke
the idea of absolute good and absolute evil. And in Reagan’s mind, God was
obviously the absolute good. But absolute evil could be found in many places.
Evil was found in the Evil Empire of the Soviet Union (a phrase that Reagan
coined), but it also lived a lot closer to home in the decisions like that of
the American Supreme Court to oppose prayer in American Schools. Ronald Reagan
seemed to understand that nothing clarifies good as easily as evil. Of course,
during Reagan’s stay in the Oval Office the Iron Curtain fell and the United
States found, at least for a time, a friend in a nation that Reagan had once
believed was evil.
But the
contrast of good and evil is not something invented by Reagan. It is an ancient
device. Even as we read through the Bible we see the device being used – although
sometimes inconsistently. One example is the Kingdom of Babylon. Through much
of the historical sections of the Bible, Babylon is the real evil empire –
especially under the rule of Babylon’s greatest king – Nebuchadnezzar II. They
were conquerors and they were feared. They were the nightmare story that you
told around the campfire. And when you heard that the armies of Babylon were on
the march, you locked the door and hoped against hope that they came nowhere
close to where you were.
But in the
book of Daniel, the prophet paints an extremely different picture of
Nebuchadnezzar. For Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar is a tool used by God. He is also a
King for whom God cares. In fact, God cares enough for Nebuchadnezzar to give
him a dream about his future, and the wisdom to chase after Daniel to find its
meaning. According to Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar built a good relationship with his
Jewish captive advisers. And Nebuchadnezzar qualifies as the only foreign king
to actually write part of the Hebrew Bible – Daniel 4 is a letter that
Nebuchadnezzar writes to the nations, and it contains a desire of
Nebuchadnezzar that the readers of the letter would “prosper greatly” (Daniel
4:1).
Yet, Babylon
in much of the rest of the Bible retains its image as the “evil empire.” And the
character development of Babylon as the Evil Empire and the enemies of Israel
may actually be much older than Nebuchadnezzar and the exile. It might even extend
back to the life of Nimrod. Ancient Hebrew tradition teaches that Nimrod was
the King of Shinar, a vast swath of land that included ancient Babylon. It also
teaches that Nimrod was the driving force behind Babylon’s Tower of Babel, and
sets Nimrod up as the evil counterpart to the good Abraham. And although this
is not mentioned in the Bible, the rabbis taught that Nimrod and Abraham
actually met, with Nimrod arguing for the advantages of self and greed while
Abraham responded defending his God.
Nimrod’s
dream, like many other selfish kings, was nothing less than world domination.
The name Nimrod actually means “We will revolt” and the comment in Genesis that
the name means “mighty hunter” might be better described as “one who hunts men
in order to enslave them.” For those in fear of Babylon at the time of the
exile, that description fitted Nebuchadnezzar as much as it fitted Nimrod. At
any rate, Nimrod’s Babylon may have been the first Babylon to haunt the dreams
of the people on the earth – and it might have been the first Evil Empire. And
the first nation to decide that they could go it alone - without God.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis
11
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