If you’re into theology at all, you may hear someone use the term “Deuteronomy 32” worldview, this conversation often refers to subjects such as the divine council, the falls, and spiritual beings. The main source for such theology within the last 10 years is The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible written by Michael S. Heiser. I was in the Department of Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies Ph.D. program at UW Madison, where Heiser and Tim Mackie from the Bible project also attended a few years before I did. If you google “Deuteronomy 32 worldview,” you will likely find our Expedition 44 videos on the subject. Matt Mouzakis and I (from Expedition 44) have also written a rather scholarly book on the subject which is being published by Wipf and Stock Publishers and is to be released next year.

This article is a 45-minute read.

Understanding the cosmic issues

In the beginning, everything was created by Yahweh, and it was good (Tov), humans being very Tov, but it was not complete.  Humankind was given an opportunity as divine representatives to continue the good work God had begun with Him in a divine partnership. Unfortunately, the covenants established by God with those He loved both in the spiritual and physical cosmos were broken. The Bible is the story of God’s enduring faithfulness to return to “TOV” and the Edenic like plan with his creation despite their rebellion and continual “falling away” from Him. This “falling away” is best explained (IMHO) by what is called a Deuteronomy 32 worldview. Deuteronomy is a book that in many ways shows a structure laying out the plan for God to partner with humanity and return to the order that was lost. God established order that was TOV and was then lost through the falling away. The fallen spiritual beings reinstated chaos or what is RA (the Hebrew word for evil or things contrary to God’s plans), while God’s ways were order through TOV. Chaos is described as the space that existed before God interacted with it at the beginning of creation. It was a space void of his life-breathing presence. When God interacted with it, he brought forth life and order. The opposite of God’s presence is chaos or RA (evil)”. To be clear the term chaos isn’t evil in of itself, it is just wild or out of line; it simply has the ability to be used by the evil (ra) forces. For instance, Job refers to the leviathan as a chaos monster of the world that can bring on destruction but in of itself is not necessarily evil. Humanity could be considered similar; in that they begin or start out as neutral (or if you subscribe to the 5 pillars of Calvinism you would believe they are born completely defiled by total depravity) and must decide whom they will serve. Will they follow Yahweh or the world?

There is a battle between the world’s ways and God’s. RA vs. TOV. Deuteronomy was a plan to return to TOV, but Israel failed, and the plan and pages deepened.

This dual world falling away, sometimes described as a rebellion or apostacy, describes the free will decision that humanity repeatedly makes (and/or perhaps also described as their depravity) and spiritual beings made to position themselves away or separated from God. (One of the reasons I subscribe to free will and each person making decisions away from God rather than total depravity is based on the similarity of the spiritual beings falling away. The spiritual beings seem to make cognitive decisions to fall away and foreshadow that of humanity. I believe both the spiritual beings and humankind choose individually to follow or not follow God. The consistent hermeneutic between the falling away of the spiritual beings and mankind does not seem consistent with a “born or created that way” theology of total depravity. Neither beings were created against God, they both have to make decisions away from Him to fall and for Him to join Him.) Although offered partnership in allegiant covenant relationship, they chose RA over TOV, the world over God. We will see that God therefore disinherited the nations after babel meaning He “allowed” their choice of separateness to be granted to them. Despite the falling away of the spiritual entities, the overall plan of “inheriting” the whole earth still existed and thus gave this opportunity to Israel and humankind.

Chaim Bentorah has regularly pointed out that everything God created He declared that it was good.  But he did not declare man to be good until he created a woman to be his help meet.  Note it says help meet, not help mate.  The word in Hebrew is ‘azar (helper) kenegedo (one before or one who helps to see or understand). In other words, a woman was created to stand before a man to help him see or understand God. The word good in Hebrew is tov which means to be in biblical harmony with something or someone.

We also have another article here: https://expedition44.com/2024/08/31/more-on-cosmic-geography/

Understanding the term “sons of God”

I may be the first one to hold or introduce this view, but those created directly by the hand of God are referred to as “Sons of God” throughout the Bible. Sons of God (Biblical Hebrew: בְנֵי־הָאֱלֹהִים,  Bənē hāʾĔlōhīm,^[1] literally: “the sons of Elohim”^[2]) is a phrase used in the Old Testament and in Christian Apocrypha. However, the Bible doesn’t just come out and say that it is a definition of those created directly by the hand of God, you have to interpolate this concept or backread it. In most Biblical cases the term Sons of God is gender neutral according to the grammar. The Bible grammatically both in the original languages and English presents a masculine point of view throughout, so it can be confusing to determine where women fit or how/when they are included in the intended audience. Historically and grammatically, masculine pronouns have been used as a gender-neutral pronoun option, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that every passage in the Bible that uses a masculine pronoun refers to both men and women. As with any book, the clues to gender inclusivity within the Bible are found within the surrounding context. Good hermeneutics and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit help us to accurately interpret the Bible and the intended audience of specific passages. Being an egalitarian theologically I personally lean toward the great majority of passages being intended for all humankind.

The first mention of “sons of God” in the Hebrew Bible occurs at Genesis 6:1–4.

¹ And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, ² That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. ³ And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. ⁴ There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

At first take, upon reading the term in Hebrew, you may think that “sons of God” has a negative connotation and many have made that mistake similar to the way that chaos may be misunderstood as evil. However, we are introduced to entities scripture will later theologically refer to as “sons of God” much earlier in the text. I would argue that the original “angelic” beings created by God, the first humans, Adam and Eve are or would take on this title. Later in the New Testament, as I will get to, those recreated as new beings making a profession of faith to follow Jesus under the new covenant are also recognized within the same terminology to be understood as being “newly created” by the magnificent works and direct hand of God. Two Greek words are translated in the New Testament as “son,” teknon and huios, both words indicating sonship by parentage, one by physical descent, and the latter from the sense of adoption, which was relevant in both cases to the intended audience. Humankind become sons of God in the regenerative and adoptive sense by the acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour (John 1:12; Galatians 3:26). (To be clear

All of the earliest textual sources interpret the “sons of God” as spiritual beings (a better term than angelic beings although both terms seem to have a place). References are found in the Enochian literature, the Dead Sea Scrolls (specifically the Genesis Apocryphon, the Damascus Document, 4Q180), Jubilees, the Testament of Reuben, 2 Baruch, Josephus, and the book of Jude (compare with 2 Peter 2). But to be clear, the only two identical occurrences of bene ha elohim in the Hebrew Bible are found in Job 1:6 and 2:1.

Claus Westermann claims that the text of Genesis 6 is based on an Ugaritic urtext. In Ugaritic, a cognate phrase is bn ‘il as referenced in the Ugaritic Baal Cycle.^[4] The phrase bn ilm (“sons of the gods”) is also attested in Ugaritic texts as is the phrase phr bn ilm (“assembly of the sons of the gods”).^[5] This will be in agreement with our views on the divine council as the article continues.

Some newer translations use the word “angel” in place of the more ancient term “sons of God” such as the Septuagint , the Codex Vaticanus,  Codex Alexandrinus, and many English versions. However, the term “angel” isn’t the best term in my opinion to use interchangeably with “sons of God. Some directly created by the hand of God were not spiritual beings in the Old Testament and we do not usually refer to one that has made a commitment to God and by Christian definition has been reclaimed, as a spiritual being as long as they are on the earth (yet they still biblically assume the title of “sons of God.”) Therefore, to be the most theologically correct, I would suggest the term “Sons of God” simply mean those that are directly created or (in a New Covenant sense) recreated by the hand of God. Spiritual beings would then be the best term for those that are celestial or spirit entities rather than human. Perhaps you could use the term “angel” for a Godly spiritual being and “demon” for a fallen spiritual being.

Getting back to Genesis 6, the first mention of the term “sons of God” in the Bible, early church fathers and Christian writers such as Justin Martyr, Eusebius, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Commodianus also believed that the “sons of God” in Genesis 6:1–4 were fallen Spiritual beings who engaged in unnatural union with human women, resulting in the begetting of the Nephilim.^[6] But in every case, I have seen, they also take on a larger scope of the term to include other definitions ascribed above within the narrative.

Before I move on, I need to address why “sons of Israel” is a poor interpretation in case you’re wondering. “sons of Israel” is used in a fair number of English translations. This mainly comes from the Masoretic Text which does not say “sons of God” but “sons of Israel” however in 4Q37 the term “sons of God” is used.^[7] This is probably the root reading for the translation we see in the Septuagint as well. English translations based on the traditional Hebrew text of the Old Testament read “sons of Israel.” The phrase “sons of God” is found in the Dead Sea Scrolls which are much older than the traditional “received” texts. This conversation is going to be important to our upcoming section on the division of the nations at the Tower of Babel (Gen 11:1–9) which is connected to the Table of Nations of Gen 10, which directly precedes it. “The Table of Nations catalogs 70 nations but does not include Israel. Why? Because Israel did not exist at the time of the Babel event. This makes the reference to “sons of Israel” in Deuteronomy 32:8 illogical and unsustainable: “sons of God” was most likely changed to “sons of Israel” sometime after the Jewish community—in response to the new Christian church and its use of the Septuagint—“standardized” the Hebrew text in the second century AD.” ^[8] 

Understanding the Fall(s) of Mankind

Most Christians refer to “the Fall” as the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve give into temptation and is exiled from Eden. However, there are several “falls” in the Biblical Narrative to the extent that “falling” becomes a major theme of the entire Biblical text. In the Biblical account of the Edenic fall we are likely reading a dual fall, the fall of humanity as well as the spiritual being’s initial fall. I say this because had the serpent already “sinned” it most likely would not have been in Eden. “It’s important to note that the garden is described as a pure and undefiled sacred space where God exists with His pure and undefiled, Tov, creation.

The serpent and Humanity thus are dually falling as we read the story. The serpent is likely the one that rises as the leader of the fallen powers and principalities we describe as Satan in the New Testament. This is the act that begins the fall that seemingly results in 1/3 of all the angelic beings as we might arguably deduct from Revelation 12:3–4. This initial falling of spiritual beings is going to influence the choice by Yahweh to destroy the world with a flood and very much come full circle again as part of the story of Babel. The continuing fall of Spiritual beings goes on throughout the Biblical Text to be described as a war in heaven between Yahweh’s forces against those led by Satan and “the dragon”, identified as the devil or Satan, who was thrown down to the earth. Revelation’s war in Heaven is related to the idea of fallen angels, and possible parallels have been proposed in the Dead Sea Scrolls. As I have noted in many other articles, my view on revelation as a partial preterist is that most of it describes the spiritual state as to have already happened or be happening and much less about the end times than some people make it out to be. The first two chapters and the last two chapter of the Bible describe the Edenic plan lost and regained, all of the pages in between show what was lost to be regained. In a thematic sense these “middle pages” of the Bible describe the struggle over God’s treasured people. Exodus 19:4-6a describes this:

“You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself. Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession [s’gullah or segullah] among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

If the people kept His covenant and obeyed His voice, they would be His own special possession amongst all the people… a holy, set-apart, nation, a royal priesthood described in the Old Testament and later the New Testament as recreated “sons of God.” In the Old Testament this theme is what the fallen spiritual beings are at war for; that they might “win over” humanity rather than Yahweh. Every time Humanity as a whole fail and is given over to “Satan” or the fallen powers and principalities it is described as a “fall” or as people that have “fallen away” from God. In this sense Israel becomes a picture of one that was set apart but fell. Today we are living in a world that is marred by the various rebellions and falls, but as Christians we are also in the upward trajectory of Jesus’ resurrection and ascension which by His atonement gives way to victory for those that accept Him and live in devotion as a New Covenant Set Apart Royal Priesthood. We are the agents of reconciliation. As New Testament priests we present God to the people and the people to God.

This also helps give us some understanding of the theological battle between the nation of Israel today still being considered as God’s “chosen nation;” or the understanding that Israel was, in the same way Adam and Eve were given the opportunity to represent God and his Kingdom, to the world (but failed). Heiser alluded to this in his book I Dare You Not to Bore Me with The Bible in saying “God, of course, doesn’t need to be protected by a zealous scribe or anyone else. Israel’s doctrine was that Yahweh was unique and above all other divine beings (Psa 29:1; 89:5–7). In a severe judgment, the nations at Babel were disinherited by Yahweh and given over to the administration of other gods (Deut 4:19–20; 32:8), whose actions would be judged by the God of Israel (Psa 82:1, 6). This paved the way for God to create a new people, Israel, in the very next chapter of Genesis. And ironically, it was through Abraham’s seed that the disinherited nations would be reclaimed (Gen 12:1–3).

Understanding the Fallen Spiritual Beings

Growing up as a kid, I am sure you read the Old Testament “gods” to be a figurative representation of ancient people’s imaginations. At some point though, you probably wondered, were these “real gods” and where did they come from? At a very basic level, you probably understand those that represent Yahweh to be angels and those that represent the fallen principalities to be demons. There are several books that go into this in detail with varying views but let me share with you a more concise biblical understanding. Starting with Eden, the serpent falls and likely becomes the leader of the fallen, whom we refer to as Satan, but we actually aren’t given that in the text; we have to come up with it by our own deduction. From that moment, many spiritual beings begin to fall. We also don’t have all the details of this. The main narrative of the Bible is to tell of God’s redemption plan for us, and we don’t have all the chronicles of the rest of the story as it is connected. We get bits and pieces of it, but the Bible hasn’t given us all of the side stories that accompany the main narrative.

The Torah uses the Hebrew terms מלאך אלהים (mal’āk̠ ‘ĕlōhîm; “messenger of God”), מלאך יהוה (mal’āk̠ Yahweh; “messenger of the Lord”), בני אלהים (bənē ‘ĕlōhîm; “sons of God”) and הקודשים (haqqôd̠əšîm; “the holy ones”) to refer to beings traditionally interpreted as Yahweh’s principalities. Examples of a supernatural messengers are the “Malak YHWH”, who are either a messenger from God, or possibly an aspect of God himself (such as the logos),^[9] or God himself as the “theophanic angel.”^[10]

At any rate, we get the idea that some of the Spiritual beings were fallen and in Genesis 6 they perhaps intermarry. Genesis 6 leads into the story of the flood (Genesis 6:9–9:17), as God saw that “the wickedness of man was great” and that “the earth was filled with violence.” God therefore decided to send a flood to wipe out humanity (Genesis 6:5, 11). The earth “being filled with violence” is a direct correlation to the result of God allowing mankind to choose between Tov and Ra. Interestingly, it’s relevant to understand that the waters of the flood were a source of chaos. The people who were creating violent chaos were ultimately given over into the same chaos that existed before the creation of His good order. In the
same way that we understand baptism today as a representation into a new way of life apart from our old chaotic existence, the flood account was a rebirth headed by Noah and his family. There is a connection between water, life and death that holds implication in the physical and spiritual realms.

We don’t know what God was thinking in terms of the flood and your thoughts are going to be influenced by your theology on omnipotence and omniscience. It seems that God used the flood as a reset from the evil that overcame the world due to the fallen spiritual beings. One might think that would take care of the problem but then a few chapters later we get to Babel which is also largely about fallen spiritual beings and the quickly corrupted world. If you follow Expedition 44 closely you will find that there are well respected differences in this area. For instance, Heiser and Walton (whom I hold both in very high regard) have both written great books on the subject and differ significantly. I think both make some great points.

Deuteronomy 4:19–20 and 32:8–9 represent two sides of the same coin. In Deuteronomy 32:8–9, God apportions the nations to the sons of God; here, however, God allots the gods to the nations. We have to wonder what exactly is going on. It seems that spiritual beings (perhaps largely those of the divine council) were put in charge of different nations and the nations began to worship the spiritual beings as or over Yahweh Himself and the beings essentially “fell” accepting that form of idolatrous worship. God then disinherited the nations and the fallen spiritual beings and would make a new nation (Israel) who were to be Yahweh’s chosen ones that would reclaim the earth for Yahweh. Israelites, in other words, believed that Yahweh, their own supreme, unique God, sentenced the nations and their gods to each other. At Babel, God, like a father dismissing and disinheriting his children, judges all the nations for their disobedience (Gen 11:1–9). Then, in the very next chapter, He calls Abraham (Gen 12:1–3), effectively starting over in creating an earthly human family for Himself. These other gods, which Deut 32:8 refers to as “the sons of God,” were members of Yahweh’s heavenly host. Scripture elsewhere condemns both the members of the nations and their gods for disloyalty and corruption (Psa 82).

This section in large part is paraphrased from Dr. Michael Heiser

Understanding the cosmic geography

The concept of cosmic geography is also important as everything under Yahweh was intended to be sacred and holy. The territory of other nations, according to Yahweh’s decree, belonged to other gods. You may consider something along the lines of God endowing each nation to a spiritual being and then we get the sense that all of those spiritual beings end up falling. Everything except Israel is lost. They are seemingly the only hope for the redemption of the fallen world. Israel then also fails but God makes a way through His Son. This lens of falling spiritual beings continues into the New Testament as corrupt gods both populate and control certain geographical regions such as Bashan. You might recall the story within the later named Cesarea-Philippi which was a center of Ba’al & Pan worship. Mt Hermon stood high in the background. Stories within the Israeli literature linked Ba’al with the evil dead, and with the underworld. Calling the place the gates of hell. In the book of Enoch the fallen angels were reputed to have arrived on Earth on Mt Hermon, and the entire region was considered cursed with evil. Mk 5:1-10 Mt 8:28-34 Lk 8:26-39 also tell strange stories of the underworld. If you haven’t read this post you might consider. Jesus basically attacked what were called the gates of hell and the rock mentioned at that time was Mt Hermon not Peter himself. AND the same mountain was the place of Jesus’ transfiguration further facing down those evil forces.

Paul used geographical terminology such as principalities, rulers, thrones, authorities, powers, dominions (Eph 6:12). In Acts 2, God begins to reclaim all the nations for Himself. It is interesting to compare the table of nations from the Old Testament to the new, both show the 70 lost that were to be regained after Pentecost and the sending of the Spirit. This may also convince you to take a closer look at Paul’s statement earlier in Ephesians 3:10 when he states “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,” only to say let’s not underestimate what God wants to or can collectively do through a multifaceted representation of his love and power through his bride, the church.

In many ways, once you take on a Deuteronomy 32 worldview, much of the scriptures you didn’t understand in the New Testament now make sense; you will see them with a new clarity. In the New Covenant our bodies are the sacred cosmic temple that should define set apart space and ground with every step.

Understanding the Divine Council

This might surprise you, but the idea of Yahweh’s “divine council” is in all of the pages of Ancient Near Eastern History. Sumerian, Akkadian, Old Babylonian, Egyptian, Babylonian, and of course the Bible all share this common view.^[11] Psalm 82 states “God stands in the divine assembly; He judges among the gods (אֱלֹהִ֔ים elohim). The Hebrew is “beqerev elohim”, “in the midst of gods”, and the word “qerev” if it were in the plural would mean “internal organs”^[12]). In an ancient sense the internal organs were what gave life, they just didn’t understand exactly how they worked. Essentially in the same way they understood the organs of their body to give life but not know exactly how they worked, they felt the same way about this divine council. Later in this Psalm, the word “gods” is used (in the KJV): Psalm 82:6 – “I have said, Ye [are] gods; and all of you [are] children of the most High.” Instead of “gods”, another version has “godlike beings”,^[13] but here again, the word is elohim/elohiym (Strong’s H430). This passage is quoted in the New Testament in John 10:34. In this way, the term “gods” seems to imply the understanding of a heavenly host that functions as a council to the MOST HIGH of them.

I Kings 22:19 describes Yahweh seated among “the whole host of heaven.” The first two chapters of the Book of Job describe the “sons of God” assembling in the presence of Yahweh, the “multitudes of heaven.” The Divine council and the challenger in Job should make a serious Bible reader ask some questions and work to reconcile their overall lens regarding how God was thought of within the early days of the Bible. I am sure this will be a new consideration for some readers, but although the book of Job was not penned until many years later, it likely describes a story that took place not long after creation and some may even argue before the fall as to align the challenger figure of Job and the serpent of the first fall as both likely being the same cosmic leader of the fallen world that the New Testament calls Satan. But as I alluded to earlier, fallen spiritual beings would likely have not been welcome in the presence of Yahweh (in a heavenly or Edenic setting) so it creates some interesting things to work through. To take this view (which I will say presumably would then explain some difficulties with more traditional perspectives of early Genesis), you would also have to accept the view that Adam was the first man created in and dwelling in the “upper” garden of Eden while other humans were on “lower” earth (using Tolkien style language). Thus, since Genesis 2:20 tells us that since “no suitable helper was found” Eve was created. This may imply there were other women, but they weren’t suitable for Adam. Most scholars strongly agree Adam was the first man, but the Bible doesn’t directly say that Eve was the first woman which would allow for the story of Job to be inserted into a Biblical timeline while Adam was alive. In both garden and job Narratives it would better explain why a “Satan figure” could have been in holy space. In the same way some see Song of Songs to be in some part a story of Adam and Eve which in a similar way would explain some theological difficulties of that story (namely how they seem to be sexually involved before marriage which later is against Torah law). Many scholars would agree that that Adam and Job lived 56 years contemporaneously which also supports the above minor view. Finally, seeing the divine council starting to fall early in the story also explains why God’s plan with Israel would be to reinstate them as a royal priesthood to partner with him in ruling over the earth after or during the time it is being reclaimed. The divine council would have failed, and God is looking to re-establish a ruling partnership with His newer creation of humankind, Israel.

It is interesting that we do not read the Edenic language from the creation of Adam and Eve again until Israel is recreated and instructed as priests in Leviticus 16. Israel’s temple was the place where the priest experienced God’s unique presence, and Eden was the place where Adam walked and talked with God. The same Hebrew verbal form (stem) mithallek used for God’s ‘walking back and forth’ in the Garden (Gen. 3:8), also describes God’s presence in the tabernacle (Lev. 26:12; Deut. 23:14 [15]; 2 Sam. 7:6-7).^[14]  

Genesis 2:15 says God placed Adam in the Garden ‘to cultivate [i.e., work] it and to keep it’. The two Hebrew words for ‘cultivate and keep’ are usually translated ‘serve and guard [or keep]’ elsewhere in the Old Testament. When these two words occur together in the Old Testament (within an approximately 15-word range), they refer either to Israelites ‘serving’ God and ‘guarding [keeping]’ God’s word …or to priests who ‘keep’ the ‘service’ (or ‘charge’) of the tabernacle (see Num. 3:7-8; 8:25-26; 18:5-6; 1 Chr. 23:32; Ezek. 44:14). These are “jobs” that spiritual beings once were entrusted two but now are roles given to humanity.

Although we aren’t given more on the heavenly rebellion, some have wondered if God choosing humanity might have triggered the jealous falling away of the heavenlies or if God created humankind because of the Heavenly falling away. These are questions that the Bible doesn’t give us the answers to but much of theology it to determine what might be the best answers with the information we have been given and I also would asset is one of the dynamics of deeper discipleship to understand the Word of God and His ways.

In Genesis 1:36 we read, “Then God said, Let us make mankind in our image.” Many “back read” this to be the trinity, but perhaps a better hermeneutic would be to understand it as a divine council.

Looking back at the Biblical story, we see two “realms” or “environments.” Initially the Divine council would function in a partnership with God helping Him “rule” the world he creates. When relationship is broken and the council seems to “fall” it is offered to humankind to fulfill this plan in the return to Eden.

Understanding the Tower of Babel

I recently wrote an article with John Walton that alludes to some thoughts on the Tower of Babel. As I mentioned earlier, Walton and Heiser have somewhat opposing views on this subject. You will notice that my view holds parts of both of their views. It is a bit of a hybrid. Here is the link to the article with Walton.

The Tower of Babel episode is key to understanding the thematic view of the fallen world and why it needs to be reclaimed in the name of Jesus. The term Babylon has come to have a connotation of those far from God or rival to Him. In Genesis 11 we read that it was at Babylon where people sought to “make a name (shem) for themselves” by building a tower that reached to the heavens, the realm of the “gods.” In verse 7 we see there is a “plural exhortation” similar to that of Genesis 1:26 (mentioned above). The verse has Yahweh proclaiming, “Let us go down and confuse their language.” But you will also notice that the plural announcement is followed by the singular action which denotes authority of Yahweh: “So Yahweh scattered them” (11:8). As I mentioned earlier, we don’t “see,” “get,” or “read” the entire story here either. But later in Deuteronomy 32:8–9 we get another piece of the puzzle.

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. 9 But the LORD’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.

As I imply earlier, the term “most high” in itself also denotes a Deuteronomy 32 Worldview. Elyon or El Elyon (Hebrew: אֵל עֶלְיוֹן‎ ʼĒl ʻElyōn), is an epithet that appears several times throughout the Bible as one of the names of Yahweh.  ʾĒl ʿElyōn is usually rendered in English as “God Most High”, and similarly in the Septuagint as ὁ Θεός ὁ ὕψιστος (“God the highest”). Most evangelical scholar agree that ʽElyōn is simply Yahweh, having given the other nations to other spiritual beings, ʽElyōn now takes Israel for himself under the name of the Tetragrammaton Yahweh.

Deuteronomy 32:8–9 therefore describes how Yahweh’s dispersal of the nations at Babel resulted in his disinheriting those nations as his people. This is the Old Testament equivalent of Romans 1:18–25, a familiar passage wherein God “gave [humankind] over” to their persistent rebellion. The statement in Deuteronomy 32:9 that “the LORD’s [i.e., Yahweh’s] portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage” tips us off that a contrast in affection and ownership is intended. Yahweh in effect decided that the people of the world’s nations were no longer going to be in relationship to him. He would begin anew. He would enter into covenant relationship with a new people that did not yet exist: Israel.

The text seems to suggest that what was created as good (TOV) by God had been lost. Since we don’t have that part of the story, we can only make deductions of how and what was lost.

The story of the Old Testament is about Israel versus the disinherited nations, and Yahweh versus the corrupt, rebel, elohim of those nations. Babel is a result of an entire people group believing their way was best, creating the term of what we know of as Imperialism, meaning to implement control over an entire people group or nation what we advocate as believing the right or only way to do something. This is the exact opposite result of holding fast to a covenant commitment to the creator himself.  

Walton leaves us with this thought, “The problem was not that they wanted to make a name for themselves. The problem was that they were exploiting a relationship with God to do so. And that is something with which we might be able to identify. Constructing sacred spaces should be motivated by wanting to make God’s name great, not by wanting to make our name great. How many of our great endeavors in the church—our programs, our building projects, our far-reaching podcasts, our great crowds of people—are focused on our glory and success rather than God’s?”

I would encourage you to read his article here.

Understanding Jesus within a D32 Worldview

“It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. But there is a place where someone has testified: “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor and put everything under his feet.”  In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him” (Hebrews 2:5-8)

“What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet” (Psalm 8:4-6)

There are many atonement theories. x44 has an entire series on this. Perhaps all or most of them have a place, but I think the main part of atonement is to understand that through the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension to His throne; Jesus gained victory over the principalities. There were other accomplishments through Jesus at the cross, but this seems to be the primary directive. It gave the ability that we may be called “sons of God.” Through Christ Yahweh would begin to regain the world -what was lost in Eden, before the flood, at Babel, and through Israel’s failure to fulfill their calling.

Jesus became the second Adam. He became mankind’s representative before God just as Adam had been initially. 

“Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:18-19).

We then became the royal priesthood to reclaim what was lost for God through the power of Jesus. We are ambassadors, image bearers, with Christ in us to reclaim a lost and broken world. Colossians 1:6, John 1:3, Psalm 33:6 bring context around the entire design to “be good” and transition in partnership to “very good.”

 “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20). 

Understanding your mission within a D32 Worldview

Since the beginning of time the Bible tells us we are caught in a spiritual war within the cosmos and we are the central figures of the battle, the segullah. Perhaps spiritual warfare looks different today than during the freeing of the Israelites in Egypt, but perhaps not.

As I allude to earlier, you will gain a different lens when understanding scripture through this worldview. I will venture to say it will give you an understanding to the text you didn’t have. It creates less theological gymnastics and follows a better hermeneutic. It is simply better theology.

Perhaps seeing the plan through this lens changes the picture for you. knowing this information, how then should I live? As believers we now have authority on earth and in the name of Jesus can have power over the fallen spiritual beings as we partner with everything TOV and are supported by the heavenly hosts. The kingdom of Satan has been broken (Colossians 2:14-15) and we have been raised and seated with Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6). Now we are co-heirs with Him (Romans 8:17). In this sense, Christ became the ultimate mediator—reconciling every nation to God. Victory has been claimed and we now are the agents to regain the world through the name and power of Jesus. A return to TOV.

We are on an upward trajectory in Jesus! We have everything we need to live completely redeemed, sanctified, set apart lives! You no longer need to be entangled to a fallen chaotic world. Make decisions to break those strongholds in the name of Jesus and put the ways of the world behind you. Don’t look back and pursue the king with every strand of your being; your time, treasure, and talent as a complete living sacrifice for Jesus and those that need Him.

Special Thanks to my good friend Paul Lazzaroni who made a significant investment in this article. I thank God for your continued walk.

1. Douglas, Tenney & Silva 2011, p. 1384
2. The lexical item in Hebrew: אלהים, ĕlōhîm, means “God” but uses the Hebrew plural morpheme -im. Although ʼĕlōhîm is plural in form, it is understood in the singular sense. Therefore, the English translation is “God” rather than “Gods”.
3. C. Westermann, Genesis, BKAT 1/3. (Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1982), 42
4. Mark S. Smith The Ugaritic Baal cycle 1994 p249 “all the divine sons” (or “all the sons of God”). ESA sources may support this point.”
5. G. Johannes Botterweck, Helmer Ringgren Theological dictionary of the Old Testament 2000 p130
6. IBID Douglas, Tenney & Silva 2011, p. 1384
7. “Biblical Dead Sea Scrolls – 4Q37 Deuteronomy”. dssenglishbible.com. Retrieved 2019-03-17.
8. Heiser, The Unseen Realm
9. Frederick Copleston, A History of Philosophy, Volume 1, Continuum, 2003, p. 460.
10. Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, eds.: A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, p. 521″. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
11. Sakenfeld, Katharine ed., “The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible” Volume 2, pg 145, Abingdon Press, Nashville.
12. HamMilon Hechadash, Avraham Even-Shoshan, copyright 1988.
13. godlike beings, in JPS 1917″. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
14. G. K. Beale, The Temple and the Church’s Mission: A biblical theology of the dwelling place of God [Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press; 2004], p. 66