God's Role in the Formation of Nations

And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth." But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said, "Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

(Genesis 11:4-9)

Prior to the flood in Noah's time and for several hundred years afterward, there was only one people group on earth. In other words, there were no separate nations at that time. The primary reason for this unity was that everyone spoke a common language, as revealed in the passage above.

The incident at Babel marked a pivotal moment in human history. When people attempted to create a universal name for themselves, God decided to divide mankind into different people groups or nations. The mechanism God used to accomplish this division was the confusion of their language. This action forced people to congregate with those they could understand—those who shared their newly common language—while separating from those they could no longer comprehend, who now spoke what seemed to be foreign languages.

This linguistic principle remains prevalent today, as every nation maintains its own unique language. Even among nations that share a common language, such as English, each retains its own distinct dialect. Beginning with the Babel incident, God established nations, and nations have existed ever since. While we do not know exactly how many nations were formed at Babel, we do know that each of those original nations could trace their origins back to that pivotal event.

This passage reveals an important principle: God decides when nations are to be formed. Today, mankind strives to create a globalized society, hoping to eliminate the concept of individual nations. However, this contradicts God's established order, and He will not allow it to happen. God employs various mechanisms to thwart mankind's efforts in this regard.

God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,

(Acts 17:24-26)

The above passage confirms that God decides when a nation is to be formed on earth. The Apostle Paul teaches that God determines nations' "preappointed times," meaning every nation on earth today began at the precise moment when God decided it would first be formed. While mankind, seeing only natural events, would argue that humans form nations, it is actually in the spiritual realm that God initiates the birth of nations through various mechanisms available to Him.

Now Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived. But the children struggled together within her; and she said, "If all is well, why am I like this?" So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her: "Two nations are in your womb, two peoples shall be separated from your body; one people shall be stronger than the other, And the older shall serve the younger." So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in her womb.

(Genesis 25:21-24)

One of the mechanisms that God used to form nations is revealed to us in the above quoted passage of scripture. This passage demonstrates how God has formed nations through the descendants of a patriarch. God told Rebekah that the twins she carried would become two separate nations. The twins born to Isaac and Rebekah were Jacob and Esau. Scripture reveals that Jacob became the father of the nation of Israel, while Esau became the father of the nation of Edom.

God employed this particular method when the earth was still relatively sparsely populated and families could develop into clans or tribes, eventually growing sufficiently to become fully established nations. However, God no longer uses this method, as the earth has become fully occupied by existing nations, leaving no "empty" spaces for patriarchal families to develop into newly formed nations over time.

Now it happened at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the way; and he had clothed himself with a new garment, and the two were alone in the field. Then Ahijah took hold of the new garment that was on him, and tore it into twelve pieces. And he said to Jeroboam, "Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: 'Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to you (but he shall have one tribe for the sake of My servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel), because they have forsaken Me, and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the people of Ammon, and have not walked in My ways to do what is right in My eyes and keep My statutes and My judgments, as did his father David. However I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, because I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of My servant David, whom I chose because he kept My commandments and My statutes. But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand and give it to you--ten tribes. And to his son I will give one tribe, that My servant David may always have a lamp before Me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for Myself, to put My name there. So I will take you, and you shall reign over all your heart desires, and you shall be king over Israel.

(1 Kings 11:29-37)

Another mechanism God uses to form nations occurs when one nation splits into two through an act of rebellion, where one part seeks independence to govern its own affairs. This method invariably involves some degree of violence and can lead to civil war if the two factions cannot negotiate a peaceful separation.

The nations of Israel and Judah were formed through this method. After King Solomon's death, his son Rehoboam reigned in his place when Israel was still a unified nation. Under Jeroboam's leadership—who had been in exile during Solomon's reign—the citizens of Israel petitioned Rehoboam not to govern as harshly as Solomon had. Rehoboam's response was that he would govern even more harshly than his father.

This was not the response the citizens hoped for, so ten tribes seceded from Israel to form their own government under Jeroboam, leaving only two tribes under Rehoboam's rule. Rehoboam, unable to grasp that most of Israel's citizens had rejected him as king, travelled with his treasurer to the rebellious states to collect taxes. The people killed his treasurer, and Rehoboam had to flee for his life back to Jerusalem.

Determined to subdue the rebellion, Rehoboam mustered an army from the two loyal tribes to wage war against the rebel states—civil war was about to erupt in Israel. At this point, God intervened by sending His prophet to tell Rehoboam's army to stand down because the national split had occurred at God's command. Remarkably, the army obeyed the Lord's prophet and stood down, thus averting civil war (1 Kings 12:24).

Two new nations were born. The larger nation, consisting of ten tribes, kept the name Israel, while the smaller nation, consisting of only two tribes, adopted the name Judah after its dominant tribe. Although these events played out in the natural realm, as the quoted passage reveals, God had decreed decades before what would take place, for God is the one who preappoints nations on earth.

The Lord has many other methods available to Him for forming new nations on earth, and we will not attempt to list them all here. It suffices to say that every nation formed on earth is formed by God's direction. This same principle applies to empires formed on earth. An empire is normally formed through one of two main methods: either a consortium of nations forms an alliance, or one dominant nation conquers surrounding nations, bringing them under its rule. In both instances, however, the empire that is formed exists because God has decreed that it should happen.

Michael E.B. Maher

The Church and the State

Buy Now

Donate

Payoneer