Daniel and the Boys in the Band by Brian E. R. Limmer - HTML preview

Chapter 3: The Battle Behind The Scenes

For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel is his own possession.⁵⁶

 For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you Israel, to be a people for his special purposes. He chose you out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the fewest of all peoples. Nor did he choose you because you are more lovable than any other nation, no, it is because the Lord is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that is why the Lord brought you out from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. With a mighty hand He redeemed you from the house of slavery⁵⁷.

Genesis 3: Enemies in the Making

When God called Abraham out of Ur and made a covenant with him, He promised:

 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dis-honours you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed⁵⁸.

From that moment, the descendants of Abraham were set apart as the genetic line that would eventually provide ‘the seed’ to fulfil the promise given to Eve.

I will make you and the woman enemies to each other. Your children and her children will be enemies. You will crush her child’s foot, but he will crush your head.⁵⁹

This verse is fundamental to the plot of Scripture, but English translators have made it sound like a passing comment. So I must divert for a while to see the Hebrew understanding.

Six Statements that Determine Satan’s Strategy

If nothing else, Genesis-three reveals the spiritual battle behind the scenes and the need for redemption. The whole chapter is in the context of a rebellion, God is not just lamenting the physical state of sweat and weeds (as the English translations suggests), God is stating the spiritual purpose of man within the longer-term goal of eternity. God is not addressing a snake or a person; he is addressing the spiritual power behind an event.

The angels just robed themselves of their own free will in order to partake of their mischievous Activities on earth. God will hold them in that state until the judgment of the great day⁶⁰.

And angels that kept not their own state, but left their proper habitation, he hath kept in everlasting bonds under darkness unto the judgment of the great day⁶¹. 

This chapter makes six statements that will determine Satan’s strategy for the battle.

1: Satan will be prince over earth for a time

The first part of this verse is a statement of fact. Adam and Eve had been singled out as a new species of creation, to live in a world (garden), under the headship of God, who envisioned: (a) harmony between nature and mankind; (b) harmony between God and mankind, and; (c) harmony between mankind and mankind. That could no longer be. God conceded to Satan the headship of the world for a season because the pair had conceded it to him. Satan, from here on in, claimed the title ‘the prince of this world’. While imprisoned in this world, he seeks to re-ascend into the heavens in an attempt to take it and be free.

You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned as the chief, where appointments are made. From there I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.⁶²

Following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience… ⁶³

Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.⁶⁴ 

The whole world lies in the power of the evil one.⁶⁵

2: Satan will have strong, but limited powers to oppose God’s Plan.

I will make you and the woman enemies to each other. Your children and her children will be enemies. You will crush her child’s foot, but he will crush your head.⁶⁶ 

In the second part of that verse, the Hebrew verb shûph is used in both clauses. It is the same word, which can be translated in any degree of intensity from ‘crush’, to ‘strike a blow. So the context sets the degree for each. So, the “head” and the “heel”, contrast the degree of severity. The Torah suggests:

“The ‘seed of the woman’ refers to the righteous descendants of Israel, while the ‘seed of the serpent’ represents the wicked. The ‘bruising of the head’ symbolises the ultimate defeat of evil, while the ‘bruising of the heel’ refers to temporary setbacks suffered by the righteous.”

3: Satan has a limited time

Then the LORD God said to the snake, "You will be punished for this; you alone of all the beasts must bear this curse: From now on you will crawl on your belly, and you will have to eat dust as long as you live.⁶⁷ 

God is addressing Satan, not a snake. Satan will have dominion over the descendants of Eve until one of her offspring retakes that dominion from him. That offspring will crush Satan’s head (take the dominion from him). That makes Satan aware that he has a limited time.

4: Satan’s powers will be set to different levels at different times and seasons.

The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field.⁶⁸

 Hebrew word translated curse, means ‘to be bound or barred, hemmed in with obstacles’ or rendered powerless to resist. That will become poignant when we consider Satan being released from his chains for a season later in our narrative.

5: People and Nations will play a large part in limiting Satan’s activities

Your life will be a constant battle against this curse until you return to the ground,⁶⁹

Man will share the responsibility of limiting Satan’s activities by limiting what he can sow. Dominion is not the same as allegiance. Satan can interfere with the affairs of this world, but humans retain the right and responsibility as to where they place their allegiance. The ‘sweat and toil’ is not a limited reference to the result of physical work; it refers to human resistance to Satan’s destructive reign. If Satan cannot persuade mankind to co-operate, he cannot carry out his objective.

6: Everyone Born into This World Enlists into the Battle.

Adam named his wife Eve. He gave her this name because Eve would be the mother of everyone who ever lived.⁷⁰ 

Therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the fields from which he was taken.⁷¹ 

Being sent out of the garden is not about punishment because of what has happened; it is a recommissioning of God’s original intention.

God blessed them and said to them, Have many children. Fill the earth and take control of it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the air. Rule over every living thing that moves on the earth. ⁷² 

That includes the snake (Satan), and the beasts of the fields! It is a recommissioning of God’s intention that humans should be His ambassadors and His stewards of the earth, and its resources. Human beings are held accountable for the state of the world. The initial temptation was not about an apple; it was about the appetite to consume. It was not about the eating of an apple, it was about choice. It was about distinguishing, protecting and guarding, rather than appetite, (consuming), and the freedom not to satisfy every desire.

That is probably why the ‘straw man’ in the story is the ‘apple’. It is not in the story, it is put there in the retelling, to make the decision and the action seem trivial.                               

The Battle on Earth Begins

The Battle on Earth Begins

Behind this is Satan’s motivation of hatred towards God’s redemptive plan. It is Satan’s desire to protect his egotistical ambition to take the throne from God. It is this same motivation that travels through time. It is revealed in the form of a human’s cooperation or assigning allegiance to Satan and his ambition. Like everything that exists in this world, spiritual motivation can only achieve its goal if it can control nature. Greed is a spiritual force that can only achieve its aim if it persuades nature (humans in particular) to grab, steal or take spoils by desire and without need. A tyrant can only have control of a nation if he can persuade enough people to surrender to his aims and ideals. A tyrant cannot be a tyrant if he has nobody’s  allegiance. Pharaoh’s oppression of Israel is revealing

“Who is this LORD and why should I obey him?” the king replied. “I refuse to let you and your people go!”⁷³

Zedekiah disobeyed the LORD, just as Jehoiakim had done… sending his entire army to attack Jerusalem.⁷⁴ 

And when Haman found out that Mordecai was a Jew, he knew that killing only Mordecai was not enough. Every Jew in the whole kingdom had to be killed.⁷⁵ 

Later in time, persecution for refusing to worship pagan gods under the Romans, falsely blaming Christians for the plagues, and forced containment into ghettos under middle age church; Wilhelm Marr coining of the term ‘anti-Semitism.’; The Holocaust during the last century – these are all revelations of one and the same spirit driving people toward a goal. These were not individual acts of bigotry, they reflected spiritual efforts to thwart God’s eternal plan to bring salvation through Israel’s Messiah, that began when the battle lines were drawn at the beginning of time.

Ishmael’s conception began a conflict between Israel and Ishmael. Out of a human desire to fulfil a desire, Abraham made human plans. Out of this human plan, these nations became enemies. The wrestling in Rebecca’s womb demonstrated a conflict that was innate before these children were born. It picked up a spiritual conflict and played it out between two nations at conception. Esau’s hatred of Israel is driven by rebellion against God. He did not like God’s decision to choose his brother. This grew in toxicity under Esau’s descendant, Edom. Esau and Jacob were reconciled in Genesis-chapter-thirty-three, but a spiritual hatred embedded in the descendants of Esau raises its head whenever the opportunity arises. These two enemy sources will play different roles in the history of Israel to this day.                

Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.⁷⁶

Jacob (the younger) became the father of Israel. Esau (the older) became the father of Edom. Though the twins were brothers, the nations they produced became bitter enemies.

Esau harboured a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him.⁷⁷

Just as Scripture singled out Israel as the nation to bring salvation, Edom is singled out as the nation that seeks to destroy that line of salvation by wiping them out. Embedded in spiritual, and the genetic line of Edom, bitterness grew into a national hostile trait, raising its head in history whenever the opportunity allowed. When Israel came out of Egypt, Edom refused them passage through their land, hoping their enemies would wipe them out.⁷⁸

But the king of Edom answered, "You may not travel through our land. If you try to travel through our land, we will come and fight you with swords also. ⁷⁹

LORD, be sure to punish the Edomites for what they did when Jerusalem was captured. They shouted, "Destroy its buildings! Pull them down to the ground!⁸⁰ 

Later, the Edomites allied with Israel’s enemies, hoping to take the spoils when any came against them:

You should not have laughed at your brother’s trouble. You should not have been happy when they destroyed Judah. You should not have bragged at the time of their trouble.  You should not have entered the city gate of my people and ransacked it.⁸¹

Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever.⁸²

Paul explains that God’s choice of Jacob over Esau was not favouritism, but a fulfilment of a promise He had made to Abraham.

Though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue… she was told, ‘The older will serve the younger’. As it is written, ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated’.⁸³

What is sometimes called, ‘Edom’s genetic hatred’ is best understood as spiritual hostility ‘piggybacked’ on sin and pride and carried down a line by genetics.

The pride of your heart has deceived you… though you soar aloft like the eagle… from there I will bring you down. ⁸⁴

Mainly, Edom’s descendant’s territory settled in modern southern Jordan. It included Seir, Bozrah, and Sela (modern-day Petra).⁸⁵ History’s list of Edomites that took every opportunity to try to wipe out the Messianic line, is convincing evidence enough to show the spiritual opposition behind this tribe:

Who is an Edomite?

Hadad the Edomite emerged as the key figure opposed to Israel in David’s reign, instigating the conflicts between Israel and Edom. His motivation is rooted in their shared ancestry through Esau.

Timna the mother of Amalek sowed hatred into Amalek so much that it was recorded:

The LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.⁸⁶

The Amalekites, through their relationship to Edom, became another of Israel’s most bitter enemies. Through the scriptures we can trace their motivational intention to conquer and rule over Israel. They tried but never succeeded:

In Exodus 17, Amalek ambushed Israel but were                defeated by Joshua, and cursed by God.

In Judges 3, they allied with Moab but were defeated by Ehud.

In Judges 6–7 they allied with Midian but were defeated by Gideon.

In 1 Samuel 15, They joined Saul’s campaign but were crushed and Agag was slain by Samuel.

In 1 Samuel 30, they joined the raid at Ziklag, David annihilated them.

In 1 Chronicles 4, the Simeonites leave only a remnant of them.                

In Esther 3, The Edomite, Haman rises in power and plots to extinguish the Jewish nation but the Jews are delivered and Haman executed.

In 47 BC, Julius Caesar promoted the Edomite Idummean over the Jewish people, Herod son of Antiper was an Edomite and appointed king over Israel in 37 BC. The following three Herods in the New Testament were all Edomites. One of them killed all the babies in an attempt destroy Christ; another Herod murdered John the Baptist⁸⁷; The third killed James, the brother of John⁸⁸. That was the end of Edomite leaders as they left no recorded descendants.

The struggle between the Israelis and the Arabs today is seen as a continuation of this same battle that started in Genesis-twenty-five. But we must be cautious with our labels. Not all Arabs are descendants of Edom and not all Arabs are enemies of Israel. The struggle remains between Edom and Israel.

In the fall of Jerusalem in seventyAD, because of the turmoil between the Idumea’s (Edomites) and the Orthodox Jews, 20,000 of Dominion’s Infantry slaughtered many of the Orthodox Jews. Later in history, Bar Cockbar captured Jerusalem and wanted to rename it Idumea, (a name for Edom), Maps up until 135AD carry that name.

I think we have enough examples here, to show these are not random attacks on a nation but a concerted spiritual effort against a God who chose the Children of Israel for his own.

In theological understanding, battles on earth express a spiritual battle that began in heaven. Many spiritual powers were cast down and confined to the earth. Theologians talk of spiritual battles to explain motivation behind actual battles for power being fought on earth. These are not always fought on battlefields, they only end up there after much scheming and planning, motived in the minds and ambitions of people. Hence the real battles on earth are for the hearts and minds of followers by leaders. Scripture has acknowledged this since the days of Babel, when the experiment of people to unite under one world leader crumbled because people could agree with the ideas and aims of one leader. When people of strong conviction disagree, they divide the people. As Jesus himself said, ‘A kingdom divided cannot stand’.

All this is carried on in the mental and spiritual dimension of human beings                As people became nations, and nations produced leaders, among them some leaders carried the motivation to become the one-world-leader. There has been a battle for dominance by territories on earth, from at least the time of Babel. One dear skeptical, scientific friend of mine has difficulty imagining spiritual beings, (he can only go so far as to say there is a motivational drive in people for power), which leads to wars and rumours of wars. Putting aside the theological pictures that make it easier to understand what is going on, we can agree that motivation is in at the base of the problem. Even if the debate as to where motivation comes from continues, we can agree that motivation comes from the spiritual drive which is placed within humans. At the base of Daniel, Ezekiel, and the other boys in the band lies an understanding that there is a battle for world dominance going on; history shows it. Scripture not only gives a historical record of this motivational drive, but also gives us insight as to how this battle is not limited to the life of one person but carries on over the centuries.

Antisemitism, for example, is not just an individual’s choice, it has been there since God chose the descendants of Jacob to carry the genetic line of Messiah. The story reveals itself in Babylon when all the people of the known world got together to say let us live as one people and build a great city, and we can ignore God to make ourselves gods.

Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.⁸⁹ 

God saw that, as a direct challenge to his command to spread out and replenish the earth,

And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth⁹⁰

God dispersed them anyway, dividing them by opinions and language. They could not agree under one leader, and could not express their views due to the might behind that leader.

“They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator.”⁹¹

 “They sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known.⁹²

The Lord told Israel clearly that His choices were not based on the power or virtue of a people, but on His love and covenant faithfulness:

 But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.⁹³ 

The purpose of God’s election of Israel gave him the ancestral (genetic) means to fulfil His promise to Eve. An offspring of human species would eventually stand as ruler of the world on God’s behalf.

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.⁹⁴ 

He would reveal himself to the world and genetically bring forth the Messiah through this nation.

Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.  And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonours you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.⁹⁵ 

The Nations Choose Their Own Allegiance.

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. But the Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage⁹⁶.

The battle lines are drawn, not by nation, but between those motivated to look to God to fulfil his promise and those that reject outright, God’s right to have a say in the running their lives or this world. Nationally, the world divides into regions of the world that will be dominated by strong leaders. Those leaders will impose or condition the people under their control. Spiritually there will be individuals of every race and nation that will give allegiance to God. This will be seen by leaders as undermining the direction of the nation and will bring persecution.

“Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.⁹⁷

There are many mentioned in scripture who are not descended from Jacob (renamed Israel), not least Job:

I wish someone would carve into a rock so that they would see forever. I know that there is someone to defend me and that he lives! And later, he will stand here on earth and defend me.  After I leave my body and my skin has been destroyed, I know I will still see God. I will see him with my own eyes. I myself, not someone else, will see God. And I cannot tell you how excited that makes me feel!⁹⁸ 

So now we see the nature of mankind’s battle. Everybody born into this world enters a fight to keep his or her own person. People battle psychologically against: political, national, peer pressure, and spiritual powers that seek allegiance. It is seen today as a battle for mind and soul against moral or ethical standards, truth, freedom, and the right to eat any apple of choosing. Basic to this, Humans must determine which spiritual influencing powers to surrender to, and which to fight. Human beings have no small battles through their lives and need some greater help from outside the self.