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Hello everyone, thanks for joining us again on the primeval podcast.

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We are covering Genesis chapter one.

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I was at church camp last week for junior high and high school students all week at

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beautiful Palo Duro Canyon.

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Most of you know where that's at.

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If you don't, it's just south of Amarillo, Texas.

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It's the second largest canyon system in the Western hemisphere.

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It's beautiful.

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So I wasn't able to produce a podcast last week and I also picked up a little bit of

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a cold.

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So my voice is a little bit off, but in spite of that, we're going to pick up where we left

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off continuing with Genesis chapter one.

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It's a section of scripture often referred to as primeval history because the events

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were written down or recorded well after they actually happened.

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So the chapters of Genesis one through 11 are addressing the mythological worldview

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of the ancient Near East.

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It's setting the record straight by that corrupted account of earthly and human origins.

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So there was a corrupted account that prevailed in the ancient Near East.

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We call it mythology today.

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It was their real understanding of how the world came into being and how it was managed

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by the gods.

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So that being said, it's correct to say that while the accounts of Genesis one through

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11 were recorded for us, they were not written to us.

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They were written to the people living in the ancient Near East and they were preserved

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for our benefit.

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That's an important point.

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When we're interpreting the text, we have to keep in mind what people in that timeframe

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were thinking, what they had in their minds that the text is addressing versus what we

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have in our minds.

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We bring both questions and answers to the text all the time from a modern point of view

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that the text does not intend to address.

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So with that being said, let's take a look at what the text we will be covering today

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says and likely the next episode as well.

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This is Genesis one twenty six.

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Then God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion

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over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over

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all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

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Verse twenty seven.

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So God created man in his own image.

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In the image of God, he created him male and female.

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He created them as we have in past episodes.

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We will be drawing heavily from the recently deceased Dr. Michael Heiser's book, The Unseen

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Realm.

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We will also be sharing some of Biola University's Dr. Carmen I'm perspective.

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Both scholars specialize in the Old Testament.

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So let's talk first of all about the use of the us and our language in the text.

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God, singular, refers to himself as us and our plural.

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There are three possible explanations for the use of those plural pronouns.

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We all know what a big deal pronoun pronouns are nowadays, right?

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So we'd better not mess this up or we'll get canceled.

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So there are three possible interpretations for the use of the plural pronouns.

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Number one, Genesis is using the royal language of the ancient Near East to identify God as

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a king.

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So that would be how kings spoke of themselves in the plural.

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They kind of magnified themselves.

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It also identified themselves with a people group.

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The king doesn't just represent himself.

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He represents everyone.

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The problem identified with this interpretation is that the we of majesty does not exist in

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Hebrew for pronouns.

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And so Heiser cites this from two textbooks of Hebrew language.

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The first one is a grammar of biblical Hebrew and the second one is the encyclopedia of

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Hebrew language and linguistics.

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So both of those make the point that that's not identifiable anywhere else.

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And that's why it's probably not a correct interpretation of that text.

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Number two, the second option, it is intended to identify God as the triune God or that

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it's referring to the Trinity.

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That thinking, that interpretation has been criticized as reading the New Testament into

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the Old Testament.

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Just like we shouldn't bring our own modern ideas and questions to the text, we shouldn't

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bring New Testament thinking and ideas to the Old Testament when the text is addressing,

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again, ancient Near Eastern people.

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The rest of the Old Testament has no such Trinitarian phrases and it's not even a transparent

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idea anywhere else in the Old Testament.

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So that's why that interpretation of God using the plural pronouns is probably not correct

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either.

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The third option is a reference to what Heiser and other Old Testament scholars refer to

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as the divine council.

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This interpretation is the most consistent with what would have been in the mind of the

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original hearers or readers of the text.

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And so first of all, I'm going to be citing heavily from Heiser's book here.

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What we have is a single person God addressing a group, the members of His divine council.

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So it would be like me going into a room full of friends and saying, hey, let's go get some

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pizza.

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I'm the one speaking.

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A group is hearing what I say.

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Similarly, God comes to the divine council with an exciting announcement.

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Let's create humankind.

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So in the analogy, if I'm the one paying for the pizza, making the plan happen after

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announcing it, then I retain both the inspiration and the initiative for the entire project.

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That's how Genesis 1.26 works.

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And Genesis 1.27 tells us clearly that only God Himself actually does the creating.

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In the Hebrew, all the verbs of creation in the passage are singular in form.

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So God created humankind in His image in the likeness of God He created Him.

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The other members of the council do not participate in the creation of humankind.

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They watch.

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Just as they did when God laid the foundations of the earth, remember from Job chapter 38.

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This would have been a common idea in the ancient Near East.

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Heiser continues, the rulers of ancient Egypt were called pharaohs.

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In the language of ancient Egypt, the title pharaoh was actually two words, which meant

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great household.

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The household concept for the ruling families of ancient Egypt was that of a dynastic bureaucracy.

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Pharaohs typically had large extended families.

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They frequently appointed family members to key positions of authority in their administration.

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The elite staffing of the king's governing bureaucracy typically came from pharaohs'

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household.

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They were administrators, not lowly managers or messengers.

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This concept and structure was well known throughout the ancient Near East.

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It spoke of layered authority, a high king, elite administrators who were often related

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to the king, and low level personnel who served the higher levels of authority.

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Everyone in the system was part of the government, but authority and status were tiered.

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So the most clear biblical reference to this idea of a divine council is found in Psalm

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82.

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We're going to read it in its entirety because it has some important implications later on

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for our interpretation of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11 when we get to that story.

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And really it has important implications for all of scripture for that matter.

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So here's Psalm 82, starting in verse 1.

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God, now the Hebrew word for God being used here is Elohim, and it's singular.

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So God, singular, has taken his place in the divine council.

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In the midst of the gods, now that's the same word, Elohim, the Hebrew word, only it's plural

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there.

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In the midst of the gods, he holds judgment.

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He holds court.

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Verse 2.

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How long will you judge unjustly, God's addressing the other members of the court, and show partiality

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to the wicked?

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Say law, which means pause and reflect.

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Verse 3.

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Give justice to the weak and the fatherless.

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Maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.

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Do the weak and the needy.

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Deliver them from the hand of the wicked.

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They have neither knowledge nor understanding.

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They walk about in darkness.

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All the foundations of the earth are shaken.

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Verse 6.

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I said you, now that's a plural you, meaning y'all, as we would say it in Texas, y'all

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are gods.

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Again, Elohim plural.

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Ones of the most high, all of you.

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Nevertheless, like men, you shall die and fall like any prince.

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Arise, O God, judge the earth.

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The psalmist is saying, arise, O God, you judge the earth, because these beings are

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failing.

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Arise, O God, judge the earth, for you shall inherit all the nations.

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In other words, authority over the nations will be taken from these beings and it will

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be reclaimed by the uncreated God.

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So Heizer again here commenting on this passage says the idea of Elohim, that's the plural

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word for gods, ruling the nations under the singular Elohim's authority is a biblical

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concept that is described in other passages, which we will cite here in a minute.

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For now, it's sufficient that you see clearly that the sons of God are divine beings under

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the authority of the God of Israel.

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So once again, just like we've said in other episodes, the uncreated God, who is one, has

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created other divine beings.

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They are created divine beings by the work of the uncreated God.

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And God has created them to be a part of His family, to function with Him in administering

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the affairs of the universe.

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We're going to show you in scripture where that's described, a few different verses of

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scripture.

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First of all, we're going to be in Daniel chapter 10.

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In this scene, an angel is coming to deliver a message to the Old Testament figure Daniel.

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And so this being is describing his encounter with another divine being as he is being sent

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on his way to deliver the message.

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So this is one of these beings speaking who's coming to deliver the message to Daniel.

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This is him speaking.

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Daniel 10 verse 12, then he said to me, fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you

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set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard

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and I have come because of your words or because of your prayers.

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Verse 13, the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me 21 days.

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Let me say that again, as this being is delivering a message.

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Verse 13, the prince of the kingdom of Persia, that would have been one of the world's superpowers

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of the time withstood me 21 days.

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He was delayed in delivering the message.

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There was spiritual warfare happening.

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Moving on with the text, but Michael, one of the chief princes, one of the archangels,

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one of the high ranking members of God's council came to help me for I was left there with

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the kings of Persia and came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter

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days for the vision is for days yet to come.

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So here the text is describing someone who's in charge of a territory which happens to

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be one of the world's superpowers.

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So probably a high ranking being who's been put in charge of administering the affairs

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of the earth, likely in rebellion against the one true God.

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There's conflict in the heavenly realm and assistance has to be sent from another high

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ranking being who's loyal to God to help break through that resistance and deliver the message.

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Now there are many verses in the New Testament that refer to this concept of rulers, authorities,

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principalities and thrones.

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So I'm not going to read all of these verses.

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I'm just going to cite them for you.

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You can look them up for yourself.

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You're found in passages like Romans chapter eight verses 37 through 39 Colossians chapter

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one verse 16 Colossians chapter two verse 15 Ephesians chapter three verses 10 through

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11 and Ephesians chapter one verses 20 through 21.

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Again the Bible describes rulers and authorities in the heavenly realm among his heavenly imagers.

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So God has heavenly beings created in his image and in his likeness that he refers

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to as the sons of the most high and God has earthly rulers and authorities created in

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his image that he refers to as his family members.

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And so this will be God's primary assignment for humans in the following verses from Genesis

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chapter one to have dominion, which means to rule or to govern.

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But continuing on with our topic today.

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Here's a couple more example of God's heavenly imagers exercising governance in partnership

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with God's plans and purposes.

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This again is from the book of Daniel chapter four.

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In this scene we're dealing with King Nebuchadnezzar.

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He's the king of Babylon.

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Again that would have been the world superpower at the time.

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The book of Daniel covers a couple of different transitions of power from Babylon to Persia,

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etc.

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So in this scenario, King Nebuchadnezzar, the ruler of Babylon, the world superpower

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of the time, is under the judgment of God because of his arrogance.

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And so this passage is going to describe how that sentence is decided and handed down.

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Daniel 4.16, let his mind be changed from a man's and let a beast's mind be given to

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him and let seven periods of time pass over him.

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So that's the sentence handed against King Nebuchadnezzar.

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Verse 17, the sentence is by decree of the watchers.

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The decision by the word of the Holy Ones.

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Now that is a reference to the members of God's divine council.

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Interestingly enough, that word Holy Ones refers to the angelic host throughout the

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Old Testament and it's applied to the New Testament believers in the New Testament.

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It's the word we know as saints.

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Continuing on with the verse, to the end that the living may know that the most high rules

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the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.

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Here's another example from 1 Kings chapter 22 of God's divine council members participating

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in the decision making process.

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A sovereign God invites members of his family to participate in his decision making.

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So here it is, 1 Kings 22 starting in verse 19.

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In this scene, the kings of Judah and Israel are trying to decide whether or not to go

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to war.

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They're all kinds of false prophets telling them what they want to hear but they want

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to hear from a real prophet, Micaiah, and hear what he has to say.

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And so here's what Micaiah's word to these kings is, 1 Kings 22, 19, and Micaiah said,

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therefore, hear the word of the Lord.

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I saw the Lord sitting on his throne and all the host of heaven standing beside him on

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his right hand and on his left.

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And the Lord said, who will entice Ahab that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead?

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And so the Lord isn't making an assignment, he's inviting someone to volunteer.

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And here's what it says, and one said one thing and another said another.

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So a lot of different ideas are presented just like you would in any meeting.

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Verse 21, then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord saying, I will entice him.

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Verse 22, and the Lord said to him, by what means?

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And he said, I will go out and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.

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And he said, you are to entice him and you shall succeed.

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Go out and do so.

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Verse 23, now therefore behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these

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your prophets.

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The Lord has declared disaster for you.

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These are just a couple of examples that we get from scripture as to how the uncreated

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God upon completion of his work of creation that he does all by himself at his own initiative,

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but he chooses to administer the affairs of his creation with his other family members.

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So once he's created it, he invites his family members to participate in deciding how things

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go.

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They are to put their stamp on what God has created.

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That's true of his heavenly family members and it's true of his earthly family members.

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God chooses to allow his kids to participate by playing a real role and having a say in

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his governance.

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We are created in the image and likeness of God.

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God has a creative will that he gives expression to by creating something as a component of

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being image bearers.

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We're like our dad.

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That's what that means.

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And we'll cover that more in the next episode.

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We have a creative will as well.

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We have a creative energy and we have a creative will that God gives us freedom to give expression

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to on what he has created.

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And so the way we see God govern in his heavenly council, that exact same method of governance

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will be demonstrated for humans in Genesis chapter two, when God commissions Adam to

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name the animals.

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God creates the animals.

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He parades them before Adam and says, Adam, you give them a name.

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So that actually has a lot to say with our original purpose and with our eternal purpose.

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As God moves forward, eventually into a new heaven and a new earth, God creates human

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beings in his image who have a creative energy and a creative will that we will forever get

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to give an expression to upon what he created.

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So that'll do it for today's episode.

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Hopefully my voice will be back to normal next week and we're going to continue with

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the same verse, but the topic this time is going to be specifically the image of God.

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What is it?

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What does it mean?

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What are the implications of that?

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So we'll cover that in the next episode and I will see you then.

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Be blessed.

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Amen.