08. The Period Of Human Government-The Tower Of Babel
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE PERIOD OF HUMAN GOVERNMENT-THE TOWER OF BABEL
“And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, and I, behold, I establish my covenant with you and with your seed after you" (Genesis 9:8).
The third dispensation of time is the period of Human Government. Noah and his three sons, Ham, Shem and Japheth, were the only men left to start a new civilization. After the flood had settled, Noah offered a sacrifice which pleased God. God made a covenant with Noah, as described in the preceding chapter. Noah was then over 600 years old, and Shem, the youngest son, was 98 years old.
God gave to Noah and to his sons a purified earth on which to live, with ample power to govern it. Their responsibility was to govern it for God. Again, under Human Government, man’s relationship to God, his Creator, was tested. This age lasted 427 years, and ended in failure.
God, in His covenant with Noah, told him and his sons to be fruitful and to multiply, and to replenish the earth, but they refused to obey. Instead of covering the earth, they stayed in one portion of the land; they stayed together, under one language, because they chose to remain on the plains of Shinar where the soil was rich. There they attempted to become independent of God.
The Lord’s promises to the sons of Noah were definite.
He said that the descendants of Ham would be an inferior and servile people (Genesis 9:24-25).
The line of Shem would have a peculiar relationship to the Lord God. Consequently, all divine revelation has come through the Semitic race. The holy prophets were of this race. Christ, in the flesh, descended from Shem (Genesis 9:26-27).
God said that the family of Japheth would be the enlarged race, the Gentile nations, developing government, science and art (Genesis 9:27). In the age of Human Government, the people sought to make a name for themselves and to forget the commands of God. And they said among themselves, “Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth" (Genesis 11:4). They forgot God’s promises, and attempted to guard against another flood.
The results of the age of Human Government were that God determined to intervene personally in judgment; the common language was abolished; the work of building ceased; and the dispersion of the race followed.
Most of the people continued in idolatrous worship. The Adamic and the Noahic covenants, however, continued with the Gentile people after their dispersion.
The history of Babel, meaning confusion, parallels the professing worldly church which will end in a man-made unity of the Papacy and of the numerous sects of Protestantism. Babylon is symbolic of Babel. The age of Human Government, therefore, was a failure, ending in confusion of tongues and in dispersion.
On the chart are listed the sons of Japheth, of Shem, and of Ham. The tower of Babel is pictured at the close of the period. The next period is the age of Promise.