What Does It Mean By, "God Set The Boundaries Of The Peoples According To The Number Of The Children Of Israel"?
Question : I have a question for you because I could not get the right meaning of what it really means in the Scripture. What does it mean when the Scripture Deut 32:8 says, "When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel." Does the above verse means that according to the number of the tribes of Israel the Lord has divided the nations around the world or in other words does it mean that the world is divided into twelve main zones of all races? Or does it mean that the world was divided by God according to the number of people of Israel present to be dispersed into it which happened when Israel went into exile in to all nations? What does it really mean, can we really know it please?
Answer : This verse in Deut 32:8 which says, "When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel", has been a bone of contention to theologians, believers and others who have always tried to accurately pinpoint the meaning of it.
But taking a clue from the context and other related verses, we could easily arrive at the accurate meaning. We know that the world before the flood of Noah's time was having seas which was the gathering together of the waters in one place and the dry land in one place which God called as Earth (Gen 1:10), which means all the peoples were living together on the land freely over the face of the earth speaking just one language all over the earth (Gen 11:1). But once men began to multiply on earth, every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually which made the earth to become a living hell (Gen 6:1, 5). Seeing the evil of sin ruling all humans and destroying their lives, God himself felt sorry for having made them (Gen 6:6-7). So the universal flood was brought upon the earth by God which destroyed all humans alike except 8 people of Noah's family who found grace along with Noah the man of God (Gen 6:8; 1 Peter 3:20).
When Satan sinned in heaven, he lost his right to occupy the highest heavens from which God threw him out instantly (Isa 14:12). Satan who was thrown out, because of his influence, convinced one third of the angels in heaven to part away with him when he was thrown out of heaven (Rev 12:2-4). Because of his hatred for God and his pet project earth, he created chaos on the earth to stop it (Gen 1:2). As God continued with His plan, Satan could do nothing more than stare at what good the LORD did out of all chaos (Gen 1:3-31). But as he was assigned to work in the project earth which God had planned before creation (Ezek 28:13-17), he started to promise a kingdom and its power to angels who fell from heaven if they cooperated with his sinister scheme to occupy earth forever if man could be corrupted with the rebellion of sin like themselves. Then God let them tempt man because they were called to watch over man in their calling (Rom 11:29). After Adam was created, through his one sin, sin entered this world and corrupted the whole humanity and the earth (Rom 5:12). Inspite of the evil inclination of the rebellious angels, God let them have power because man chose them rather than God who loved them unconditionally.
Coming to the main point, the word "the children of Israel" in Deut 32:8 does not mean the natural citizens of the nation of Israel. Here the word "children" does mean 'angels of God' according to LXX, DSS (LXX - seventy finest Jewish scholars that completed the translation as early as the late 2nd century BC and named it as Septuagint [meaning seventy], or LXX, which is the oldest Greek translation of the Old Testament, DSS - Dead Sea scrolls found in 1947 by shepherds in caves above the Wadi Qumran Valley, northwest of the Dead Sea.); according to Symmachus Lat. 'sons of God' (Symmachus fl. late 2nd century was the author of one of the Greek versions of the Old Testament. Jerome who admired his work used it in his work in composing the Vulgate [i.e. a late 4th-century Latin translation of the Bible] which was largely done by him).
In other words, all angels were called the sons of God during the beginning of time by God because they were created to serve man who would be created by God, and they were created before all earthly things came into existence (Heb 1:14). Even in the Book of Job which I believe is the first book ever inspired and written by God for man's learning, clearly portrays "a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan [i.e. the Adversary of humans] also came among them" (Job 1:6). So the sons of God were the angels who were appointed by God to watch over human beings at the time of creation and all of them rejoiced seeing God create the earth (Job 38:6). But the sad thing that happened before the flood was that the angels who were supposed to guard the people of the earth, began to posses them, and led them into all evil doings because of having joined the rebellious group of Satan before their fall from heaven, who was actually promoting sin among humans from the beginning because of his hatred towards God and the humans whom He loves as his very own soul (Ps 34:7; 103:20; John 8:44; Rev 12:3-4). There is a beautiful Tamil proverb that will fit the scenario, it says, 'The fence started grazing the grain in the field.' The same thing happened in the angelic realm, the angels who were put to guard the humans started possessing their faculties at their will, by letting themselves enter into the illegal domain of human bodies, leaving their own abode in the heavenlies and occupying the bodies of people on earth which was totally illegal (Jude 6). This was the reason the imagination of humans were continually evil, so God cast down these angels down to the prison of hell [Tartarus. Gr] and delivered them into chains of darkness during the destruction of the former world by water, to be reserved for judgment at the end of the universe in which it will be destroyed by fire (2 Peter 2:4; 3:10).
The sons of God who were guardians of humans in each nations which God appointed after the flood has been proved in the Book of Daniel where he says about it using the name prince, "13 ...the prince of the kingdom of Persia ...Michael, one of the chief princes, ..for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia... 20 ...I must return to fight with the prince of Persia; and when I have gone forth, indeed the prince of Greece will come." (Dan 10:13, 20). Only generations after the flood, God divided the nations by dividing the earth with boundaries set for every nation with sea around most of them so that Babel idolatry might not turn away humans and make them go away from God eternally in to its deceit and eternal destructions (Gen 10:5, 8-12, 20, 25, 32; 11:1-9). He set nations with boundaries to make humans seek Him desperately by groping for Him and thus find Him (Acts 17:26-27).
So the original meaning of Deut 32:8 which says, "When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel", should be understood as, "When the Most High divided their [Gentile] inheritance to the nations [i.e. people groups other than the nation of Israel], when He separated the sons of Adam [i.e. all humans] after the flood, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the 'sons of God' of Israel". In other words, according to the set pattern and the available quantity of angelic leadership which God had in his availability [as many of them were thrown in to prison already for final white throne judgment (2 Peter 2:4-5; Rev 20:10-15; 1 Cor 6:3)], He divided the nations with sons of God [i.e. angels] as their watching heads over each nations (Dan 4:13, 17). Individual watchers were also assigned for individuals under the watchers of the nations who were the chief heads God has appointed for each particular nation (Psa 91:11-12). When we are under the authority of the Lord God of Israel, all contrary spirits working as devouring lion and poisonous deadly venomous snake against humans cannot harm us because of the sovereign control of God's angels assigned over us to protect us, and they can never touch us because of the authority we hold as God's servant and as God's kingdom sons over them in the spiritual world (Psa 91:13; Matt 12:27-28; Luke 10:17-20). But for Israel as a nation, the LORD Himself became their leader over it in the spiritual realm, which He again started through Abraham who is Shem's descendant (Gen 11:10-32). Most heathen people have started to worship the watchers whom God has set to help them in their time of needs as their god (Deut 32:37). Even the people of Israel were tempted by some of the demons to worship them in the wilderness journey, which made God who is their watcher to become jealous of them and destroy them for their unfaithfulness to Him (Deut 32:17-18; Psa 121:4; John 5:17).
So the bottom line is that if we according to the context of the verse, related Scriptures and the root word meaning deduce the meaning of a particular verse, and then come to an interpretative conclusion, such verse like Deut 32:8 CAN BE CLEARLY UNDERSTOOD as we have seen above. God divided the nations according to the available angels after the flood, and then set them as watchers over the nations of the earth. Many evil angels are again awaiting judgment at the appointed time of Christ's Second Coming because of having done the same mistakes the other angels in prison chains of darkness did before the flood (Matt 8:29; Luke 4:34; Mark 1:24).
Much Blessings....
Answer : This verse in Deut 32:8 which says, "When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel", has been a bone of contention to theologians, believers and others who have always tried to accurately pinpoint the meaning of it.
But taking a clue from the context and other related verses, we could easily arrive at the accurate meaning. We know that the world before the flood of Noah's time was having seas which was the gathering together of the waters in one place and the dry land in one place which God called as Earth (Gen 1:10), which means all the peoples were living together on the land freely over the face of the earth speaking just one language all over the earth (Gen 11:1). But once men began to multiply on earth, every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually which made the earth to become a living hell (Gen 6:1, 5). Seeing the evil of sin ruling all humans and destroying their lives, God himself felt sorry for having made them (Gen 6:6-7). So the universal flood was brought upon the earth by God which destroyed all humans alike except 8 people of Noah's family who found grace along with Noah the man of God (Gen 6:8; 1 Peter 3:20).
When Satan sinned in heaven, he lost his right to occupy the highest heavens from which God threw him out instantly (Isa 14:12). Satan who was thrown out, because of his influence, convinced one third of the angels in heaven to part away with him when he was thrown out of heaven (Rev 12:2-4). Because of his hatred for God and his pet project earth, he created chaos on the earth to stop it (Gen 1:2). As God continued with His plan, Satan could do nothing more than stare at what good the LORD did out of all chaos (Gen 1:3-31). But as he was assigned to work in the project earth which God had planned before creation (Ezek 28:13-17), he started to promise a kingdom and its power to angels who fell from heaven if they cooperated with his sinister scheme to occupy earth forever if man could be corrupted with the rebellion of sin like themselves. Then God let them tempt man because they were called to watch over man in their calling (Rom 11:29). After Adam was created, through his one sin, sin entered this world and corrupted the whole humanity and the earth (Rom 5:12). Inspite of the evil inclination of the rebellious angels, God let them have power because man chose them rather than God who loved them unconditionally.
Coming to the main point, the word "the children of Israel" in Deut 32:8 does not mean the natural citizens of the nation of Israel. Here the word "children" does mean 'angels of God' according to LXX, DSS (LXX - seventy finest Jewish scholars that completed the translation as early as the late 2nd century BC and named it as Septuagint [meaning seventy], or LXX, which is the oldest Greek translation of the Old Testament, DSS - Dead Sea scrolls found in 1947 by shepherds in caves above the Wadi Qumran Valley, northwest of the Dead Sea.); according to Symmachus Lat. 'sons of God' (Symmachus fl. late 2nd century was the author of one of the Greek versions of the Old Testament. Jerome who admired his work used it in his work in composing the Vulgate [i.e. a late 4th-century Latin translation of the Bible] which was largely done by him).
In other words, all angels were called the sons of God during the beginning of time by God because they were created to serve man who would be created by God, and they were created before all earthly things came into existence (Heb 1:14). Even in the Book of Job which I believe is the first book ever inspired and written by God for man's learning, clearly portrays "a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan [i.e. the Adversary of humans] also came among them" (Job 1:6). So the sons of God were the angels who were appointed by God to watch over human beings at the time of creation and all of them rejoiced seeing God create the earth (Job 38:6). But the sad thing that happened before the flood was that the angels who were supposed to guard the people of the earth, began to posses them, and led them into all evil doings because of having joined the rebellious group of Satan before their fall from heaven, who was actually promoting sin among humans from the beginning because of his hatred towards God and the humans whom He loves as his very own soul (Ps 34:7; 103:20; John 8:44; Rev 12:3-4). There is a beautiful Tamil proverb that will fit the scenario, it says, 'The fence started grazing the grain in the field.' The same thing happened in the angelic realm, the angels who were put to guard the humans started possessing their faculties at their will, by letting themselves enter into the illegal domain of human bodies, leaving their own abode in the heavenlies and occupying the bodies of people on earth which was totally illegal (Jude 6). This was the reason the imagination of humans were continually evil, so God cast down these angels down to the prison of hell [Tartarus. Gr] and delivered them into chains of darkness during the destruction of the former world by water, to be reserved for judgment at the end of the universe in which it will be destroyed by fire (2 Peter 2:4; 3:10).
The sons of God who were guardians of humans in each nations which God appointed after the flood has been proved in the Book of Daniel where he says about it using the name prince, "13 ...the prince of the kingdom of Persia ...Michael, one of the chief princes, ..for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia... 20 ...I must return to fight with the prince of Persia; and when I have gone forth, indeed the prince of Greece will come." (Dan 10:13, 20). Only generations after the flood, God divided the nations by dividing the earth with boundaries set for every nation with sea around most of them so that Babel idolatry might not turn away humans and make them go away from God eternally in to its deceit and eternal destructions (Gen 10:5, 8-12, 20, 25, 32; 11:1-9). He set nations with boundaries to make humans seek Him desperately by groping for Him and thus find Him (Acts 17:26-27).
So the original meaning of Deut 32:8 which says, "When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel", should be understood as, "When the Most High divided their [Gentile] inheritance to the nations [i.e. people groups other than the nation of Israel], when He separated the sons of Adam [i.e. all humans] after the flood, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the 'sons of God' of Israel". In other words, according to the set pattern and the available quantity of angelic leadership which God had in his availability [as many of them were thrown in to prison already for final white throne judgment (2 Peter 2:4-5; Rev 20:10-15; 1 Cor 6:3)], He divided the nations with sons of God [i.e. angels] as their watching heads over each nations (Dan 4:13, 17). Individual watchers were also assigned for individuals under the watchers of the nations who were the chief heads God has appointed for each particular nation (Psa 91:11-12). When we are under the authority of the Lord God of Israel, all contrary spirits working as devouring lion and poisonous deadly venomous snake against humans cannot harm us because of the sovereign control of God's angels assigned over us to protect us, and they can never touch us because of the authority we hold as God's servant and as God's kingdom sons over them in the spiritual world (Psa 91:13; Matt 12:27-28; Luke 10:17-20). But for Israel as a nation, the LORD Himself became their leader over it in the spiritual realm, which He again started through Abraham who is Shem's descendant (Gen 11:10-32). Most heathen people have started to worship the watchers whom God has set to help them in their time of needs as their god (Deut 32:37). Even the people of Israel were tempted by some of the demons to worship them in the wilderness journey, which made God who is their watcher to become jealous of them and destroy them for their unfaithfulness to Him (Deut 32:17-18; Psa 121:4; John 5:17).
So the bottom line is that if we according to the context of the verse, related Scriptures and the root word meaning deduce the meaning of a particular verse, and then come to an interpretative conclusion, such verse like Deut 32:8 CAN BE CLEARLY UNDERSTOOD as we have seen above. God divided the nations according to the available angels after the flood, and then set them as watchers over the nations of the earth. Many evil angels are again awaiting judgment at the appointed time of Christ's Second Coming because of having done the same mistakes the other angels in prison chains of darkness did before the flood (Matt 8:29; Luke 4:34; Mark 1:24).
Much Blessings....
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