Yesterday I told you we’re going to answer the question of whether or not there are other divine beings who rule over the gentile nations of the world by using the Book of Daniel as our text source.
Well, let’s jump right into it.
Start by clicking right HERE to read verses Daniel 10:4-14.
Did you read it?
Good.
The contents being presented to us are downright fascinating.
Out of what we’ve just read, let’s focus our attention on these verses:
“Then he continued, ‘Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come.'”-Daniel 10:12-14
Wow!
What we’ve got here is a divine being (called a “prince”) who comes to tell Daniel that he would have come to him sooner but he was held up by an entity called the Prince of the Persian kingdom.
The divine being then goes on to further explain to Daniel that the only way he was able to disentangle himself and get free to come to him was because the chief prince called Michael came down and fought on his behalf against the prince of Persia.
We’re talking about a celestial battle in the heavens folks.
Oh but this gets even more mind-blowing!
Read the verses from Daniel 10:19 all the way to the end of the chapter.
“Do not be afraid, you who are highly esteemed,” he said.
“Peace! Be strong now; be strong.”
When he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said,
“Speak, my lord, since you have given me strength.”
So he said, “Do you know why I have come to you?
Soon I will return to fight against the prince of Persia,
and when I go, the prince of Greece will come;
but first I will tell you what is written in the Book of Truth.
(No one supports me against them except Michael, your prince.)
Holy cow!
Now we’re introduced to another divine being who we’re told has been put in charge of the nation of Greece.
Apparently, this BENEI ELOHIM (son of God) who holds power over Greece is going to come when the other BENEI ELOHIM leaves Daniel.
And the reason the divine being (the one currently speaking to Daniel) has to hurry and leave is because he has to return to do battle with the divine being who rules over Persia (I guess this is his current assignment given to him by Hashem).
This son of God then adds that the only assistance he’s going to get will come from the chief BENEI ELOHIM named Michael.
Well, there you have it folks and it can’t get more straightforward than that.
The Scripture tells us that in indeed there are other divine beings (sons of God or ELOHIM on Scripture) that God has assigned to rule over the nations.
And some of these divine beings are against God and some are for Him (I’d love to see the divine being who is ruling over North Korea get crushed).
Okay, let’s be honest about something here.
This section about the BENEI ELOHIM in Deuteronomy is an issue that is usually just skirted over by both Jewish and Gentile theologians.
The reason why should be obvious.
There is a real fear that those who follow the God of Israel will be tricked and misled into believing that these sons of God are self-begotten or are able to exercise their own authority outside of the God of Israel.
Some folks may even consider these divine beings to actually be real gods (the ones who Scripture refers to as “false gods”).
There is also the fear that this verse could lend some truth to the pagan idea that every nation has its own god or set of gods.
Remember the ancients believed that each people group had their own unique set of gods and that these gods were territorial meaning their power and authority were restricted to the borders of each nation.
This was the mindset of the whole ancient Middle East at the time and the ancient Israelites were no exception.
For instance, if we were to apply this mindset to the modern countries in existence today, an ancient person would have believed there is a god or pantheon of gods that rule over Japan or China for instance and nowhere else.
So what can we conclude with some degree of confidence?
FIRST, there are indeed other divine beings called BENEI ELOHIM or “sons of God” in Scripture who wield spiritual power and control over the gentile nations of the earth.
However, you can be reassured that they are absolutely not self-begotten or self-created beings.
It is God who has created them and it is God who controls them.
In fact, they are tools in the Lord’s hand to achieve His purpose for the salvation of mankind.
SECOND, as a result of what happened at the Tower of Babel, these divine beings are still exercising their powers today (but they are still under Hashem’s control. So relax.)
They were paired with the various nations created by God as a result of the Tower of Babel and there is no reason to think they are not still exercising their power today (albeit at the will of God).
THIRD, although these divine beings are NOT gods they have been worshipped as gods by the gentiles throughout all the history of mankind and are actually still being worshipped.
FINALLY, Satan, who Scripture calls the Accuser of Mankind and the Great Adversary is indeed one of these BENEI ELOHIM or “sons of God”.
So what’s the big takeaway from all of this?
It is this.
If these BENEI ELOHIM (sons of God) or Princes as Daniel refers to them really exist and have indeed been assigned to the gentile nations of this world, we as believers had better be aware of this.
Why?
Because it will enable us to understand better what’s going on as our present world seems to be teetering into downright immoral madness.
And this will also explain why the vast majority of gentile nations are moving away from the Lord and His chosen people Israel.
I can only pray that at the end of days you will be a part of that tiny remnant who will be grafted into Israel.
I mentioned several weeks ago that the remaining chapters of Deuteronomy are just chock-filled with intriguing mysteries that have held Bible scholars and theologians spellbound for literally thousands of years and this section of Deuteronomy is a perfect case in point.
A lot of folks like to skip over these esoteric sections of Torah because they don’t understand them.
And whenever scholars, theologians and translators encounter passages and verses like this that make them feel uncomfortable, they insert things in place of what is written that better fit their own manmade doctrines.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“For we are not struggling against human beings,
but against the rulers, authorities and cosmic powers
governing this darkness, against the spiritual forces
of evil in the heavenly realm.”
-Ephesians 6:12
Good article. This does indeed refer to Ephesians 6:12 and the disobedient ‘sons of God’ “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
Thanks for the NT reference. I’m gonna use that one.
I am aware of work done by Michael Heiser (Ancient Semitics researcher) about what happened at the Tower of Babel, as referenced by Moses in Deuteronomy and by David in Ps 81, but I am curious how you came to this conclusion…. is it taught to Jews or did you do you own research? I would love to see more Scripture on this. In Dan 4 when the kind has the dream about the great tree being chopped down, he says there was a Watcher, a holy one (as opposed to an unholy Watcher??) which made a decree, allowed by God Most High, of course. I believe these all intersect to give us an idea of the hierarchy of the heavenly throne room. Curious to see your reply! Thank you!
This seems pretty obvious to me by directly inferencing from the text.