Who to Trust?

01Jul09

Today’s Reading:  Genesis 8-11

Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. ~ Gen. 8:11

The dove with the olive branch has always been a symbol for peace. Maybe this symbolizes the end of the ritual cleansing of the Earth and therefore the initiation of restored fellowship between God and man.   Peace between heaven and earth.

And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.” ~ Gen. 9:12-15

In addition to establishing restored fellowship, God renewed His covenant with mankind, and even today, the symbol for God’s faithfulness is the rainbow.

Now the whole earth had one language and one speech… And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.  ~ Gen. 11:1, 4-5

I happened upon some information about the Hammurabi Stele Replica, which is in the Iran ‘Bastan’ National Museum. Hammurabi was the first ruler of Babylon, and is known for the detailed laws that were recorded on this stele, which are called “Hammurabi’s Code”. The translation of the introduction to the code was the most interesting to me, because it depicts a society much like what we see described in Genesis 11. Here is the translation, and a lovely picture of the relief on the stele.“When Anu the Sublime, King of the Anunaki, and Bel, the lord of Heaven and earth, who decreed the fate of the land, assigned to Marduk, the over-ruling son of Ea, god of righteousness, dominion over earthly man, and made him great among the Igigi, they called Babylon by his illustrious name, made it great on earth, and founded an everlasting kingdom in it, whose foundations are laid so solidly as those of heaven and earth; then Anu and Bel called by name me, Hammurabi, the exalted prince, who feared god, to bring about the rule of righteousness in the land, to destroy the wicked and the evil-doers; so that the strong should not harm the weak; so that I should rule over the black-headed people like Shamash, and enlighten the land, to further the well-being of mankind.

Hammurabi, the prince, called of Bel am I, making riches and increase, enriching Nippur and Dur-ilu beyond compare, sublime patron of E-kur; who reestablished Eridu and purified the worship of E-apsu; who conquered the four quarters of the world, made great the name of Babylon, rejoiced the heart of Marduk, his lord…”

Although Hammurabi lived around 1792-1750 BC, the city of Babylon was named for this is the same false God “Bel” as the city of Babel. Read the end of Hammurabi’s ostentatious description of himself: “the Sublime, who humbles himself before the great gods; successor of Sumula-il; the mighty son of Sin-muballit; the royal scion of Eternity; the mighty monarch, the sun of Babylon, whose rays shed light over the land of Sumer and Akkad; the king, obeyed by the four quarters of the world; Beloved of Ninni, am I.”

And the LORD said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth. ~ Gen. 11:6-9

And so began the development of diverse cultures and peoples such as we see today.

Description of this picture:  U.S. Army Capt. Gwynne E. Kinley, right, and Air Force Maj. Pauline Lucas, both from Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa, help an animal health worker use an auto injector during a veterinary civic action project on the island of Socotra, Yemen, Feb. 26, 2007. The objective of the project was to teach women on the island basic animal husbandry techniques to improve the country’s overall livestock health and productivity, as well as educate other villagers. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Carrie Bernard)

Filed under: Author: Moses, Compassion, Confusion, Faithfulness, Fellowship, Genesis, Peace, Trust, Worship   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: Africa, Babel, Babylon, Covenant, Dove, Hammurabi, Noah, Olive branch, Rainbow, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, Yemen