Ethan R. Longhenry's Blog, page 23

Seasons and Cycles

“While the earth continues to exist, planting time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not cease” (Genesis 8:22).

The tempest had been great; the promise given, even greater.

God saw the great sinfulness man maintained on the earth; He determined the only remedy was severe: a flood which would consume all flesh (Genesis 6:5-7). The waters of the earth and above the heavens fell upon the land, covering all of it, and drowning all save Noah, his family, and the animals on the Ark (Genesis 7:1-24). After the waters receded, God promised Noah and his descendants that He would never again flood the entire world (Genesis 8:20-21); as part of that promise, God declared that as long as the earth would endure, there would be seasons and day and night (Genesis 8:22).

We can bear witness to God’s faithfulness to this promise: while there have been great and terrifying floods in many parts of the world which have led to the deaths of untold millions of people, the entire world has not flooded since the days of Noah. To this day we still have spring, summer, autumn, and winter; we still experience day and night. We have every reason to expect that the Earth will continue to rotate around the Sun, and to experience the concomitant days, nights, and seasons, until the Lord Jesus returns.

God has thus promised that there would be days and nights and various seasons, but that does not mean God promised they would come without any kind of variation or changing. God promised that day and night would not cease, yet God also heard Joshua’s prayer, and the sun stood still for a full day while Israel defeated their enemies (Joshua 10:12-14), and God also brought darkness upon the land while Jesus suffered on the cross (Matthew 27:45). The historical record well preserves 1816 as the “Year Without a Summer”: the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora in modern-day Indonesia produced a “volcanic winter,” leading to abnormally cold temperatures throughout North America and western Europe in 1816. The land experienced frosts throughout the year but also wild temperature swings; crops failed and famine prevailed in the land.

These events are certainly exceptional and extreme, but they help us better understand God’s promise in Genesis 8:22: God promised that the earth will maintain its rotation on its axis so that there will be days and nights and seasons. God did not promise that there would never be any kind of temperature variation in those seasons, or that “seasonal” weather would never become extreme.

While God promised there would be days, nights, and seasons, God has also made known that the creation has been subjected to futility and decay (cf. Romans 8:18-23). God has given rain and fruitful seasons to mankind in His blessings (Acts 14:17); He has also judged mankind with famine, plague, flood, pestilence, and other forms of devastation (Ezekiel 5:11-13, Amos 4:5-13). When a people revel in sin, the land mourns: our very environment is affected by our iniquity (Hosea 4:1-3). God did indeed promise there would be day and night and seasons; God also promised that as people sow, they shall reap, and if they sow the wind, they might well reap the whirlwind (Proverbs 22:8, Hosea 8:7).

For generations humans have noticed variations in weather and temperature patterns; some periods of time are warmer or colder, wetter or drier, than others. Thanks to research derived from observations of how the Earth rotates around the Sun, historical records and records encased in tree rings and ice and mud cores, and other data, we have begun to better understand why those variations can take place. The Earth “wobbles” a bit in its orbit around the Sun, sometimes getting a little closer, and other times getting a little farther out; many of those “farther out” periods would have led to what we call ice ages. Significant volcanic activity can lead to the kind of “volcanic winter” experienced in 1816; if a few of these events take place in a short amount of time, we can find evidence of cooling in the climate that would last for decades. When we consider the climatic history of the past 2200 years, we find regional variations like the “Roman Warm Period” of 250 BCE to 250 CE, the “Medieval Warm Period” of 950 to 1250 CE, and the “Little Ice Age” of 1500-1800 CE. When we consider the historical record of those times, we can see how the “warm” periods led to better agricultural yields and higher populations, and we now recognize that many of the contributing factors which led to the collapse of those periods were rooted in the changing of the climate to the “colder” periods. The evidence on the ground, therefore, strongly associates times of prosperity and times of distress with cyclical climate changes.

Few of these changes were dramatic; most took place over a few generations. Yet they were very much felt. The “warm” periods were comparable to the temperature and seasons of the middle of the twentieth century; the “cold” periods saw longer winters and shorter summer periods, more frequent famine, and often bubonic plague. And yet the variation in global overall temperature was less than a degree Celsius.

By the 1800s the Earth was already experiencing a time of warming; in the past century we have seen anomalous increases in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and have already experienced over a degree Celsius of global overall temperature increase, well beyond anything experienced by natural cyclical variations over the past 2200 years.

What makes the modern moment different? Humans have industrialized, and our machines emit carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere. Our activities seem to have accelerated an existing warming trend even though the orbit of Earth might be trending into what would normally become a time of cooling.

Many have wished to dismiss any such claims as fantastic in light of God’s promise in Genesis 8:22. We will always have seasons, so it is said; thus the idea of “global warming” seems patently ludicrous. If all that was suggested was that Earth would always be in summer, and if Genesis 8:22 were the only word on the matter, such a view would be understandable.

Yet those who recognize the changes in our climate have never suggested that seasons would end. Instead, it is suggested that seasons become more extreme: the cold can get colder; the hot even hotter; dry spells last longer, but storms also get stronger. We are beginning to see these suggestions come to pass. What used to pass for extreme events are becoming far more commonplace; what we used to think was “normal” is no longer proving so.

In Genesis 8:22, God does not promise a particular experience of spring, summer, autumn, or winter; just that there would continue to be spring, summer, autumn, and winter. The seasons remain. But when we “sow the wind” with fossil fuel emissions, we might well find ourselves “reaping the whirlwind” of a planet with extreme weather that has become much less hospitable than it was before our innovations and developments.

God has never promised any of us a comfortable existence in a highly sophisticated and technologically advanced civilization. The historical records of the kinds of famines, pestilences, plagues, and wars which have beset mankind since the Lord Jesus ascended to heaven would speak otherwise! Yes, there will continue to be days and nights, springs, summers, autumns, and winters. But that is no guarantee that the climate and weather our children or their descendants will experience will be as comfortable and pleasant as our own. That God promised the continuation of seasons is no good argument against the prospect of climate change, and the people of God should cease considering it so.

Ethan R. Longhenry

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Church

For a lot of people, “church” evokes unpleasant experiences. We have all seen many examples of churches and their leaders not acting like they should. Maybe you grew up in a church and found it to be boring and/or irrelevant to the things you were going through in life. Perhaps you visited a church service that featured some great performances but you walked away feeling just as empty as you did before.

In a lot of places, “church” focuses on a building, the Sunday services, and maybe a Bible study or two, and that is about it. It’s like a social club: people come together, wearing nice clothes, acting like they have everything together, no matter how broken things really are on the inside. They sit for the standard rituals, exchange platitudes, and then continue on with life as normal. It all seems so fake and contrived! Little wonder, then, that so many people are no longer identifying themselves as part of a church. People still like Jesus; far fewer like the church!

Why would anyone want to be a part of such a group? Is such a group what Jesus had in mind as the church that He said He would build (Matthew 16:18)? What is the point?

It is sad that the condition of many churches has come to this, for it was never God’s intention for churches to act like social clubs. Instead, God intended for the church to be one of the greatest blessings in our lives!

In the New Testament, the “church” never refers to a building or a denominational organization. The “church” always involves the people who believe in Jesus and seek to serve Him (cf. Acts 2:42-47, Ephesians 4:11-16, 5:22-33). While all obedient believers are considered the one church (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, Revelation 21), the believers in a local area would meet together and represent the church in that area (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:2, 1 Thessalonians 1:1). Whenever possible, those local churches would be guided by qualified men who served as elders (Philippians 1:1, 1 Peter 5:1-4), yet in all things, Jesus was considered the real authority in the churches (Colossians 1:18, Ephesians 5:22-33). In the New Testament, there was the “universal” church, and local congregations of God’s people; there were no organizational structures in between!

God declares in Scripture what the church is supposed to be all about through three images: the church as a Temple (1 Corinthians 3:16-17, 1 Peter 2:4-5), the church as a body (Romans 12:3-8, 1 Corinthians 12:12-28), and the church as a family (1 Timothy 3:15).

The image of the church as a Temple shows us that God is interested in people becoming more holy (1 Peter 1:15-16). The Temple is the location where the presence of God dwells; it is not in a building anymore, but within and among Christians. Christians, individually and together, are to reflect God’s thoughts, feelings, and actions, both in doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong, based in what God has revealed to us through Christ and His Apostles (cf. Galatians 5:17-24, Ephesians 2:20-22).

The image of the church as a body shows us how God expects the church to function. As a human body has many different parts that work independently and together, so the church is made up of people who work independently and together. As a human body is governed by the dictates of the mind, so the church is governed by what Christ its Head has said. As a body is made up of different parts, some public, some private, having different functions, yet all important and necessary for proper functioning, so the church is made up of different people who serve the Lord, some in more public ways, others in more private ways, and they all are important and valuable in God’s sight. And just as body parts compensate for one another in times of weakness, so Christians are to strengthen each other in moments of weakness (cf. Galatians 6:1-2).

The image of the church as a family underscores the strong relationship that should exist among God’s people. God is understood to be our Father (cf. Romans 8:15), and Jesus as our older Brother (Hebrews 2:11, 17). We are to appreciate and value our fellow Christians as brothers and sisters in Christ (cf. 1 Timothy 5:1-2, 1 John 3:14). As people are supposed to find warmth, acceptance, and love within a properly functioning family, so the church should be the place where all who seek to serve the Lord find warmth, acceptance, and love (cf. Ephesians 4:11-16, 1 John 1:7).

All of these images point to what God expects the church to be, powerfully displayed in Ephesians 4:11-16: a group of people who share in relationships with God and one another, loving and strengthening one another according to the message of God in Christ, learning how to serve God and all men through Christ, and all so that the church can grow in the glory of God. A lot of that work is done when Christians come together on Sundays to strengthen one another through praying together, singing together, giving together, taking the Lord’s Supper together, and learning more about God’s message together through preaching and teaching (cf. Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, 11:23-26, 14:16-17, 26, 16:1-4). Yet just as Christianity is much more than what is done on Sunday morning, so also the church is more than just its assemblies: we show hospitality to one another, finding ways to get to know one another so that we can bear one another’s burdens, give to each other as needed, and strive to be a constant source of strength in each other’s lives (Romans 12:10-13, Galatians 6:2, 1 Peter 4:9).

We at de Verbo vitae believe that the church as God wants it to function has an important part to play in the role in the lives of every believer. We are not perfect people and we do not claim to have everything figured out, yet we still seek to reflect God’s intentions for His church, to be the Temple, body, and family that honors God by strengthening one another. We welcome you to learn more about our family and hope that you will consider joining us so that we can strengthen you and build you up in your faith! If you would like to talk more about the church and how to become a part of it, please contact us here. Thanks for reading this material, and we hope to hear from you soon!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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Philistia

The southwest coastal portion of the land of Canaan was supposed to become part of Danite and Judahite territory. It would instead become the land of a fearsome people from across the sea: Philistia.

In Deuteronomy 2:23, Jeremiah 47:4, and Amos 9:7, Biblical authors spoke of the Philistines as having come from the land of Caphtor, generally identified with Greece; in Genesis 10:14 they are identified with the Casluhim. Records from Egypt bear similar witness: among the “Sea Peoples” who attacked Egypt in the days of Merneptah and Ramses III, ca. 1215-1175 BCE, were a people the Egyptians called the “Peleset” or the “Pulasti.” The Egyptians repulsed both attacks; in inscriptions Ramses III prided himself on having settled them in the southwestern part of Canaan which would become Philistia.

The identity of the “Sea Peoples” is not fully known, but most consider them to be connected with the collapsing Mycenaean civilization of Greece. The Mycenaeans might well be considered the Vikings of their age: they lived in what was then the periphery of civilization, and grew strong by trading wherever they could, and sacking and plundering cities when they could not. Their distinctive pottery was found throughout the ancient Near Eastern world; the exploits of their heroes would be preserved in The Iliad and The Odyssey. As their city-states fought and destroyed one another, many likely sought refuge in their boats, wandering around the Mediterranean world and would become known as the “Sea Peoples”; if we are to believe Ramses III’s account, they are the ones responsible for the final collapse of the Hittite and many other Anatolian civilizations. The “Sea Peoples” were not merely a migration of a warrior class; in the reliefs Ramses III had carved of the Peleset, women and children are also present with them. To this end, after their defeat at the hands of the Egyptians, some of those among the Peleset settled in southwestern Canaan and became what we deem the Philistines. As far as we can tell, the Philistines never represented a centralized authority; they set up city-states, of which Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron, Gath, and Gaza proved primary. They were the “five lords of the Philistines” (Joshua 13:3), and they would become the terror of Canaan.

The Bible does speak of “the Philistines” before the time of 1175 BCE in Genesis 21:32-34, 26:1-18, and spoke of places in terms of the “land of the Philistines” in Exodus 13:17, 23:31. These references indicate either examples of anachronism, in which the people who dwelled in the land that would become Philistia are spoken of as “Philistines” even though the actual Philistines have not yet arrived, or may indicate an earlier settlement of Greek peoples in the land. Biblical historical narratives do not explicitly identify the time of the invasion of the “Sea Peoples,” but their effects become evident in the middle of the period of the Judges. Judah had been able to conquer Ashkelon, Ekron, and Gaza, which would become major Philistine cities in Judges 1:8. Yet Shamgar would have to kill many Philistines (Judges 3:31); Israel served the gods of the Philistines to their downfall (Judges 10:6); and the Philistines have established their rule over at least many in the southern portion of Israel in the time of Samson (Judges 10:7, 13:1-16:31). Whereas previous judges were able to deliver Israel from their foes so they would not be again oppressed by them, the Philistines remain just as much in charge after Samson’s death as they had before. While unstated in the text, the presence and power of the Philistines was very likely a major contributor to the decision of the Danites to give up on the portion of land allotted to them by Joshua along the Mediterranean Sea and to conquer what would become the city of Dan up in the north (cf. Joshua 19:40-47, Judges 18:1-31).

The Philistines laid Israel low in ways no other neighboring nation had been able to accomplish. From the days of Samson until the days of David, or roughly 1150-1000 BCE, the Philistines dominated the Israelites (cf. Judges 13:1-1 Samuel 31:13). This was the time of the greatest extent of Philistine rule in Canaan; even though they would lose some battles against the Israelites, they bested them far more often than not, seizing the Ark of the Covenant, and humiliating Israel to the point where no blacksmith could be found among the Israelites, for the Philistines did not want them to create weapons, and so demanded they visit Philistine blacksmiths, and maintained the power and control to enforce these demands. Such was a powerful motivator for Israel to ask for a king like the other nations (cf. 1 Samuel 8:1-22); what seemed to have been a loose tribal confederation beforehand developed into a centralized state, to some degree, in order to face the Philistine menace.

Yet God would lay Philistia low through the work of David son of Jesse. David defeated the Philistine champion Goliath (1 Samuel 17:1-58); in his flight from Saul David would become a vassal of Achish king of Gath, and ruled over Ziklag, and thus well understood the Philistines and their ways (cf. 1 Samuel 27:1-30:31). Once David became king of Judah and all Israel, he smashed a series of Philistine armies and reversed the roles in the relationship: the Philistines would become vassals of David (2 Samuel 5:17-25).

After the days of David the Philistines did not feature prominently in the Biblical narrative. They were vassals of David and Solomon but would restore their territorial integrity and hegemony by the middle of the eighth century BCE. The Philistines became like the other small nations of the Levant: they conspired with and against other small nations, resisted Assyrian and Egyptian domination, and would ultimately suffer a similar fate to Judah: Nebuchadnezzar destroyed their cities and exiled their population in 604 BCE. Unlike Judah, the Philistines would never return; they assimilated into the Babylonian milieu. The Phoenicians would take over the coastal areas; the returning Judahites would have populated the rest.

The Hebrew Bible certainly suggested that the Philistines were particularly foreign: people of the surrounding nations had been there for some time and shared ethnic and linguistic relationships with one another and the Israelites, yet the Philistines had come from Greece and maintained many different customs, particularly in remaining uncircumcised (e.g. 1 Samuel 17:26). By the seventh century BCE the Philistines had fully assimilated into local Canaanite culture; we have discovered a dedicatory inscription in Ekron which is written in a Canaanite dialect similar to Phoenician with some words which may have Greek origins, including the word Achish (cf. 1 Samuel 21:10, etc.).

Yet the Greek origin of the Philistines would leave two powerful legacies. One is the narrative of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:1-58, which is recorded in a detailed, almost epic format, featuring a proxy battle of champions, concepts featured prominently in Homer’s The Iliad. The other is in the Greek memory of the Philistines: Herodotus knew of the land of Canaan as Palaistine, based on “Philistine” (History 3.91.1), which leads to the modern term “Palestine.”

We do well to remember the Philistines as the scourge and terror of cities and nations during the collapse of the Late Bronze Age and into the Early Iron Age. Their presence and domination reconfigured the tribal assortment of Israel and led to its political centralization. Yet once Israel proved dominant, the Philistines would lose most of their distinctiveness, having taken on many features of Canaanite language and practice. The Philistines, as a people, are gone; yet their legacy remains since so many of the people of the land are called Palestinians to this day. Nevertheless, they had trusted in their ways and their gods and perished; Israel was to learn how they needed to trust in the ways of their God to remain and endure. May we endure in God in Christ and obtain the resurrection of life!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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How Absurd!

Life in this creation after the Fall: we live for a time and then we die. It all seems rather absurd.

Such is the perspective of the Preacher in Jerusalem in Ecclesiastes 1:1-2.

“Ecclesiastes” is a transliteration of the Greek translation of Hebrew Kohelet, “one who speaks before an assembly,” thus, “the preacher.” The Preacher is identified as the “son of David, king in Jerusalem in Ecclesiastes 1:1; he is also said to have taught knowledge and arranged many proverbs in Ecclesiastes 12:9. For this reason most associate the Preacher with Solomon, king of Israel, and author of most of the book of Proverbs (ca. 950 BCE). Scholars remain convinced Ecclesiastes is a work of far later provenance, perhaps dating from the Hellenistic period (ca. 330-250 BCE). We have no quarrel with attributing the work to Solomon, yet will continue to speak of him as he spoke of himself in the work: as the Preacher.

The Preacher began his message the same way he would end it in Ecclesiastes 12:8: by declaring that all things were hevel. The translations and understandings of hevel are numerous. The concrete referent of the term is manifest in Job 7:16, Psalms 62:10, 144:4, Proverbs 21:6, and Isaiah 57:13: wind, breath, or vapor. The term would develop more abstract referents based on the physical characteristics of wind/vapor. Since one cannot weigh or measure the wind or vapor, it was seen as without substance, thus leading to a meaning of “fruitless” or “worthless” (so Psalm 78:33, Proverbs 13:11, Jeremiah 2:5, 10:13, 15, 16:19, 51:18). Since wind and vapor pass away quickly, hevel could mean “fleeting” or “transitory” (so Job 7:16, Proverbs 31:30, Ecclesiastes 6:12, 7:15, 9:9, 11:10). Since one cannot easily see wind, breath, or vapor, it could easily be associated with that which is obscure and dark, and thus difficult to comprehend or understand (so Ecclesiastes 11:10). Thus we can understand the King James Version and American Standard Version’s translation of the term as “vanity,” and thus “vanity of vanities, all is vanity!” The New English Translation appropriately understands hevel as indicating futility: “absolute futility! All is futile!” A more imaginative definition would understand hevel as used by the Preacher to indicate absurdity: everything, in the end, proves absurd.

But what is futile and absurd? The Preacher spoke of life in terms of what goes on “under the sun” (e.g. Ecclesiastes 1:3): what is the ultimate purpose of human life as we live it in this creation in its present condition?

To this end all is futile. People live, work, and die. Whether they are good or evil, they live, work, and die. Rich and poor, fortunate or unfortunate, oppressor or oppressed; they all die. They are soon forgotten, and the world goes on. Thus, it is all futile.

How do we respond to such a message? Few Biblical messages lead to as much consternation as does the Preacher’s message in Ecclesiastes. What the Preacher has to say seemed to run afoul of the rest of the Biblical witness; thus its original editor felt compelled to conclude that the ultimate conclusion of the matter was to fear God and keep His commandments (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14). The Preacher would not deny as much; yet he is playing out all of human pretension to its natural end. People naturally want to stay together and make a name for themselves (cf. Genesis 11:4); but will any of that work? People look to labor, various forms of pleasure, or monuments or something of that sort to make sense of their lives between their birth and their death; yet can such efforts really sustain human meaning in existence?

The Preacher has rightly seen the end of all these matters, and would go on to explain as much throughout his message. He would disabuse us of the pretensions of the mythology which people like to tell themselves and their children: our labor will outlast us; we find who we are in our fun; life is all about us and our happiness; we can make an everlasting name for ourselves in this creation. None of these things really work; none of them truly satisfy. They are all vanity, futile: it is all absurd.

Would the Preacher have us fall into depression? By no means! The Preacher must strip us of our pretensions so that he can liberate us from them and allow us to find joy and pleasure in that which God has given for us: the fruit of our labor; the spouse of our youth; food and drink; the very things which we take for granted when we expend ourselves according to our pretensions. Life is absurd, but we can still enjoy it. We can appreciate it all the more for what it is when we are disabused of what it was never meant to sustain.

Little of this is immediately evident just in the Preacher’s statement that all is futile and absurd; it will flow from what he would go on to say. Yet it is important for us as hearers and readers to be properly prepared to hear what the Preacher has to say lest we try to rationalize and justify his warnings away in our attempts to hold onto the pretensions of life which we have inherited. We must be open to the utter absurdity of it all if we will be able to appreciate what the Preacher has to say.

In the end God does call all of us to fear Him and keep His commandments in the Lord Jesus Christ, looking to what God has done in Christ for ultimate meaning and eternal life. We do well to anchor our trust in God in Christ so that we can enjoy the lives He has given us for His glory and honor, and not attempt to make of life beyond what it can sustain. May we recognize the absurdity of life under the sun yet seek to glorify God in Christ in all we do!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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Can You Be Forgiven?

There are many times when people recognize the truth of the message of the Gospel, yet believe that they cannot be forgiven of sin. Perhaps you feel that you have sinned so terribly that you could never be forgiven of it. Is this so?

It is understandable why many people feel this way. Sin is a terrible matter, and many times you feel great guilt when you have wronged someone. That guilt can be healthy if it is a “godly grief”, one that leads to repentance from sin (2 Corinthians 7:10). If, however, the guilt leads to you sin further or try to hide, it will lead to death!

It is good for all of us to remember that we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), and there is no evidence from the Scriptures that God considers some sins to be “worse” than any other sins. We can have confidence from this, then, that all of us are on the same playing field, and no one is any worse off than anyone else: we have all sinned, and we all need redemption.

In 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Paul teaches that even though some had committed great sin, whether through sexual immorality, lust for money, etc., they were still saved! The blood of the Lamb could cleanse them of their sins!

Paul himself is a great example from the Scriptures of one forgiven of great sin. He tells Timothy of himself in 1 Timothy 1:12-16:

It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.

Paul sheds some light on the reason why God would use such a violent enemy of the church as one of its messengers: so that you and I would be able to see an example of one who had sinned greatly and yet found salvation in Christ Jesus. Paul considered himself the foremost of sinners; certainly you cannot consider yourself worse than Paul, who persecuted those who tried to follow God!

We are blessed to have an awesome God as our God, and we can have full confidence that He is able to forgive us of any wrongs we have committed. I do not believe that you want to believe that God is not capable of forgiving you of your sins, and I hope that you accept the witness of the Scriptures in that God is willing to forgive you of your sins. Is the issue, then, not that you are concerned that God will not forgive you of your sin, but in fact that you cannot forgive yourself for your sins? If this is the case, hear the witness of John in 1 John 3:19-20:

Hereby shall we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our heart before him: because if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.

If God can forgive you of your sins, and He certainly can, you can also forgive yourself of your sins. God will not hold them against you, and if you continue to hold them against yourself, they can lead to your condemnation (1 John 3:21). In Christ Jesus you will be able to end your past and begin your future.

Please, dear reader, hearken to the words of the inspired apostles and obey Christ today!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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Man’s Influence on the Creation

How strongly can humans influence God’s creation?

Our possible influence over the creation has become a serious and contentious matter. The implications of how we answer the question might well significantly impact our quality of life and the quality of life for those who may come after us.

The question is fraught with a continual human problem, aptly described by David in Psalm 8:4-7: in the grand scheme of the creation, humanity is small and insignificant, and we rightly wonder why God would notice us; and yet God has made us a little lower than the heavenly beings, crowned us with honor and majesty, and have given us dominion over the earth. Therefore we can understand a perspective that suggests human activity cannot strongly influence God’s creation since God is great and powerful and humans are not; we can understand why anyone who would hold to such a view would consider the alternative to be arrogant and presumptuous, claiming humans can do things they actually cannot do. Yet even though humans might be insignificant in the grand scheme of things, what if their activities on the earth can lead to significant changes and consequences for themselves and for other creatures on the planet? If such were possible, then the suggestion that we are too small to do much of anything would presume a false humility and its conclusion another form of arrogance and presumption: the belief humans can do whatever they wish and it will not significantly impact their environment.

What has God made known about human influences on the creation? In Hosea 4:1-3 YHWH began to indict Israel for their sinfulness: they were unfaithful and disloyal, did not recognize God, cursed, lied, stole, killed, and committed adultery, and as a result the land would mourn, leading to the death of people, land animals, and even the fish of the sea.

We today might wonder how or why Hosea would make such a connection: why would animals and fish suffer because people lie and steal? We can consider one very practical reason: those who do not respect the lives of their fellow humans will also not respect the lives of animals or the environment in general. If the Israelites had no problem extorting and plundering their fellow humans, they would not think twice about over-exploiting and plundering the abundance God provided for them in the land.

There remains a more profound and spiritual reason for such a connection, however, which hearkens back to the beginning. We have been told God made a very good creation in Genesis 1:31, and Paul declared that sin and death entered the creation through Adam’s transgression (Romans 5:12-21). Human sin is not something that just affects God, the person who sinned, and any victimized by that sin; since sin works contrary to the purposes of God in the creation, sin is a transgression against the way the creation is supposed to work, and will have an impact on the creation. Thus Isaiah lamented how the land and would would languish and mourn because the earth was polluted by the transgressions and violations of its inhabitants against God and His covenant (Isaiah 23:3-5). The land would suffer the result of this curse (Isaiah 24:5-14). As Jeremiah asked: how long would the land be parched, the grass withered, the animals die, and all because of the wickedness of the people (Jeremiah 12:4)?

The prophets directly associate God’s judgments on people with environmental devastation (Isaiah 33:9, Joel 1:10-13, Amos 1:2, 5:16, 8:8, Nahum 1:4, Zephaniah 1:3): the people would watch as their cities would burn down, their wealth was plundered, but also as their land burned or suffering from drought, famine, and pestilence. The Chronicler understood Jeremiah’s promise of seventy years of exile to allow the land to enjoy the sabbath years Israel never provided (2 Chronicles 36:20-21; cf. Jeremiah 25:11, Leviticus 25:4, 26:33-35).

In all these matters we should be reminded of Hosea’s maxim and warning to Israel: they had sowed the wind and would reap the whirlwind (Hosea 8:7). The fruit of what they would endure would be bitter indeed, and all because they proved covetous, greedy, and did not give appropriate regard for life or appropriate care and provision for the land.

Most agree that humans can wield significant influence over a given land or region, and many Christians do so on the basis of what we have demonstrated above from Scripture. Yet many will suggest human influence is limited or restricted to small areas of land and cannot significantly alter the balance of life.

For the majority of human history such a position was very understandable: human technological innovation was fairly limited and restricted, and environmental impacts seemed easily mitigated. Populations would rise and tax the earth and its resources, but then times of plague, pestilence, famine, and war would reduce the population and allow the earth and its resources to recover to some degree.

Nevertheless, recent discoveries about the finely tuned balance present on the earth should give everyone pause. The more we compare historical documentation of the rise and fall of empires and civilizations with data about the state of the climate from ice and mud cores from around the world, the more we see the power of the influence of environmental factors over our lives. In a very real way such evidence does confess humanity’s relative weakness and insignificance in the grand scheme of things: the rise and fall of nations and powers had as much to do with slight variations in global temperature and the changes in weather and environmental conditions which came as a consequence as it did with the relative strength and competence of the rulers and powers of the day. Time and time again the veneer of civilization proved very thin in the face of floods, drought, pestilence, and plagues, especially when these disasters would compound upon one another.

Over the past two hundred years, and especially within our own generation, human technological innovation has exploded and has led to significant environmental consequences. Humans with machines powered by electricity and fossil fuels transform land to a degree heretofore unimaginable. The human population has exploded over the past century; around the world we have replaced wild land and wild species with developed and cultivated land for ourselves, pets, and farm animals. In almost every domain the earth groans under the burdens we have imposed upon it: many lands have been denuded of fertile soil and are cultivated only with difficulty and fertilizer; it is now believed that half of the wild animals who were alive a generation ago are now gone; more species find themselves at the brink of extinction; fish stocks have been depleted and people now look to deeper and less quality fish to make up the difference; humans encounter new bacteria and viruses as they push ever deeper into previously untouched lands; plastic and other pollutants are everywhere; the oceans are warmer and more acidic; temperatures have risen; hurricanes/typhoons, floods, drought, and wildfires have grown in strength and duration. All of these are presently happening; who knows what will happen if we persist in our behaviors?

If one group of humans in one area, in their greed and sinfulness, can lead to environmental degradation and devastation when they reap the whirlwind they have sown, there is no intrinsic reason why humans around the world, if they prove greedy and sinful, will not suffer environmental degradation and devastation when they reap the whirlwind they have sown. We have gone beyond what is necessary in our exploitation of the earth; who knows how God will judge us for doing so? Perhaps He has built corrective measures into the fabric of the creation itself, and we will begin suffering the effects of these corrective measures. Perhaps He might bring a more specific form of judgment. Perhaps He will show mercy. Nevertheless, we presume a lack of consequence for the ways in which we exploit the creation to our peril and even greater peril for our children and grandchildren. May we uphold and honor the value of life and the creation with which God has blessed us abundantly, and look for the resurrection of life in Christ!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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1 John: Introduction

1 John represents one of the most sublime and yet profound books of the New Testament. At five chapters, it is not very long; but is full of encouraging thoughts and provides much to ponder.

The letter, as written, provides very little biographical information regarding either its author or its intended recipients. The author never identifies himself, yet the many parallels in thought and language between the author of 1 John and the author of the Gospel of John (as we will see) indicate that John the Apostle is the most likely author. Second century traditions agree with this identification. We recognize that Christians are the intended audience (1 John 1:3), and John’s tender appeals to his “little children” seems to indicate that the audience is well-known to John (cf. 1 John 2:1; 5:23). Based upon all available evidence, the audience is most likely the various Christians who lived near Ephesus in Asia Minor; the letter may have been written to one particular church or as an encyclical, with different copies going to many local churches.

Ephesus is the assumed place of authorship since the Gospel of John, the three letters of John, and the Revelation of John all seem to be written from the same hand. Both the Revelation and second century traditions place John in Ephesus toward the end of his life. Since 1 John itself betrays no geographical information or clues, we must content ourselves with this assumption.

The date of 1 John represents a contentious matter. The two timeframes most commonly advanced are between 61-67 or 85-95 CE. The early date tends to be favored by those who believe the whole of the New Testament canon was completed by 70 CE, and that John’s writings all precede (and anticipate) the destruction of Jerusalem. The later date tends to be favored by those who see John writing more to Christians in Asia Minor after the events of 70. 1 John itself provides few clues that can provide positive identification of the time period. Nevertheless, the complete lack of mention of Paul or Timothy is suspicious if John is writing in Ephesus in the 60s; likewise, very few of John’s concerns precisely parallel Paul’s concerns as laid out in 1 and 2 Timothy, which is also suspicious if the works are nearly contemporaneous. Furthermore, John’s great concerns with docetic and gnostic teachings (docetic: the belief that Jesus was not really in the flesh, but was God seeming to be flesh; gnostic: various beliefs that emphasized secret knowledge and presented an alternative view of reality more in line with Hellenistic philosophy; cf. 1 John 2:18-22; 4:1-3). While it is true that Paul seems to deal with the beginnings of such beliefs in Ephesus in the mid-60s (cf. 1 Timothy 6:20-21, 2 Timothy 2:16-19), the problem is much greater in John’s day, which is consistent with all historical evidence. The lack of interaction between John with Paul and Timothy and the more developed forms of docetism and gnosticism present in the area of Ephesus provide more credence to the later date.

Why does John feel compelled to write the letter? John says that he writes to “make our joy complete” (1 John 1:4). To do so, he encourages the brethren to live faithfully according to the standard of Christ’s commandments (cf. 1 John 2:1-6), and to stand firm against the false doctrines (most likely forms of docetism and/or gnosticism) that are growing in prevalence in his day (1 John 2:18-22; 4:1-3). We see that John wrote a letter to Christians in Asia Minor sometime between 85-95 CE to make his joy complete, encouraging them in their faith, exhorting them to stand firm in God’s truth and to put God’s truth to work in their lives.

Ethan R. Longhenry

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Walking in the Name of YHWH

The short-term forecast for Israel and Judah remained bleak: terrifying judgment on account of their idolatry, oppression, and other sins. Yet YHWH would remain faithful to His people; they would again walk in His name.

The Word of YHWH had come to Micah of Moresheth in the eighth century BCE; Micah 1:1-3:12 primarily presented YHWH’s indictment of Israel and Judah and warning regarding imminent judgment at the hands of the Assyrians. Some hope for future restoration had been extended in Micah 2:12-13. The rest of the Word of YHWH through Micah would present more hope yet also plenty of indictments, judgment, and woe for Israel and Judah (Micah 4:1-7:20).

Micah envisioned Zion as the most important mountain, to which people from many nations would come in order to learn the ways of YHWH. YHWH would judge among the people and they would turn weapons into farm implements (Micah 4:1-3; cf. Isaiah 2:2-4). Peace and prosperity would come for the nations, for YHWH had decreed it; other nations might serve their gods, but Israel should follow YHWH forever (Micah 4:4-5). YHWH would gather the disabled and the marginalized on that day and make a new nation of them; He would reign over them on Zion; Zion’s dominion would return (Micah 4:6-8).

But for now Jerusalem would groan: their king would disappear, and their pain and suffering would be great (Micah 4:9). They would go to Babylon, but YHWH would rescue them (Micah 4:10). Nations have gathered against Zion for violence and humiliation, but YHWH would defeat them and would crush many nations (Micah 4:11-13). They would first suffer siege and be struck on the face (Micah 5:1).

Micah then extended hope for Israel from Bethlehem, a place seemingly small in Judah, yet from which the King would emerge and rule over Israel (Micah 5:2). YHWH would hand His people over to their enemies until this King would be born; Israel would be re-unified; the King would shepherd Israel; they would live in security, and the King would be honored throughout the world and provide peace (Micah 5:3-4). If the Assyrians would invade, Israel would send rulers to rule over Assyria, the land of Nimrod, and their King would rescue Israel from any Assyrian invasion (Micah 5:5-6). Israelites would live in the midst of many nations and be as dew and as lions in the forest, not dependent on humanity but able to attack and strike; their enemies would be destroyed (Micah 5:7-9). YHWH would destroy Israel’s chariots, horses, cities, sorcery, and idols to cleanse His people from their sins (Micah 5:10-15).

But for the moment the people needed to again hear YHWH’s indictment (Micah 6:1-2). YHWH wanted to know how He had wronged His people or wearied them; He had rescued them from slavery and provided for them in the midst of enemies (Micah 6:3-5; cf. Exodus 1:1-Numbers 36:13).

Micah asked what he would need to bring in order to stand before YHWH: burnt offerings, rams, oil, his own firstborn child for sin and rebellion (Micah 6:6-7)? Micah said YHWH had told Israel what is good and what He desired from them: to do justice, love covenant loyalty, and live obediently before God (Micah 6:8).

YHWH spoke again to Jerusalem: He would not stand idly by while they use corrupt scales, commit violence, and lie to one another for dishonest gain (Micah 6:9-11). He would strike them terribly: they would eat but not find satisfaction; they would plant crops but not enjoy the harvest; they would work olives and grapes but not enjoy the fruit of that labor, for they have gone in the way of Omri and Ahab, and will thus be made a horror and a mockery among the nations (Micah 6:12-16; cf. 1 Kings 16:16-21:29).

Micah lamented his own suffering: he considered himself as harvesters with nothing to harvest (Micah 7:1). The faithful and godly have disappeared; everyone committed sin, did evil, and did not profit for righteousness (Micah 7:2-4). No one could trust anyone else; even one’s own spouse could not be trusted with secrets; family dynamics have been thoroughly disrupted, and a person’s enemies are in his or her own family (Micah 7:5-6). Micah would yet watch and wait for YHWH, assured He would hear (Micah 7:7). Micah warned his enemies to not boast over him, because he might have fallen and sits in darkness, but he would get up, and YHWH would be His light (Micah 7:8). We get the impression Micah is speaking for his people now, for he then spoke of how he must endure the anger of YHWH on account of his sin, yet he remained confident that YHWH would defend him and accomplish justice (Micah 7:9). His enemies would see this and be filled with shame. They may now ask where YHWH has gone, but they would eventually be trampled (Micah 7:10). Jerusalem would be rebuilt; Israel’s boundaries would be extended; people would come to Israel from Assyria, Egypt, the coasts, and the mountains (Micah 7:11-12). The earth would suffer desolation because of what its people did (Micah 7:13). Micah wanted God to shepherd His people and allow them to graze again in Israel; he wanted God to accomplish miraculous deeds as He did for their ancestors in Egypt; the nations would see and their strength would fail; they would humble themselves before YHWH (Micah 7:14-17).

Micah’s message concluded by asking who was a God like YHWH, forgiving sin, pardoning rebellion, a God who is not angry forever, but demonstrates covenant loyalty; a God who will have mercy on His people and will overthrow their sins (Micah 7:18-19). Micah remained confident in YHWH’s covenant loyalty to Abraham and Jacob according to the oath He made in ancient times (Micah 7:20).

All of what Micah foretold would come to pass. The Assyrians would devastate Israel and most of Judah, but would be humbled at the gates of Jerusalem; Judah would later go into exile in Babylon; the people would return to the land of Judah, but also many would remain dispersed among the nations. A King would arise from Bethlehem, Jesus of Nazareth, and He would be the Good Shepherd of the people of God, and reigns forever over His Kingdom of which there will be no end. YHWH proved faithful to His promises.

Yet people to this day continue to persist in iniquity; corruption and oppression remain. Trust proves difficult. Many wonder what they need to do in order to please God, if there even is a God; many others imagine God has wronged or wearied them. We therefore can gain much from YHWH’s word to Micah. If we want to please God, we must do what is just and right, love covenant loyalty, and live obediently before Him; we must wait patiently for Him, because He will judge the wicked and will be exalted in righteousness and holiness. We do well to come to heavenly Zion and learn of the God of Israel, to walk in His name, and obtain eternal life through Jesus His Son. May we trust in God in Christ and share in the resurrection of life!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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The Peril of Science and Technology

Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up (1 Corinthians 8:1).

Our society tells itself a comforting story of progress: people consider the many scientific and technological advancements over the past three hundred years and tend to focus on the positive results. It seems hard to argue too much: at no point in human history has daily life been so thoroughly transformed in such a short time. The narrative of progress is a very tempting one, yet with it comes the great peril of science and technology: knowledge all too easily leads to arrogance.

The premise of “progress” itself lends itself to arrogance. If we have “progressed,” it must mean that we are better than those who came before us. For untold generations people presumed that people of olden times lived better, proved wiser, and enjoyed a better time than those in the present. Today the situation is exactly reversed: people today are confident they live better, prove wiser, and enjoy better times now than their ancestors did in the past. We have so much greater understanding of things; we enjoy a higher quality of life, at least in material terms, than did our ancestors; we tend to live longer. The failures and limitations of our ancestors have been exposed and even magnified in light of current developments and understanding. Doubtless there are many things we understand better than our ancestors did; yet is it possible that our ancestors understood other things better than we do? No doubt many of our ancestors would have greatly appreciated the higher quality of life we enjoy in material terms, but would they prove willing to abandon the sense of community, camaraderie, and inter-connectedness they enjoyed which we have lost? Our ancestors sinned and transgressed in many ways; do we think we have escaped such transgression, or is it that we are blind to the logs in our own eyes while very perceptive of the specks in the eyes of our ancestors? We presume that modern life is “progress” at our peril: modern life is certainly different, and comes with some benefits, but that does not mean that modern life is “better.” The Preacher is wise: time is cyclical; what has been will be; there is nothing truly new under the sun; yet to say the former days were better than these is not according to wisdom (Ecclesiastes 1:2-9, 7:10). We can appreciate the differences in modern life that make it better while critiquing and lamenting those differences that have made life worse.

Expansion of scientific knowledge and development of technology has led to great and unjustified arrogance. It did not have to be this way: we can imagine a world in which scientists and innovators recognize the divine order of things and in humility seek to gain better understanding of the creation in order to glorify and honor their Creator. Instead we live in a society which two centuries ago decided to assume a mostly “dead” universe with life as the great exception as opposed to the previous model in which the universe was understood as alive and made for life. Therefore those who have gained greater understanding of science and technology are all too easily tempted to believe they have become the masters of the universe. They seek to learn so they can control and manipulate; whenever humans have attempted to learn so as to control and manipulate, they have established a culture of death. And so it is today: with our fossil fuel driven economy we oppress the creation, over-exploit its resources, create deserts, and call them paradises. Far too many scientists, and those trained to believe in a scientific mindset, have given themselves over to scientism, presuming that science and the scientific method is the means by which to explain everything. Thus they presume God cannot exist because He does not fit in the box of their scientific methods; they try to explain everything based upon what can be ascertained through scientific exploration. They have thus created a diminished desert of life and call it paradise, because their desert is at least ordered according to their specifications of what they can understand. We hear continual stories out of Silicon Valley of men and women who believe that the technology they develop is The Answer to All Our Problems, and who consider themselves as gods upon the earth. They have gained great wealth from their innovations and thus they presume they can run the world. They imagine that all the world’s problems can be solved with just better application of technological know-how. No matter what, in such a view, there is always better living through science and technology.

Far too many blind themselves by such delusions. The scientific endeavor is good, even excellent, in its appropriate sphere; yet much of life, especially the parts of life worth living, cannot be reduced to biological impulses and what can be explained by science. Scientism, almost by necessity, leads to an Epicurean posture: life is meaningless; thus, we should do all we can to avoid pain and enjoy life responsibly. Ancient Greeks proved wiser than modern man: they recognized that Epicureanism was a possibility, but did not presume it was the given or default philosophical posture, and appreciated many other perspectives. Beauty, meaning, and truth give life its value, and none of these can be fully appreciated through a purely scientific perspective; when one hears that altruism and the humanitarian impulse is deemed to be an evolutionary misfire, one should surely see the diminishment of humanity and the dullness of imagination left to us in such a purely materialistic perspective. Just as science cannot explain all things, technology cannot fix all of our problems. In fact, technology creates problems as it might fix others. Can you remember the halcyon days when it was imagined that social media would be a means by which humans would be able to come together and share in life together despite physical distance and be a force for good? It did not take long before the pursuit of money made it more profitable to use social media to tear people apart and to fear The Other and reinforce tribal allegiances. Now many who helped set up social media are filled with lament and regret. As it went with social media, so it goes with all sorts of science and technology. All such knowledge and development are morally neutral: they are tools. They can be used for good or for evil. Unfortunately, people with the best of intentions become so dazzled with the possibilities for good that they dismiss and prove blind to the equally likely possibilities such tools possess for evil until it is too late. People become so enamored with the idea of progress they forget they have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory and maintain a propensity to sin. In our attempt to become masters through science and technology we become enslaved and entrapped to what we have made; we may dominate for a season, but may find ourselves undone by the consequences of our domination.

In all such things we can perceive the hand and judgment of God, and He is right, just, and holy to do so. Ever since Babel man has arrogated himself against God and His purposes, and every time man has ultimately found himself frustrated. “Civilization” and “progress” prove thin veneers, easily penetrated by danger, disaster, and distress; for all we have learned about the universe and our technological advancements, we have not made much “progress” regarding metaphysics and philosophy, and “the good life” remains as elusive as ever. We might be more comfortable physically, yet agonize and suffer greatly mentally, emotionally, and spiritually as we become more isolated through our science and technology.

There was a time when people could look upon three hundred years of advancement, what they deemed to be a great and refined time of civilization, and had every reason to imagine it would go on forever. That time was the Roman Empire of the middle of the second century, and their way of life did not go on forever. They may have felt as if they had progressed, but a time would come when they would “regress.” We do not prove as different from them as we might like to think. Knowledge makes arrogant; science and technology can be wonderfully effective servants, but they make for despotic and terrible gods. May we recognize the peril that can arise from overconfidence and overreliance in science and technology, glorify God as God and use science and technology in ways which honor His purposes, and find life in the resurrection in Christ!

Ethan R. Longhenry

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Phoenicia

Ethnically they were a Canaanite people; they spoke a Canaanite language; they worshiped and served the Canaanite pantheon of gods. Jezebel, architect of Israel’s service to Baal, was among their number. Based on what was written in Deuteronomy, one might imagine Israel was to devote such a people to destruction. And yet throughout the period of the kings Israel and Judah maintained at least cordial relations, if not outright alliances, with the cities of Phoenicia. How was this possible? What made the Phoenicians different?

The ancient land of Phoenicia lay on the narrow coastal strip of land from the Mediterranean Sea to the west and the Anti-Lebanon Mountains to the east, and from Arwad in the north to Acre in the south, primarily in today’s Lebanon. The Greeks called the people of the land Phoiníkē; it may come from the Phoenicians’ own term for themselves (ponnim; the land they called put), or from the purple dye which the Phoenicians manufactured from the murex shell for which they were famous throughout the Mediterranean world. The Greeks, as well as many Lebanese to this day, believed the Phoenicians originally came from the civilization of Dilmun in modern-day Bahrain; modern genetic analysis, however, confirms that the Phoenicians were a Canaanite people with extremely ancient origins in the land.

From beginning to end the Phoenicians represented a collection of city-states who relied heavily on trade and industry: Tyre, Sidon, Byblos, Beirut, Baalbek, and many others. Phoenicia is very much like much of Greece: mountainous with a rugged coastline punctuated by a few small natural ports. They did not have much land suitable for farming; the closest such land to their southeast was first controlled by other Canaanite city-states, and later by the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Their survival was thus dependent on their ability to trade and manufacture goods.

Both Egypt and the Mesopotamian civilizations maintained significant interest in Phoenicia on account of the cedars of Lebanon since their lands did not feature many such trees; the cedars of Lebanon were highly prized in Scripture and used in building Solomon’s palace and Temple (1 Kings 5:1-18, 7:1-13, Psalm 104:16, Song of Solomon 5:15, Ezekiel 31:3, Hosea 14:5, etc.). Phoenician contacts likely strongly influenced Minoan and thus Mycenaean Greek civilizations; Phoenicia, especially Tyre, Sidon, and above all Byblos, was incorporated into the Egyptian Empire from the days of Thutmose III until its decline under the Ramessids of the twelfth century BCE.

Few people benefitted as much from the collapse of the large empires and civilizations of the Late Bronze Age as did the Phoenicians. Mycenaean Greek and Egyptian power diminished; beginning around 1230 the Phoenicians experienced a kind of resurgence and renewal and began to take over the primary sea routes in the eastern Mediterranean. Within a few centuries they would expand their seafaring and trade connections throughout the entire Mediterranean basin, a near monopolistic position they would maintain for most of the first millennium BCE. Ezekiel testified to the extent of their trading network at the height of their influence in Ezekiel 27:5-25: from modern day Spain and Morocco in the west to Turkey, Mesopotamia, and the Arabian tribes in the east. They established colonies to facilitate trade throughout the Mediterranean from Cyprus to Marseilles and “Tarshish,” or Spain; the most famous and prominent such colony the Tyrians called “Kart-hadash,” or Carthage, in modern-day Tunisia; likely founded in the ninth century BCE, Carthage would eventually rule over an economic empire dominating the western Mediterranean basin until defeated thrice by the Romans in the third and second centuries BCE. Punic, the Canaanite based language of the Carthaginians, was still spoken there in the days of Augustine of Hippo in the fifth century CE.

Throughout their days the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah maintained an alliance of convenience with the Phoenicians. Despite having territory along the Mediterranean Sea the Israelites never became a seafaring people; successful Israelite forays into seafaring generally took place with Phoenician assistance (cf. 1 Kings 9:26-28). Thus Israel and Judah were dependent on the Phoenicians for all sorts of merchandise and goods from across the Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds. The Phoenicians had little arable land, which Israel and Judah had in abundance (cf. Ezekiel 27:17). The Phoenicians were thus dependent on Israel and Judah for food. Their mutual dependence on one another reinforced their alliance which seems to have been maintained from the days of David until the demise of the Israelite and Judahite kingdoms.

Hiram I of Tyre was an ally of David and Solomon, sent Lebanese cedar and workmen to Solomon so he could build the Temple and his palace, and also assisted Solomon’s ships in their journey to Ophir (ca. 950-935 BCE; 2 Samuel 5:10, 1 Kings 5:1-18, 9:27-29); he expanded Tyrian power and for a moment set up the closest thing Phoenicia ever saw to a unified state. Jezebel, scourge of Israel, was daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians; Elijah’s condemnation of her did not extend to the house of her father (1 Kings 16:31). The prophets of Israel prophesied distress and doom for the Phoenicians as they did most of the other nations around Israel, particularly for their wealth and presumption (Isaiah 23:1-18, Ezekiel 26:1-28:26, Joel 3:4, Amos 1:9-10, Zechariah 9:2-3).

The Phoenicians found it increasingly difficult to maintain political autonomy as the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians developed their empires. Tiglath-pileser III annexed half of Phoenicia as part of the Neo-Assyrian Empire; Sargon II and Esarhaddon would violently suppress later rebellions, with the latter destroying Sidon in the process (ca. 744-650). Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon famously besieged Tyre for thirteen years, yet unsuccessfully (587-575; cf. Ezekiel 26:1-28:19, 29:17-21). After the Babylonians exiled the Judahites and Philistines, the Phoenicians likely colonized the Levantine coast down to Gaza. The Phoenicians decided to accommodate themselves to Persian rule and were richly rewarded for doing so; they maintained considerable autonomy and maintained their maritime hegemony. The navy with which Xerxes attacked the Greeks came from the Phoenicians and the Egyptians. The king of Sidon rebelled against Artaxerxes III and Sidon was destroyed, leaving Tyre as the primary Phoenician city until it was besieged successfully by Alexander the Great after a seven month siege and most of its inhabitants having fled to Carthage. The Greeks thought highly of the Phoenicians and the Seleucids continued to allow the Phoenicians to maintain some autonomy and their maritime connections with their western colonies. Phoenicia would eventually come under the sway of the Romans and was incorporated as part of the province of Syria; Jesus visited Tyre and Sidon and there healed the daughter of the Syro-phoenician woman, and also used Tyre and Sidon as representatives of pagans who would have repented had they heard what had been proclaimed in the cities of Galilee (Matthew 11:21-22, 15:21-28). The Romans both devastated the Phoenician colony of Carthage and its empire as well as the political autonomy of Phoenicia itself, and the Phoenicians assimilated into the greater Roman milieu.

The Phoenicians proved adept at sailing; they are responsible for the development of the keel, the bireme, and the trireme, the last of which would become the standard vessel in the Mediterranean for the rest of antiquity. They also developed the amphora, which remained the standard measure and means of transporting liquid goods for two thousand years, as well as self-cleaning ports and the beginnings of admiralty law. The Phoenicians kept the Mediterranean and Near Eastern world together: the portrayal of Ezekiel 27:5-25 testifies to their influence, and they are credited with adapting the Proto-Sinaitic/Canaanite glyphs into what would be called the Phoenician alphabet, the basis upon which the Greeks and Romans would develop their alphabetic signs which we use to this day. They also would have transmitted religious ideology, cultural artifacts and concepts, and other such things. The Greeks and Romans would build upon the existing trade network of the Phoenicians. Yet the Phoenicians also proved adept in industry: they developed or built upon existing techniques for glass-making, metalwork, and woodwork, and manufactured the purple dye which indicated high standing and royalty throughout antiquity. The Phoenicians were also likely the reason wine and viticulture spread throughout the Mediterranean world.

Thus the Phoenicians might have been Canaanite in origin, ethnicity, language, and religion, but by necessity developed a culture and industry quite distinct from their inland relatives. Manufactured and traded goods from the Phoenicians proved very important for the Israelites and Judahites. Many aspects of what would become Western civilization developed on the basis of Phoenician goods and ideas. Yet judgment came for the Phoenicians as it did for all nations. We do well to learn from them and not trust in our ability to trade and prosper economically, but to trust in God in Christ in all things!

Ethan R. Longhenry

Works Consulted

“Phoenicia“(accessed 2021/08/26).

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