On Earth as It is On Heaven - Preview 9

What does The Bible say about the ongoing power struggle between God, Satan, and humanity?

The Dividing of the Earth

An Ongoing Power Struggle

One of the most overlooked consequences of the Great Flood was that before that cataclysmic event the geography of the antediluvian world was far different from our own. According to most biblical scholars, before the Flood a single land mass was surrounded by a great ocean. So when the Scriptures describe how the waters above the Earth broke down and the fountains of the deep broke up, the resulting upheaval redistributed this single land mass, and so transformed global geography into what it is today.

Of course critics of The Bible deny such a possibility, insisting our present-day geography is the result of many long ages, in which tectonic plates only gradually moved the continents into their current positions. And while evidence of tectonic plate activity exists—in which scientists invoke the term “uniformitarianism”—an honest look at the geological evidence also reveals just as much evidence of abrupt cataclysms throughout Earth’s history. For this perspective on Earth science, we’re greatly indebted to the pioneering work of men like Georges Cuvier (1768-1832) and Immanuel Velikovsky (1895-1975) who went to great lengths to articulate the theory of “catastrophism” to explain our present-day geography.

And while this present work can’t possibly present all the geological evidence to confirm such a position, one thing is certain: In the context of what The Bible says about an ongoing power struggle between God, Satan, and humanity, there’s little doubt the Flood not only removed the Nephilim from the Earth, but it also divided the Earth’s land mass into what it is today.

(…you’re reading Part 17 of a 24-part series. If you like what you’re reading and want to continue, please SCROLL DOWN. Or to read this series from the beginning, go to Part 1…)
Story Continues Below
To watch author and historian W. Kent Smith discuss the contents of his book On Earth as It is On Heaven, at the Sacred Word Revealed Conference ’23, hosted by Zen Garcia, CLICK BELOW.

Story Continues From Above

Now, it’s also important to note that just as there are opposing views of the Earth’s dividing, in terms of secular versus sacred, there are also opposing views within the sacred school of interpreting this event. The verses in question read as follows:

This is the account of Noah’s sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth, who also had sons after the Flood… And sons were also born to Shem, the older brother of Japheth. Shem was the forefather of all the sons of Eber… Two sons were born to Eber: One was named Peleg, because in his days the Earth was divided, and his brother was named Joktan.1

Many times in Scripture a person was named in memory of a special event that occurred in their lifetime. In this case, Peleg, whose name in Hebrew means “division,” is so designated. The word used here should look familiar, in that it’s similar to the ones I spoke of earlier, in reference to the ongoing theme of dividing, scattering, and uniting. Here, the Hebrew word in question for “divided” is palag. And though the reason Eber’s son was named Peleg is alluded to, the exact nature of the “dividing” associated with his name isn’t spelled out for us, and so has remained a point of debate ever since.

Again, we should never be surprised by this conflict in biblical interpretation, and we shouldn’t for the reasons I’ve already cited: One, God’s word is apparently designed this way to force its readers to decide the meaning for themselves, thus revealing more about the interpreter of the message than the message itself; two, this is always due to the decidedly ambiguous nature of the biblical message; and three, because the message is cleverly couched in paradoxical terms, it inevitably leads us to a crossroad, where we must ask: Is this a genuine paradox or just another inconsistency?

So ends this Preview of ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN. To read more, please click on one of the following links:

To continue with this series, read an Excerpt to ask how could Scripture foresee the future of the most pivotal nations of world history but not of America?

Read the Next Preview to discover the way in which America—the land of “one out of many”—is the very definition of a paradox.

Read the Next Excerpt to find out how God intended Israel’s wilderness experience to reveal a universal truth to all outsiders, outliers, and aliens.

Read the Previous Preview to learn how the dilemma of Jesus’ disciples is really no different from ours today.

Read the Previous Excerpt to understand how America fits into the biblical narrative, as we hone in on the theme of power.

To read this series from the beginning, go to the First Preview to see that just because Jesus’ Kingdom isn’t of this world, it doesn’t mean Earth is an enemy of God’s Kingdom.

To hear Kent talk more about his book On Earth as It is On Heaven, CLICK HERE.

To listen in on some private musings, in which Kent dictated audio notes in the process of writing the book, CLICK HERE.

To read about the Sacred Word Revealed Conference ’23, hosted by Zen Garcia, in which Kent discusses his book On Earth as It is On Heaven, CLICK HERE.

To get a copy of On Earth as It is On Heaven, CLICK HERE.

 
Selected Bibliography

1. Genesis 10:1, 21, 25