When people learn about the "divine council worldview" (aka "the Deuteronomy 32 worldview"), I see many people wonder: okay, so what about America? Is there a spiritual being that was assigned over this country, and if so...who??
I've got a few thoughts about this, as I talked about Jonathan Cahn's work which centers on suggesting that America = Babylon, and all that that entails. (Spoiler: he's overly sensational and claims part of his book was written mysteriously.)
This question recently surfaced again in the Divine Council Worldview facebook group, and Mike Chu, a fellow admin of that group who has been a guest here on the podcast, wrote up a great response. I asked him if I could post his comments here on my blog.
The concept that a deity/divine being has a connection to the land was a commonly held idea amongst the ANE nations, especially those that surrounded Israel. Patron Deities of nations were land locked so it were. If your people group happened to be living on the land, you were expected to be serving that deity. The point I was bringing up was ‘look at the difference’ with YHWH and the people group known as Israel. He was with them in the land of Egypt, technically a foreign land to the non-Israelite mind. YHWH should not have power because this is not his designated land, yet He did exercise power, He defeated the Egyptian gods so to speak. He travels with the Israelites for 40 years in the wilderness. This showed them that their God was not bound by land boundaries. This would continue even into the exile to Babylon in that while God sends them to exile, He went with them as well. YHWH is bound, so to speak, to those who call upon His Name.-To address your questions in order, some resources and answers.----1. Do we have any speculation of what entity rules which geographical area?-Heiser gives this answer to a similarly word question in his book, Demons:-“…the Old Testament does provide some information (far from complete) about what deities were worshiped in specific places. For example, God laments that his people “have forsaken me and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites” (1 Kgs 11:33). However, it is common knowledge among archaeologists of the biblical world and scholars of ancient Near Eastern religion that various deities could be (and were) worshiped in the same cities, regions, and nations. Worship of Baal was ubiquitous in this regard. This situation is part of the syncretistic nature of polytheistic systems and the whims of monarchical rulers who would favor different deities and, for example, when changing the nation’s capital, import the worship of that deity to a new location.+It is therefore not possible to either biblically or historically aim for precision in this regard. We can presume that since Scripture has no such elucidation, such a listing was not important. The point of how Deuteronomy 32:8–9 describes the judgment at Babel is not to provide a lineup of national deities. Rather, it is to answer the questions of (1) why humanity drifted from recognition of the true God, Yahweh, to the worship of other gods, and (2) to make the point of Israel’s uniqueness among the nations and their gods.” ~ Michael S. Heiser, Demons: What the Bible Really Says about the Powers of Darkness (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2020), 264.----2. What about land outside of the ANE-- was this land assigned ruling gods at Babel?-Again, from the same book, Heiser continued and answers this followup question:-“Readers should take note that the number of the nations listed in Genesis 10, the context for Yahweh’s punitive allotment to lesser gods, is seventy. The number seventy is well known as signifying totality in Israelite thought. The number itself reinforces the idea that Israel alone was Yahweh’s portion and all the rest of the nations in totality were disinherited and under the dominion of rival gods.”+Heiser, Demons, 264–265.----3. Do they still have power?-If by power you mean authority? No. The work of Jesus has disenfranchised them. The Kingdom of God started breaking into our Realm at the Baptism of Jesus according to Mark’s Gospel. The divide between Heaven & Earth has been “torn” open in a similar fashion as the veil in the temple would later be “torn” as well.-Heiser described it this way:-“The territorial authority of the rebellious sons of God, allotted to them by the Most High in the judgment at Babel, has been withdrawn and nullified by the design of the Most High in the work of Jesus. They have no authority over humanity outside the nation of Israel. The gentile is welcomed back into the family of God through Christ. The Great Commission is about awakening all people everywhere to these truths so that they might be embraced by faith.” ~ Heiser, Demons, 262.-If you mean power as capability to resist the coming of the Kingdom of God? Sure, that is pretty clear to the spiritual opposition we face. This is why missionary work is important. The proclamation of the Gospel to all people groups must continue moving forward and baptisms by which allegiance is given to King Jesus. This is what true spiritual warfare is about. The reclamation of all people groups to their Creator God.-“What this means for the question under consideration is that the ongoing activity of Satan, demons, and the fallen gods not yet imprisoned makes sense if the goal is impeding and forestalling the fullness of the gentiles. In other words, opposing world evangelism allows them more time to spread misery and destruction among humanity, the objects of God’s love and plan. This is the only definable “victory” the powers of darkness can hope to accomplish. It is the only conceivable way they can hurt and grieve God. In this context, their resistance is comprehensible.” ~ Heiser, Demons, 263–264.----4. Is/Was America ruled by one of them?-If we want to speculate, sure no yes maybe? Again back to Heiser’s point, the work of Jesus has begun the time clock to the judgement of these rebellious governing divine beings. They are no longer employed so to speak. I don’t think they are technically part of YHWH’s Divine Council anymore as it would seem odd to have employees who hate your guts, actively working for your company’s ruin, to still be employed by you.-It again comes back to making disciples of Jesus and not good USA citizens. I say this as a born and bred Bostonian, the birthplace of the US Revolutionary War, but if we are more concerned about the politics of folks than we are with them meeting and bending their knees before Jesus the King, we are unintentionally prolonging the resistance to the Kingdom of Heaven breaking into our land and our peoples. We are simply distracted by the very rebels who have deceived the nations.-Hope this helps flesh out some ideas and the material from Heiser’s Demons book I hope will be a good resource for folks to read and percolate on. Below is a clip from one of the QAs Heiser did for the DrMSH private community when he was asked about if the USA is Mystery Babylon. Spoiler alert: No it is not.-
When studying the Bible, we need to take care to discern what we can know, and what we can't. It is our job to understand the Bible in its context so that we can understand the underlying theological messaging. Yes, we do need to take that a step further to interpret and apply that messaging to today. Learning about the divine council worldview is not for zooming in on which entity is which and who is doing what, exactly, but to know that there is a spiritual reality there, and that spiritual reality was dealt with in Christ. It is our need for Christ that is the pinnacle of this messaging, not to go on taxonomy hunts. The spreading of the church and making disciples for Christ are the focus.
Thanks Mike (and especially the late Dr. Mike)!
