God’s Plan for Nations
While an individual’s response to God is primary, God also has plans for nations. God can bless a nation for its obedience, destroy that nation for disobedience, and can even use that nation for His own purposes whether that nation is obedient to His commands or not.
The nations mentioned in the Bible are mainly around the Middle East because that is where most of the “action” in the Bible is occurring since the main focus is on the nation of Israel, their response to God, and how these other nations respond to both Israel and to God’s plan.
Through Noah, God stated, “Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers. He also said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan be his servant” (Gn 9:25-27). In a previous post, we stated that the descendants of Ham settled in the Middle East, south into Africa, and then to other parts of the world. The descendants of Shem also settled in the Middle East and further east. The descendants of Japheth settled mostly in Europe. We also saw that many of the Canaanites did become servants of Shem (i.e., the Israelites), and their land will one day be given back to the Israelites (Ek 48). This prophecy through Noah is completed when this occurs and when, in the future, the Israelites are brought back from the four corners of the earth (Is 11:12) back to their homeland (i.e., back from the land of Japheth to dwell back in the home of Shem).
Most of the prophetic books in the Old Testament contain words of destruction for these nations because of their treatment of Israel and for their rejection of God. Yet, many of these countries will have a future and be supportive of both the Messiah and of Israel (Is 49:22-23; 62:12). Here are the countries and what we know them as today.
Amos (Am 2:7-8; 4:1; 6:8), Isaiah (Is 1:3-4), and Micah (Mi 1:6-7) prophesied Assyria would take Israel of their land because of continual disobedience. Zephaniah (Zp 1:4-12; 3:2-4), Joel (Jl 2:1-11), Habakkuk (Hk 1:5-6; 2:2-10), and Jeremiah (Jr 32:1-5) prophesied the same fate awaited Judah if they did not repent.
Although God used the animosity of these nations to carry out his plan, they were still held accountable for their treatment of Israel. Such cases included Edom (Ek 25:12; Am 1:9; Ob 1:4), Moab (Ek 25:6-7; Jr 48:29; Am 2:1; Is 16:6-7), Ammon (Jr 49:2, Ek 25:6-7; Am 1:13), Elam (Ek 25:3; Jr 49:35-37), Assyria (Na 2:1, 6), Damascus (Is 17:1-14; Jr 49:23-27), Philistia (Ek 25:15), Phoenicia (Ek 26:2; Is 23:13-15), Babylon (Is 13:3, 14:11, 15-19; 17; Jr 50:31-32; 51:9-11, 28), Egypt (Ek 32:28; J 46:11-12, 25-26), Ethiopia (Is 18:1-7), and Arabia (Is 21:13-17; Jr 49:20-32-33).
Yet, despite the prophecy of doom, God almost always provided a word of mercy and hope. Despite one’s nationality or the original curse that had been placed upon a person’s descendants, God still provided hope for individuals regardless of ancestry. We’ll explore this prophecy of hope next time.
From this we see how God has a plan for everyone and every nation. We can be a part of his plan and blessing or be a part of his plan and cursing. A nation has a choice. An individual has a choice. God always puts the individual’s response above that of a nation. Isn’t our God wonderful?
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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens