Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 23:13

13 And in all things that I have said unto you be circumspect: and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.

Once again the Lord reiterates the importance of not worshipping other gods. Today’s verse take it a step further, though, forbidding even the utterance of those other god’s names. This might seem an extreme measure to take, why would even the names be forbidden to the people?

I believe this commandment recognizes the incredible power of words. Psychologists have noted that only when something is named can it become a fully realized concept in our minds. When it has no name it is only a vague, unformed notion, with a name it starts to become real. It is our natural tendency to try and name every reality and concept, turning them into a concrete abstractions so that we can fully grapple with them in our minds. But some of these beasts would be better left sleeping.

Imagine if after the Israelites left Egypt they never again mentioned the names of Ra and Horus. The concept of those Egyptian gods would have gone extinct among them within a generation. Imagine if they had never spoken of Baal or Ashtaroth, how much harder would it have been for those Canaanite gods to gain sway in their hearts.

Of course, the complete obliteration of a perverse idea would require universal cooperation. Even if the Israelites stopped themselves from uttering the names of foreign gods, they were still a part of the world, with neighbors and trade partners, and it would be inevitable for them to hear many strange things in that association, just as every Christian today learns from society all manner of inappropriate practices and beliefs. Even with that acknowledgement, though, we can do what we can to censure our own minds, tongues, and homes, and that does make a difference. Those who leave the depraved things unsaid leave no room for those seeds to take root and blossom, whereas those who give voice to perversions in their private, intimate settings are the most likely to abandon the Lord for foreign fruit.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 11:6-9

6 And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.

8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

Previously God showcased His power in a very bombastic way by sending a flood to cover the earth. In this story, however, He reveals His ability to cause a shift through far more subtle means. It might not occur to us that simply confounding the language of a people would undermine their ability to finish a tower, but evidently that was exactly what happened. The people lost the ability to communicate, they gave up their project, and they scattered into their various clans.

God is all-powerful, but He is also all-knowing. He can impact the entire populace with a single, cataclysmic blow, but He can also touch each soul in an individual, precise way. And the methods that He uses may seem strange to us, but they are perfectly effective even so.