In light of his recent passing, part 3 of this series is dedicated to Dr. Michael Heiser. Not only did he have a large part to play in my passion to study of the Bible, but most of the foundation of today’s post actually comes from his work.
Thank you Dr. Heiser for your work in the Kingdom.
For the 2nd part of this series (People, Place, or Thing?) click here.
For the 1st part of this series (Nations, Pagans, Gentiles) click here.
One of my favorite things about Bible Study is called Intertextuality.
“There is an intertextuality in which authors and texts influence each other, both directly and indirectly, as later writers read or remembered the works of their predecessors, the Bible that existed up to their day.” 1
If your Bible has any cross-references in the margins and you have ever used them, you are actually participating in this fun game of intertextuality.
One of the most famous cases of this would be John 1:1 and Genesis 1:1
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1 LEB
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1 LEB
The Gospel of John here is building off the idea of Genesis. “In the beginning…”
Intertextuality is simply the quoting or use of imagery from another text.
Now that I have quickly explained the idea, let’s get to the word at hand: ethnos.
I want to note I am working in the Lexham English Septuagint. “The Lexham English Septuagint (LES) is a new translation of the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament writings used during New Testament times and in the early church.”
The first place we see the root word ethnos appear is within Genesis 10.
5 From these were separated the families of the nations on their land, each according to their language in their tribes and in their nations.
Genesis 10:5 LEB
Over the entirety of chapter 10, the term ethnos is used 6 times. The general idea of being pushed here is these ‘people groups’ we have been talking about are being separated out into their groups by their family heritage. The ‘Sons of Japheth’ are broken up by Japheth’s sons. The ‘Sons of Ham’ are split up by Ham’s sons. The ‘Sons of Shem’ are split up by Shem’s son. Each of these sections are finished off with this comment of “according to their language in their (families/land) and their nations.” Chapter 10 then is finished off with this line:
These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations and in their nations. And from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.
Genesis 10:32 LEB
So why is this important?
Well we must ask ourselves, “When were the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood?“
That would be the following section, chapter 11: The Tower of Babel.
Chapter 11 describes the dispersal of the ethnos after the events at Babel. It was at this event that, as Dr. Heiser puts it, “God disinherited the Nations.”
At the end of Genesis 11 (The Tower of Babel), God no longer has a ‘people.’ “[He has given] them over, in the desires of their own hearts, to immorality so that their bodies would be dishonored among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creation rather than the creator.”2 It is here that God disperses the families of Noah into their ethnos.
So what does God then do? He creates a new people in Genesis 12. His people, his nation, his ethno (Abram’s Family, which leads to the Israelites).
So are the abandoned nations left to their own destruction?
This idea is rebrought up of the nations in the Abrahamic blessing of Genesis 22.
And the angel of Yahweh called to Abraham a second time from heaven. And he said, “I swear by myself, declares Yahweh, that because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only child, that I will certainly bless you and greatly multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is by the shore of the sea. And your offspring will take possession of the gate of his enemies. All the nations of the earth will be blessed through your offspring, because you have listened to my voice.”
Genesis 22:15-18 LEB
While God disinherited the ethnos at Babel, he also created a new ethno from the line of Abraham in order to redraw these ethnos back to himself.
This is what we see happen in the New Testament. Galatians 3 directly ties Jesus to this work to ‘bless the nations.’ It is Jesus’ ministry and the following ministry in the book of Acts that redraws the ethnos back to God.
Despite the fact that we have followed the desires of their own hearts—that we have rejected the Father and worshiped creation rather than the creator—God, from the beginning, had a plan to bring us back to him. We are the nations, pagans, and gentiles. We are the fallen people which God desired to bring back to himself. He has brought us back to once again call us his children.
He has done this through the work of the cross, the crucification of Jesus and his resurrection. Jesus’ death as the perfect atoning sacrifice has made that way for you, me, and the nations to return to the Father.
Do you need to respond to this truth? Feel free to email me and I would love to get you connected with a local church body who can help you work through this decision!
Footnotes
1 Kaiser, Walter C., Jr. 2007. “How Do the Parts Fit the Whole?: The Tool of Biblical Theology.” In Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics: The Search for Meaning, edited by Walter C. Kaiser Jr. and Moisés Silva, 74. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
2 Romans 1:24-25. Dr. Heiser has linked back the Romans 1 event in multiple of his podcasts (Naked Bible Podcast). I find the connection between Babel and Romans 1 to be a quite interesting parallel. To see more of Dr. Heiser’s work visit https://drmsh.com.
Trent Hipp 
Good post!! Having an accurate understanding of how the Scriptures communicate and define ethnos has far reaching implications and application to the problems of racism and partiality.
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