Who are the 'gods of the nations'?

[Hobie]

Most would say these are just idols or such graven images which the people worship, but there is a power of evil that exists behind it. We see at Mount Carmel when Elijah told Ahab to bring the "the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred" who stand for the false "gods", and all the people to see who is the true God, that God exposes the so-called "gods of the nations." And these are not "gods" which are mere figments of pagan imagination, but there was a real force of evil behind the false worship. We see that it had come into Israel from the surrounding nations and manifested itself among the people in many ways and levels, even families and tribes.

Deuteronomy 29:18
Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood;

And God warned them of these "gods" when they came to the land of Canaan out of the bondage from Egypt..

Joshua 23:7
That ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them:

And the even fact of the many "gods" the nations followed was well known by the kings around them

2 Chronicles 32:14
Who was there among all the gods of those nations that my fathers utterly destroyed, that could deliver his people out of mine hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of mine hand?

And we might just say these were just mere idols of these nations and nothing more. But something put these ideas of false worship and spread it far and wide among the nations. Behind the "gods" of graven images they thought they were worshiping was a actual power of evil which wanted the worship that only God deserved. Think about it..

 

[Wrangler]

In today's devotional reading, I came across 2 Chronicles 2:5 Our God is greater than other gods. The study note in the NRSV Cultural Bible states:

This rhetoric would be expected of any nation. Claims to divine superiority are usually found in military supremacy or acts of power and are strongest from the mouths of former worshippers of the now deemed-inferior deities.​

It goes on to reference study notes in Josh 2:11, Naaman (2 Kings 5:15) and an article entitled "Monotheism, Monolatry and Henotheism." It contrasts our world view to the view of the ancients. We think in terms of global religions, like Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism besides our own. Back then, there was no global interaction. Every region has their own god.

This is a historical fact. And it conflicts with Christendom's notion of there being one God. How to reconcile this? There are 2 ways. First, as Jesus says in John 17:3, we worship the one true God. So, what is the nature of these other, false gods? Again, there are 2 ways to make sense of it. One way is the need for divine support in the human condition caused man to create gods in what we now refer to as mythology. A second way to reconcile this is demons who rule certain geographic areas.

This is implied in Daniel 10, where a 'prince of Persia" delayed an angel for 21 days and had to be saved by the Arch Angel Michael. In addition, the angel said he had to be saved by the "kings" (plural) of Persia. Then there is 2 Corinthians 4:4 that identifies Satan as the god of this world. So, these demons are interchangeably referred to as princes, kings and gods. Our lord justified his use of the title Son of God by invoking Psalm 82. In verse 6, it says all of you are gods. This is referring to law makers and judges.

Modern Christendom abhors political involvement but these verses make it obvious divine connection to politics.

 

[Jay Ross]

When posters in these threads are not able to see the spiritual entities behind the events that have happened, then their "opinions" are usually not their own but are expressions of these spiritual entities that have fallen and rebelled against God of their 'own' understanding. Satan has convinced them that they too can be God if they worship him and join in his joy of becoming a 'god' in their own eyes.

I wonder what 'talents' they have and whether or not they are able to recognise the parables that Jesus told where this was said and who their master was.

Shalom