What are Nations?
Isaiah 55:4, Isaiah 55:5
NATIONS Groups formed on the basis of political or social interests or on kinship. Generally, the word “nations” implies peoples of the world other than the Hebrews, although it can also include the Jews.
Origins The book of Genesis attributes to the three sons of Noah the origin of the various “families” or ethnic groups (about 70 in all) who inhabited the eastern Mediterranean regions (Gen. 10). The narrative presupposes that each group has its own individual geographical location and language (vv Gen. 10:5, Gen. 10:20, Gen. 10:31). The story of the tower (ziggurat) of Babel, whose peak was to reach to heaven (ch Gen. 11), explains that ethnic groups were separated by language barriers and scattered geographically so that they might not collaborate on presumptuous ventures.
Paul, in his sermon in Athens, assumes that the various nations had a common origin, just as the writer of Genesis did, and accepts as part of the design of God the fact that nations should be separated by geographical boundaries (Acts 17:26). The prophet Zephaniah looked forward to the day when God would reverse this state of affairs and cause all the nations to speak one language (Zeph. 3:9). The writer of Revelation, in his vision of the new heaven and the new earth, saw these natural boundaries abolished. The nations freely intermingle in the new Jerusalem (Rev. 21:22–26).
The distinction between “Israel” and “the nations” is not clear-cut. “Israel” evolved from various ethnic groups, and several of “the nations” traced their origins to prominent figures in the Israelite community. Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, lived in Ur of the Chaldees in the delta region of the Tigris-Euphrates valley. With his father he migrated north to Haran, and finally southwest to the land of Canaan (Gen. 11:31–12:9). Deuteronomy 26:5 (“a wandering Aramean was my father”) suggests Abraham’s residence was in the district of Mesopotamia known as Aram-naharaim. When Abraham entered into covenant with God, God gave him the token of the covenant relationship: circumcision. Foreigners purchased as slaves were circumcised, thus including them in the covenant community. When Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt into the wilderness, a mixed multitude also went up with them (Ex 12:38), which suggests again that people not biologically related nevertheless identified themselves with the people of Israel.
The nation of Israel did not include all of those physically descended from Abraham. The first son of Abraham, Ishmael, had an Egyptian mother and is the ancestor of the Ishmaelites, bedouins who roamed the southern wilderness region (Gen. 16). Of the twin sons born to Isaac and Rebekah, Esau, the firstborn, is the father of the Edomites living in the southeast, traditional enemies of Israel (Gen. 25:23; Num. 20:21).
Elwell, Walter A., and Philip Wesley Comfort. Tyndale Bible dictionary 2001 : 937. Print. Tyndale Reference Library.
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