God’s Fear of Man

Since reading through the main parts of the Pentateuch and through some of the prophets of the Old Testament, there are many similarities in the structure and messages produced from the book. It seems that the bible tries to get its point across using stories of different lineages that come across with the same lesson. Lineage seems to be a strong focus of the first books of the bible. This could be because of the need to spread people across lands. God, though, does not want all the people to stand under one nation, or under one language. God appears to want people to be morally responsible and multiply throughout the earth, but almost contradictorily destroys any family line that is close to achieving a united society. It would seem that God is afraid of people uniting above his power. There are many stories in the Old Testament that have this tone, but focusing on just a few of the stories will illustrate God’s fear of man.
Starting from the second creation story, God creates man and women and places them in the garden that he has created. He loves his creations and only has but one rule that they must follow. God does not want his new subjects to eat from the tree of knowledge hinting that God is happy with their subservient actions and childlike innocence. After the serpent convinces them into eating from the tree of life, God doesn’t look at them in the light of his creation. God feared for them not to eat from the tree. He even lied to them saying that, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree… or you shall die.” God knew that they wouldn’t die, but become as powerful as him, or become one of us [being of heavenly council] if they were to have reached the tree of life. Even through Adam and Eve’s children God enacts his doubt on man by making Cain’s decedents bloodthirsty, establishing a culture of violence that eventually leads to humanity’s destruction. God make sure that people fight amongst themselves instead of climbing the evolutionary ladder.
God’s reign is again in jeopardy when Noah’s descendents build the Tower of Babel. Humanity unites together in the post-flood world and decides to build a tower that will reach the heavens. People wanted a symbol of their ambition and strength as a united people. God came down and saw that the people were once again overstepping their bounds and said, “Look, they are all one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.” God once again sees the potential that humans have to step up to another level. Harris explains this part of the bible as “hubris, a pride that offends the gods” God’s reaction to this seems to more out of fear than disdain.
Another story that is very similar to the story of Cain and Abel is the story of David’s sons Amnon and Absalom. This story doesn’t show God’s fear as much as it has the same story line as Cain and Abel. The Davidic lineage was very strong during the time of Absalom and Amnon and David has almost conquered all of the known world. If David were to be successful in this there would once again be a chance to unite all people under one rule and one language. Even though this plot is not narrated in the bible, Absalom’s murder of his brother Amnon sends the Davidic rule into chaos and once again separating the people across the world. Harris suggests that God has had a hand in this by stating, Yahweh’s judgment extends far beyond the infant’s death, precipitating a series of betrayals and rebellions that reduce David’s royal household to a state of moral anarchy. It seems that God had already knew the outcome of David’s kingdom.
God uses strong family names to create the downfall of society when it is God himself that sets the fall of society out in the first place. These passages show that the bible is set up in a way to show that there cannot be a perfect society, because God fears that people may one day overpower him. God’s attempt to create an obedient servant failed, but for some reason still clings on to them. This could be that God feels human emotions just like the subjects he creates. The stories of the bible themselves could have enough influence on modern society that another attempt to create a society of one could fall under the same types of tragedies told of in the Bible.