Genesis 6:11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence.
Maybe you heard the news story in 2014 about extremists of a particular religion in the Middle East doing door to door evangelism... sort of. The message of ISIS in Northern Iraq was roughly, "By the end of the week you must leave your home, convert to our ideology or die. If you missed that story here is an article from then so you can get caught up from The Telegraph.
It was a campaign of intimidation, manipulation violence and the threat of violence. ISIS systematically went through towns in Northern Iraq and the result was a humanitarian crisis that brought in the American military for assistance.
Violence in some capacity is the result of unchecked evil.
The word “violence” in this verse from Genesis is a translation of the Hebrew word chamas. Think guttural, like you are clearing your throat, This word denotes any antisocial behavior or unneighborly activity. Elsewhere in the Old Testament it is translated as "malicious" and "cruel". Very often it involves the use of brute force or threat of force but it may also be the exploitation of the weaker by the stronger.
 |
| Refugees gathering in the hopes of supplies and escape (Photo Credit) |
Violence in some capacity is the result of unchecked evil.
The word “violence” in this verse from Genesis is a translation of the Hebrew word chamas. Think guttural, like you are clearing your throat, This word denotes any antisocial behavior or unneighborly activity. Elsewhere in the Old Testament it is translated as "malicious" and "cruel". Very often it involves the use of brute force or threat of force but it may also be the exploitation of the weaker by the stronger.
Amos 6:1-3 uses this word to speak against the powerful taking advantage of the weak and the rich taking advantage of the poor. Proverbs 16:29 uses this word to speak against the clever exploiting the naive. Scripture consistently speaks against those who exploit others and calls it violence.
What ISIS was doing in Northern Iraq that summer (what they continue to do) is the kind of "violence" described in Genesis 6. The threatening use of force by those with perceived power over those without power, the exploitation of the weak by the able, the poor by the rich, the have not's by the have's, When the use of violence for the exploitation and the intimidation of weak becomes the norm God knows it is time to step in and do something. Wouldn't you want someone to?
Just A Meandering Thought...
No comments:
Post a Comment