A Mighty Provider

He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the hunter before the LORD. (Genesis 10:9)

In Genesis 10:9 the word hunter is from the Hebrew word tsayid¹ which is more often translated provision, food, food-supply, or victuals. The word paniym is translated before in the sense of face or in the face of, before or in front of.² So, it could be said that Nimrod was a mighty provider before the LORD or instead of the Lord. Like Cain he started a civil state where he ruled over men. Why did men let him rule them? Because he offered them protection.

“Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them:” (Exodus 20:5)

Of course there was no more harmonious arrangement than the world government that Adam and Eve found themselves living in when the LORD was their ruler, but when they decided to make their own rules things changed. Cain later shed his brother’s blood in the ultimate usurpation of authority of brother over a brother and began the first city State. Nimrod began his city as a mighty provider instead of the Lord offering his own “harmonious arrangement”, the world according to Nimrod. It was a world where men ate of Nimrod’s table and went under Nimrod’s authority.

Nimrod offered his protection to his citizenry. He knew by offering his protection he would gain dominion over those who had little faith in God and would become their ruling judge.

Protection draws to it subjection; subjection protection”³

And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top [may reach] unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, Behold, the people [is] one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. (Genesis 11:4, 6)

The citizens of his city state moved away from the ways of God like Cain and served the gods⁴ of Nimrod. They enjoyed the citizenship of Babylon for they were of the world of Nimrod. Citizenship is, “The status of being a citizen” and may include a, “Membership in a political society, implying a duty of allegiance on the part of the member and a duty of protection on the part of society.”⁵ Allegiance to a society or government that supplies the citizen with protection seems like no less than a reasonable exchange of consideration. But before we agree to grant our allegiance we should examine and understand the full extent of the price we shall be called to pay.

When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what [is] before thee: And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite. Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat. Proverbs 23:1-3

Over and over in both Testaments men have been warned about the tables that become a snare. From Abraham to Moses, from Samuel and David to Christ, the Apostles and Paul we have been warned about applying for benefits, making agreements, eating of the sacrifices made to these judging rulers these gods of the heathen, these authoritarian benefactors who exercise authority one over the other. We continually become unequally yoked with unbelievers that believe in Cain, Nimrod, Pharaoh and Caesar instead of remaining freemen under God. Why?

Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: Exodus 34:12

... neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that [will be] a snare unto thee. Deuteronomy 7:16

Let their table become a snare before them: and [that which should have been] for [their] welfare, [let it become] a trap. Psalms 69:22

And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:Romans 11:9

But if we were really following God, serving God, obeying Christ we would not be snared. David told us that it is not the snare that is to blame but he who strays from God’s precepts.

The wicked have laid a snare for me: yet I erred not from thy precepts. Psalms 119:110

Christ set us free but men have returned to bondage because they are not following Christ. They say they believe but they have not striven for the kingdom and its righteousness. They have not kept his commandments, they have been deceived because the truth found no place in them. They were covetous of their neighbors goods and called upon the agencies of their created institutions to rule over their neighbor, force their contributions and subject their brothers so that they could obtain the benefits of their authoritarian benefactors.

The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute. Proverbs 12:24

Tribute is, “A sum of money paid by an inferior sovereign or state to a superior potentate, to secure the friendship or protection of the latter.”⁶ And “Excise (tribute), in its origin, is the patrimonial right of emperors and kings.”⁷

Men are under tribute today because they have been men of appetite and sat and ate with authoritarian benefactors without prohibition. They often do this because false preachers fill their heads with superstitions and lies and lull them into a gospel void of the kingdom at hand. We were given free will under God and should be ruled by God with free choice and the perfect law of liberty.

"Freedom is the Right to Choose, the Right to create for oneself the alternatives of Choice. Without the possibility of Choice, and the exercise of Choice, a man is not a man but a member, an instrument, a thing."⁸

Allegiance is, “‘The tie or ligamen which binds the subject [or citizen] to the king [or government] in return for that protection which the king [or government] affords the subject, [or citizen]’⁹ It consists in ‘a true and faithful obedience of the subject to his sovereign.’”¹⁰

The concept of allegiance is defined in Black’s as, “The obligation of fidelity and obedience which the individual owes to the government under which he lives, or to his sovereign in return for the protection he receives. It may be an absolute and permanent obligation, or it may be a qualified and temporary one.”¹¹ The allegiance as a member of these civilized states makes us an instrument, a thing, a human resource for the will of the ruling judges of society and the mob that prays to them.

But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. 2 Peter 2:1-3

Christ preached a kingdom and set men free from authoritarian benefactors so that they could be free souls under God. The same is true of Moses and Abraham. Christ was the truth.

“Man’s primary allegiance is to his vision of truth, And he is under obligation to affirm it.”¹²

The kingdom of God was another way to live without needing the deceitful dainties of rulers and benefactors who enslave the people and exercise dominion over them.

If you have not your own rations you must feed out of your tribes hands, with all that implies.¹³

In Ur and Haran and Sodom men fell under the authority of other men. These systems of government were breeding grounds for apathy and self indulgence. The golden rule of God’s law is to care about your neighbor as much as you care about yourself. The son’s of Jacob were themselves delivered into bondage to a civil power. They had turned their backs on God and sold their own brother, Joseph, into bondage. God brought them into bondage by withholding his providing hand, allowing famine into the land. Had Joseph remained with his brothers they would have prepared for the famine instead of Pharaoh.

Later, the LORD God brought them out of their bondage and became again their ruler, sovereign and provider bestowing upon them Laws on stone, manna from heaven and water flowing from a rock as well as protection from Kings, cutthroats and snakes.

Let us look again at another notable moment in the history of man’s turning to rulers other than the LORD Ruler.

… now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD. And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. (1 Sa. 8:5,7 )

It was the voice of the people that called for a man to be ruler over them. This was not a new problem for the LORD for he said, “According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee.”¹⁴ Turning from God to other gods is the antithesis of repentance.

Rome provided free bread and circuses and the protection of its Pax Romana and in return faithful allegiance. A reciprocating tithing or tax was due the Soter of Rome, the Savior of Rome.

To reap the benefits of belonging to a city or city state or civil authority a person had to support it, serve it, succor it. They were, and their status was, changed by their agreement by association. They were unified as if one, they were employed and converted as they were reborn into their civil state or status with certain privileges and duties.

Men are made slaves by such means. Servants are made by required consent at one point. By their own act of consent servants may become bonded servants, slaves, subjects, and then call themselves citizens. They often justify the act by alleging hopeless circumstances even though their circumstances were merely the results of their previous misguided actions of neglect.

Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh: and give [us] seed, that we may live, and not die, that the land be not desolate. And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them: so the land became Pharaoh’s. And as for the people, he removed them to cities from [one] end of the borders of Egypt even to the [other] end thereof. (Genesis 47:19 21)

Did he move them to towns and cities? No, they only moved to a civil status of subjection and service. They still tilled the soil and planted the seeds and tended flocks. They did not own their land or labor but had settled for a mere legal title.¹⁵

Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, [here is] seed for you, and ye shall sow the land. (Genesis 47:23)

When Christ bought us with his blood he set the people free from the world of Rome and the Pharisees. Christians who were baptized were cast out of their membership in the government of the Pharisees of Roman fornication and set free in the kingdom of God under Christ at hand. Such freedom drew jealousy and envy from the world but also faithful converts who also sought the freedom of Christ under the perfect law of liberty in His kingdom of God at hand appointed. There was another king who taught another system of faith, hope and charity not application, force and compliance. As there were certain privileges and duties in the world of Babylon and Rome there also are rights and obligations in the kingdom. Rights are responsibilities but in the kingdom you must learn to shoulder those responsibilities in order to secure those rights.

No agency of the government of God shall secure your freedom at the expense of your neighbor. No benefit is guaranteed to you as an entitlement in the kingdom of God. What you receive is by grace and thanksgiving through the faith, hope and charity of those who love you as themselves. The kingdom is a brotherhood of citizens bound under a common Father in Heaven not a subject citizenry bound under a substitute Father on earth.¹⁶

The called out group appointed by Christ called the Church was to maintain that entrance and facilitate that congregating of free souls under God. This job has been neglected by the false gospel that the kingdom is not at hand and that it is okay to apply and become a part of civil schemes with authoritarian benefactors who exercise authority one over the other. Systems where the free will choice is taken from the people who apply for the security offered by rulers like Nimrod, Saul or Caesar are anti Christ.

It is time that people seek the kingdom of God and its righteousness and come together being concerned about their neighbor's rights as much as their own.