Tribal Destiny: Between Babel and Today

“The purpose of history is the building of the church of God, and the glorification of God. History has a beginning – it began on day one of the creation week – and it has an ending – the final consummation of the earth at the end of time. History is not just the story of mankind, it is the story of God working out His sovereign purpose for mankind and glorifying Himself. It is not just about names, dates, places and events. It is about God Himself.”[1] It’s critical to understand that humanity is essentially a tool of God’s, and as His creation, we all move to His final end.
​
At the Tower of Babel sometime before 3200 B.C. human beings looked to unite as one force, or one power, to create a way to play “God,” that was based upon their own ways of rules and standards. God saw that this combined strength in unity which mankind had formed was false. It was a fake sense of unity because Babel and mankind’s hopeless attempt to achieve glory was not based upon His glory. In other words, humankind did not do this for God, they did it for their own power and glory—their own common faith in self-reliance and not for God’s.

God came at this point to intervene. He came not only to break apart mankind’s unholy attempt at “playing God,” but He came down with a curse for that particular generation of mankind at Babel, and even for the generations of family thereafter. He broke apart the common traits of mankind. Disparate languages confused mankind. Groups separated and dispersed across the world. It was at this point after the global events of Babel that human “tribal” cultures were born.

God lifted His hand of protection and cast blessings off of tribal mankind. Dr. Stephen Leston, Author and President of To Every Tribe (a mission training and sending agency), mentions that God “obstructed the development of technology,” as well as “hindering mankind’s ability to work together at an advanced pace.”[2] From this point on, peoples of tribal nations across the globe were equally limited in their advancements. It is because of this that God would only give tribal peoples ‘just enough’ knowledge to use the basic technology that they were already given. 

Tribalism became an almost ground-zero starting off point for mankind. It was seen as the most universally basic of primitive culture. Most tribal elements retained the internal idea of the One Almighty Creator, however further devolved into spiritual Animism and Pagan religion in spite of God. Most tribes across the world would survive in just about the same manner—living off of raw substances, wearing basic garments (if any at all), and engaging in an almost animistic regalia of customary behaviors and ritualistic tendencies. The tribal political and social nature of the indigenous societies across the world prohibited and restricted economic, social, and technological growth substantially (as Genesis 11:4-7 states). It was not meant to happen, as He had ordained for His ultimate plan.

Today people fault God for not giving the indigenous natives of the world His word, and for allowing the plagues and atrocities to pile up. The fact of the matter is this: unlike the Fall of Man, where mankind was cursed with the knowledge (of good and evil)—tribal peoples took on a new curse after the Fall of Babel. The deal here is that it was, and is, part of God’s larger plan for the entirety of mankind. He would not be ready to spread His word until the European missionaries would show up thousands of years later. The indigenous natives of North America prior to European contact was not a glamorized “Pocahontas” Disney movie.

On the contrary actually. The world Columbus discovered was full of slavery, murder, genocide, sodomy, sexual exploitation, and general barbarity.[3] Even after first European contact, the trials and tribulations that the indigenous natives were shocked into dealing with were catastrophically life changing. It is this honest realization that must be made when understanding the detrimental effects tribal groups were feeling on a mass scale in the years leading up to colonization, settlement, and formal reservations. God took His hand off the indigenous natives, and would continue to do so until His time came to pass.

Once missionaries and pastors arrived into the “New World” to spread the Word of God; from then on humankind was forever changed. It was the documented historical events to follow that would be considered God’s perfect and final timing of Redemption for the indigenous native peoples. To bring closure and finality to the tribalistic and pagan chapter of humanity. Christianity would take root in many places around the world. In North America, Catholics and Protestants would forever etch their marks in bringing the uncivilized tribes in its entirety of the world context into a Christianized, civilized, and orderly world.

History is all purely on God’s timing…
 
 
Daniel L. Smith,
ComplexAmerica.org

​
Resources:
[1] Mullon, Caitlin. "What is a Providential View of History?" - Presenting & Defending a Biblical Perspective of History. Last modified August 28, 2014. https://www.providentialhistory.org/?page_id=100.
[2] Dr. Leston, Stephen. "From Creation to the Tower of Babel." In The Bible in World History, 38. Uhrichsville: Barbour, 2011.
[3] Barton, David. "No Noble Savage: The World Columbus Found." Complex America (excerpt: WallBuilders.com). Accessed May 20, 2020. https://www.complexamerica.org/blog/no-noble-savage-the-world-columbus-found.