‘The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.…So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created…But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.’ – Genesis 6
The exodus of Israel from slavery in Egypt had to wait four hundred years, until the fourth generation. Wait for what? According to the word of YHVH given to Abraham, “But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full” (Genesis 15:13-16). Amorites is the term describing all the nations then dwelling in the land of Canaan, peoples who were given four generations/four hundred years to cease or increase their iniquities while Israel was held aside in captivity, sins which are listed in the Torah as those practices forbidden by YHVH to the Hebrews. It was then after the fourth generation, at the time of the fullness of Gentiles, that Joshua was sent into Canaan with the divine command to completely destroy all the peoples in that land by the sword. That principle was later codified in the Ten Commandments from Sinai:
‘For I, YHVH your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing loving devotion (hesed– grace) to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.’
Does that seem unreasonably cruel? That iniquity which begins in one generation, if not repented of, is copied by the next and increased in the third until, by the fourth generation sin has metastasised like cancer and become the norm of a corrupted and sick society, where even the innocence of the children and animals is lost and defiled beyond repair. But did not they hear the call for repentance? It is the nature of the Creator to warn before judging: ‘Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets’ (Amos 3:7). We do know that YHVH had His prophets and servants among the Gentiles, even as Jethro and Balaam, and it may therefore be assumed that a voice of admonition was sent among the Amorites, but unheeded. Just as in the days of Noah, the peoples heard the voice of Noah as he constructed the ark before the flood finally came upon them.
The Messiah informed us that the latter times would be ‘as the days of Noah’ (Matthew 24:37).
As in the generations of Noah, iniquity would abound, and the Earth would be again filled with hamas, ironically a Hebrew word commonly known in this our own generation, meaning violence, terror, corruption (Genesis 6:11). And it would be at that time of ‘the fullness of the Gentiles’ that all Israel shall be saved’ according to Paul, ‘Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, and so all Israel will be saved’ (Romans 11:25–26), and Yeshua, ‘They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive into all the nations. And Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled’ (Luke 21:24).
A time will come when the word of YHVH has gone out to all the nations from Jerusalem, unto those who come up upon the ark of salvation, and those who will fill the cup of iniquity unto destruction. Have we yet arrived to that day? America has now reached its four hundred years since the Mayflower’s devout pilgrims set foot in the New World, and after four hundred years of Ottoman rule the Jewish people have now returned to the Land of Israel – after two thousand years dispersed among the nations, and become a nation only in my own generation. But have we yet arrived to that day? I’ll leave that for the reader to conclude upon observing developing events in our world, and as we once again approach the celebration of the Passover, 2022.
‘And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell’– Yeshua.
‘The fear of YHVH is the beginning of wisdom.’