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Hi, my name is Dean Smith. We are living in perilous times as governments of all political stripes seem intent on restricting people’s liberties and freedoms, either under the guise of protecting us from COVID or banning speech that some consider offensive, because it disagrees with their beliefs.
In this podcast, I want to discuss the Septuagint’s odd translation of a Bible verse in Deuteronomy that may help explain why this is happening.
The Septuagint is a Greek version of the Hebrew Old Testament that was written around 260 BC. Since the Bible was meticulously recopied by hand down through the centuries, invariably mistakes were made. So the older the manuscript, the closer they were to the original and the more accurate they would be.
This means that the ancient Hebrew manuscripts used for the Septuagint were hundreds of years older than the texts used for our modern Old Testament translations, that are based on Hebrew manuscripts compiled in the 9th century AD.
Now, when we read Deuteronomy 32:8 in our modern Bible translations, it tells us that when God established the nations, He set their boundaries according to the number of the sons of Israels.
8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, When he separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the people according to the number of the sons of Israel. (Deuteronomy 32:8 NASV)
It is difficult to know what this verse is referring too. How, could the borders of other countries be based on the descendants of the patriarch of Israel.
It doesn’t really make sense.
And this is not even taking into account when God created the nations in Genesis 11, Jacob, who was later renamed Israel, hadn’t even been born yet.
However, this verse reads a bit differently in the Septuagint. It states that the boundaries of the nations were allotted or divided up according to the angels:
“When the Most High divided the nations, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God.” (Deuteronomy 32:8 Jerome’s version of the Septuagint)
The Septuagint leaves a completely different impression that angels were linked to the creation of the nations. Many believe this is the more accurate rendering, and we see Bible versions, such as the NASV, putting a footnote that the Septuagint states angels.
Some believe this change is more significant than we realize because it also suggests that angels were put over the nations.
And this idea shows up in Satan’s temptation of Jesus recorded in Luke 4:5-6, when Satan offered Christ the nations of the world for a moment of worship.
Then Satan adds that he was able to make this offer, because they had been given to him, a claim that Jesus never challenged.
In other words, Satan is the god of this world and as part of this fallen angels have been set over countries to influence their governments in demonic ways.
So if this is happening, what are we to do about it?
For that answer, we need to look at an incident in the Book of Daniel. The prophet Daniel was raised up during Judah’s captivity in Babylon.
After, the Babylonians were overthrown by the Persians, Daniel realized that Jeremiah’s prophecies that the Jews would be restored to the promised land after 70 years of captivity would soon be coming to pass and Daniel began praying for the Jews to be restored.
But as he entered a 21-day period of fasting and prayer, Daniel received a message from God that a great conflict, literally warfare, was brewing (Daniel 10:1).
At the end of this time of prayer, a godly angel arrived with a message for Daniel.
But this angel had an interesting story, telling Daniel that he had been hindered from delivering this message by the Prince of Persia, but was finally able to break through when the archangel Michael showed up to help.
Since two godly angels were directly involved in the battle with the Prince of Persia, we have to conclude that they were battling the fallen angel put over Persia.
It is also not a coincidence, that Daniel’s 21 days of fasting a prayer coincides with the angel’s statement that he was finally able to break through after three weeks.
Then at the end of Daniel 10, we have one of the Bible’s worst chapter breaks because it literally interrupts the Angel mid-sentence. The angel was speaking in the last verse of chapter 10 to Daniel, and continues in the first verse of chapter 11, when the angels says:
11 “In the first year of Darius the Mede, I arose to be of assistance and a protection for him.
What this means is after successfully fighting the Prince of Persia, the Godly angel had taken a position beside the King of Persia to both assist (literally strengthen) and protect him.
Because of Daniel’s prayer, the spiritual atmosphere had shifted in Persia, and a godly angel was now in a position to influence the politics and the government.
This influence directly led to the decree allowing Israel to return to the promised land.
But this verse also implies that prior to this, the Prince of Persia was influencing the political decisions being made in that country.
We see indications that angels were similarly involved in human politics in the Book of Judges. In Judges 5, we read that Sisera, the king of Philistia, was cruelly oppressing Israel.
The Israelites began calling on God for deliverance, and the Lord raised up the prophetess Deborah who prophesied that Barak was to muster an army and that God would deliver Sisera and his 900 chariots into their hands.
But it appears there was also angelic involvement in this great victory, as Deborah explains in her song of deliverance after Israel’s victory.
19 “The kings came, they fought; then fought the kings of Canaan, at Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo; they got no spoils of silver. 20 From heaven the stars fought, from their courses they fought against Sisera.” (Judges 5:19-20)
So while the Israel called upon God for deliverance, and while Barak gathered a 10,000 man army to fight, we are told that the stars in heaven also fought against Sisera,
As we read in Revelation 12:4, angels are also referred to as stars, and I believe God sent angels to fight the Prince of Philistia, who once defeated was no longer able to influence or protect Sisera, resulting in both the Philstinne’s defeat and the eventual assassination of Sisera.
In 2 Kings 7:6, a similar thing happened when the Armeans, having surrounded the Jerusalem, were spooked into leaving after they heard what sounded like a massive army coming to rescue Israel. There was no physical army, but rather the sounds of a heavenly host.
So again, angels seemed to be involved in the deliverance in Jerusalem.
And the same type of thing is still happening today.
In the 1950s, there was a massive revival in Argentina.
What led to this?
In his book, The Secrets of the Argentinian Revival, Argentine missionary Robert Miller shares that it started at a small Bible school in City Bell, Argentina in 1951, when students began praying for the country.
It turned into 10 weeks of concentrated prayer, with the group spending 10 to 20 hours a day in prayer for their country
At the end of this time of prayer a prophetic word came forth:
“Weep, no more…the lion of the Tribe of Judah hath prevailed. I have overcome the prince of Argentina.”
This prophetic word said the Prince of Argentina had been defeated.
Miller stated that along with this, the prophetic word suggested this would also impact the government, which at the time was being ruled by Juan Peron and heavenly influenced by his wife Eva.
A prophecy at another church spoke of the end of Eva’s influence in the Argentina stating:
“Eva Peron shall tremble…she will see the thunder of My Presence fall upon her face. She will tremble for she will see Me just as I am, and she shall die. I shall remove her and all her men from government.”
Secrets of the Argentine Revival by Robert Miller
A few months later, Eva was dead, and the revival was on that saw stadiums filled, healings and thousands being saved.
So while people did their part, God did his and dispatched godly angels that took out the Prince of Persia and even the Prince of Argentina.
If there was ever a time to pray for our country and our political leaders, that time is now.
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