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28» God "Came Down" To Inspect The Tower Of Babel?
• Gen 11:5 . .Jehovah came down to look at the city and tower that man had built
That verse presents an interesting theological problem. Wouldn't it make better
sense by saying Jehovah looked down, instead of saying He "came" down? Why
bother to come down? Doesn't the Bible's God see all and know all? Isn't God
omniscient and isn't His spirit omnipresent? Can't He see everything from right
where He is?
Well; fact of the matter is, yes, Jehovah could see the city and the tower from
Heaven, but He wasn't satisfied. It was His wish to inspect everything up close and
personal; to actually visit the city and the tower in person as an on-site eye
witness. He did it that way again with Sodom and Gomorrah.
• Gen 18:21 . . I will go down to see whether they have acted altogether according
to the outcry that has reached Me; if not, I will take note.
Why bother to go down? Doesn't the Bible's God see all and know all? Isn't God
omniscient and isn't His spirit omnipresent? Can't He see everything from right
where He is?
Well; fact of the matter is, yes, Jehovah could see and hear from Heaven
everything he needed to know about the city, but He wasn't satisfied. He had to
investigate, and establish the truth of every fact for Himself in person as on-site
eye witness, before moving against Sodom.
In future, should someone challenge the Lord by saying: How do you know Sodom
was bad? Were you there; did you actually see it yourself? Well; yes, He was there
and did actually see its bad for Himself.
And then there's the offering of Isaac.
• Gen 22:11-12 . .Then an angel of God called to him from heaven: Abraham!
Abraham! And he answered: Here I am. And he said: Do not raise your hand
against the lad, or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you
have not withheld your son, your favored one, from me.
Isn't God omniscient, and doesn't He have an ability to scan the future? Then why
did the voice say "now I know". Doesn't God always know everything there is to
know?
Yes; but knowing things as a spectator is quite a bit different than knowing things
by omniscience. God sometimes favors seeing things for Himself in real time, as an
eyewitness.
Of course God knew in advance that Abraham would go thru with offering his son,
but that kind of knowing doesn't always satisfy God. No, sometimes He prefers to
be on-site and observe things unfold as current events.
So although God knew by His intellect that Abraham would comply with the angel's
instructions, now He also has a first-hand knowledge of Abraham's compliance by
personal experience, i.e. God, via the angel, was there in the bleachers, so to
speak, watching all the action from first to last.
NOTE: Some of the ancient rabbis were baffled by these passages as they seem to
imply there are two Jehovahs. So they nick-named one of them as Metatron: a
celestial being whose name is his master's. Roughly speaking; Metatron is
authorized to speak for God, speak as God, be spoken to as God; and be
worshipped, obeyed, and respected as God.
No human has seen or heard the real God at any time (John 1:18, John 5:37, and
1Tim 6:16). Till Christ came along; Metatron was the closest that humanity ever
came to associating with the ultimate supreme being.
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