We can now well understand why Jehovah separated Israel from the nations around who were steeped in idolatry

and immorality. When Israel got involved with the surrounding paganism, the inevitable happened and the nation

became contaminated with these things, thus playing into the hands of Satan, and in this way working diametrically

against God's kingdom purposes.

The activities of the evil one are extended further in the false unity that was engineered at Babel and recorded in

Genesis 11. Verse 1 tells us that `the whole earth was of one language and of one speech'. The building of the city

and tower was with the object ` ... lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth' (verse 4). Unity was

essential if Satan was going to get control of the human race and dominate to the ends of the earth and this was

foreseen by the Lord:

`And the LORD (Jehovah) 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' (verse 6).

To foil the enemy, there was no need to destroy the race as before. All God needed to do to break this false unity

was to confound their speech so that they could not understand one another. Language can be the greatest of

barriers between people and this is what resulted from the Lord's action:

`So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city'

(verse 8).

It is interesting to remember that much later on, during the period covered by the Acts of the Apostles, God did

the opposite and removed the hindrance of foreign language by the miraculous gift of tongues (Acts 2:7-12) thus

speeding up the spreading of the gospel over the civilised earth.

Those who can discern `the signs of the times' (Matt. 16:1-3) must see the fact that, in a similar way today, the

world is being formed into one great unity or federation and the condition of Babel is being repeated. The many

mergers that we see happening everywhere and concentrations of power into fewer and fewer hands, can only lead

to this. The great money power that, behind the scenes, is running the present world system, is largely operated by

those with great influence who may be described as `one-worlders', that is, they are aiming at nothing less than a

world federation which means the lowering of the nations of the west and the lifting up of the `third world'. Much

that is happening today which is puzzling, begins to make sense once this is perceived. Satan is attempting to do

once again what he did with the nations at Babel to unite them so that, at the right moment, his representative, the

Antichrist, can be brought upon the scene and take control of the whole earth. We shall be dealing with this later on

when we trace the kingdom theme in prophecy.

Coming along further to the time of the patriarchs, we find God narrowing His kingdom purpose down to one

man and his posterity, namely Abraham. The Lord planned to educate and train his posterity in His truth so that

they could be the channel, spreading the knowledge of His kingdom and Himself as Redeemer and King, over the

whole earth. So important is this in the purpose of God that He makes it sure and certain by bringing in an

unconditional covenant or promise to Abraham and to this close attention must now be given.

Covenants in the Scriptures are of two kinds (1) conditional and (2) unconditional. The Mosaic covenant of

Law is an illustration of the former, whereas the covenant with Abraham concerning his seed and the land which

was to be the inheritance of the seed, illustrates the latter and is really a divine unconditional promise, depending on

the holy and almighty character of God Himself for its fulfilment and not on the recipient. It is as well to remind

ourselves that covenants, as part of holy Scripture, must be interpreted in the same way as the Scriptures as a whole,

using the grammatical-historical method we have discussed. They must therefore be primarily interpreted literally,

no matter what spiritual blessings accompany them.