The Disciple and the Peleg Principle

The Disciple and the Peleg Principle

Imanuel G. Christian

June 2012

The names in the Bible, whether person or place, especially in the Old Testament, have special significance. The Bible does not always provide the meaning for every name. But when it does, the name and its meaning carry an additional significance, as for example, Jacob and Esau (Genesis 25:24-26; 27:36), or Nabal (1 Samuel 25:25), or place names like Kibroth Hattaavah or Meribah (Numbers 11:34; 20:13).

          Some of such names and their meaning are not very familiar to us and often they are lost in obscurity, buried under other details that we sometimes consider insignificant. One such name, buried under a list of genealogical record of Noah’s three sons, is Peleg (Genesis 10:21-26; 11:10-26; 1 Chronicles 1:17-27). The Hebrew word ‘Peleg’ means “division” and the reason is given for such a name, “because in his time the earth was divided” (Genesis 10:25; 1 Chronicles 1:19).

          Although some scholars take the dividing of the earth in the sense of geological division, the division of the earth in two hemispheres, obviously here it does not mean that. The very next chapter (Genesis 11) gives us the details about the division of the earth; not a geological division, but the division of the people of the world into various language groups and scattering them all over the earth. Also, 10:32 makes it clear that this is division of people on the earth. This happened during the lifetime of Peleg (ca. 2247 B.C.).

          As we are told in Genesis 9:19 and 10:32, all the people of the world, after the Flood, were descendants of Noah’s three sons. They were originally part of one family, one culture and one language. However, because of their desire to use their family unity to excel and to make their name great, God divided them and scattered them all over the world (11:5-9). Unity is good and the unity in the family is something to be desired (Psalm 133:1-3). But when men become united in their rebellion against God, God breaks down their unity and frustrates their plans. No plan formed against God can ever succeed.

          But the Peleg factor we want to consider here goes much deeper than dividing people into various language groups. If Genesis Eleven speaks about separating people into various language groups, Genesis Twelve further speaks about separating out one individual, and later his descendants, from the rest of the people of the world.

          When God called Abram, he lived in Ur of Chaldees, an idolatrous city, and his father Terah was an idol worshipper (Joshua 24:2). God separated him from his country, his people and his father’s household (Genesis 12:1). Actually, God had Abram and the plan to separate him from his roots in mind long before he was born (as He does each one of us: Psalm 139:16; Revelation 13:8; 17:8). Two hundred and twenty-three years before Abram was born, Peleg’s father Eber was born, from whom the Hebrews derived their name (‘Hebrews’ because others referred to them as ‘descendants of Eber’, Genesis 10:21), and God had this plan of separating these people out of the rest of the world. Later, as we know, God renamed Abram as Abraham and made him the father of the nation Israel. God called the nation Israel as His own people, separated from the rest of the peoples of the world: “…out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy (separated for God) nation” (Exodus 19:5-6; Deuteronomy 7:6; 14:2; 26:19).

          And that is the deeper sense of the division of the people into two groups; the people of God, those who are separated unto God, who are committed to Him and live for His glory, and the rest of the people of the world, who do not follow God. God expected His people to bring glory to Him and be light and blessing to the rest of the people of the world.

          Because of God’s special call and dealing with them in a special way, the nation Israel ethnically remained a distinct nation and people. The Gentile nations too looked at them as a distinct nation and people. The word ‘Hebrew’ or ‘Hebrews’ in the Old Testament is mainly found in the speech of foreigners, notably the Egyptians and the Philistines, who contemptuously referred them as the Hebrews (Genesis 39:14, 17; 41:12; Exodus 2:6; 1 Samuel 4:6, 9; 14:11). Or it was used by Israelites to identify themselves as foreigners (Genesis 40:15; Exodus 3:18; 5:3; 7:16). Similarly, the word ‘Jews’ is not found in the Old Testament until the time of the Babylonian Exile, when they were looked upon as refugees.

          Whether in Egypt or in Canaan or during their captivity in Babylon, Israel maintained their separate identity and other people too looked at them as a distinct people. However, God’s basic purpose for their separation was that they become a holy nation, separated unto Himself and through them all the people of the world would come to know Him. But the history of Israel tells us that they did not maintain their distinct identity morally and spiritually. Whether in Egypt or in Canaan, they were influenced by the pagan cultures and worshipped heathen gods. That created the problem: “wherever they went among the nations they profaned my holy name, for it was said of them, ‘These are the LORD’s people, and yet they had to leave his land’ ” (Ezekiel 36:20). They failed to observe the Peleg principle in the life of the nation.

          The Peleg factor is as valid today in the life of a believer and the church as it was when God separated His people, the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, from the rest of the people of the world. The Greek word for ‘church’ is ekklesia, which literally means, “called-out assembly”, people called out and separated from the world as a distinct group committed to God and to a radically different lifestyle than the rest of the people of the world. Just as the other people looked to Israel as a distinct people, the people of the world have looked at the church as a distinct group of people and expect a different kind of lifestyle from them. As the words ‘Hebrew’ and ‘Jews’ were mainly used by non-Israelites, so too the term ‘Christians’ was actually coined by non-Christians (Acts 11:26).

          It was in this context that Jesus told His disciples that they were the salt and the light of the world and, “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:13-16, which is placed between the Beatitudes that describe the ideal lifestyle of the disciple, Vv. 1-12, and the deeper and meaningful fulfillment of the Old Testament moral code, Vv. 21-48). Paul expressed the same idea both in a negative and positive way: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2). We as the disciples of Christ have to follow the Peleg principle in life, each one of us responsible to live a life set apart from the rest of the world, one that conforms to the ethical and moral values of the Word (1 Peter 1:13-16; 2:11-14) and not of the world.