There's nothing surprising about the appearance of culture in ancient peoples.
Foundations for a Christian Worldview: The Times (2)
Then Lamech took for himself two wives: the name of one was Adah, and the name of the second was Zillah. And Adah bore Jabal. He was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal. He was the father of all those who play the harp and flute. And as for Zillah, she also bore Tubal-Cain, an instructor of every craftsman in bronze and iron. Genesis 4.19-22
The inevitability of culture
The sudden appearance of culture in the antediluvian world is without fanfare or surprise. These days, archaeologists and anthropologists marvel at every newly-discovered example of cave art, or some ancient celestial calendar, or other “wonder” of culture on the part of what they consider to be primitive peoples, not all that far removed from their simian ancestors.
The Bible is more realistic about culture. Human beings, made in the image and likeness of God, their souls inscribed with the penchant for exercising dominion over the creation, are natural-born creators, like the Creator Who made and rules over them.
So there is no sense of strangeness or wonder attached to the first mention of culture in Genesis 4. We expect people to make cities; domesticate cattle; fashion homes out of skins or other material; learn to make music, write poetry, and play instruments; and take up even more complex forms of making, such as mining and smelting metals. Culture is what human beings do. No people has ever been discovered who lacked culture, because people, made in the image of God, are makers, and they will make whatever artifacts, create whatever institutions, and sustain whatever conventions will allow them to define themselves, and to sustain and enrich their lives.
Culture is natural to human beings. But because human beings are fallen, the culture they create can often be put to fallen uses, contrary to the good and glorious purposes of God.
The uses of culture
Culture – artifacts like harps and tents, institutions like cities and governments, and conventions like language and lore – are essential to human wellbeing. Culture defines human life. How we dress or speak, what we wear, the special days we acknowledge, where we work and to what ends – these all define us as a particular sort of people – Americans, say, or Congolese.
Whatever culture we create also serves to sustain us. Herding cattle provides milk, meat, and materials for building or clothing. Playing instruments appeals to our aesthetic sense, and provides diversion and delight. Building cities allows for the kind of interdependence that unites a people and enables them to work together for the common weal.
And culture enriches our lives. Sure, we can live without poetry, but who would want to? And one suit of clothes would be enough, but we have closets full.
But culture in the hands of fallen people can serve fallen purposes and further the fallenness of the world. Whatever instrument or tool Lamech used to kill two men, that was an artifact of culture put to fallen uses. His poem, commemorating his violence, was meant to vaunt his prowess and cow his wives, hardly the sort of literature we would commend to our children. The tower which the peoples of the earth sought to construct in the plain of Shinar mocked God and denied both His grace and His mission. The government of Pharaoh turned in violent oppression against a people who had been its very salvation not that many years before.
At the same time, culture can serve saving and glorifying purposes, like the ark Noah built, the tabernacle and its furnishings, and the form of local spiritual leadership and civil government God established for Israel in His Law.
When culture is used to define people as a holy priesthood unto the Lord, to sustain them in line with God’s pleasure and purposes, and to enhance their lives, so that they delight in God, His creation, and one another, then culture is being used in line with humankind’s original mandate to rule the earth and exercise dominion over it.
Redeeming culture
Even fallen culture can be redeemed. That is, culture which is being put to the uses of a fallen world can be changed, redirected, and improved, so that people benefit and God is glorified. And sometimes, one form of culture can be used to arrest or transform fallen culture, to reset people within the reach of God’s grace, and on a course more in line with His blessing.
Just so, when the people of the world after the flood decided against God’s mandate to fill the earth, settled in a single place so as not to be scattered – the plain of Shinar – and undertook to gain heaven by their own hubris and hand, God intervened with a cultural convention – language – to get them moving in the right direction again. He could have simply destroyed them all, perhaps choosing one from among them to start again. But in His grace and mercy, He used culture to reshape the direction of human development.
Lamech wrote a poem to vaunt himself; Moses wrote a song (Ex. 15) to glorify God. Pagan peoples kept accurate records – toledoth – of their great men and their achievements; God’s people used the same form – “these are the generations of” – to record God’s faithfulness and the progress of His covenant. Pagan rulers promulgated laws to subject their peoples; God gave His Law to liberate.
Culture, in other words, is not inherently evil. The books of Moses show us that making culture is inevitable, ubiquitous, beneficial, and God-like; but we must make sure we use culture in ways that conform to God’s will and revelation. The people God called out of Egypt to worship Him at Mt. Sinai, plundered their Egyptian neighbors of their cultural wealth. So eager were the Egyptians to be done with them, that they forked over jewelry, tapestries, clothing, implements of all kinds, and many valuable raw materials, just to make sure those wretched Israelites and their first-born-killing God didn’t come back. The people of Israel used that culture – all of it fallen in origin – to define themselves as worshipers and servants of God, sustain themselves throughout their journey, and provide a variety of life-enhancing resources en route to the land of promise.
And all with the approval and under the direction of God and His Law.
For reflection
1. What role does culture play in our salvation today? What effects should salvation have on our use of culture?
2. How can we know when the culture God allows us to have is being put to uses that are according to His will?
3. Should Christians be more active as culture-makers today? Explain.
Next steps – Preparation: For one day, write down all the different forms of culture you use to define, sustain, and enhance your life. Pray over each of these, asking God to help you use them for His glory. Review your use of culture in prayer at the end of the day. Share this exercise with a Christian friend.
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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission.
