Ancient Man

Ancient man and his civilization may be buried deep under the ground we now stand on, but that does not mean that we cannot know anything about him. Even opening our Bible's to the the very first book, itself a remnant passed down from our ancient forefathers, we find information on this shadowy topic. Here we see the origin of much of what we now know: sin, anger, jealousy, pride, murder, tyranny, religion—even the beginnings of agriculture, animal husbandry, tent-making, metal-working, music, and clothing design. Everything worked itself out from these first men, children and descendants of Adam, the first ever man.

From the very beginning of ancient civilization, right after the fall, we see the effects of sin. So much is beginning at this time—even God is establishing a sacrificial system with correct and incorrect methods (as established in the story of Cain and Abel, Genesis chapter four) designed to specifically lead up to the Messiah, the Lamb of God. But, even immediately, Satan begins to counteract all the work of God. Sin spreads through mankind like poison through veins. Distrust goes against faith, pride against humility, hate against love, polygamy against monogamy, self against simple obedience, tyranny against justice, wrong against right. Pleasure, power, and pride begin to seep into and poison society, becoming tools to lift man up and leading to idolatry. Everything is falling apart and building up at the same time.

Civilization may be becoming more advanced and the arts and skills more refined, but sin is spreading and lifespans are decreasing. Skills and arts are put to evil purposes, used to glorify man or idols. Men try to take over the world, even issuing decrees for supposed divine protection (as Lamech did after murdering a young man, Genesis chapter four), and eventually we see the emergence of nations with kings who claim to be God (such as Egypt, for example). There is even a pattern to be observed here:

1. There are no consequences, and there is no supreme ruler; I can do whatever I want

2. Survival of the fittest, and he who conquers rules; I am on top without competition

3. There is no God, and no one to stop me; I must be god

(I don't believe in any supreme God → I am the most powerful → I must be god)

Here we see the development of tyrannical thought—man being lifted up to the point that he is on top and has the supposed right to do whatever he wants or, basically, to be god. So man becomes god, with each ruler a king of the gods (rather like Zeus), and the other men as variously ranking lesser gods. “Self” is worshipped. But God is not made in man's image; we are made in His.

Besides all this, we can assume that civilization was developing and advancing quite rapidly, and, with lifespans and likely child-bearing periods roughly ten times their modern counterparts, that the population was growing at a similar rate. These were no small groups of primitive ape-men wandering around with little intelligence and sophistication. Even just about 1,500 years after the creation, Noah had the means to create the gargantuan ark that was longer than a football field and three stories high. And not long after the flood, mankind gathered together to build a tower that would reach to the heavens—they must have had significant technology to have even considered such an idea! This is a far cry from the millions of years of development taught by evolution. Better yet, all those old stories of highly developed ancient civilizations now lost—sometimes buried underwater—finally make sense!

So we see, in the end, that ancient man had a highly developed civilization. It is from these first people that we get so much of what we have now. Government, culture, arts, religions, even the different races (starting with the dispersion of nations, Genesis chapter eleven)—it all comes from them. Some things we may want to thank them for, others we hate them for. It is important, however, to always remember that anything good we may perceive as coming from them (such as metal-working or music) really originates with God. He is the ultimate Giver, and our praise and thanks should always be upon His ears. †