Passage: Genesis 11:1-9
Main Idea: The city of Babel was
being built in order to reach the heavens and nothing was standing in the way
of man finishing the job, but the Lord confused their languages and scattered
them across the whole earth inhibiting them from building anymore.
Outline:
I. The entire earth was in one
place and they used the same language to communicate (vs. 1). A. Men were going east to the land of Shinar
in order to build a city (vs. 2). The founder and ruler of that city was Nimrod
(Gen. 10:10).
B.
The city was Babel (vs. 9).
II. Their mission was to make their
name great and to reach the heavens (vs. 4).
A. They wanted to build a tower using stone and
mortar (vs. 3).
B. They
built the tower so they would not have to scatter across the whole earth (vs.
4).
III. The Lord came to see this
tower (vs. 5).
A. After
seeing the tower the Lord said, “They all have the same language… and now
nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them” (vs. 6).
B. The
Lord decided to confuse their languages (vs. 7).
C. The
Lord scattered them over the face of the earth (vs. 8).
God’s
plan in the beginning of Genesis was for man to multiply and fill the whole
earth, but man was disobedient. They were busy building a city to reach God and,
ironically, because of their disobedience, dispersing them across the world
with different languages would fulfill God’s plan. Man did not want to fill the
whole earth; instead they wanted to come together in order to make themselves
great. The Lord speaks to Himself discussing what would happen if the city were
finished. The commentary between Them tells of men who could achieve anything
they wanted if they finished Babel. The tower of Babel did not just represent
men trying to make themselves great, but it was in direct disobedience to the
Creator of the universe. They are given an order, spoken to Adam from God
Himself, to be rulers of the whole earth, but they were comfortable with where
they were and made the decision to rule themselves instead of listening to God.
They knew the tower was not only a harmless building, but also a one of many
attempts of man trying to reach God by works alone.
The
book of Genesis is the first book of what is known as the Pentateuch, which are
the first five books of the Bible. Genesis is the beginning of life and the
creation of everything. Moses is believed to be the true author of the entire
Pentateuch[1].
Noah and his family were the only ones alive on earth after the flood and they
began to multiply. Genesis 10 gives the account of the family-tree lines of
Ham, Shem, and Japheth, Noah’s sons. Nimrod, the son of Cush who was the son of
Ham, was a great hunter and a mighty warrior; his kingdom was great and it
began in Babel (Genesis 10:8-10). Genesis 11:1 says that the whole earth spoke
the same language and the people of the earth lived in the same vicinity. The
Pentateuch was written for the Jews to show where they came from as a nation
from Shem to Abraham (Gen. 11) to the nation of Israel. Its purpose continued
in the understanding of their heritage and the showing of how faithful God was
to their ancestors and to them, as well as setting the foundation of future
promises in Christ Jesus.
Genesis
10 and 11 are records of the genealogies of Ham and Japheth (Ch. 10) and Shem
(Ch. 11). Moses is writing to show who derived from Ham and who derived from
Shem. The importance of being a descendant of Ham or a descendant of Shem was
of utmost significance because of Genesis 9. Ham saw the nakedness of his
father Noah (vs. 22) and Noah cursed Ham’s son Canaan and his descendants (vs.
25). Noah goes on to bless Shem and his descendants putting Canaan under Shem
calling him his servant (vs. 26). Genesis 10 describes the families of Ham,
Shem, and Japheth and where they were divided, “according to their families,
according to their languages, by their lands, according to their nations” (vs.
31). Genesis 11 gives the account of how the nations were divided by God.
Verses 1-9 describe why God separated the nations and their families and their
land. The rest of Genesis 11 completes the line of Shem through Abraham being
called of Ur by God.
Genesis
11:1-9 starts out with a clear identification to the setting of the story. “Now
the whole earth used the same language and the same words” (vs. 1). This is
significant and is a premise for the rest of the story. This group of people
was one nation and one family; they were descendants of Ham as recorded earlier
in Genesis 10. The term ‘whole earth’ is what commentaries struggle on what
exactly it meant. According to the New American Commentary, “‘Whole world’”
renders the Hebrew ‘all the earth’, meaning the inhabitants of the earth
collectively”.[2]
Meaning that the whole world, more than likely, used the same language and
spoke the same words. Unity is the word that describes this one nation and one
family. They shared the same goals and the same purpose later expressed in vs.
4. The question is, why did God not like the unity of man? The simple answer is
their unity was a direct disobedience to God and His divine command in Genesis
9:1, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.”
The
descendants of Ham travelled east and settled in the land of Shinar (vs. 2).
“East” is generally a broad term, but in this sense east “marks events of
separation in Genesis.”[3]
This is not the first time the term “travelled east or eastward” has been used
in Genesis. Genesis 3:24 says, “So He drove the man out; and at the east of the
garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned
every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.” This is also not the
last time it is mentioned in Genesis; “So Lot chose for himself all the valley
of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastward” (13:11). “The narrative conveys a
metaphorical sphere, meaning the Babelites are outside God’s blessing.”[4]
The east was where they settled, to the land of Shinar and built the city of
Babel, which is the future place of Babylon or Babylonia.
Babel
has been mentioned earlier in Genesis 10 as the beginning of Nimrod’s kingdom.
Nimrod was the second generation from Ham and was considered “A mighty hunter
before the Lord” (10:9). Nimrod is mentioned as the son of Cush, but it is
unorthodox in the way the author of Genesis writes Nimrod’s name in chapter 10.
Why was the son’s of Cush all mentioned in verse 7 and then verse 8 starts off
with, “Now Cush became the father of Nimrod”? Nimrod is mentioned in the next
few verses and stands out in Genesis 10. According to The New International
Commentary, the big question is, “That Gen. 10 has Cush, a Hamite, as the
father of Nimrod is unexpected… that is, if Nimrod is a ruler of Assyria!”[5]
The Hamites were not located in Assyria, but Nimrod and his kingdom went forth
into Assyria and built Nineveh and Rehoboth-Ir and Calah (10:11). This is why
most commentaries translate the name Nimrod, as “We shall rebel”.[6]
This defines who Nimrod is and his character: the leader of a nation that
rebelled against God and started a nation of rebellion.
The
nation was one, their leader was a leader of rebellion, and they were
travelling outside of God’s blessing. Now the question is why? Why would the
descendants of Noah want to directly disobey God’s command to “multiply and
fill the earth” and settle in Shinar? The answer comes from verse 4: “Let us
make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face
of the whole earth.” This points to the nation of Babel as autonomy. The
beginning of verse 4 is how they plan on making themselves a name, “Let us
build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven.” What
was the point of this tower? Were they really trying to reach heaven? The NAC
says that the tower “was conceived as a stairway that would give them access to
the realm of the divine.”[7]
They weren’t trying to build the tower to reach heaven necessarily, but they
were building it because they believed it would make them holy or god-like.
They ruled themselves and they strived for divinity.
The
city was built and the tower was constructed of bricks for stone and tar for
mortar (vs. 3). The significance of bricks for stone and tar for mortar are
simply based on the region of Shinar. Commentaries and interpreters have said
that Shinar is located in Sumer, or southern Mesopotamia.[8]
The people of Babel had a lack of stone in their region, they had to develop a
way to build so they said, “‘Come, let us make bricks and burn them
thoroughly’”(vs. 3). They had to use what they had in order to build without
stones. According to the NIV Application Commentary, “this combination of baked
brick and bitumen mastic made for waterproof buildings as sturdy as stone.”[9]
This is how the tower was constructed being the most important building in the
city. The tower is considered to be a “ziggurat”.[10]
Many ziggurats have been uncovered in ancient Mesopotamia and it is almost
impossible to determine the actual tower of Babel. A ziggurat was, “built in
stages, three to seven stories high, they were varicolored. On the topmost
stage, the shrine and image of the city’s patron deity were housed.”[11]
This was just another part of the rebellion against God.
The
nation was building and they were committed to finishing their tower and
staying put, this is why God intervenes. The Lord came down to view this city
and the tower (vs. 5). Now the nation’s tower and their autonomy were going to be
tested by their Creator. The NIC describes verse 5 as irony saying, “The
builders’ intention is to erect a tower whose top will be ‘in the heavens’,
that is, among the gods. But even though they build the tower, it is so far
from the heavens that God must come down to see it.”[12]
The tower was built, but the builders’ have failed their goal, but that did not
stop God from punishing them.
Verse
6 is a conversation between God and who? Himself. “The Lord said…” (vs. 6), the
next verse is where it is realized who the Lord said this to, “Come, let Us go
down” (vs. 7). He was talking to Himself, and discussing how this nation, which
He refers to as “one people, and they all have the same language” (vs. 6) is
not to be taken lightly. He recognizes their disobedience and knows that this
is just the beginning. The NIC says, “Yahweh states that nothing will be able
to restrain or thwart the workings of man unless this initial building project,
a threat to the divine will and rule, is halted.”[13]
God knows what would come if this were not stopped and He knows this is only
the beginning. His decision is to take action immediately.
God’s
punishment on Babel was in no way the same as the Flood, but it was more for
fulfilling His command to Noah in Genesis 9:1 and stopping the autonomy of
Babel for the time being. He comes down not to destroy the city like Sodom, but
to “confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s
speech” (vs. 7). Why did God decide to
do something like this instead of destroying everything? Simply because
destroying the tower would of stopped only that tower, but it would have been
just a delay towards the progress of man. Confusing their language stopped
everything because they could not understand each other. The NIC explains the
reason behind this, “The solution must go deeper than that. It is not the tower
that must be done away with, but what makes possible the building of that tower-an
international language.”[14]
God knew how to stop them permanently and because He is God He also fulfilled
one of His earlier commands; that is just how great God is always.
God
stopped this sinful disobedience of man and did to them what they feared most:
scattered them among the whole earth. They were no longer one nation with one
universal language in one place. Instead, they are now split nations with
different languages across the whole earth. What is important to note here is
that verse 8 does not mention the tower, instead it says “and they stopped
building the city.” According to the World Biblical Commentary, “The tower is
not mentioned because it is the name of the city that is the focus of the
narrative.”[15]
The ceasing of the city is not the point God was trying to make, but the
confusing of languages in order to prohibit the coming together of only one
culture away from God.
Babel
is now the name of this once proud city of one nation. The nation got their
wish in one way, the made a name for themselves, but “it is a name of shame”.[16]
The author of Genesis says that the city was called Babel, “because there the
Lord confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the Lord
scattered them abroad over the face of the earth” (vs. 9). “The tower of Babel
was intended to be a monument to human effort: instead it became a reminder of
divine judgment on human pride and folly.”[17]
Babel was named from the etymology in Genesis 11:1-9. This means that Babel was
named because the languages were confused and it is different from Babylon
because they referred their city as “gate of the gods”.[18]
“The gate of the gods” was in its own way a proper etymology for Babylon based
on how polytheistic Babylon would become in the future. Revelation 17:5 reads,
“Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the
earth.” Babel’s name was now recorded in history forever with the tag of
disobedience towards God. According to the Bible dictionary, this story is an
etiology.[19]
Which is the “study of a phenomenon’s cause or origin… Etymological
explanations of personal and place names, actually based on wordplay, are a
frequent type of etiology.”[20]
This short story in Genesis provides detailed information on how one nation of
the world became divided among the whole earth and changed the culture of the
world forever.
The
moral of Genesis 11:1-9 is like most stories in the Bible: God’s way is better
than man’s way. Nimrod and his nation and families made the worst decision they
possibly could by wanting to live outside of God’s grace. They were selfish,
disobedient, arrogant, and sinners. This applies to many people even nations
today. God’s grace is there if people ask and seek it, but many people choose
to live outside of it. They are choosing to be selfish. Many companies, people,
and nations act just like the Babelites and want to “make for ourselves a
name”. Selfishness in the Babel story is prevalent because they are acting for
themselves while directly ignoring God’s command to “multiply and fill the earth”.
Today’s society does not have to worry about the command to “multiply and fill
the earth” today, but they do have to worry about the selfishness of trying to
make their own name great instead of God’s Name. People who look for their own
name’s sake get what they want usually, but in the end their name is remembered
not with reverence, but with hate or disgust.
Another
application from this story is to realize that God’s plan will always come true
no matter how man tries to intervene. It was God’s plan to stop this city from
being built and fill the earth from it and He did even though man was not going
to stop. God made them stop. Christians need to be weary on trying to make
their own plans when God has a plan for them. God’s plan trumps all other plans.
Jeremiah 29:11 says, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord,
‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.’” The
Lord has a plan for each and every person and it is a great one if he or she
chooses to follow it. The Babelites chose to ignore God’s plan and try and
create their own plan for their lives. This resulted in a new plan from God but
with the same result as His old plan just with a different twist in the middle.
The end result will always be God’s.
Bibliography
Merrill F. Unger, Gary N. Larson, The New Unger’s Bible Handbook. Chicago,
Illinois: The Moody Bible
Institute of Chicago, 1966 updated 1984
Kenneth A. Matthews, The New American Commentary. Nashville,
Tennessee: Broadman & Holman
Publishers, 1996
Victor P. Hamilton, The New International Commentary On The Old
Testament. Grand Rapids, Michigan:
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1991
Gordon J. Wenham, Word Biblical Commentary Volume I. Waco,
Texas: Word Books, Publisher, 1987
John H. Walton, The NIV Application Commentary. Grand
Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing,
2001
Katharine Doob Sakenfeld, The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the
Bible D-H Volume 2. Nashville,
Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 2007
[1]
Merrill F. Unger, Gary N. Larson, The New
Unger’s Bible Handbook, (Chicago, Illinois: The Moody Bible Institute of
Chicago, 1966 updated 1984), 13. Moses’ writing of the Pentateuch is considered
authentic, historical and reliable, and worthy of the name Holy Inspired
Scripture. Other views on authorship of the Pentateuch include the J tradition
(written in c. 850); the E tradition (written in c. 750); D tradition (c. 621
B.C.); and P tradition (c. 500 B.C.). These are unauthentic, unreliable sources
and not the inspired work of God.
[2]
Kenneth A. Matthews, The New American
Commentary, (Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996),
477.
[3]
Ibid., 478.
[4]
Ibid.
[5]
Victor P. Hamilton, The New International
Commentary On The Old Testament, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1991), 338. “It is possible that Nimrod is African
or Egyptian, but Mic. 5:5, with its ‘land of Nimrod’ as a synonymous variant of
Assyria, establishes Nimrod as a territory to the east of Palestine.”
[6]
Gordon J. Wenham, Word Biblical
Commentary Volume I, (Waco, Texas: Word Books, Publisher, 1987), 222.
[7]
Matthews, 481. The author points towards Gen. 28:12, 17 talking about Jacob and
his “ladder with its top that reaches to heaven” and how that is the “house of
God; this is the gate of heaven.”
[8]
John H. Walton, The NIV Application
Commentary, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 2001),
372. “Egypt and Israel had the availability of stone… the burnt-brick
technology was never developed because it was unnecessary.”
[9]
Ibid.
[10]
Ibid., 373. “The most prominent building in the early temple complex was the
ziggurat.”
[11]
Unger, 44. “The tower of Gen. 11 may well be one of the first such towers
attempted.”
[12]
Hamilton, 354.
[13]
Ibid., 355.
[14]
Ibid.
[15]
Wenham, 241.
[16]
Hamilton, 357.
[17]
Wenham, 242.
[18]
Matthews, 486.
[19]
Katharine Doob Sakenfeld, The New
Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible D-H Volume 2, (Nashville, Tennessee:
Abingdon Press, 2007), 547.
[20]Ibid.,
352.
No comments:
Post a Comment