Scripture Reading(s)
Genesis 11:1-9
11:1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.
11:2 And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
11:3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar.
11:4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”
11:5 The LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built.
11:6 And the LORD said, “Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.
11:7 Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”
11:8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.
11:9 Therefore it was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
Reflections
This was a period in which after the flood, the earth had gone through enough time for it to be populated again. Since, the number of people were growing, Noah and his sons divided up the groups of people into different colony’s and tribes and were sending them off to different parts of the world to continue repopulating.
Here our passage begins with the fact that they all spoke one language. This would have been great because they would have had much in common to bring them together as a nation. They would have truly understood each other beyond their language and most likely would have all gotten along.
The part that went wrong was the fact that they disobeyed the command to go spread themselves throughout the earth. God was looking to use them to build a great nation and instead they chose to unify for the wrong reason: they wanted to elevate themselves and think that because they were the only ones on the earth, they could go against God and do what they want.
The building of the tower in verse 4, spoke to a unanimous revolt against God. They unified in wanting to attempt to build a nation on their own and become strong on their own. They were prideful enough to think that they could even go as far as attempting to show up God in building a tower that in their mind, could reach Heaven.
As punishment, God intervened and caused confusion among them by changing their languages. He sought to prove that the only thing that should unify them is their obedience and love towards Him.
Sometimes we think that we can outdo God or do things that will help improve the way God does things. We think that we can live life our own way and that we know better then Him. Scripture speaks to the fact that God’s thoughts and ways are higher then ours. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD” (Isaiah 55:8) Let us remember that God in His infinite wisdom knows better then we do and its not our job to try and change the course that God has planned out. Our role is to faithfully obey and follow after Him and trust in His leading for our lives.
Many Jewish stories tend to address questions that the author’s generation had about their own world and how it got that way. They also tend to explain the relationship between God and man. This story has both features.
First, why do we all speak different languages? This is a normal question that most parents get asked dozens of times, as well as others like why the sky is blue, etc. This story details how society developed separate tongues. Whether or not this story was meant to be true or metaphorical is uncertain.
The second thing this story does is make a statement about God, YHWH. God loves His people but He alone is the master of all things. Sometimes we get prideful and God has to humble us. Ultimately, this story is a stark reminder that we as humans are greatly limited in our own abilities but nothing to is greater than God.
We need to recognize that trying to make ourselves into our own god will never work and no matter how awesome we thing we are, we are nothing compared to God. We were designed to partner with God, not be God or battle against Him.