20230212 Genesis 11: A Covenant of Men, Not of God

Genesis 11 ESV

1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 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. 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, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” 5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth. 10 These are the generations of Shem. When Shem was 100 years old, he fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood. 11 And Shem lived after he fathered Arpachshad 500 years and had other sons and daughters. 12 When Arpachshad had lived 35 years, he fathered Shelah. 13 And Arpachshad lived after he fathered Shelah 403 years and had other sons and daughters. 14 When Shelah had lived 30 years, he fathered Eber. 15 And Shelah lived after he fathered Eber 403 years and had other sons and daughters. 16 When Eber had lived 34 years, he fathered Peleg. 17 And Eber lived after he fathered Peleg 430 years and had other sons and daughters. 18 When Peleg had lived 30 years, he fathered Reu. 19 And Peleg lived after he fathered Reu 209 years and had other sons and daughters. 20 When Reu had lived 32 years, he fathered Serug. 21 And Reu lived after he fathered Serug 207 years and had other sons and daughters. 22 When Serug had lived 30 years, he fathered Nahor. 23 And Serug lived after he fathered Nahor 200 years and had other sons and daughters. 24 When Nahor had lived 29 years, he fathered Terah. 25 And Nahor lived after he fathered Terah 119 years and had other sons and daughters. 26 When Terah had lived 70 years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran. 27 Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. 28 Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred, in Ur of the Chaldeans. 29 And Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah. 30 Now Sarai was barren; she had no child. 31 Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. 32 The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.

The genealogy from Adam to Abraham

What we see in Genesis 11:

(1) We are reminded of the incredible unity that once existed

One language, one flesh, one God, one man, one woman.

(2) This was no mere building: this was an attack on God’s authority

Did God really say? What did God say: to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

The ESV Study Bible Chapter 11

The Tower of Babel. This episode is significantly more important than its length suggests. It presents a unified humanity using all its resources to establish a city that is the antithesis of what God intended when he created the world. The tower is a symbol of human autonomy, and the city builders see themselves as determining and establishing their own destiny without any reference to the Lord. (The tower story may also be a polemic against Mesopotamian mythology. Eridu Genesis, a fragmentary text found at Ur, Nippur, and Nineveh, describes the goddess Nintur’s calling for humanity to build cities and to congregate in one place. Her desire, according to this text, is that humans be sedentary and not nomadic. Yahweh demands just the opposite, so that the earth would become populated.)

(3) Genesis 11 ends with a new Adam

God’s Kingdom through God’s Covenants: A Concise Biblical Theology Abraham in the Genesis Plot Structure

Here, after Adam and Noah, God is making another new start. Abram and his family constitute another Adam. Notice the parallels in the biblical narrative: Adam and Eve had three sons (besides other children who are not named in the text; Gen. 5:4). Similarly, the genealogy in Genesis 5 ends with a man who also had three sons (Shem, Ham, and Japheth). The genealogy in Genesis 11 ends in the same way: with a man who had three sons (Abram, Nahor, and Haran). This parallel is a literary technique inviting the reader to compare Abram with Noah and Adam.

What we learn from Genesis 11:

Theologically, doctrinally, practically

(1) The Lord is able to sovereignly navigate through a sinful world

Psalm 2 says that the rulers of the earth scheme against the Lord. And what does the Lord do? He laughs.

The world of men plot against the God of the universe, the creator of all things, tey plot against the one who is over all things and notice that verse 5 comes DOWN to His creation and establishes His control and His will.

Never think that the Lord is powerless. Never think that things can become so broken that the Lord can’t fix them. Never think the Lord is not able to calm the storm, hear your prayers, bring good out of your suffering, or able to soften a sinful, unbelieving heart.

With God, all things are possible. He is able to do immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine.

More important though is this:

We see here one of the true purposes of the Gospel:

God is not judging man, He is saving them.

And He is not saving all of mankind from Himself.

He is saving men from themselves. What we see here is an act of grace, of mercy, of kindness. It looks like punishment but it is salvation. The Lord said, never again, never again would He destroy all life.

The Lord is saving us from us. We are not called sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners.

We are not called sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners. And we are sinners in need of a Savior.

(2) Man proposes, God disposes

The Lord is in control

Book I, chapter 19, of The Imitation of Christ, a 15th-century book by the German cleric Thomas à Kempis.

Proverbs 19:21 ESV

21 Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

(3) Worship is the love and adoration of our Creator and Redeemer, the God we praise and the Father in whom we find security

They built a city in order to not be dispersed over the earth in order to be secure

They built a tower to the heavens in order to make a name for themselves so that they would receive would receive praise

The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever

1 Cor 10:31 Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God

He is our source of security, He is the one who alone is worthy of our praise

(4) The Lord needs humble and willing hearts, not carnal hands

Acts 7:48–51 ESV

48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says, 49 “ ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? 50 Did not my hand make all these things?’ 51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.

God is the Creator, God is the builder, God alone is the one yield our hearts to.

The New Covenant unites the unbeliever with the Creator and creates a work of God not built with human hands but by the Spirit through the blood of Christ

God has come down to men and invites you to be His workmanship, His new creation, His child