The Legacy of Babel: Choices, Consequences, and God's Sovereignty: October 22, 2023

Introduction

Title:

Introduction:

Illustration:

Comparison of the architectural and societal ambitions behind the Tower of Babel and the World Trade Center.

Contextual Setting:

Understanding the world post-Noah and the spread of his descendants.Humanity's ambitions and God's intentions.

Transition:

The divine plan leading up to Abraham.

I. Exploring the Genealogy and Ambitions of Humanity

A. Japheth’s Descendants (10:1–5)

Genesis 10:1–5 ESV

1 These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood. 2 The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. 3 The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. 4 The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. 5 From these the coastland peoples spread in their lands, each with his own language, by their clans, in their nations.

spreading across Euroasia…to black sea and spain. The wording of language assumes what happens in 11 with the tower of babbel.

Brief overview of Japheth's lineage.Their role in ancient history.

B. Ham’s Descendants (10:6–20)

Genesis 10:6–20 ESV

6 The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan. 7 The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. 8 Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.” 10 The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and 12 Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city. 13 Egypt fathered Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, 14 Pathrusim, Casluhim (from whom the Philistines came), and Caphtorim. 15 Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn and Heth, 16 and the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, 17 the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, 18 the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the clans of the Canaanites dispersed. 19 And the territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon in the direction of Gerar as far as Gaza, and in the direction of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. 20 These are the sons of Ham, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations.

Through this we see Ham’s descendents settling the upper nile region

Cush gets alot of mention here in verses 8-12.

Nimrod is mentioned as a mighty hunter and also he turns out to be a mighty ruler founding among other cities Babel which would become babylon.

in verses 13 and 14 here we see Canaan is identified as the father of Sidon and of of a whole list of people who would be the Canaanites.

in verse 16 we see the Jebusites who would found Jerusalem.

C. Shem’s Descendants Through Joktan (10:21–32)

Genesis 10:21–32 ESV

21 To Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, children were born. 22 The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram. 23 The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. 24 Arpachshad fathered Shelah; and Shelah fathered Eber. 25 To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, and his brother’s name was Joktan. 26 Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 27 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 29 Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan. 30 The territory in which they lived extended from Mesha in the direction of Sephar to the hill country of the east. 31 These are the sons of Shem, by their clans, their languages, their lands, and their nations. 32 These are the clans of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, in their nations, and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.

The significance of Shem's lineage in biblical history.

D. The Tower of Babel: Mankind's Defiance (11:1–9)

The reasons behind building the tower.God's response and the dispersion.

Genesis 11:1–9 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.

Two purposes of the tower

Genesis A. Towers in Mesopotamia (11:4)

Towers in ancient Mesopotamia were known as ziggurats. They were often temple towers with a square base and sloping, stepped sides. The worship shrine was placed at the top. Archaeologists have discovered among the ruins of ancient Babylon a building 153 feet high with a 400-foot base. The construction material was dried brick, and there were seven stages to its structure. Some suggest that these seven stages correspond to the seven known planets at that time and that a lofty tower on top contained the signs of the Zodiac. This would suggest that such a tower was for astrology and perhaps the worship of the sky and stars.

Immortality based on their achievements.

Genesis 12:2 ESV

2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

they wanted to keep the future generations in the area and to make a name for themselves.

Strength that comes from Unity

Genesis 1:28 ESV

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Genesis 9:1 ESV

1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

We seen the biblical tax that God repeatedly tells humanity to spread out over the entire earth. And yet in this text, they are doing everything they can to unite and use their power to control their future. God wanted humanity to live in relationship with him.

Next the text says the lord comes down to me to see in an anthropomorphic description of God. As we know, God doesn't have human form. And God always sees. But this is to say that God takes notice. Like in the story of Noah God takes notice of Noah in much the same way God is taking notice of what humanity is doing here.

Genesis 11:5–9 ESV

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.

In the United Nations building today many of the rooms require earphones and translation booths so that delegates from nations around the world can actually communicate with each other. There is a system of language identification that identifies over 6800 languages around the world. We see the results of God, confusing the language, making it, so that humanity diffuses around the world.

This is another time where God steps in and limits humanity. And we see that he's not limiting humanity, in order to hold us back or down. He is limiting humanity in order to limit our capacity to sin at scale. He shortens the life of mankind when he sees the sinfulness of us. And also, he limits the capacity of humanity to unite around a common goal, because he sees a sinfulness of our souls.

II. God's Sovereign Choices and the Path to Blessings

A. The Lineage of Blessing: Shem’s Descendants Through Peleg (11:10–26)

Understanding the importance of this lineage leading to Abraham.The divine choices within the genealogy.

OK, this section, the genealogy follows a similar, pattern to what we saw in Genesis, chapter 10, except that this genealogy omit the ages of people when they die. The focuses on humanity is expanding rather than on the ages of the individual humans.

So if you look at this section also versus 18 through 26 demonstrate about 10 generations from Noah through sham through Palek to lot. If there are no gaps it's about 352 years from the flood to Abraham many people think Abraham's birth year is probably around 2166 BC.

B. Terah and His Son Abram: The Genesis of God's Redemptive Plan (11:27–32)

Genesis 11:27–32 ESV

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.

In this last section of the genealogy that we will cover today, we see the sixth Tdot of Genesis. We see what happens to Tara and we are introduced to his son Abram who would later become Abraham.

Genesis 17:5 ESV

5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

In this section, we are also introduced to lots nephew, who would play a big part in Abrahams journey, as well as his wife, Sara. We see that they set out to go to the land of Canaan, but they settled in Haran. It's interesting to see that Tara was already on a journey to Canaan when they settle in Horan. So God's call on Abram to go to the land of Canaan is really a completion of the journey Abrams father was already on. Many people have theorized where the Caldean is, but it's most likely somewhere in Iraq today

C. Reflection on Choices:

It's fascinating when you think about this chapter. It begins with humanity, choosing to unite in opposition to the power of God, and the command of God, and it finishes with God, beginning his plan to bring redemption to all mankind. Throughout history, men have spent a lot of time thinking about the legacy they leave behind. We need to be careful about that. We need to recognize with humility the limitations of what we can do, and how much we depend on God. The greatest thing that God wants of us is to walk with him to live at peace with him, and to pass our faith in him to our children.

What's also interesting in this chapter is humans made choices and God worked through human choices to sovereignly bring about his plans. And all of life we are making choices and God hold us accountable to them but God is also working to bring about his plans.

III. The Dangers of Pride and the Need for Humility

A. Growing Proud in Our Achievements:

Napoleon's pride contrasted with biblical humility.C. S. Lewis's insights on pride and its dangers.

When Napoleon set out to conquer Russia at the head of the Grand Army of Europe, someone reminded him that

“man proposes but God disposes.”

The conqueror of Europe replied,

“I am he that both proposes and disposes.”

but God has always resisted the proud and given grace to the humble.

Kenneth O. Gangel and Stephen J. Bramer, Genesis, ed. Max Anders, Holman Old Testament Commentary (B&H Publishing Group, 2002), 113.

C.S. Lewis wrote.

The essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, greed, drunkenness,

and all that are mere flea biters in comparison; it was through Pride that the devil became the devil:

Pride leads to every other vice: It is the complete anti-God state of mind.… As long as you are proud you cannot know God.

A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down,

you cannot see something that is above you (Lewis, 94, 96).

Kenneth O. Gangel and Stephen J. Bramer, Genesis, ed. Max Anders, Holman Old Testament Commentary (B&H Publishing Group, 2002), 113.

God calls us to humility

B. The Testimony of Babel in Modern Times:

But what we must remember as Christians, especially Christians living in America is that we are way closer to the people that built the tower of Babel then we are the remnant of Israel fighting for a survival. We have far more in common with the conquering kingdom Babylon, that destroys Israel than we do with Israel being destroyed. We have far more in common with the Roman empire than we do with the Israelites. We take pride in so much in America. We have many good things to be proud of, but we must remember and always be aware of the danger of pride and the danger of sin. God calls us to turn to him to not make the mistake that humans have made throughout history to depend on themselves to provide for their own legacy. God wants to work through you.

Conclusion:

Let us commit to live with humility and faithfulness before God. Let us build our legacy on our relationship with our savior and pointing others to him.

The Ultimate Choice:

Will you prioritize God’s will in making decisions for your life?

The dichotomy of human ambition vs. divine purpose.

A call to prioritize God's will in decision-making.