"The Lord Scattered Them Abroad"

INTRODUCTION:

Interest:

God has a way of making things work out much differently than we anticipate. Eg., Connor Smiths’ graduation on Friday amid the coronavirus.

Involvement:

All of us are in the middle of an unexpected time. We don't know what God is doing, but as we will see this evening as we wrap up our series through Genesis 1 through 11, we can be sure that He is doing exactly what He has planned.

Context:

It has taken us a long time to cover the first 11 chapters of Genesis, but tonight I am wrapping up this series. I’m sure at least some of you have noticed that I am only going through verse 26 tonight and that the chapter runs for an additional six verses. Verse 27 begins a new stage in the book, the story of Abraham. Verse 26 wraps up the pre-patriarchal section of the book and is as far as I planned on going with this series.

BTW, I plan to start a series next Sunday night through Paul’s first letter to Timothy. Since we are in the OT on Sunday mornings right now with our series in Psalms, I thought an evening series through 1 Timothy would be beneficial in the evenings. I miss our Sunday evening focus on fellowship, but since I suspect our evening service will remain virtual for quite some time, still, I think a sermon series is our best option.

As we prepare to look at the final verses in this series, allow me to remind you one last time that Moses’ main goal was to provide a theological history for the nation of Israel. He wrote the book while the nation of Israel was in the wilderness, having been rescued from their enslavement in Egypt. They are coming into their own is a great nation heading to the land that God had promised would be the home for them as a great nation. Moses is recording why God has selected them and why He is acting on their behalf. He is informing Israel about her origin, purpose, and destiny.

I trust that you remember that this is a theological interpretation of selected events; this is not a complete history for the sake of simply recording history. Moses selected events from the extensive time before Abraham to provide a theological and historical foundation for God’s covenant with the nation. He had to show them why God had to act in order for mankind to be redeemed and whey He chose Israel as the vehicle for that purpose. The first 11 chapters specifically show in a very graphic way the need for God’s blessing in the world.

Since it has take us so long to get to this point and since tonight wraps up the ancient history section of Genesis, I am going to take just a few minutes to review the major divisions of the book again so that we can remember how Moses developed this theological foundation. We reviewed this when we restarted our series a month ago too, but repetition is useful for learning.

The main divisions in Genesis are pretty easy to spot because after the first section, each one is introduced by a Hebrew word toledote which is usually translated along the lines of “These are the records of the generations of.”

The first section contained the creation account. It demonstrated what kind of God was establishing His theocracy with Israel and how powerful His word was—He speaks, and the universe responds. The implied question was that if the whole universe will respond to the word of this powerful God, coming into existence from nothing, should not the nation of Israel obey as well?

The second section explained what had happened to God’s original “very good” creation. In a short time this “very good” creation was corrupted by sin. The original sin in the Garden resulted in a curse upon all of creation and led to a rapid expansion of wickedness. Yet, even within that ugliness, early glimpses of God’s were grace given in the promise of a Seed and the birth of Seth after Cain killed Abel.

The bulk of the third section (all of chapter 5) is a list of the descendants of Adam that focuses on ten men descending through Seth and culminating in Noah. This list emphasizes that death is now the natural condition for men. The final 8 verses, 6:1–8, portray how wicked humanity had become and indicated that death will be the judgment for the sinful race.

The fourth section traces what becomes of Noah who was introduced suddenly in 6:8 as the object of God’s “favor.” The account of the swift and terrible judgment on sinful rebellion began by contrasting Noah with the open rebellion against God of his generation; unlike the rest of the generation, Noah was “a righteous man, blameless in his time,” who “walked with God.” (6:9). The main overall focus of the story was to show how God graciously saved Noah rather than explain why God sent a flood to destroy the rest of mankind. The answer for judgment was easy—sin. The reason for grace was much more interesting—God’s sovereign choice.

Last week we looked at most of the fifth section, by looking at chapter 10, the Table of Nations. We saw that the division of men into nations was the result of God’s divine design. We also saw strong indication that mankind would also be divided based upon their relationship to Him as their God.

Preview:

This evening we will wrap up the fifth section as well as cover the very short sixth division of the book. The end of the fifth section contains the brief account of the Tower of Babel while the sixth section provides an additional genealogical line. Between these two things, Moses completes laying the foundation for a proper understanding of God’s selection of Abraham from whom He chooses to form Israel as a nation and call them His own people.

Transition from introduction to body:

Tonight, I think it will be most beneficial for us to review our verses before we draw an overall point of application. In verses 1 through 9 of chapter 11, Moses records His account of the Tower of Babel. I am going to break this account into two parts. In verses 1–4 of chapter 11, we discover that…

BODY:

I. Man’s efforts display rebellion, Gen 11:1–4

Let’s go ahead and read these verses together…<read Gen 11:1–4>.

Allow me to make a few observations from these verses to help us see what Moses is getting at with this story.

Notice first how the phrase “whole earth” is used in these verses as a key expression. It will show up again in the second half of the story, but that phrase wraps the verses we just read.

You may recall that the previous chapter just traced the record of Noah’s son, the expansion of all the nations as they developed through God’s blessing on Noah and the result of His command to multiply. Coming off that record we have by way of introduction to this event the words that “the whole earth used the same language and the same words.” The impression is that all of these nations that we just learned about in the last chapter are encompassed in the events of this new story.

You may also recall that God’s command to Noah included filling the earth. Here is where the problem comes to the head. We see that while the whole earth—indicating all of the people descending from Noah—are part of this story, their desire is to NOT fill the earth. Rather, they are undertaking efforts to ensure that they not be scattered over the face of the “whole earth”—indicated the land that they are to fill. The land that God prepared for them is available, but the people whom God has brought forth are unwilling to do what He has instructed. This is a record of open rebellion against God. In fact, it is interesting that Moses specifically notes that the people “journeyed east” in verse 2 because eastward has been the consistent direction indicated in Genesis thus far taken when men are leaving the land of blessing and going toward the place where they will attempt to find what is “good” through their own efforts.

A second thing to notice is that it is clear from verse 1 that language is the unifying principle for humanity. All the people of the earth shared the same language using the same words. Language does a lot more than provide a means to express ourselves. Language actually influences the way that we learn to think and interpret the world around us. The shared language allowed all the people of the world to think alike an act in harmony. It became the source of their common rebellion against God.

Illustration

I have done enough traveling to see this truth play out several times. I have spent time in different countries where the people simply think differently than I do. Even when their ideas are translated for me so that I understand what they are thinking, I don’t really understand. From my frame of reference—my Western English-speaking mind—I simply don’t get how they could come to the conclusion that they have come to. Yet, for the people in their culture, their thinking makes perfect sense because they all think in a similar fashion. In fact, it is really important that we recognized that to someone arriving here in the US from another country, we are the ones they will believe are thinking strangely…and from their perspective we are. Our language is one of the most basic components of our culture; it affects the way we think and interpret the world we live in.

The third thing that I would call to our attention is the stated goal of the rebellion. These were industrious and inventive people. When they came to the land of Shinar they did not find the regular materials like stone and mortar with which to build, so they set about making bricks to use in building a city and ultimately a grand tower. All the people were together in this endeavor, and yet, apparently it was Nimrod descended from Cush according to the last chapter, who instigated the building of this city.

The tower obviously became the pinnacle of their construction efforts. Why did they build the tower? Because they wanted to make a great name for themselves. They feared being scattered so they came up with a plan to incite centralization. Their purpose was fame which would lead to security. There is no reference to the Lord and His name. Their only concern is their own name, their own fame.

Application

Before we move on, I want us to recognize that this rebellious instinct still lies at the core of all of us. We are all naturally concerned with our own fame and our own security. It is generated within us through our sin nature. We will struggle to do anything that God commands that appears to our way of thinking to detract from our own fame or to reduce our feelings of security. Just as much as the people on the plain of Shinar, we will struggle with rebellion.

Transition:

Man’s efforts display rebellion. That is what we discover in the first four verses of this story. In the next 5 verses, we discover that…

II. God’s response displays mercy, Gen 11:5–9

Verse 5…<read Gen 11:5–9>

Allow me to make a few more observations from what we just read.

First, the first words of verse 5 are rather ironic. The people set out to make a tower that would reach into heaven. Yet no matter how high they built; God had to come down to see it. Please understand that God is not on a mission to discover what the people were up to; the very act of coming down to see implies God already knew about the tower. What is going on is that Moses is emphasizing through a bit of tongue-in-cheek writing that the people never even came close to reaching the height of God. God remains infinitely greater than man.

Secondly, it is helpful to recognize that God’s deliberation in verse 6 is strikingly similar to a previous internal deliberation in the Godhead that we learned about in 3:22. There, God decided to expel Adam and Eve from the Garden so that they would not eat of the Tree of Life and live in their sinful state forever. Now, once again God decides to prevent mankind from doing something through a pronouncement of judgment. Yet, within the pronouncement, there is an element of mercy that we need to recognize. God recognizes that within mankind’s rebellious actions here lies the potential for great harm to come to the human race; mankind could fall under the delusion through their own efforts they could achieve a name for themselves equivalent to God’s name. So, God decides to prevent it. He pronounces judgment upon mankind which will prevent them from experiencing self-inflicted disaster.

The specific judgment that God utilizes is the removal of their unifying center—their common language. We can’t see it in the English, but there is a wordplay involved in the story in that Babel and confuse are two words that sound very similar in the Hebrew. The place is named for the event that occurred their—the confusion of the language.

The third thing to observe is the results of God’s actions—the people are scattered. The confusion of their language leads to diversity in their understanding which leads to their general dispersion over the face of the “whole earth”—that same phrase we saw in verse 1 and 4 is repeated in both verses 8 and 9. The very thing that the people were trying to prevent, God caused to happen. Now, we need not understand the text to indicate that their dispersion all happened immediately, but it was the inevitable result of the confusion of their language. The great fear that led people to build the city and tower came about, they scattered over the whole earth. The common history of mankind came to an abrupt end.

Of course, we should also recognize the very thing that God caused to happen was the what He had instructed mankind to achieve in His original commission—fill the earth. Man’s purpose, wrapped up on His rebellion was not at all able to interfere with God’s purpose, which was to bless mankind. Rather than allow man to suffer the earned results of His rebellion, God responded in a way that included mercy within His judgment,

Application

There are a couple of things that we can quickly observe before we move. We should remember, firstly, that often times when God shuts down our plans, it may very well be an act of mercy. Our plans are often influenced…even when we can’t see it…by our sinful desires. God frequently steps in with mercy and stops our plans dead in their tracks. Remember, mercy means that we do not get what we rightly deserve. We rightly deserve the full consequences of our sins; God mercifully prevents us from receiving those consequences day in and day out.

Secondly, we should also recognize that the very existence of nations is the result of God’s mercy. Even as we respond to nationalism in our own hearts, loving our nation and enjoying her benefits, we may also disparage the nationalism that leads to a divided world. Nationalism leads to wars of all kinds—trade wars, military wars, cold wars, spy wars and so on. Yet, what we have seen is that nationalism is a merciful tool that God uses to limit sin. As long as sin is present in the world, nationalism serves to keep sin from pooling into one massive festering pot of rebellious humanity.

Transition:

God’s response displays mercy. That is the idea that comes through from God’s response to mankind’s rebellion at the Tower of Babel. As we move into our final verses for this series, the third idea that we discover tonight is that…

III. God’s plan displays grace, Gen 11:10–26

We will not read these verses, as I already mentioned, they contain another genealogy which makes for rather unexciting reading. I would like us to look at the first and last two verses of the section though….<read Gen 11:10–11>…<read Gen 11:25–26>.

I trust you noticed the familiar refrain, “these are the records of the generations” at the beginning of verse 10. That tells us that this is another division in the book. The unique thing about this division is that this genealogical list is the all there is in this division, there is no story or event added in. All the verses that we skipped in between follow the same general format, just with different names. And what we have learned from the other genealogical lists that we looked at is that their importance lies in what they tie together. In this case, the importance of this entire division for the book of Genesis lies in what it ties together—the ancient, pre-patriarchal time before Abraham and the covenant promises that the nation received through Abraham and the other patriarchs.

Now, I will try to avoid going into too much detail, but the list here is another 10-name list similar to the one given back in Gen 5. In Gen 5 the descendants of Adam here traced to Noah. In this chapter, if we assume Noah as our starting point, there are 10 names that trace the line through Shem to Terah. In Gen 5, the last name, Noah, notably has three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Here, Terah, as we just read, also has three sons, Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Furthermore, in both cases the first named son is not the oldest—Japheth is older than Shem and Abram cannot be oldest son of Terah based on information we learn in following passages. Rather, Shem and Abram are listed first because they are the most significant of the three sons from the perspective of Israel—they are the ones through whom God’s promised blessing flow.

Remember, last week we had a listing of Shem’s sons that traced his line through one son of Eber, the son Joktan. Here we have it traced through the other son of Eber, Peleg. The lines apparently diverged at the Tower of Babel with the line of Peleg, given here in chapter 11 being the chosen line and at the end of that line, God will chose Abram. Tracing these details so carefully communicates that this was God’s sovereign plan for mankind, a plan which was not derailed by sin.

I’m talking about the comparisons between Gen 5 and Gen 11 because that is what helps us find the significant points that Moses is communicating with this genealogy. This list is different from the list we saw last week in chapter 10 as it traces a single line through several generations…you can think of it as tracing a family tree vertically rather than horizontally. It serves to link the blessing of Abraham all the way back to the blessing of creation by showing that Abraham is the heir of the promises and commission given to Adam. That is a very significant link to establish for the Israelites, coming into their own as a nation at this particular point in time.

There is one further observation that I would like to make by comparing the lists from the two chapters. In chapter 5, the listing for each person ended by giving the total number of years the person lived and then pronouncing, “and he died.” Enoch was the only exception. Here, in chapter 11 we are not given either of those components of the listing. That points us to the fact there is a different emphasis being communicated with this list. In chapter 5, the point was that death reigned on the earth. Here, that is not the emphasis. Rather, this list is moving toward the promise that God will give Abraham, a promise that stresses life and expansion. Even thought the total number of years that people are living is decreasing, God is moving mankind toward the hope of life.

This is a message of grace. Grace is the name that we give to undeserved favor from God. Mankind certainly does not deserve life. The Israelites certainly did not deserve to be chosen as heirs to God’s promises and blessings. For that matter, no one, including Abram, deserves to be chosen by God. Yet, God chooses to bestow His grace on those He chooses simply because it is part of His plan to do so.

Application

As recipients of God’s grace ourselves—a recipients of God’s undeserved favor—we need to remember that key component of the definition of grace; it is undeserved. God chooses to show grace so that He may bestow blessings and promises that will lead to life.

Transition from body to conclusion:

God’s plan displays grace. That is the idea that comes through the genealogy of Gen 11.

CONCLUSION

Man’s efforts display rebellion. God’s response displays mercy. God’s plan displays grace. Those are the three ideas that come out of the verses we have looked at in Gen 11 tonight. Now that we have those ideas, I would suggest that we can put them together into one overall lesson, the lesson that God defeats rebellion with grace and mercy. That was a lesson that Israel certainly needed as they began as God’s chosen nation. That is also a lesson that we need to hear as well. God defeats rebellion with grace and mercy.

Application

We are surrounded by a world filled with rebellion against God. Sometimes that rebellion is on open display and when it does it can tempt us to doubt and discouragement. We need to remember though, that the open rebellion is only an outworking of the heart of rebellion that lies at the center of each of our sin natures. We all are rebels by nature. Yet we can praise God that He is able to defeat our rebellious hearts and that He does so with grace and mercy—He gives us undeserved favor and holds back the consequences that our rebellion deserves. God defeats rebellion with grace and mercy.

So how should this principle affect us? It should allow us to face the rebellion around us with confidence and joy because we know that God’s plan leads to hope and life. We, who have Jesus as our Savior, have personally experienced the core of that plan, we have experienced being on the receiving end of God’s sovereign choice—being loving declared righteous, justified, adopted…grace and mercy. Having experienced that we can face any rebellion that we encounter by joyfully holding out God’s offer of grace and mercy to those who hate God—we can hold out the hope of the Gospel—because we know that God defeats rebellion with grace and mercy.