Genesis 11.1-9-Introduction to the Tower of Babel Rebellion
Tuesday October 18, 2005
Genesis: Genesis 11:1-9-Introduction to the Tower of Babel Rebellion
Lesson # 45
Please turn in your Bibles to 2 Timothy 3:16.
Last week, we completed a study of Genesis 10 and on Sunday morning we began a study of Genesis 11, which we will continue with this evening.
Together, Genesis 10 and 11 give us the historical links, which connect for us the time of Noah with the days of Abraham whose story is told in Genesis 11:26-25:7.
Now, although Genesis 10 and 11 may appear boring to read, to the serious student of the Word of God, they furnish valuable information.
Remember what Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:16-17:
2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.”
2 Timothy 3:17, “so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”
Unfortunately, we live in days of apostasy or reversionism where church age believers find it boring and unimportant to study Genesis 10 and 11.
Paul prophesied of this state among church age believers in 2 Timothy 4:1-5.
2 Timothy 4:1, “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom.”
2 Timothy 4:2, “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.”
2 Timothy 4:3, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires.”
2 Timothy 4:4, “and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”
2 Timothy 4:5, “But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”
Therefore, Genesis 10-11 provides us with extremely important information.
For example:
(1) Without Genesis 10 and 11 and the genealogies which they contain, we would be unable to trace the fulfillment of Noah’s prophecy in Genesis 9:24-27.
(2) We should be without any satisfactory solution to the ethnological problem presented by the variety and number of the different nations and tongues.
(3) We would also be left in ignorance concerning the cause (from the human side), which led up to God abandoning His dealings with the nations and singling out Abram to be the father of His chosen people Israel.
Now, on Sunday morning, we studied that after the Flood the human race was divided by ethnicity, geography, language and politics according to Genesis 10:32.
We also saw that this was the direct result of the Lord sovereignly intervening at the Tower of Babel and dispersing a Satanically inspired rebellion by the human race against His sovereign rulership according to Genesis 11:1-9.
Therefore, Genesis 11:1-9 records for us the “reason” for the division of the nations and the multiplicity of languages and dialects and cultures that are in the world today and that the Lord established “nationalism” whereas Satan promotes “internationalism.”
The term “Tower of Babel” does not appear in the Bible but is used popularly for ziggurat structure built on the plain of Shinar where the descendants of Noah migrated and settled after the Flood.
The name “Babel” has no connection with the Hebrew balal, “He confused” and its meaning is in fact patent in its Assyrian form, Bab-ili, “gate of god.”
The final syllable, `el in Hebrew, is common to all Semitic languages and means, “god” while bab is well-known in Assyrian, Arabic, Aramaic and late Hebrew.
In Genesis 11:9, Moses is indulging in a play on words, meaning a verbal irony.
Babel, therefore, became a synonym for the confusion caused by the language barriers, which God imposed on the human race because of their pride and arrogance in attempting to establish a one-world government and state religion that would honor mankind rather than God and would be independent of Him.
Now, we must also be aware of the fact that Genesis 10:8-12 and Genesis 11:1-9 go together and therefore should be read as two parentheses and when done so they link Nimrod to this Tower of Babel rebellion.
Genesis 10:8, “Now Cush became the father of Nimrod (“rebel”); he became a mighty one on the earth.”
Genesis 10:9, “He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, ‘Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD.’”
Genesis 10:10, “The beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.”
Genesis 10:11, “From that land he went forth into Assyria, and built Nineveh and Rehoboth-Ir and Calah.”
Genesis 10:12, “and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.”
Now, Genesis 11:1-9 is divided into scenes that a change in actors, situations or activities identifies.
Scene one: The human race had one language and settles on the plains of Shinar in Iraq (11:1-2)
Genesis 11:1, “Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words.”
Genesis 11:2, “It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.”
Scene two: The ambition of the human race to establish a one world government and religion in opposition to God (11:3-4)
Genesis 11:3, “They said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.’ And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar.”
Genesis 11:4, “They said, ‘Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.’”
Scene three: The Lord’s decree to confound their universal language in order to deal with their rebellion (11:5-7)
Genesis 11:5, “The LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.”
Genesis 11:6, “The LORD said, ‘Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.’”
Genesis 11:7, “Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another's speech.”
Scene four: The Lord disperses the rebellion by confounding their universal language into many languages (11:8-9).
Genesis 11:8, “So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city.”
Genesis 11:9, “Therefore its name 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 whole earth.”
The first two scenes emphasize humanity and lead up to a central scene where the Lord intervenes.
The last two scenes emphasize the Lord and describe the consequences of this divine intervention and thus squashing the human race’s rebellious attempt to establish a one world government and religion.
Now, Moses employs a “chiastic” structure in the Hebrew to focus attention upon the fact that the Lord is the reason for the Table of Nations in Genesis 10 and the division of peoples and multiplicity of languages in the world.
In fact, the entire “chiastic” structure of the passage exposes the struggle between the human race and God.
It reveals the tension between the word of the people with the word of the Lord.
When I say “chiastic” structure I am referring to an important structural device that is commonly found in ancient literature called “chiasmus” or “chiasm,” which is the use of inverted parallelism of form and/or content which moves toward and away from a strategic central component.
In its most general sense, “chiasmus” involves inverted parallelism between two or more (synonymously or antithetically) corresponding words, phrases, or units of thought.
For example, the saying, “winners never quit and quitters never win” contains this device: “Winners [A] never quit [B] and quitters [B’] never win [A’].”
It is found in Revelation 3:7: He who opens [A] and no one shuts [B], and shuts [B’] and no one opens [A’].
So “chiasm” is a technique that highlights major themes, which reverses words or events in successive parallel clauses or sections.
The “chiastic” structure of Genesis 11:1-9 reveals the word of humanity against the Word of the Lord.
It also reveals the tension between the human race and the Lord.
Let’s first look at the alternating or chiastic structure of Genesis 11:1-9 in relation to the word of humanity versus the word of the Lord:
Words of the people (11:1-4).
A One language and a common vocabulary (11:1).
B “Come” + 2 Cohortatives (11:3).
C “Let us build ourselves a city, with a tower” (11:4).
D “Let us make a name for ourselves” (11:4).
E “Otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth” (11:4).
Words of the Lord (11:5-9).
A One people and one language (11:6).
B “Come” + cohortative (11:7).
C Ceased to build (11:8).
D “Its name was called Babel” (11:9).
E The Lord scattered them over the whole earth (11:9).
Let’s look at the “chiastic” structure of Genesis 11:1-9 in relation to the tension between the human race and the Lord.
A “The whole earth used the same language and the same words” (11:1).
B “They found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there” (11:2).
C “They said to one another” (11:3).
D “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly” (11:3)
E “A city and tower” (11:4).
X “The LORD came down” (11:5)
E “The city and the tower” (11:5)
D “Come let Us…confuse their language” (11:5).
C “They will not understand one another’s speech” (11:7).
B “The Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the entire earth” (11:8).
A “The Lord confused the language of the entire earth” (11:9).
Let’s compare each letter and by doing so we will see the contrast between the Lord and humanity and the tension between the two.
A/A contrasts the entire world speaking a universal language with the confusion of this universal language into many different languages.
B/B contrasts the desire of the human race to stay consolidated at Shinar and the power of the Lord, which scatters them.
C/C contrasts the strength of their unification in opposition to God with their divided communication and resulting segregation.
D/D contrasts the resolve of the human race to build in opposition to God versus the resolve of God to tear down.
E/E contrasts the human and divine viewpoints towards the city and the tower.
From the human perspective, the rebels, the city and the tower symbolize the ability of collective humanity to defy the law of God whereas from the divine perspective they symbolize the threat of fallen humanity independent of God under Satan’s dominion to the dominion of God on planet earth.
The chiastic structure reveals the theme of reversal around the pivot, which is “the Lord came down.”
Everything in the passage revolves around “X” where the Lord condescends and descends to observe the city and the tower and to thwart this rebellious attempt to establish independently of God a one-world government and religion.
Therefore, the chiastic structure of Genesis 11:1-9 emphasizes the reason (rebellion against God) and cause (God) for the dispersion of the people, namely, the Lord.
