Gen 11 - The tower of Babel
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So tonight a very pivotal place in Genesis as we look at the tower of Babel and the division of the confusion of the language.
Chapter 11 also ends the first half of the book, not in chapters but subject matter. Everything through chapter 11 has all been preliminary and meant to get us to the one man, Abraham, and his descendants, through whom our Savior would come. But that stars next week.
So let’s stand as we read our text for tonight;
1 Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words.
2 It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
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.
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.”
5 The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.
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.
7 “Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”
8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city.
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.
So we are told in verse 1, That the whole earth used the same language and the same words. The obvious question is what language was it? Most believers would naturally say it was probably Hebrew, but was it?
What is meant by the language and the same words? Its like American English and British English. Two countries separated by a common language.
Language and linguistics scholars say it is doubtful at best. As Hebrew is an amalgamation of many ancient languages. Possibly it was an early form of Hebrew but we just don’t know.
We don’t think about it much but we forget how important language is. Verbal Communication is one of the main things that separate man from the animal kingdom. It’s a big part of being created in the image of God.
Think about it; “…and God said; let there be light.” God spoke and it was so. Jesus Christ our Lord is called “the Word.” God is all about relationship and relationship are all about communication.
Prayer is talking with God. We are saved by believing and confessing with our mouth, speaking;
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
Jesus also says;
36 “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.
37 “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Words and language are supremely important!
So in verse 2, we get the progression of the people after the flood.
Image - Ancient Middle East
After the flood there was a southward and eastward move away from the Mountains of Ararat. Last week saw how the three families spread out but most of that followed the confusion of the languages.
We learned last week about a special descendant of Ham. A man named Nimrod. We described him last week as the first type of the anti-christ. We learned;
8 Now Cush became the father of Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth.
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 and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
11 From that land he went forth into Assyria, and built Nineveh and Rehoboth-Ir and Calah,
This area of Shinar was under the control of Nimrod. This Nimrod was no model citizen. He was a rebellious power hungry dictator looking to rule the world and he was mostly successful at it.
The Ancient Targum of Jerusalem says this about Nimrod;
He was mighty in hunting and in sin before the Lord; for he was a hunter of the sons of men in their languages. And he said to them, Leave the judgments of Shem, and adhere to the judgments of Nimrod. On this account it is said, As Nimrod the mighty, mighty in hunting and in sin before the Lord.
Of course our text today is all about Bab-el. Bab-el has come to mean confusion. We might say some is babbling if they are unintelligible. This apparently became the main city in Nimrod’s rebellion against Yahweh. Bab-el was the beginning of the turning of dependence on Yahweh to self rule and idolatry and independence from Gods rule.
In many ways the Bible is the story of two cities, Babylon- the city of man, and Jerusalem- the city of God. It all began with Nimrod’s rebellion and ultimately with Lucifer’s rebellion in heaven.
So it was at Babel that the Ancient Babylonian Mystery religion began. Nimrod himself would be deified along with his wife Semiramis and this rebellious counterfeit to relationship with Yahweh has spread through out the world. Many are clearly included in the Roman Catholic church to this day.
Video -Nimrod: The Evil One (Biblical Stories Explained) 22 min
So in verses 3- 4;
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.
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.”
Archaeologists have confirmed that this use of kiln baked bricks and tar as mortar was at use in ancient Babylon. It is interesting that in the building of altars to worship Yahweh, they were commanded to only used untouched stone;
25 ‘If you make an altar of stone for Me, you shall not build it of cut stones, for if you wield your tool on it, you will profane it.
On this Jon Courson writes;
Courson’s Application Commentary, Old Testament Volume 1 (Genesis–Job) Genesis 11:2 (b), 3 (a)
Man builds with brick. Because brick is man-made, it cracks and chips easily. That’s why God uses stone.
The massive stones used for the temple were cut to size in a rock quarry a mile away from the temple site so that when the stones arrived at the building site, the Bible says the sound of neither hammer nor chisel was heard (1 Kings 6:7). How close did the stones fit? So close that not even a knife could fit between them. There was no need for cement or mortar, for the stones fit perfectly.
And God still uses stones to build His temple. We are living stones being fit together for a spiritual house (1 Peter 2:5). This means the world is the rock quarry wherein the chipping is taking place so that when we get to the true temple in heaven, there will not be the sound of a hammer or chisel heard.
Therefore, we should not be surprised when the living stone we’re sitting next to or married to rubs us the wrong way. It’s all part of God’s plan to knock off our rough edges so that when we got to heaven, we’ll fit together perfectly.
Notice in Verse 4; The tower was built to reach up into heaven. A picture of religion. Religion is our efforts together apart from the God of the Bible. The Gospel is all about what God has done for us. Big difference.
Some see the make up of these bricks which had quartz in them as a type of communication tower.
Notice also; this was being built to make a name for ourselves. Wow talk about narcissistic. The flesh always seeks to self deify and glorify itself. while the Gospel teaches us to die to ourselves that He may be glorified.
John the baptist when asked about Jesus said;
30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.
The expanded Greek translation is, “He must continually increase but I must choose to continually decrease.” Dying to self never agrees with the flesh.
They felt that this tower would somehow keep them from obeying Gods command of;
1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.
There is something in our flesh that loves the big city. But have you noticed God is not fan. Bad things follow when many men live in close proximity. Men desire to centralize power and rule over others. God’s plan was for people to spread into countries with defined borders.
We see this ugly rebellion raising its head again today through the one world government movement.
Image- 1992 EEC Tower of Babel
This one world government is sweeping the world and in my opinion will end up introducing the Antichrist. Think about the global elite wanting no borders and a one one government. They tell us if we love our country we are racist and many are buying into this idea. However, the idea of separate countries was God’s idea.
26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,
So God responds to the rebellion;
Genesis 11:5–9 (NASB95)
5 The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.
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.
Notice- the concept of a “one world government” united in rebellion against God is not of God. When men unite in ungodly pursuits only bad follows.
1 Why are the nations in an uproar
And the peoples devising a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth take their stand
And the rulers take counsel together
Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,
3 “Let us tear their fetters apart
And cast away their cords from us!”
4 He who sits in the heavens laughs,
The Lord scoffs at them.
So here is what God chooses to do;
7 “Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”
He takes away their ability to communicate. Interestingly, at Pentecost God reverses this judgment giving the gift of tongues to the church. Men supernaturally speak in other languages.
8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city.
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.
So God accomplished at least for a time to stop this rebellion. Here now in our lifetime man has again gained the ability to have one language through the use of computers. A mathematical digital language of 1’s and 0’s accessible to everyone. Just another sign of the soon coming of Jesus Christ.
We move on; the chapter end with the line of Shem as it ends at Abram the main character of the second half of Genesis ;
10 These are the records of the generations of Shem. Shem was one hundred years old, and became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood;
11 and Shem lived five hundred years after he became the father of Arpachshad, and he had other sons and daughters.
12 Arpachshad lived thirty-five years, and became the father of Shelah;
13 and Arpachshad lived four hundred and three years after he became the father of Shelah, and he had other sons and daughters.
14 Shelah lived thirty years, and became the father of Eber;
15 and Shelah lived four hundred and three years after he became the father of Eber, and he had other sons and daughters.
16 Eber lived thirty-four years, and became the father of Peleg;
17 and Eber lived four hundred and thirty years after he became the father of Peleg, and he had other sons and daughters.
18 Peleg lived thirty years, and became the father of Reu;
19 and Peleg lived two hundred and nine years after he became the father of Reu, and he had other sons and daughters.
20 Reu lived thirty-two years, and became the father of Serug;
21 and Reu lived two hundred and seven years after he became the father of Serug, and he had other sons and daughters.
22 Serug lived thirty years, and became the father of Nahor;
23 and Serug lived two hundred years after he became the father of Nahor, and he had other sons and daughters.
24 Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and became the father of Terah;
25 and Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years after he became the father of Terah, and he had other sons and daughters.
26 Terah lived seventy years, and became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.
27 Now these are the records of the generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran; and Haran became the father of Lot.
28 Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans.
29 Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah.
30 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 out together from Ur of the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran, and settled there.
32 The days of Terah were two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran.