Bricks and Stones
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They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
The desire of the people who settled in Shinar was to make a name for themselves.
“Come, let us build ourselves a city so that may make a name for ourselves.”
The word for name is Shem.
The people said they want to make a name for themselves.
Is does mean name, but additionally it carries the connotation of renown, fame, well-known reputation.
The people where not simply seeking prosperity in this region. They wanted to be renown and well-known to others.
They wanted to be credited with success.
Like Josephus writing about Nimrod. The people of this region wanted to gain the praise from others.
This desire to make a name of renown for themselves was in direct opposition to the directive of God.
Remember God stated after the flood that the people were to go out and fill the earth making known the mercy and glory f God Himself.
We have here in Babel, a people who want the credit.
They want the fame.
Click #1
1. The people of Babylon wanted to draw others unto themselves rather than promoting the knowledge of the eternal God.
This is why God took this act so seriously.
We have seen a couple of times thus far in Genesis, where God gave a directive, and the people blatantly disobeyed.
V.3.
They made bricks for the tower that they intended to build instead of stone.
This is an interesting detail that I do not want to skip over.
It is subtle, but profound.
How are bricks made?
By human hands.
The fact that God places this detail in the text points to the intention of the people building the city and the tower.
They sought to do it by their own power.
They did not take stone to build the city, the formed bricks constructed by human hands.
Click #2
2. They chose bricks because they wanted every aspect of the building to suggest human ingenuity.
They wanted to cause wonder at the ability of mankind.
Babylon was a massive city.
The city was comparable to the modern day city of Washington D.C.
It was thought to be about 200 square miles.
It was surrounded by a wall made of brick.
The wall was thick enough to have chariots travel on top.
Likewise, the tower was massive.
The estimations for how tall the tower was vary.
7-8 stories high, roughly 300 ft
Other estimations that claim the tower was much higher than this.
The important point to remember is that it was built of brick.
It was conceived, constructed and completed due to the desire of humanity to make a name for itself.
I stated that the builders of the tower of babel chose to use bricks rather than stone. This is an important realization.
Let’s look
Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people: “Keep all these commands that I give you today. When you have crossed the Jordan into the land the Lord your God is giving you, set up some large stones and coat them with plaster. Write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. And when you have crossed the Jordan, set up these stones on Mount Ebal, as I command you today, and coat them with plaster. Build there an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. Do not use any iron tool on them. Build the altar of the Lord your God with fieldstones and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God. Sacrifice fellowship offerings there, eating them and rejoicing in the presence of the Lord your God.
I want to point out the word- Fieldstones
In the NIV the translators chose to use the word fieldstones to describe the type of stone.
Other translations use the word whole, uncut, natural, unhewn stones.
Whatever word is used to describe the type of stone is inconsequential.
All of the various iterations are based upon a Hebrew word we will learn in a moment.
The point I want you to remember is that Moses is telling the people to build an altar with natural stones.
He makes an effort to instruct them not to use bricks
He also says do not alter the stones in any way.
The stones were to be whole, natural and complete.
Moses instructs the people to set the stones up as a reminder.
Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses—an altar of uncut stones, on which no iron tool had been used. On it they offered to the Lord burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings.
This account takes place after the people of Israel entered the land.
They began to conquer the land as God had instructed them.
They defeated Jericho.
In this specific account, they were victorious over the city of AI.
Joshua builds an altar to serve as a reminder of the Lord’s provision.
Joshua builds an altar of uncut stones.
Does not matter what word was translated to use to describe the stones, it is based on the same Hebrew word we talked about earlier.
Joshua built an alter made of natural stone not bricks.
In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the temple of the Lord. The temple that King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits long, twenty wide and thirty high. The portico at the front of the main hall of the temple extended the width of the temple, that is twenty cubits, and projected ten cubits from the front of the temple. He made narrow windows high up in the temple walls. Against the walls of the main hall and inner sanctuary he built a structure around the building, in which there were side rooms. The lowest floor was five cubits wide, the middle floor six cubits and the third floor seven. He made offset ledges around the outside of the temple so that nothing would be inserted into the temple walls. In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built.
The text in this account describes the building of the Temple.
Solomon completed the construction of the Temple in Jerusalem.
Look at verse 7
The stone that was to be used for the construction of the Temple was quarried, but when it was brought into Temple mount, no tools was allowed to touch it.
The word again to describe the type of stone used for the construction of the Temple is the same Hebrew word we have been talking about.
They were to construct the Temple with whole, natural stone, or at least as natural as possible after the stone was quarried.
The word for stone is eben.
We talked about this word before.
But the specific type of stone that I have been working to bring to your understanding is an uncut, whole natural stone.
These are all English words used to describe the stones.
Click #3
3. The word used to describe the stones in constructing an altar or the Temple in Hebrew is the word Salem.
It should sound familiar.
The city that is called the apple of God’s eye has this word embedded with in its name.
Jerusalem.
City of Peace.
More specifically teaching of peace
לֵם (šā·lēm): adj.; ≡ Str 8003; TWOT 2401d—1. LN 68.22–68.33 completely, fully, richly, i.e., pertaining to what is fully accomplished (Ge 15:16; Ru 2:12+); 2. LN 21.9–21.13 safe, i.e., pertaining to not being in danger (Ge 33:18+); 3. LN 34.1–34.21 friendly, i.e., pertaining to being in a relatively close association, personal or governmental (Ge 34:21; Na 1:12+); 4. LN 72.12–72.22 accurate, i.e., pertaining to that which is true to an accepted norm or standard (Dt 25:15; Pr 11:1+); 5. LN 59.23–59.34 whole, i.e., pertaining to the totality of a collection (Am 1:6, 9; Dt 27:6; Jos 8:31; 1Ki 6:7+), note: in context, refers to towns, and whole, uncut stone; 6. LN 25.33–25.58 fully devoted, i.e., have a great love and zeal, implying obedience (1Ki 8:61; 11:4; 15:3, 14; 2Ki 20:3; 1Ch 12:39[EB 38]; 28:9; 29:9, 19; 2Ch 15:17; 16:9; 19:9; 25:2; Isa 38:3+), note: some sources parse 2Ch 8:16 as 8966
8970 III. שָׁלֵם (šā·lēm): n.pr.; ≡ Str 8004;—LN 93-place (loc.) Salem: town or area over which Melchizedek was king, in some contexts possibly related to Jerusalem (Ge 14:18; Ps 76:3[EB 2]+), see also 3731
8971 IV. שָׁלֵם (šā·lēm): v.—1. LN 34.1–34.21 (qal) be at peace, i.e., be in an agreement of relationship between parties, with a focus that there is a lack of hostility, and a possible implication of relationship or affection (Job 22:21; Ps 7:5[EB 4]+), note: this can refer to political, religious, or personal agreements; note: for a focus on peaceful behavior, see also domain LN 88.102–88.104; (qal pass.) peaceful (2Sa 20:19+), note: for another parsing as an adjective, see 8971.5; (hif) make peace, make a treaty of peace (Dt 20:12; Jos 10:1, 4; 11:19; 2Sa 10:19; 1Ki 22:45[EB 44]; 1Ch 19:19; Pr 16:7+); (hof) live in peace (Job 5:23+); 2. LN 25.68–25.79 (pual) committed, devoted, formally, be in a covenant of peace, i.e., pertaining to a feeling or attitude of devotion and earnestness to an object, as a figurative extension of being in a treaty of peace with another (Isa 42:19+)
Salem is often translated peace.
But it also carries the meaning, depending on the context
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4. Salem means peace, complete, whole, safe, devoted.
Think back to what we just talked about.
In Deuteronomy, Moses instructs the people to construct an altar of uncut stones.
Stones that are whole, complete, safe, devoted.
In the book of Joshua, they made an altar of the same type of stones.
Finally, King Solomon, constructed the Temple using stones that were whole, uncut, safe and at peace.
The picture we are to understand is that the stones used in building the altar were to be Salem.
Complete.
They were complete because they were crafted by God.
No human hands were meant to alter them.
Compare to the Tower of Babel.
Constructed of bricks.
The bricks were created by the will of humanity.
Click#5
5. Bricks take their form based on the design of a person rather than God.
Tower of Babel made of Bricks and the stones of the field used to create the alter are a comparison of 2 kingdoms.
One a kingdom, Babylon, whose desire is to be great in the eyes of humanity.
This is a kingdom founded by the devil.
This kingdom thrives on pride.
This is a kingdom that is built using bricks.
Like bricks, the kingdom of the devil seeks to mold humanity into an image that exalts the pride of the self.
Click #6
6. The devil wants to make us into bricks because they are easy to stack or manipulate.
The devil wants us to forget that we have been created in the image of an Almighty God.
He wants us to be conformed, molded into an image that can be manipulated.
Bricks are predictable.
Bricks are compliant with all the others around them.
Click #7
7. The devil deceives us to make us into bricks so that we are in compliance with sin.
We are in compliance with our sin nature.
We become compliant or complacent with the evil that we see in our world.
We become predictable.
He knows the cards that he needs to play in order to get us to stumble.
If we are predictable, he can manipulate us and he can manipulate our culture to be built into a kingdom that is founded on all that is antagonistic to God.
The other Kingdom, the Kingdom of God is created by natural stone.
Stone that is in the form according to God’s design.
Natural stone is much less predictable.
It takes the work of a skilled craftsman to build natural stone into something that is substantial.
That is exactly what God does.
He creates us in His image.
Click # 8
8. In our willingness to allow Him to work in our lives, He will build us into a people who are unique.
Talented.
Gifted.
Blessed and faithful to the ultimate builder.
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9. As God works in our lives we are equipped to not allow the deception of sin to cause us to stumble.
The cards the devil attempts to play to trick us become much less effective.
Remember the stones that God instructed to be used when building an altar or the Temple itself.
He required natural, uncut field stones.
Stones that were Salem.
At peace.
Whole
Complete
Stones that were safe.
Click #10
10. Our faith in Jesus Christ, brings us into covenant with a God of peace.
In faith, we can trust and rest in the peace of God.
We can have confidence that He is sovereign in all things.
In faith, we are whole, complete and safe.
We are His.
It is your choice, you can be a brick in Babel in conformity to chaos; predictable to the devil and often a victim to temptation.
Or you can be a stone of peace set to be a part of the Kingdom of the Almighty.
Your choice, but there are only 2 kingdoms.
