Genesis 11:1-9
Genesis 10 & 11 follow the flood event where the Biblical record tells us that when God saw that the wickedness of man was great and his every intention was evil, God intervened and rectified the problem. He decided to destroy all that was on the earth and start afresh by choosing one man through whom mankind would endure this judgement, and that man was Noah. The Bible says, “Noah found favour in the eyes of the Lord.” It was through Noah that God gave humanity another chance, through whose children, Shem Ham and Japheth, we have the descendants of the modern world.
Once Noah and his family were rescued from the flood, God made a covenant with Noah and gave him commands to obey. Gen 9:1 - “And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” That is, Noah’s sons were to be fruitful and have children and equally important was to spread across the world and to fill it with their offspring. That was the account of God taking care of the increasing sin in the world and how He gave humanity another chance.
Then you come to the next section (Gen 10), the genealogical table, which begins by listing out the different nations that descended from Noah’s sons, as recorded in the genealogies of Chapter 10 and 11. And in the middle of those genealogies is the Tower of Babel account in Chapter 11:1-9.
The genealogical table (Gen 10:1-32) and the narrative of the tower (Gen 11:1-9) are to be taken together. We understand this by conducting a deeper lexical and literary study on these passages and among many examples, there are common refrains that are found at the end of each genealogical segment (Genesis 10:5, 20, 31-32). Another clue to why we have to take these two accounts together is the biographical details about Nimrod as the founder of Babylon (Gen 10:812). The link between the genealogical table’s chief figure Nimrod, the father of the great Mesopotamian cities and the Tower of Babel incident culminates in the fact that God plays the same role of overseer in both cases. Nimrod’s actions were “before the LORD” (Gen 10:9) and the LORD “came down to see” (Gen 11:5) the city and tower.
In Jewish tradition, Nimrod is placed in the shadow of the infamous Tower of Babel incident as the leader of this rebellion against God. Nimrod’s achievements as the founder of Babel often have been interpreted negatively as ungodly arrogance (Gen 10:8-12). The lexical connections between the Nimrod narrative (Gen 10:8-12) and the tower event (Gen 11:1-9) point the reader to interpret Nimrod’s activities in the same negative light that the Lord saw it in.
Gen 11:1 – “Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.”
We see the unity of mankind, in the language and in their habitation. “The whole earth” talks about the inhabitants of the earth collectively. Scholars debate whether “whole earth” refers to just a region or the whole earth because in the Old Testament, the Hebrew word could be used to denote both. The main reason we can be sure that it is the whole earth is because the author has tied this account with the Table of Nations which exceed the boundaries of a given region.
Gen 11:2 – “And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.”
The location of this people/settlement – “EASTWARD”. This is reminiscent of the story after the Garden of Eden. The garden is in the EAST of Eden (Gen 2:8) Let's recollect those events.
a. Expulsion of Adam and Eve – the Cherubim is posted on the EAST of the garden to prohibit entrance (Gen 3:24).
b. Cain after killing his brother, left the Lord’s presence for Nod, EAST of Eden (Gen 4:16).
c. Lot departs from Abram and goes eastward (Gen 13:10) but meets disaster in Sodom & Gomorrah.
d. Abraham’s sons by Keturah were sent “eastward to the EAST country” to detach them from the elect Isaac (Gen 25:6).
e. Deceitful Jacob flees his homeland to live amoung “the people of the EAST” (Gen 29:1).
When the author uses the term “east”, he uses it in a metaphorical sense to convey to us that someone or something as being outside of God’s blessing or a detachment from God’s presence. So what we see here is the author telling us that these Babelites are outside of God’s blessing. That they moved outside the place of blessing.
Why were they outside God’s blessing? Why did God scatter them? One of the reasons is in Gen 11:2, that they came to a place and settled there. This tells us that their actions were in direct opposition to what God commanded these people to do through Noah and his sons. Gen 9:1 says - “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth”. These people went against God’s command to fill the earth with their offspring. They were to spread across the world, make children and settle in the different parts of the world.
Gen 11:3 – “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.”
The next 2 verses focus on the human effort of the Babel event. They say to each other that they need to make bricks and communication is made possible because they had one language and the same words. They enjoyed a cooperative spirit because of their common language.
Another aspect is that they were advanced in architectural building, as they were using bricks and burning them thoroughly to make them stronger, as well as having brick for stone and bitumen for mortar.
The Babel enterprise is all about human independence and self-sufficiency apart from God. The builders believe that they have no need of God. Their technology and social unity gave them confidence in their own abilities, having high ambitions and they started the construction of a high tower.
Gen 11:4 – 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.”
So the aim for preparing all these materials was to build for themselves “a city and a tower”.
And the tower was to have its ”top in the heavens”. Elsewhere in the Old Testament, we see this expression being used in: Gen 28:12 - “And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven”. And Gen 28:17 makes its clear that this was a stairway, “And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” Not only biblically but also with the belief systems of many ancient near east religions, these towers or ziggurats were seen as stairways to the heavens where people would go up to the top to offer sacrifices to their gods and so in this case, these Babelites conceived to have a stairway that would give them access to the divine realm.
In Isaiah, the word for “tower” is a symbol of strength and pride (Isa 2:15; 30:25; 33:18) and therefore, what this tower represents is something detested by God. And so the idea is that these builders were trying to exercise their own power, fueled by their own pride. Their motives were therefore based on prideful autonomy. They wanted complete control for themselves without any dependence on God. We can see this being confessed by the intentions of the Babelites themselves:
a. They wanted to make a name for themselves. b. And not be scattered. They wanted to empower themselves through their own actions and merit.
Gen 11:5 – "And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built."
The Babelites wanted to build a tower with its top in the heavens, that is with its top among the gods. BUT even though they began building such a tower, it is so far below from heaven that God had to COME DOWN to see it.
Here, we see God’s reaction to the misguided and misdirected efforts of man. Unlike the flood, God does not take extreme measures against the failings of man but this event reminds us how he tackled the issues that arose in the garden. He dealt with a gentle hand, being concerned with the consequences of human folly and intervened to stop the venture these Babelites set out to accomplish.
Gen 11:6-7 – “Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.” So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.
As I mentioned earlier, we can see the parallel between the Tower of Babel and the Garden event, not only through how God decided to deal with the people in question but there are also a few parallels in the literary structure of God’s speech with other parts of Genesis.
Gen 3:22 - “Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—””
Comparing Gen 3:22 to Gen 11:6-7 we see the similarities in the “one of us/let us” dialogues which encourage us to read Genesis 11 in the light of the garden event. In the Garden, the reason for concern was the new knowledge that man had acquired through disobedience and at the Tower of Babel, the people’s cleverness and their collective will looked like it would cause similar serious repercussions. In both events, the concern was not that the divine realm would be troubled or shaken due to the actions of man but God was troubled over the consequences that would befall man if He did not keep mankind in check.
In the Garden, because of the new found knowledge of man, God did not want the man and woman to eat of the tree of eternal life which would result in them living forever in sin and have no way of salvation from their sinful state. To avoid this calamity befalling man, God had to keep them in check. He cast out Adam and Eve from the Garden, which we later learn was done in His grace.
God’s concern at the Tower of Babel incident is that such a prideful endeavour could result in becoming a precedent and stimulation for other schemes that fall outside of God’s plans which would could end in severe tragedy for man.
And the way to keep these people in check was done in Gen 11:7 which was for God to go down and confuse their language. This would mean that the people would not be able to understand each other anymore and in turn, God’s act condemns the building project.
Gen 11:8-9 – “So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 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 verse 8 we see that God accomplished what He set out to do and through the confusion of their languages, the people dispersed and spread to the different parts of the earth. Here we see that God’s initial command to be fruitful and multiply and to fill all the earth (Gen 9:1) has been fulfilled by man because of God’s intervention in their lives. God had a plan for man and even though man disobeyed God, God saw to it that His plans were accomplished. As Job states in Job 42:2, “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted” and it was a hard lesson learnt by the Babelites.
And the name Babel came about because of the divine act that was performed there. “Babel” means confusion and it was the confusion that was caused among people because God chose to confuse the language of all the earth because of their pride and want of autonomous power.
So it comes to a full circle in verse 9 which presents the consequences of the tower event.
Conclusion
The passage begins with the human deed of construction and moves to the divine deed that triggered deconstruction. The literary structure unveils the theological message of the passage which indicates “reversal”.
A “the whole earth had one language” (Gen 11:1)
B “there” (Gen 11:2)
C “one another” (Gen 11:3)
D “Come, let’s make bricks” (Gen 11:3)
E “Come, let us build ourselves” (Gen 11:4)
F “a city and a tower” (Gen 11:4)
G “the LORD came down …” (Gen 11:5)
F’ “the city and the tower” (Gen 11:5)
E’ “which…children of men had built” (Gen 11:5)
D’ “Come, let us … confuse” (Gen 11:7)
C’ “one another” (Gen 11:7)
B’ “from there” (Gen 11:8)
A’ “the language of all the earth” (Gen 11:9)
And so this mirrored image of the narrative puts emphasis on the focal event, namely God’s descent (Gen 11:5). That is the focal point upon which men’s fortunes turn and which brings about the biggest irony in this passage. In man’s monumental efforts to build “a tower with its top in the heavens” (Gen 11:4), the Lord “came down” (Gen 11:5) to witness their insignificant efforts.The message was that human pride resulted in the Lord’s punishment. The story provides a striking contrast between human opinion of its self-achievements and God’s viewpoint of such endeavors. Human cooperation when it is fueled by autonomy and directed toward self-interest is shown by the story to be nothing but shallow, powerless self-confidence.
Contrary to God’s plan that people should fill the earth (Gen1:22,28 and Gen 9:1,7), the city-building project is designed to prevent the population from being dispersed over the face of the whole earth (Gen 11:4). By showing God’s continued interest in His creatures, this episode provides the setting for the call of Abram out of this very region to be the vehicle of blessing to the whole world.
- As the recipient of God’s blessing, Abram will be instrumental in accomplishing a unified mankind for the “families” of the earth ( Gen12:3).
- This we see from observing Abram (exalted father) becoming Abraham (father of a multitude of nations) (Gen 17:5) and God using him for His glory.
The nation Abram fathers, therefore, is understood as the divine antidote for the sinful calamity that befell the postdiluvian offspring of Noah’s sons.
We also saw the ironies of the Babelites’ futile efforts:
1. Their unity caused them to believe that they could be ambitious in their own endeavours. They were under the false notion that it was their partnership with their fellow men that would make them ultimately successful in what they set out to do. In turn it was that very partnership that ultimately resulted in their division. Their biggest fear was the loss of security if they were to be scattered. And through their disobedient actions that is exactly what happened, with God’s interference.
2. Their architectural goal of building a tower that would reach the heavens was their way of expressing their deep desire to have autonomous power, that is independent from God. This building up to reach heaven was frustrated by God “coming down”. They stopped building because of their own incompetence, brought about by God’s interference.
3. They wanted to “make a name” for themselves (Gen 11:4) and in the end they got the humiliating name “Babel” which means “confused” which was a result of God’s interference.
4. Their dispersal (Gen 11:9) fulfilled the divine command of “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (Gen 9:1; 1:28) which in Gen 10:5,18,20,30-32 is the result of God’s interference.
It’s so easy to live a life that revolves solely around a single agenda: our own. The mantras of today’s world are what we see echoed on the pages of God’s Word in this story. “You are your own master”, “Ambition is the path to success”, “Teamwork is the key”, “You have to find your own identity in yourself”, “I/We have to make my/our name great”, “You have to seek praise for yourself”, “You are in control”. Everything in our culture encourages us to create the life that we want, to see the fulfillment of our own goals as the ultimate prize, to stand apart from the crowd by being truly selfish.
Of course, Christianity suggests the contrary. It tells us that meeting our own desires is not the path to godly success. Jesus quotes from the ancients in Deuteronomy and Leviticus when He reminds His audience precisely what we ought to value most: to love God with all of our energy and passion, and to love others as much as ourselves.
True Christianity—to be near the kingdom of God, to understand the very fibers that hold together the essence of Christianity, to put our faith into bold practice—means handing over our own agendas in place of serving God and in doing so, serving others. It might not be cool, hip, or culturally on-message, but it’s there, in plain and simple truth. It may not be stated explicitly but we can see it implicitly taught in the Bible that:
You are not your own master – God is our master
Ambition is not the path to success – God is the path to success
Teamwork is not the key – God-work is the key
You don’t have to find your own identity – We find our identity in God
You don’t have to make your name great – God makes our name great.
You don’t have to seek praise for yourself – We have to give praise to God.
You are not in control – God is in control.
Lesson to be learnt: Who is in control?
The question is to be seen as one that convicts a person and as a rhetorical question.
A question to convict us whether we live our lives with someone or something in control other than God. A rhetorical question to tell us that no matter who the person is or what they believe in, the answer is always the same. Who is in control? God is in control.
Having a name for yourself is not what matters. It is how that name is achieved that matters. The Babelites chose to make a name based on their strength, resources, pride and their want of power and they wanted to be as far away from God as possible. On the other hand, God calls Abraham and makes his name great, because as we are going to see, Abraham depended on God for the most part and was not self-interested and independent but was God-interested and God-dependent.