The Passage
Genesis 11:1-9
11 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 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. 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.” 5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 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.
Word Work
Personalize the meaning. Respond as God speaks to you through the Scriptures. Ask: How could my life be different today as I respond to what I’m reading?
Word Thoughts:
The spread of humanity was God’s will from the beginning (1:28), but the effects of sin (including mankind’s forced exile from Eden) meant that this dispersion occurred in ways that God did not intend. In the account of the Tower of Babel, we see once more what it looks like for sin, rather than obedience, to fuel the spreading of humanity.
In Genesis 11 humanity becomes wickedly united in its defiance of the Creator. God decreed to make humans in his image, saying “let us make . . .” (1:26). At Babel, however, humans use the same expression (“let us make . . .”; 11:3) to seek to displace God’s glory with their own glory. The three episodes of human fallenness in Genesis 2–11 are: Adam and Eve in Eden, the generation of the flood, and the generation of Babel. This third episode is the most violent, as fallen humans here seek to determine their own destiny (11:4). In each case God’s judgment is not final, and his judgment reveals his gracious purposes for and patience with humanity. Each episode is not catastrophic but instead opens up new possibilities. God gave Adam and Eve the promise of a coming deliverer (3:15). With Noah, God confirms his commitment to his created order. The story of Babel leads to the story of Abraham, which reveals God’s commitment to all the families of the earth (12:3).
In the story of Babel there is obvious warning of the inability of human effort to reach God. It thus becomes an early doctrinal signpost of the nature of redemption. God actively intervenes, through the confusion of languages, to stop this human striving toward him. However, these language differences are reversed by the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 at Pentecost, and they are made to be fully harmonious in the great song of the Great Day of heavenly gathering “from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9). God’s grace enables his people not only to reach him but to do so in unity and not by mere human capacity.
The Babel account also repeats the narrative pattern of a return to chaos (see the note on Gen. 5:1–6:8) prior to the focus on God’s redemptive provision through another family—this time the family of Abraham. (1)
Word Reflection:
- What stood out?
- What was the sin of the people?
- How did God judge their pride?
- How are you tempted in this same way?
9 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.
End in Prayer
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