Genesis 11

Genesis 11

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

The Tower of Babel

11 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. ² And as they migrated from the east,^[a] they came upon 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; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” ⁵ The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. ⁶ And theLord said, “Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. ⁷ Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” ⁸ So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. ⁹ Therefore it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused^[b] the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

Descendants of Shem

¹⁰ These are the descendants of Shem. When Shem was one hundred years old, he became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood; ¹¹ and Shem lived after the birth of Arpachshad five hundred years, and had other sons and daughters.

¹² When Arpachshad had lived thirty-five years, he became the father of Shelah; ¹³ and Arpachshad lived after the birth of Shelah four hundred three years, and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁴ When Shelah had lived thirty years, he became the father of Eber; ¹⁵ and Shelah lived after the birth of Eber four hundred three years, and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁶ When Eber had lived thirty-four years, he became the father of Peleg; ¹⁷ and Eber lived after the birth of Peleg four hundred thirty years, and had other sons and daughters.

¹⁸ When Peleg had lived thirty years, he became the father of Reu; ¹⁹ and Peleg lived after the birth of Reu two hundred nine years, and had other sons and daughters.

²⁰ When Reu had lived thirty-two years, he became the father of Serug; ²¹ and Reu lived after the birth of Serug two hundred seven years, and had other sons and daughters.

²² When Serug had lived thirty years, he became the father of Nahor; ²³ and Serug lived after the birth of Nahor two hundred years, and had other sons and daughters.

²⁴ When Nahor had lived twenty-nine years, he became the father of Terah; ²⁵ and Nahor lived after the birth of Terah one hundred nineteen years, and had other sons and daughters.

²⁶ When Terah had lived seventy years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

Descendants of Terah

²⁷ Now these are the descendants of Terah. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot. ²⁸ Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans. ²⁹ Abram and Nahor took wives; the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah. She was the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah. ³⁰ Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.

³¹ Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan; but when they came to Haran, they settled there. ³² The days of Terah were two hundred five years; and Terah died in Haran.

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What to do with the Tower of Babel?  At first glance it really paints God in a negative light.  Humanity is beginning to develop and mature.  They come together in a real city and begin to grow in their achievements.  God sees this and to keep humanity from doing "anything that they propose" He confuses their languages and scatters them across the planet.  Was God threatened by man?  Was He feeling insecure?  Could the created become greater than the creator?

The answers to these questions is clearly "No." But that's where our mind goes.  How could God get in the way of our success and achievements?  Why would He possibly hinder us from success?

I know we are only 11 chapters in, but lets remember to look at some context.  

• First, we just concluded with God's clean-up of unbridled humanity.  The very earth was corrupted by the evil of men, united and pursuing their whims and desires.  Those who don't learn from history...
• Second, the call to Noah and his descendants was to fill the world...which inherently means dispersing.  At the beginning of this chapter, the reasoning for building a city was to prevent themselves from being scattered.  This was their strategy for corporate disobedience.

And for the record, I am completely convinced that God is not as concerned with our achievements as we are.  We tend to look at our accomplishments as what determine our value and make us loveable.  God sees us as inherently valuable and our accomplishments are simply a natural result of how magnificently we were created.

One...no, two...no, three quick final points.  First:  God created diversity.  He gave people different languages and sent them to different lands that had different climates, resources and seasons.  There was no way that different cultures would not arise.  The differences between our cultures can be embraced instead of rejected.  There is a lot more that could be said on that, but I said I would be quick.

Second:  When humanity unites, anything is possible.  Due to our differences, uniting takes a lot more work, but the potential for world-level change is real.  That is the wonder that is born into every one of us.  When We truly come together "nothing that they propose to do will be impossible to them."  

Third:  Abram's father, Terah, gathered his family and set out for Canaan but stopped short and settled in Haran.  Could the call to Abram first have gone to his father?  Was Terah invited to be the father of many nations but settled with short-term comfort instead?  How many big, world-changing invitations have been set aside throughout history because someone settled?