11 chapters; 11 posts! I didn't set out to produce this much, but what feedback there has been has been positive, so I trust that many others who read these weekly messages will have been helped by our thinking about these seminal chapters of the written Word of Almighty God, the Bible.
However, we are at the end - I have no wish to go through the various genealogies, important 'though they are in their own way - as we look at Gen.11:1-9: « Now the whole earth had one language and few words. And as men migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 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. 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 scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of men had built. 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. Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Ba'bel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth. »
It was the Augustinian monk and founder of the Order, Augustine, who coined the phrase « Man proposes, but God disposes. » However, Solomon perhaps put it best in Prov. 19:21 : « Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of YHWH that will be established. » When we read this episode in the history of humanity, we realise just how true this is!
Notice the opening words - « ... one language and few words. ». As one who has lived in France for, now, seven years I would love that that situation could have continued! Of course, this unity of language of the whole human race followed from the unity of its descent from one human pair.
In Gen.10:8, we discover that Cush, Noah's grandson, « … became the father of Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. ». We also discover, in 10:10, that he was a man of ambition, who established a kingdom, beginning with Babel, in the land of Shinar. This land was the setting for the record that we are now considering. By the way, Babel and Babylon are identical. The first is the transliteration of the Hebrew language word, the second is the Greek language equivalent.
Babel was the first centre of civilisation in the ancient, post-Flood, world. It was famed for its "ziggurats" - tall, wide-based, stepped towers; and its name even meant "gate of the gods". However, their gods were their own perceived cleverness and power - and how many counterparts they have today! In the Bible, Babel/Babylon is the type of society without God (see, e.g., Rev. 17-18). Here, the true God scorns the self-reliant pride of the inhabitants - their great power is actually so puny that He has to "come down" to see the city and its tower! Of course, Almighty God doesn't have to literally investigate what is happening in His universe. The language is used simply in order to make a point in anthropomorphic terms. I think, too, of the words of Psalm 2: 2-4 - worth looking up!
This infamous project was, effectively, an arrogant « spitting in the face » of Almighty God. They wanted to « … make a name for themselves, ». Was this a follow-on from the first temptation of the satan, at which we looked earlier? They wanted it to be « a tower with its top in the heavens, » - to be « like God »? It was certainly a revolutionary act! In Gen.9:1, Noah and his family were instructed to « Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. ». These people wanted to stay, together, in one place. However, the firm establishment of an ungodly unity, the wickedness and audacity of men would have led to fearful enterprises. A society without God at its centre falls apart into communication breakdown, and international disputes - and we are seeing evidence of that in our own time!
« A society without God at its centre falls apart. » and so does an individual! Augustine also said that « Thou hast made us for Thyself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee » A modern equivalent is «There's a God-shaped hole in every heart that only God can fill. » Those words are usually attributed to the 17th century French philosopher and mathematician, Blaise Pascal. Sadly, he didn't use those precise words! However, they are catchy enough, and are not far from what he did write: « There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man, and only God can fill it. » If you are finding life to be heavy going; if you sometimes feel that you are coming apart at the seams; if you have reached the end of your tether; may I encourage you to turn to the One Who has, and is, the answer to even your situation? He may not remove the difficulty - but He will show you how to cope, and He will be right there with you!
In Matt.28:19-20 we have what is usually referred to as "The Great Commission" - the final words of the risen Lord Jesus to His disciples: « Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age. » (emphasis added). Those emphasised words apply to every situation in which any of His disciples find themselves. No other friend can make that promise, with such absolute assurance. Let Him fill that vacuum, and discover that He truly did come that you « ... may have life, and have it abundantly. » (Jn.10:10).
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