Genesis Pt. 21 – “Say What?”
Text: Genesis 11:1-9
By: Ken McKinley
(Read Text)
Now if you remember last time, when we looked at Genesis 10, we saw the sons of Noah and their descendants, and they were listed out for us, and we were told that from them, all the nations of the earth came into being. So I guess we could say that Genesis 10 was kind of like a pass and review of sorts. But when we get to chapter 11; Moses, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is going to go into more detail about HOW all the nations of the earth came into being, as well as how all the various languages in the earth developed, and how people got to the various locations on the earth that we associate them with today.
So the 1st thing I want you to be aware of is that these two chapters – Genesis 10 and 11 are like a bridge between the world of Noah and the world of Abraham, and a bridge between the lessons that both of their lives teach us. Because we’re getting to the point where God is going to specifically focus on revealing His will to Abraham and his line, and these two chapters are bringing us to that, but they are also a reminder of how God is still involved in all the affairs of men, whether they are of Abrahamic descent or not, and if you remember from last week, I was saying that it’s passages like these that drive our mission emphasis. It’s never acceptable for us to say, “OK, we’re just going to take care of ourselves, and everyone else out there can find God on their own.” Because one of the temptations of God’s people is to try and find a cozy, comfortable place for ourselves and forget all the bad things that are going on around us.
You know… that’s how monasteries started. Back in the Middle Ages, believers were seeking to retain purity in the middle of a wicked world, so they pulled back from society and built monasteries and separated themselves from the world and all its wickedness. They either misinterpreted or misunderstood Scriptures like 2nd Corinthians 6:17 which says, “Come out from among them and be separate…” thinking that they should tune out altogether. It’s true, they were separate in those secluded monasteries and they were trying to live godly lives, but in doing so, they became totally unable to influence the world for Christ. Also last week; we looked at Nimrod, who came out of the line of Ham. He was a powerful and influential man. An empire builder and we learned that he was the one that was largely responsible for the cities of Nineveh and Babylon. And it’s interesting how the philosophy of this one man, who founded those cities, carried on through them for generations to come. You can learn a lot about a group, a party, or even a person by looking at their education and mentors… but that’s for another time.
Now our text this morning divides into two parts. In verses 1 – 4 we see man rebelling against God’s command to fill the earth and have dominion over it, and then in verses 5 – 9 we see God’s response, and His judgment against this rebellion. So let’s look at that first part, verses 1 – 4 again (Read).
When we read that it should be pretty obvious what the problem is; it’s that little word, “ourselves.” It’s used twice in verse 4; where the people said, “Let us build OURSELVES a city and a tower,” and “Let us make a name for OURSELVES.” Self-glorification is always self-defeating. When man sets out to make a name for himself apart from God and apart from the grace of God, we can be sure that trouble is right around the corner.
Now remember; Moses was writing this to people who already were experiencing the result of God’s judgment. The Israelites knew what it was like to try and communicate with people who spoke different languages. They had grown up having to learn the Egyptian language, while preserving their own language of Hebrew, and so what Moses was saying to them, and trying to get them to see was that at one point in time, humanity had a great deal in common.
They had one language, they were able to cooperate with one another, and work with one another, and associate with one another, and fellowship with one another, and because of that they were able to do great things – just think of all the good things they could’ve done and accomplished. But instead of obeying God’s creation mandate to fill the whole earth, they instead chose to rebel.
Think about it; around 5000 years have passed since this time – 5000 years of wars, conflict, disagreements, and strife. 5000 years where opposing views of government, and economic policy, and social policy have battled for supremacy in the world. 5000 years where mankind could’ve been working together for the glory of God. But instead these people wanted to make a name for themselves. They wanted to build a city and a tower, for the specific purpose of keeping themselves together and that was a direct act of disobeying God’s command to both Adam and Noah – to fill the whole earth. Now it’s interesting; because here you have these people, and remember they are led by that guy Nimrod, and they are saying, “We are going to make ourselves great!” But later on, in chapter 12, when we get to Abraham, we see God saying that Abraham is going to be great… but it’s God who’s going to make Abraham that way. God says, “I will make you a great nation.” Nimrod and the builders of the Tower of Babel left God out of the equation. They were saying, “We will make ourselves great.” There’s a big difference. Abraham had no aspirations of greatness. And so there’s a contrast of motivation.
So man rebels against God, and God judges them for it.
Let’s look at verses 5 – 9 again (Read).
God is a God of mercy. Every time we see God bring judgment, we also see His mercy and grace. Remember way back in Genesis chapter 3 where Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden? God not only judged them, but He also made atonement for their sin by covering their nakedness with animal skins, He then drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden so that they wouldn’t eat of the tree of eternal life… and people ask, “How was that merciful?” And the answer is: because if they had eaten of that tree in their state of sin, then they would’ve been eternally separated from God, so it was an act of mercy to drive them out of the Garden. Well; we see God doing the same thing here… in a sense. He is bringing judgment, but He is also showing mercy, in the sense that He is restraining sin. I was just saying how we could’ve had 5000 years of man being unified, and working together for the glory of God… but that’s only what could’ve or should’ve been… but in reality, what would’ve been was 5000 years of man being unified in their resistance against God, and idolatry, because man – by his very nature, is at enmity with God.
God is not afraid of man being an equal rival here – what’s happening here is God saying, “Man is unified in his rebellion against Me, and unless I do something about this… unless I restrain this, the consequences of their unified sinfulness will drastic and dramatic.”
Now some people have said that the goal of Nimrod and those who followed him in this building project was to build a tower so high that they could storm the gates of heaven itself; but they’ve misunderstood the meaning of the word “Heavens” in verse 4. If you will; turn with me really quickly to 2nd Corinthians chapter 12:1 – 3 (Read). Now when Paul wrote that he was caught up to the third heaven, he was talking about the place where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father; the place where believers go when they die… and Paul calls it the 3rd heaven, meaning there is a second heaven and a first heaven. The 2nd heaven is what we would call outer space, and the 1st heaven is what we would call they sky… the place within the earth’s atmosphere.
And so when the builders of the Tower of Babel say they are going to build a tower that reaches the heavens, they are most likely talking about the sky… they are planning on building a tower that reaches the clouds. There are some archaeologists who believe that the temple of Marduk; or the ziggurat of Marduk is what’s left of the Tower of Babel. Today; very little is left of the Ziggurat of Marduk, there are just parts of the base of it. But it was still standing in the time of the historian Herodotus, and he even wrote about it. He said it was seven levels high, which means that it was probably well over 300 feet high, the next closest thing is the Ziggurat of Ur, which is also in Iraq, and it stood over 100 feet high. Herodotus also tells us that these ziggurats were used as places of idol worship, sacrifice (both animal and human), that they were places of refuge in times of flood, and basically they were the cultural and religious centers of whatever community they were built in. And remember, the Tower of Babel was being built by men who wanted to make a great name for themselves, it was a place of idol worship and the building project was being headed up by a man whose very name meant rebellion.
So Nimrod and his followers are in direct rebellion and the next thing we see is that the Sovereign Lord God Almighty comes down to see what man is doing. (This is what we call a theophany, and it happens in other places in the Old Testament as well… for example; Genesis 18, when God appears to Abraham and tells him of His plan to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.) And God sees the wicked intentions of man’s heart and He says, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech,” and that’s exactly what He does.
Now I want you to notice the sovereignty of God here. Not only is God able to ensure that His will is done, He does it in such a simple way – He confuses their language. It’s simple, but it’s also complex, because think about this… God put the people that He wanted together and He did it by language, and He separated the people He wanted separated, by making sure they didn’t speak a comparable language. Certain people groups went one way because they could communicate with one another, and other people groups went another way because they could communicate with other people.
So God… God made sure that He got who He wanted, going where He wanted them to go, with who He wanted them to go with – all with one simple act of confusing the people’s languages.
So in our world today; where people want greatness apart from God, and where people refuse to obey Him as God, we can learn a valuable lesson from our text this morning. And the lesson is… IT CAN’T BE DONE! The Bible tells us that God is not mocked. He is the Sovereign Lord of the universe, and His will – will be done!
Our text shows us the final picture of life before Abraham… the state of mankind before God focused in on Abraham and his descendants specifically. This is how man still is today without the restraining grace of God. Their hearts are idol factories, their will is to serve themselves and make names for themselves and glorify themselves. But we also see that despite of all that; God’s plans cannot be thwarted… His plans will still come to fruition and be fulfilled in the fullness of time. Because we have the luxury of hind-sight, and we know that God is going to reveal His will and His Word to Abraham, from which the Hebrew people will come from, and from which eventually the promised seed of the woman will come. We should take comfort in knowing that God’s plan is progressing just as He planned it would. That He’s in complete control, and that we are all part of it.
LET’S PRAY
