SERMON OUTLINE:
(A). The Table of Nations (Chapter 10)
(1). It is a Record of Nations.
(2). It is a Selective List.
(3). It is a Puzzling Inventory.
(4). It is a Historic Index.
(B). The Tower of Babel (Chapter 11)
(1). Man’s Rebellion
(2). God’s Response
(3). God’s Remedy
SERMON BODY:
Ill:
• An airline flight attendant shared the story of a passenger from Bombay, India,
• Who had a limited grasp of the English language.
• As the airline flight attendant served the man his meal;
• He nodded his head and replied, “From the heart of my bottom, I am thanking you.”
• The flight attendant said:
• I think what he was trying to say was, ‘from the bottom of my heart,’
• But there was no way I could convey to this man that this sentence was wrong.
• Although we had a fun time trying,
Quote: Dorothy Parker on the English language
“The two most beautiful words in the English language are ‘check enclosed.’”
Quote: Ronald Reagan:
“The nine most terrifying words in the English language are,
‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’”
Quote: English is a strange language:
• Let's face it.
• English is a strange language.
• There is no egg in the eggplant,
• No ham in the hamburger,
• And neither pine nor apple in the pineapple.
• English muffins were not invented in England.
• French fries were not invented in France.
• We sometimes take English for granted,
• But if we examine its paradoxes we find that
• Quicksand takes you down slowly,
• Boxing rings are square,
• And a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
• If writers write, how come fingers don't fing.
• If the plural of tooth is teeth,
• Shouldn't the plural of phone booth be phone booth?
• If the teacher taught,
• Why didn't the preacher praught.
• If a vegetarian eats vegetables,
• What the heck does a humanitarian eat!?
• Why do people recite at a play,
• Yet play at a recital?
• Park on driveways and
• Drive on parkways?
• You have to marvel at the unique lunacy
• Of a language where a house can burn up as
• It burns down,
• And in which you fill in a form
• By filling it out,
• And a bell is only heard once it goes!
• English was invented by people, not computers,
• And it reflects the creativity of the human race
• (Which of course isn't a race at all).
• That is why
• When the stars are out they are visible,
• But when the lights are out they are invisible.
• And why it is that when I wind up my watch
• It starts,
• But when I wind up this poem
• It ends.
• TRANSITION:
• Language is a key feature in this passage today.
• Because the Tower of Babel is best known for two things that happened.
• It is the place God scattered the nations;
• It was here that God confused people with different languages.
Ill:
• There are about 50 distinct language families in the world;
• And they seem to bear no relation to each other at all.
• Some languages have sub-divided into scores of other languages;
• e.g. French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish all go back to Latin.
• e.g. Some languages like Basque language, which is spoken only in the Pyrenees;
• Appear to have no ‘ancestor’ and no ‘descendants’.
• The oldest known languages are the most difficult and complex.
• e.g. Ancient Chinese was harder than modern Chines.
• e.g. Ancient Greek was harder than modern Greek.
Genesis chapter 11 teaches that at Babel:
• God broke up the one original language in 50 (or more) major languages,
• All equally complex and all mutually unintelligible without long and hard study.
Trivia:
• The phrase "Tower of Babel" does not appear in the Hebrew Bible;
• It is always, "the city and its tower" (àÆú-äÈòÄéø åÀàÆú-äÇîÄÌâÀãÈÌì) or just "the city" (äÈòÄéø).
• According to the Bible (Genesis chapter 11 verse 9),
• The city received the name "Babel";
• From the Hebrew word ‘balal’, meaning; ‘to jumble’.
(A). The Table of Nations (Chapter 10)
• To the casual reader of the Bible;
• These verses in chapter 10 are about as interesting as reading the telephone directory!
• But if we give them time;
• Then we can discover they are more than ‘Just a list of names’;
• Those names relate to people who play an important part in biblical history!
Quote: Scholar William Foxwell Albright:
“The tenth chapter of Genesis…stands absolutely alone in ancient literature, without remote parallel, even among the Greeks, where we find the closest approach to a distribution of peoples in genealogical framework…The Table of Nations remains an astonishingly accurate document”.
Question: Why does God bother to list all these people?
Answer: is found in two verses of this chapter one at the start and one at the end:
Verse 1:
“This is the account of Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons,
who themselves had sons after the flood.”
Verse 32:
“These are the clans of Noah’s sons, according to their lines of descent, within their nations. From these the nations spread out over the earth after the flood”.
• The purpose of chapter ten is to explain who the earth was repopulated after the flood.
• The three sons of Noah and their wives would ‘go forth and multiply’,
• A similar but not identical genealogy is found in 1 Chronicles chapter 1.
Ill:
• On the topic of ‘go forth and multiply’,
• It reminds me of the story of…
• A man speaks frantically into the phone,
• "My wife is pregnant, and her contractions are only two minutes apart!"
• The doctor replies: "Is this her first child?"
• The man shouts: "No, you idiot! This is her husband!"
Notice: 3 things:
FIRST: IT IS A RECORD OF NATIONS;
• This chapter is not technically a genealogy (so and so, begat so and so).
• Reminds me of the little boy who said:
• “I don’t know what begetting is, but there sure was a lot of it happening in those days!”
• The reason it is called a table of nations, rather than a genealogy;
• Is because it traces the connected origins of various nations
• i.e. This genealogy does not just give a list of names of decedents;
• Verse 31 tells is it also gives us their; ‘Clans and languages…territories and nations’.
• So don’t just read this chapter as just a list of names;
• What you have here is a genealogy, plus an atlas, plus a history book;
• All rolled into one!
• In this one chapter are watching the development and the movement of;
• All peoples and nations in the ancient world.
SECOND: IT IS A SELECTIVE LIST:
• This table of nations is not complete!
• i.e. We do not find the nations of Edom, Moab, and Ammon mentioned,
• And yet these were important nations in biblical history.
• The writer has been deliberately selective with this list;
• He has chosen to only record seventy nations.
Ill:
• The number seventy appears several times in the Torah (the first 5 books of the Bible):
• i.e. Seventy elders of the Jewish nation,
• i.e. Seventy languages and nations of the world,
• i.e. Seventy members of Jacob's family that came to Egypt.
• Those last two examples give us an understanding as to the use of this number.
• ill: The number seventy is like a double-sided coin,
• One side represents ultimate unity, and on the other hand, the epitome of disunity.
• In Genesis chapter 11 we will see both those truths illustrated:
• Chapter 11 verse 1 shows us unity:
• “Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.”
• Chapter 11 verse 7-8 shows us disunity:
• As the Lord brings confusion and dispersion, scattering the people all over the earth.
• So the writer has not added or changed the facts;
• He has just highlighted for us that which he considers to be important.
• These seventy nations;
• Will help him tell and explain the story of the unity and disunity to his readers.
THIRD: IT IS A PUZZLING INVENTORY:
• This table of nations is puzzling;
• Because it is difficult to identify some of these nations,
• And to give these nations their modern names.
• We know nations can change their names;
• i.e. in the early 1990s. Yugoslavia divided up into:
• Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, and Slovenia
• i.e. In 1997:
• Zaire: Changed its name to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• i.e. Latest country to change its name was on October 24th 2013;
• The Republic of Cape Verde
• (Located 570 kilometres (350 miles) off the coast of Western Africa);
• Changes its official long-form name to the Republic of Cabo Verde.
Now over the centuries:
• Nations can change their names; move to different locations,
• Modify their language,
• And alter even their racial composition through intermarriage.
Note:
• If you read chapters 10 and 11 before you arrived here today::
• You may have already noticed that these two chapters are not in chronological order:
• In chapter 10 the writer first describes the spread of the peoples and languages;
• Then in chapter 11 verses 1-9 he describes the origin of that assortment.
• We might do it the other way round;
• But this is an ancient Hebrew manuscript and not a modern western document.
FOURTH: IT IS A HISTORIC INDEX:
• One of the features of genealogies and lists of names in the Bible;
• Is to bridge the gap between key individuals and events.
• That is what happens here in chapter ten and eleven.
• We are going to bridge the gap of time between Noah;
• And our next major character in the book of Genesis – who will be Abraham.
This table of nations links these two great men:
• The division of the chapter is:
• Verses 2-5: Japheth’s descendants.
• Verses 6-20: Ham’s descendants.
• Verses 21-31: Shem’s descendants.
• As you enter the first part of chapter 11 you again encounter a genealogy;
• Verse 10 to 25 gives us the descendants of Seth through Terah to Abraham.
(B). The Tower of Babel (Chapter 11)
• Verse 2 tells us that these vents took place on the “Plain in the land of Shinar.”
• ‘Shinar’ was another name for Babylonia,
• Which is in the region of modern-day Iraq
(1). Man’s Rebellion (vs 3-4):
“They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
• In these two verses Moses the writer summarises for us;
• The plan, the hope and the motive of a rebellious people.
• Their plan was to build a city with a tower,
• A high tower reaching up to the heavens.
• Their hope was to become famous,
• There only concern is for human recognition;
• They want to be great in the eyes of their contemporaries.
• And their motive was to prevent separation.
• They wanted to concentrate their power, their intellects and be self-sufficient and strong.
Ill:
• A five year old girl was having one of those trouble-filled days with her mother.
• It seemed they spent the day arguing back and forth.
• Finally the mom had enough.
• "Jenny, go sit in the naughty step, right now! Don’t get up until I tell you to!"
• Jenny went to the designated step and sat down.
• In a few minutes she called back,
• "Mom, I may be sitting down with my body, but in my heart I am standing up!"
• Quote: Someone has defined rebellion this way:
• “Reserving for myself the right to make the final decision”
That is the problem we see in this chapter – rebellion:
• FIRST:
• A city, a tower a name;
• They want to achieve fame and independence by building this skyscraper.
• I just love the word play and irony in this passage;
• This enormous structure will be the best that man can do.
• People will stop and stare at its magnitude and overwhelming size.
• Yet God has to ‘come down’ to see it’,
• That is how small it is in comparison to almighty God!
• SECOND:
• Their words in verse 4 are an expression of self-confidence, self-effort, self-sufficiency,
• “Let us…ourselves… so that we…a name for ourselves”
• There is no reference to God, no trust in God and no thought of the true God!
• THIRD:
• Their motive was based on a determination to disobey God;
• Remember from Genesis chapter 9 verse 1&7:
• “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.
• “God had commanded them to disperse throughout the earth and fill it with people”.
Ill:
• Most Bible scholars believe this event took place about 100 years after the flood;
• Given ideal conditions i.e. no war, no disease, no natural disasters etc.
• The three couples who came out of the ark and ‘multiplied’;
• Could easily have doubled their numbers every 8 years;
• This would add up to 20,000 people in a century.
• Now it seems that they did not mind the repopulating bit of God’s command;
• But they did mind the ‘filling of the whole earth’ part of God’s command!
• They were comfortable and contented where they were.
• In these simple verses describing their plan, their hope and their motive.
• We see a situation depicts a sinful society.
Question: What was the significance of the tower?
Answer:
• It is obvious they were not going to build a tower that would literally reach the heavens;
• Archaeologists have discovered a number of the types of towers described here;
• They are called ‘ziggurat’.
• They are like a pyramid except the successive levels were recessed;
• So that you could walk to the top on ‘steps’.
• At the top of the tower was an altar.
• This altar was surrounded by the signs of the zodiac,
• If this is the case and we know that astrology originated in ancient Babylon.
• Then this tower is an enormous symbol;
• Of mankind’s attempt to control the universe apart from God.
(2). God’s response (vs 5-9)
“ But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. 6 The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”
8 So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel[c]—because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.”
Quote:
• “Man proposes, but God disposes”
• This quote was written by the Augustinian monk Thomas a Kempis (1380-1471);
• In his classic book ‘On the Imitation of Christ’.
• An expanded version is the proverb:
• “Man does what he can, God does what he wants!”
• We see those principles illustrated in verses 5-9.
Notice:
• God was not unaware of what was taking place.
• When the writer says that the Lord went down to see what was happening,
• He does not mean that God was ignorant of what was taking place.
• Rather he is indicating that the Lord investigates and assesses before he judges.
• Notice too that the Lord was determined to put a stop to their sin of rebellion.
• He did not come down to discuss things with them.
• Nor did he suggest that they turn their religious tower;
• Into a place where he could be worshipped.
• Rather he came down to destroy their efforts at removing him from their lives.
• Notice too that the judgment that he implemented was immediate,
• It was individual (everyone was affected),
• And it was and irreversible (as far as they were concerned).
• It was also effective:
• Because it achieved God’s purpose of spreading the human race around the world.
Quote: Dr H.C. Leupold:
“The multiplicity of languages (over 3000) upon the face of the earth is a monument not to human ingenuity but to human sin”.
(3). God’s remedy:
• You might ask the question: Is there a remedy for the curse of Babel?
• Has God turned his back on the nations because they have rejected him?
• Well the answer to that question is an emphatic NO!
• God has not turned his back on the nations;
• They may have rejected him but he will not rejected them forever!
• In fact in our next section of studies in the book of Genesis;
• We will be focusing on the life of Abraham.
• God makes a promise to Abraham (Genesis chapter 12 verse 3)
• “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”.
• We know that this ‘blessing’ would come specifically through one of his descendants;
• Jesus Christ, the Son of God - who would bring salvation to the world!
• Jesus, although born from the descendant of Shem, would bring blessings to the nations.
Ill:
• We are a living example of that promise being fulfilled;
• We come from different area of the UK, from Europe,
• Recently the GLO Team working alongside us represented the world;
• (as we had South-Americans, Asian, African & Europeans on the team)
• We have all been blessed with salvation;
• Through Jesus Christ!
Ill:
• John Wesley one of the men who started the Methodist Church,
• Went to Oxford Seminary for five years;
• And for the next ten years served as a minister of the Church of England.
• He then became a missionary from England to America.
• Yet despite his education, his vocation and his religion;
• He had no assurance in his heart that he was converted,
• No assurance that he was a Christian, someone who was right with God:
• One day someone said to him, "Are you sure, Mr. Wesley, of your salvation?"
• John Wesley answered: "Well, Jesus Christ died for the whole world."
• But the man persisted with his questioning:
• "Yes, we all believe that; but are you sure that you are saved?"
• Wesley replied that he was sure that provision had been made for his salvation.
• But once again the man pressed him with questions:
• "But are you sure, Wesley, that you are saved?"
• Those words went like an arrow to his heart,
• And he had no rest or peace until that question was settled.
In his diary he writes these words (24 May 1738):
• “In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street,
• Where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans.
• About a quarter before nine,
• While he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ,
• I felt my heart strangely warmed.
• I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation;
• And an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine,
• And saved me from the law of sin and death.”
In Conclusion:
• Have you benefitted from the blessing that is in Jesus Christ?
• Can you like Wesley say: He had taken away my sins, even mine!”
