Genesis 11: 1 – 32
What language are you talking?
11 Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. 3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. 4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” 5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 And the LORD said, “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. 7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. 9 Therefore its name is called Babel, 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. 10 This is the genealogy of Shem: Shem was one hundred years old, and begot Arphaxad two years after the flood. 11 After he begot Arphaxad, Shem lived five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters. 12 Arphaxad lived thirty-five years, and begot Salah. 13 After he begot Salah, Arphaxad lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters. 14 Salah lived thirty years, and begot Eber. 15 After he begot Eber, Salah lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters. 16 Eber lived thirty-four years, and begot Peleg. 17 After he begot Peleg, Eber lived four hundred and thirty years, and begot sons and daughters. 18 Peleg lived thirty years, and begot Reu. 19 After he begot Reu, Peleg lived two hundred and nine years, and begot sons and daughters. 20 Reu lived thirty-two years, and begot Serug. 21 After he begot Serug, Reu lived two hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters. 22 Serug lived thirty years, and begot Nahor. 23 After he begot Nahor, Serug lived two hundred years, and begot sons and daughters. 24 Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and begot Terah. 25 After he begot Terah, Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years, and begot sons and daughters. 26 Now Terah lived seventy years, and begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. 27 This is the genealogy of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran begot Lot. 28 And Haran died before his father Terah in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans. 29 Then Abram and Nahor took wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah. 30 But Sarai was barren; she had no child. 31 And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there. 32 So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran.
Have you ever been to Europe? I am amazed of the different languages. I reside in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. Philly is just across the river from New Jersey. In just a short drive I can be in New York or Delaware. Now stop and think about this. Suppose you cross the bridge into New Jersey and all of a sudden you have to communicate in an entirely different language? Come to think of it now, you do! In Philly even when we know someone is speaking the same language we are offended when we do not know them. Our response to them is, ‘you talking to me?’But in all seriousness this is what happens when you go to Europe. You leave one country and you need to know a different language to communicate with its citizens.
Look at this statistic. Five languages have more than 50 million native speakers in Europe: Russian, German, French, Italian and English. Truly I can see the results of chapter 11 being impacted in these countries.
Today we are to be shown why the nations divided up into different languages with the consequent suspicions, hatreds and warfare which resulted. Overall it will be seen as a result of puffed up pride and deliberate rebellion against God. The nations have developed without God. Now we are to see that the situation in chapter 10 was caused by our Holy God as a result of man’s sinfulness and rebellion.
11 Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. 3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar.
‘They’ simply refers to those who made the choice to go. There is an interesting comparison here with Cain. It was Cain who left the mainstream of those who worshipped El Shaddai, Almighty God, and set up a ‘city’. In his case – he built permanent structures in order to demonstrate his independence and for mutual protection, and in order to build an alternative lifestyle and civilization. Here we are clearly to see a group of Noah’s descendants doing the same, but with less excuse for they have not yet been branded as outcasts. They made a free choice. Moses saw their aim as being to find somewhere where they could establish themselves in independence of God.
The land of Shinar is where Nimrod came in search of glory and conquest. It is the name of Babylonia proper. This will be the beginning of the symbol of Great Babylon which is later seen as the ultimate in rebellion against God (Revelation 17-18).
There is the idea here that they build with perishable materials, material that will not last, although they themselves no doubt saw it as durable building material. This may well be intended to signify the first invention of such building methods, and be seen by Moses as a sign of man’s inventiveness replacing God’s provision. It is part of their rebellion. We can compare how God’s altar had to be built of stones which had not been touched in any way by man’s tools (Exodus 20.25). Our Precious Creator God knew that brick and mortar would not have the durability of stone.
4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
The building of a city is a sign of self sufficiency. They are banding together rather than depending on God anymore. They no longer wish to depend on His protection, but will protect themselves.
Please look at the statement ‘A tower whose top may reach to heaven’. This is a graphic way of saying a very high tower, but it probably contains in it the idea of connecting with the gods. It was not the height of the tower but the type of tower that was significant. It was almost certainly similar to a ziggurat. These buildings, which later became a regular feature of life in Mesopotamia, were stepped buildings which were meant to represent a mountain, and at the top of it was a sanctuary. It was felt that the gods dwelt on mountains, so that provision is being made for them to dwell in the city by setting up a mountain there. Thus this represented idol worship. The tower, like the city itself, is seen by Moses as a further sign of rebellion against our Holy Father God, replacing Him with more amenable gods who will act according to their will.
Their aim was to fill the surrounding people with fear so that they might be free from attack. Their expectation was that their strength in gathering together, and the fearful tower in their midst, which would convince people that the gods were with them, would be sufficient to prevent any attack. Thus they would be safe and would not become scattered. They should have been concerned for the name of Yahweh, but they were only concerned for their own name.
5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 And the LORD said, “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. 7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”
I love our Holy Master’s humor. Look again at what our Precious Holy Spirit says. The words are deliberately ironic. He Is letting on to tell us that what these people were trying to pull was pathetic. The city and tower were so small that God comments that He could not see them from where He was and so had to come down to have a look, and a laugh. ‘He who sits in the heavens will laugh, Yahweh will have them in derision, then will he speak to them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure’ (Psalm 2.4).
In His serious response though our Holy God indicates that He will not put up with what they were doing. He would work on the principle of divide and conquer. Having begun in this way these men will continue with greater and greater rebellion, and lead others astray with them. So the best way to limit this was to confound their language so that men would not necessarily understand each other.
I find further significance in our Lord’s words ‘Go to, let us go down ---’. These men in their pride, arrogance and self-confidence had encouraged each other twice with ‘go to’ (let us get on with it), now it is the only Living God’s turn to say the third ‘go to’. Three is the number of completeness so that the third encouragement completes the scenario. When He acts it brings things to their conclusion.
8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city.
Now we need to get straight what we might have learned incorrectly in Sunday school. Please notice carefully what happened and what did not happen. There is no suggestion that the tower fell down. No cataclysmic event is described.
It says this in our scripture, ‘there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” Our Holy Lord confused their language and as a result they left with other people whose speech they understood and moved on to other locations.
9 Therefore its name is called Babel, 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.
Bab - el means literally ‘the gate of god’ but here Moses makes a play on words to change it to signify confusion. The gate that these men thought would lead them to the gods resulted only in their confusion. So as Moses looks back on what happened he recognizes what its final consequences were. The final result is that mankind is to be scattered and split up. By their act of independence unity and brotherhood is gone. The world is no longer one.
The genealogy that follows links Abram back to Shem. This was why God was to be blessed with regard to Shem (9.26). It would be through him that God’s man for the times would come.
10 This is the genealogy of Shem: Shem was one hundred years old, and begot Arphaxad two years after the flood. 11 After he begot Arphaxad, Shem lived five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.
Shem lives another 500 years making 600 in all. This is probably intended to draw attention to his covenant connections and also to the fact that he does not achieve 700, a divinely perfect age. As a sinful man he must come short.
12 Arphaxad lived thirty-five years, and begot Salah. 13 After he begot Salah, Arphaxad lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters. 14 Salah lived thirty years, and begot Eber. 15 After he begot Eber, Salah lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters. 16 Eber lived thirty-four years, and begot Peleg. 17 After he begot Peleg, Eber lived four hundred and thirty years, and begot sons and daughters. 18 Peleg lived thirty years, and begot Reu. 19 After he begot Reu, Peleg lived two hundred and nine years, and begot sons and daughters. 20 Reu lived thirty-two years, and begot Serug. 21 After he begot Serug, Reu lived two hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters. 22 Serug lived thirty years, and begot Nahor. 23 After he begot Nahor, Serug lived two hundred years, and begot sons and daughters. 24 Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and begot Terah. 25 After he begot Terah, Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years, and begot sons and daughters.
It is easy to notice that the patriarchs that follow are listed with ages gradually decreasing, a further indication of the fact that man is fallen and must die, and ever more quickly.
26 Now Terah lived seventy years, and begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. 27 This is the genealogy of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran begot Lot. 28 And Haran died before his father Terah in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans. 29 Then Abram and Nahor took wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah.
Like Noah, Terah has three sons, seen as a sign of completeness. Haran dies comparatively young, but before he dies Haran begets Lot. The mention of Lot here is because he represents Haran in the family. The seed has not died out. Haran’s daughter Milcah marries Nahor.
It is quite clear that the family home is Ur of the Chaldees. The family are not just semi-nomads wandering from place to place, they are inhabitants of Ur, although probably even at this stage with large herds and flocks. Ur of the Chaldees was an important and highly sophisticated city of ancient origin, where the brothers would have access to a good education.
It is interesting that details of Nahor’s wife’s relationship are given and not those of Sarai even though later she is described by Abraham as ‘the daughter of my father but not the daughter of my mother’ (20.12). This again may have been in order to emphasize that Haran was fruitful even though he died comparatively young.
30 But Sarai was barren; she had no child.
While it is clear later that Sarai is an outstandingly beautiful woman, she bears the shame of unfruitfulness. Rebecca, the later wife of Jacob, was descended from Milcah. The matter is stated quite starkly to explain why no information is given as to Abram’s seed. Abram and Sarai stood out from the others in that they had no children, which in those days was a matter of great grief and shame. It also caused problems in the matter of inheritance. It is quite possible that this was seen by his family as being the result of Abram not worshipping the family gods.
31 And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there. 32 So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran.
We do not know what caused Terah to determine to go to Canaan. Was it the constant urging of his son Abram who had received a divine command? But when they arrived at Haran Terah decided to stay. Perhaps it was too nice a place to leave, or perhaps it resulted from his zeal for the moon god. So he exercised his authority as ‘prince’ of the family. Thus they settled down there and made it their home to such an extent that it was later looked on as their motherland.
The detail of Terah’s life was ‘And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years. And Terah died in Haran’. He bore children and he died. He never reached Canaan, never even realized what he was missing, - to be a part in the greatest adventure of all time, the beginning of the long history of salvation, and to miss out. How easy it is to fail to recognize our opportunity! But the days in Haran were beneficial to Abram for he established his independence and built up his own family tribe and wealth. When it seems to us that God’s plans for us have come to a stop we must take the opportunities that are on our doorstep.
