Babel
Notes
Transcript
Welcome to NHCC, please open your Bibles to Genesis 11.
Read Genesis 11:1-9- Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people 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 dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man 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, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth.
Pray.
Explain the text.
Everyone speaks one language. There is a common dialect shared by all people.
Important to notice the mention of geography. On a plain in Shinar.
Thoughts about mountains- a place where heaven and earth met. Shinar has no mountain. So what do the people decide to do? Build a tower.
Likely a ziggurat, on top of which was a place of worship.
A couple purposes.
Wanted to gather the people to it.
Wanted the praise of people.
Wanted it to reach to the clouds, to the realm of the gods. If they could build it up high enough, they would be equal with the gods.
The Lord comes down to see the works of man. Chiastic structure of v. 1-9. First 4 verses- Man’s building himself up; last 4 verses- God’s tearing down of man. At the center- God comes down to see.
What God finds is disobedience, specifically the pressing out of the boundaries of what has been tried and what will be explored.
Gathering the people rather than filling the earth, as God had commanded Noah.
Vainglory- different that pride, vainglory depends upon the recognition of others.
Blasphemy- seeking equality with God. Let us reach Him with our innovation and technology and hard work.
God sees how destructive man will become if left to themselves, so He scatters them by mixing up their languages.
God accomplishes His goal that was given to Noah, but it came through the difficulty of confused languages.
1. Giving Babel.
1. Giving Babel.
Literary Context.
Settled between the events of chapter 9, the genealogy of 10 and the introduction of Abram in 12.
Ham’s lineage- people groups who will continue in and out of the story of Israel, largely as enemies, thorns in her side.
Genesis 10:8-10- Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD. Therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD.” The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
Babel consists of people from the lineage of Ham. The account of the tower of Babel is meant to be read in the context of everything we just read about Noah and Ham.
We are meant to expect bad things from the folks mentioned.
Seeking to make a name- there is one group of people who we find already had made a name for themselves- the nephilim, men of renown. Known for their violence and warfare. The people of Babel are following in their footsteps.
Interesting that the name they make is not one of power and privilege, but instead a name of Babel- Confusion.
Understood on so many levels- confused in language but also confused in life.
This text makes a further mockery of the people of Babel, the descendents of Ham.
There is another son of Noah named Shem, and the name Shem literally means “name”
From the line of Shem comes a man named Abram. Notice what is said of Abram, from the line of a man whose name means name.
Genesis 12:1-2- Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
Someone will indeed have their name made great, but it will not be from the line of Ham, and it will not be of Abram’s own doing.
God makes Abraham’s name great. God makes the name of Israel great. And He does so with intentionality. Not for the sole well-being of Israel, but for the good of the entire earth.
This was never the intention of the people of Babel.
The plans of God will not be wrecked by the intentions of man.
2. Living Babel.
2. Living Babel.
What difference does this account make in our lives today?
Set your aim.
Nothing wrong with what they were doing.
Acts of building a city, new technology, innovation, not in themselves sinful.
What was in the hearts of man was sinful.
For the people of Babel, there is one aim in mind- make a name for themselves.
How to accomplish such a goal? Build a tower, claim the position of the gods.
Same pride shared by Adam and Eve- take the fruit, become like God.
The problem is that so many people have this aim of self-advancement, and the temptation is to compare ourselves to them.
Tend to find that life becomes one big disappointment, because our aim is set in the wrong direction.
Training to become a world-class runner but getting upset because someone is better than you at singing.
Joy, meaning and happiness are not found in the praise we receive, but rather in the praise that we give.
Joseph Parker- “It may be found one day, when the final inspection takes place, that the man who has built nothing visible has really built a palace for the residence of God. It may be found, too, that some successful people have nothing but bricks- nothing but bricks, bricks, bricks! Then it will be seen who the true builders were.”
God is watching.
God comes down for what purpose? To see.
Not saying this to highlight the punishment of God, but rather the omniscience of God.
On some level, the omniscience of God points more to His mercy than to His wrath.
Proverbs 15:3- The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.
Need to be reminded that nothing we do is in secret.
Less likely to hurt someone when we can see that we are hurting them.
How do we speak of our spouse, our children, our friends? Could we imagine speaking of them in such a way that would break their hearts if only they knew?
The omniscience of God should cause us to pause and ask what we think of Him, how we treat Him, especially when we forget about His very presence.
Joseph Parker- “God notes the whole process and tendency of men’s lives. When men build their towers under the conviction that every stone of them will be tried by Divine power- when they build their cities under the assurance that not one thing of all the things that their hands are doing will escape the test of God’s Spirit- we may expect life to be built upon a true foundation, and according to a righteous plan.”
Do we live as though God is ever aware of our lives? Of every possible aspect of our lives? How would life change if we did so live?
God came down.
Man drowning in sin. Disobedience, vainglory and blasphemy. Would God leave man alone?
No, God injects Himself into the sinful workings of man.
Does something that is painful for man, but for his benefit.
Reminded this morning that there is grace in God’s dealing with sin.
God does not destroy the people of Babel, but instead reorients them.
Kids on the playground. Ruining their fun to return them to safety.
Returning them to life as it is meant to be lived.
Babel ought to point us to our every day lives. Man in sin, God comes down.
God course corrects.
Babel ought to point us forward to the cross. Man in sin, God comes down.
Mankind is not left to deal with his own sin, to try to build a tower to God, to make something of himself, to make a name for himself.
Instead, like Israel, God makes a name for His family, God adopts His children through the blood of Jesus on the cross.
His purpose in adopting His children is that He will adopt even more. Go and make disciples.
Babel ought to remind us that Christ will come again.
In the midst of a sinful world, Christ is promised to return to judge the living and the dead. Is this good news to you?
Heidelberg Catechism question 52- How does Christ’s return to judge the living and the dead comfort you?
Response- “In all distress and persecution, with uplifted head, I confidently await the very judge who has already offered himself to the judgment of God in my place and removed the whole curse from me. Christ will cast all his enemies and mine into everlasting condemnation, but will take me and all his chosen ones to himself into the joy and glory of heaven.”
Notice what is key- Awaiting the judge who has already offered himself to the judgement of God in my place and removed the whole curse from me.
Does the return of Christ create joy and comfort within you?