GENESIS 11

Read Genesis 11:1-32

Chapter 11 is another well-known story and staple of the Sunday School, the Tower of Babel. We might be forgiven for asking the question, “What’s the problem here?” It looks like we have the beginnings of a technical civilisation making a city, crafting bricks and mortar and with them building a tower, which you would think is a necessity for any ancient city.

The issue, once again, is pride, leading to disobedience to God’s word. The tower is not built for defence, but one “that reaches to the heavens so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth” (v4). There are several concerns here. When God created mankind he gave the instruction “to fill the earth” (Genesis 1:4) and after the flood he reiterated this command to Noah, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth” (Genesis 9:1). At Babel, the people were intent on not being scattered and filling the earth but on being concentrated in one place. God’s judgement on them was to scatter them and to fulfil his original instruction (v8).

The next issue was that the motive for building the tower was to reach the heavens – to reach God’s realm – in effect, to be like God. This was the sin of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3 and it is what underlies such a lot of human sin even today, we all want to be like God, to be in charge of our own lives and destiny and to not be dependent upon God. The irony here is that despite their lofty ambition, the people could not get anywhere near God’s realm in the heavens. God had to come down to see the city and the tower they were building (v5).

Thirdly, they wanted to make a name for themselves. Again, pride comes to the fore here. It is God’s place to make a name for mankind, not man’s and that is illustrated in the next chapter when God says to Abraham, “I will make your name great” (Genesis 12:2).

Up to now in Genesis we have seen a cycle of sin followed by judgement followed by God’s mercy. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and were judged with expulsion from Eden, but God still cared for them; he did not kill them and he ensured that they were clothed and were fruitful. When Cain slew Abel he was judged but that judgement was tempered with mercy and God ensured that Cain was protected from retribution. We could ask, “where is the mercy in the Tower of Babel story?” We see sin; we see judgement; but no apparent follow up of mercy on God’s part. The answer lies in what follows, not just in Chapter 12, but in the whole of the Bible. What we see from Genesis 12 onwards is the outworking of God’s plan to deal with sin, starting with Abraham and going through to the New Testament and Jesus and the cross.

Verse 10 and onwards is a genealogy that takes us from Babel to Abraham and brings a close to what is known as ‘the primeval prologue’ and takes us into God’s plan of redemption.