The Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9)

(1) Bible Study Questions

Note: After the flood, the new humanity goes forth and multiplies. However, we noted that the judgment of the flood did not fundamentally change the problem of the human heart (Genesis 8:20-22). The Babel story gives us the end-result of the flood, and the attitude of most of the descendents of Noah. God commanded humanity to populate the earth (Genesis 9:1), which involved scattering, but humanity in its rebellion against God had another plan.

Discussion: How many languages can you speak or understand? What are the good things about this? What are the difficulties about this? How do you feel when you hear people speaking another language in your street, or at the shops?

1. What is the significance of there originally being one language? (verses 1, 6-7)

Discussion: English has become in many parts of the world a well known language, at least for learning. What are the advantages of this? Is there value in, for example, the whole world learning one language, as those who encourage Esparanto believe?

2. How are those who settle on the plain of Shinar (Babylon) like Adam and Eve and the Sons of God? How are they like Cain and his line (compare 4:12-17 with 11:2-4,8)

Note: ‘Babel’ to its founders meant ‘gate or residence of the gods’ but the word for confusion in Hebrew is very similar.

3. What is the irony of humanity’s efforts to storm the throne room of God? How successful have they been? (compare verse 4 and verse 5)

Note: The tower was probably what is known as a ziggurat. It was a massive, solid brick stair case structure. They were commonly seen as the stair case to heaven. Perhaps it is not so different to the pride of humans that drives them to construct the tallest skyscrapers these days. Think of what the ‘Twin Towers’ stood for, at least in the mind of those who murderously destroyed it!

4. What motivated humanity to build the staircase? (verse 4)

5. What was wrong with the human desire to ascend to heaven? (compare Genesis 28:12)

6. How does God assess the latent power in humanity? (verse 6)

7. Given your answer to the last question, does God’s judgment on humanity (verse 8-9) then ultimately work for the good for humanity, or does it simply ‘hold us back’ for what we could be? Is it a mixture of both?

8. How does what God promise Abraham (Genesis 12:2), respond to the arrogant desire of humanity to ‘make a name for themselves’?

9. Read Acts 2:5-18. How do the events of Pentecost as a gracious act by a generous God answer the judgment of God at Babel?

10. Read 1 Corinthians 14:18-23. How does the reality of God’s judgment at the Tower of Babel in our world govern how we do church?

11. Find a Prayer Book and look up Article 24 of the 39 Articles. What does this tell us about the importance of intelligible church meetings?

(2) Sermon Script

Introduction

Go up to Hurstville or Campsie, or Lakemba. Go to Cabramatta or Lidcombe or Chatswood. Suburbs of Sydney. When you look at the shop signs , listen to the people in the streets, and smell the smells. They are very different to Mulgoa or Warragamba or Silverdale.

People make strange sounds with their mouths that you can’t. Sounds coming from parts of your throat or nose you haven’t used. There are markings on the walls that you cannot read. Words that you don’t know. Because the people are speaking Arabic, Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Vietnamese, Bahasa, Farsi, Dari.

When we hear different languages, how do we feel? A stranger? A foreigner? Out of place. Like you don’t belong in your own country.

And from that feeling of alienation, it’s a short step to suspicion. Then to mistrust. What are they saying? Why don’t they speak my language? Why don’t they learn English before they come here? Why do they exclude me? This is our country!

Did anyone speak ‘pig latin’ or ‘illibic’ at school? Question: Why do kids make up their own language? Answer: So no adults will understand them. So we create different languages not to enable understanding, but so that we will not understand each other.

Our multi-lingual world has a bible explanation. Different languages are a reminder for us of ‘God’s judgment’. It is not just a matter of viva la difference. Delighting in difference. We cannot communicate because God has judged human pride.

Context

Genesis Chapter 10 tells us that humanity has descended from a single family. We come from Noah’s family. Thus, we are all ultimately brothers and sisters. If we went back far enough, we’re all related. Good thing too, because it shows how stupid racism is.

But in chapter 10 for the first time we read about different languages. Look at chapter 10 verse 5:

…by their clans with within their nations, each with its own language’ (compare 10:20, 31 NIV)

And chapter 11 tells us why these languages came about.

Human rebellious intention (verses 1-4)

Look with me at chapter 11 verses 1 and 2:

1Now the whole world had one language and a common speech[1]. 2As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.

Humanity has one language. And we can be sure it wasn’t English. Neither was it Greek, despite ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’. The fact is, we don’t know what it was. But the key word is ‘one’.

So what do men do when they all speak one language? They build! Verses 3-4[2]:

They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly,” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens…

We have a lot of lego at home. I haven’t played with it for a while. We’ve got little lego and big lego, duplo. We’ve even got megablocks. I myself like the duplo. You can build bigger and higher, faster.

It’s is the same with these men who stop on the plain of Shinar. This is in what we call Iraq. They build a city with a tower. An ancient skyscraper. Archeologists have found these structures. They are known as Ziggerauts. A giant solid staircase with levels, some ascending up to 100 metres in the air. They have dug these ziggerauts up in Iraq and other places.

http://www.crystalinks.com/ziggurat.html

We might think, oh well, that’s innocent enough. And they aren’t particularly tall. Not when you compare them to the smallest of the buildings in the CBD.

But it wasn’t as if the Babalonians were short of land. Nor do they just want to have a nice view. They want their tower to reach the heavens.

And this hints at the purpose of the tower. For Heaven is God’s dwelling place. So it has all the marks of being yet another human challenge to God. They want to approach God on their terms. Like Eve, who took the fruit, because she wanted to be like God. Like, perhaps, the men who allowed their daughters to marry angels. They want to climb their way up to God on their terms. So we see that Noah’s line ends up in the same place. They are sinfully challenging God.

The name Babylon means ‘Gateway to the gods’. So this tower is actually a proud human attempt to build a ‘stairway to heaven’.

The human motive for the building is also clear from the verse 4 again.

4Then 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 and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.

Let’s make a name for ourselves. Let’s show what we humans can do. The Lord’s prayer teaches us to ‘hallow God’s name’. But in this story, humans want to hallow their own name.

The same sentiment often drives humans to great achievement. The race to put a man on the moon. What drove the United States and Russia to spend their billions? It wasn’t just science. They wanted to show which nation was the best.

Why did Al Quaeda bring down the Twin Towers? Wasn’t it because the towers symbolised US pride? And they hate the US. So it was a symbolic attack, as well as a strategic attack. For Aussies, sport performs the same function as tall buildings. When our team comes home with gold, they’ve done us proud. This is all human pride. And humanity is not calling on the name of YHWH.

It is interesting that God will make one human’s name great. That is Abram (12:2). God promised to make Abram’s name great. So it’s not as if God doesn’t want humans to have a great name. Rather, God is King. He is the one who decides whose name will be great. But he will not tolerate human arrogance.

Now, God’s command to the survivors from the ark was ‘fill the earth’ (Genesis 9:1). But these builders don’t want to scatter. This city and tower will become a human rallying point. From this location, they will rival God and storm heaven.

YHWH’s descent (verses 5-7)

Now, I’m sure it was a great feat of engineering to build the ziggeraut. But as Great as man’s effort is to build the tower, the Lord has to come down to look at it! Verse 5[3]:

But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building.

The human assault on heaven is comic, from God’s point of view. God has to bend down to see the skyscraper[4].

But this is no joke. It is an assault on God. God views this as having potential for even greater harm. Verse 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[5].”

This international co-operation is pregnant with an anti-God agenda. It begins with building a tower. And God says, it will end with the fulfillment of all human plots and schemes in rebellion against God.

Here is the latent power of humanity. We have built nuclear weapons. We have put probes on Mars, and satellites have flown past Saturn, taking photos and sending them back to us. We’ve got mobile telephones, internet. At one level, nothing has been impossible. And all that has been without global co-operation.

But of course, the problem is human sin. The humanity that left the ark remained utterly sinful. ‘Every inclination of his heart was only evil from childhood’ (Genesis 8:20-22). So God decides to stop international co-operation. Verse 7:

Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand one another.

Here is the judgment of God. He scrambles communications. It is a judgment on our sinfulness, yes. But it is also in part grace. It stops us combining in arrogance to make a name for ourselves. It stops us becoming as sinful as we could possibly be.

YHWH’s judgment (verses 8-9)[6]

So God’s judgment ensures humans obey his command, ‘fill the earth’. Verses 8 and 9[7]:

So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9That is why it was called Babel – because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

That which humanity feared has come upon them. They are scattered, because they cannot communicate. They cannot understand one another, so they cannot co-operate. And so Babel came to mean not ‘gateway to the gods’, but ‘confusion’.

Even in English we say ‘What is he babbling about?’ A reminder of what ‘Babel’ came to represent.

Friends, this is a reality of our world. Communication is difficult. We cannot understand each other effectively. And so relationships are difficult.

And this is why the day of Pentecost is such an important event. For on that day, the Holy Spirit descended on the 120 believers, men and women. And reversed the curse of Babel. Luke records for us the events of those days. We read from Luke Chapter 2 verse 4 to 11, on your outline:

4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. 5Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7Utterly amazed, they asked: “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? 9Parthians, Medes and Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene, visitors from Rome 11(both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs – we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” (NIV)

In the city where men wickedly raised a tower, confusion reigned. And none could understand the others. But in the city where wickedly men raised Jesus on a cross, there a miraculous gift of speaking. And all could understand the message about Jesus Christ.

For Jesus was the true man who could ascend into heaven, without the stairway! (Acts 1:9-11) He didn’t need a tower to make a name for himself or ascend to heaven. For Jesus’ name is the one name under heaven given to men, by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). And his name is strong and powerful. At the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. And so it is appropriate that a miracle of speech be given. So that once again, they all understand one another.

In fact, in the book of Acts, the gift of miraculously speaking new languages accompanies the gospel as it breaks new ground. When Peter first takes the gospel to the Gentiles, the Gentiles speak in other languages (Acts 10:46). And then when Paul meets some disciples in Ephesus who had only received the baptism of John the Baptist, Paul explained about the coming of the Holy Spirit, and likewise they were baptised in the Spirit, and spoke in other languages. (Acts 19:6)

Now, I have occasionally prayed in the past for this gift of tongues. How useful would it be, to explain the gospel in Arabic, Greek, Maltese, Vietnamese, Cantonese and Mandarin. All without the years of study required to master the language.

However, the curse of the tower of babel continues. We experience it today. And it makes gospel preaching difficult. With the Greek lady who doesn’t understand English. Or me not being able to understand Mandarin or Arabic or Maltese. And God could give us this gift, if he wanted.

And all we can say is, God has decided not to give this gift. Or more accurately, God has decided not to give us this gift this way. For we have mighty saints who have laboured long to learn languages to preach the gospel. That’s what Wycliffe Bible Translators do. They have spent their lives learning another language so they can tell other people the gospel, and so that other people can have the bible in their language. So God has decided to give us the privilege of learning other languages, so that we can do the same thing, to preach the gospel in another language.

Sometimes, the language problem is made worse by a generation gap. New ways of speaking and thinking come about which don’t make sense to the uninitiated.

An example is a Kid’s song we learnt at a kid’s club at another church. Great great, brill brill wicked wicked skill skill. So my kids run around singing, ‘it’s wicked to have a friend like Jesus’. And I understand what they mean! They think Jesus is great! But it is liable to misunderstanding.

And so, there is always great capacity for misunderstanding, and consequently mistrust. Sometimes people use words in different ways. In this requires patience, and good will to cross the communication barrier.

With all this difficulty in communication that we have, it is strange that some churches want to smuggle Babel back in to the church. Some Charismatic and Pentecostal churches encourage in their meetings a phenomenon they call ‘speaking in tongues’. They think this is an angelic language miraculously given. And so people in the congregation bable continually, without translation.

Paul in 1 Corinthians 14 deals with the smuggling in of Babel in the church. He says in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 from verse 18, on your outline:

18I thank God that I speak in tongues more than any of you. 19But in the church I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue. 20Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults. 21In the Law it is written: “Through men of strange tongues an through the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to me,” says the Lord. 22Tongues, then, are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers…

Five intelligible words is better than ten thousand in a tongue. Because church is for instructing other people. Not for making baby sounds that mean nothing. And the use of strange languages in the church is a sign of judgment. It was what God did to his unbelieving, unfaithful Old Testament people. They didn’t trust and believe the clear words of judgment that God sent to warn them. So God sent the Assyrians to them in Judgment, and they couldn’t understand a word.

Article 24 of our church rightly reminds us: It is a thing plainly repugnant to the Word of God, and the custom of the Primitive Church, to have public prayer in the church, or to minister Sacraments in a tongue not understood by the people.

For even though now there are many different languages, one day the effects of Babel will be completely undone. Now, our gatherings around the Lord Jesus are capable of understanding and confusion, because of the judgment of Babel. But in heaven, in the end, there will be no possibility of confusion. Where there are tongues, they will be stilled. For when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears (1 Corinthians 13:8-10).

Rather, we will be able to understand each other. And eternity will not be impared by the judgment of Babel. We will forever remember it. But our salvation will give it a new richness. For we read in Revelation 7:9-10:

9After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” (NIV)

The distinction of many languages still there, yes. But one voice again. And singing the one song. Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.

Amen.

Footnotes

[1] ‘And it came to pass, all the earth [had] lip one and words one. 2And it came to pass in their journey eastward and they found a plain in the earth of Shinar and they dwelt there.’

[2] 3And they said each unto his friend: ‘Come, let us make bricks and let us bake them thoroughly. And they had bricks for stone and asphalt for mortar. 4And they said: ‘Come, let us build for ourselves a city and a tower and its head in the heavens, and let us make for ourselves a name, lest we be scattered upon the face of all the earth.

[3] 5And YHWH went down to see the city and the tower which the sons of adam built.

[4] As Isaiah says, ‘He sits above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers’ (Isaiah 40:22).

[5] And YHWH said: Behold a people one and a lip one for them all, and this [is] the beginning of [the things they want] to do, and now nothing they plot to do be beyond them. 7come, let us go down and let us confuse there their lip which they will not hear each to lip his friend.

[6] ‘Genesis is affirming that the diversity of languages represents a divine judgment on mankind’. ‘The confusion of languages is the divine antidote to human arrogance’: ‘Babylon shows man’s folly, not his wisdom, man’s impotence before the judgment of God.’ Wenham, 237.

[7] 8And YHWH scattered them from there upon the face of all the earth and they stopped from building the city. 9For this reason, he called its name ‘babel’, for there YHWH mixed up lip of all the earth, and from there YHWH scattered them upon the face of all the earth.