Genesis 11:1-9 - Confusing Grace

Salvation comes by listening to God, not to each other.

Photo: Jon Tyson via Unsplash

CONTEXT: After the flood, God reaffirmed His covenant with Noah, promising stability in the created order and commanding humanity to spread out and fill the earth. Yet instead of dispersing in faithful obedience, Noah’s descendants remained united in one place—setting the stage for prideful rebellion.

Genesis 11:1-9 (NIV)

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

³ 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.”

⁵ 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 —because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

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BELGIC CONFESSION

Article 13: The Doctrine of God’s Providence

We believe that this good God,

after he created all things,

did not abandon them to chance or fortune

but leads and governs them

according to his holy will,

in such a way that nothing happens in this world

without his orderly arrangement.

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In this thought we rest,

knowing that he holds in check

the devils and all our enemies,

who cannot hurt us

without his permission and will.

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Summary

It quickly becomes clear that it will take more than water to wash away the stain left by Adam's sin. Sin had reached a zenith in the generation that led up to Noah, prompting the LORD to cleanse the earth with a flood. But here, only five generations after God set His rainbow in the sky, sin's dominion seems secure once again.

Our narrator notes this descent both ominously and slyly, reporting that the people moved eastward. Moving east is never a positive direction in the Bible. Adam and Eve had been booted out of the east gate of the garden. Cain had fled east after killing Abel. Jonah would be sent east to prophesy to Ninevah, and he himself would move away from God by setting up camp east of the city to view what he'd hoped would be God's judgment upon it (we'll see later on why it's such a big deal, then, that the Magi came from the east to visit Jesus!).

Technology had certainly improved since Adam and Eve had sewn fig leaves together to cover their shame. Now the people had moved on from constructing primitive buildings with whatever stones they could piece together and had set out to build a tower that reached to the heavens using bricks they'd baked thoroughly.

But, as is almost always the case, the more things change, the more they stay the same. The motivation that gripped these conceited men in the plain of Shinar is no different than the one that sank Adam and Eve, who'd followed their desire to make themselves like God. These men set out to storm the gates of heaven so they could make a name for themselves rather than be scattered over the face of the whole earth as God had commanded them.

  Dig Deeper  

You need to really appreciate irony to be a good student of the Bible, because it's full of it. These men had developed an elegant strategy to bridge the gap between earth and heaven in order to prove to God that they could make a name for themselves, rather to submit to God's naming rights ('name' here represents their own sovereignty). But even as they furiously baked their bricks to reach the heavens, the LORD simply and calmly came down to see the city and the tower the sons of man were building.

And the LORD was impressed with what He saw! If as one people speaking the same language they've begun to do this, the LORD said to Himself, nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. But then irony quickly sets in again. The same people trying to engineer their way to heaven failed to notice when the LORD came down to see them. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

So the LORD simply frustrated their ability to communicate. He confused their language so that they would not understand each other. This confusion runs deeper than the linguistic differences between English, Spanish or Dutch. Literally translated, the people would not listen to each other.

This frustration the LORD brought was an act of grace. He limits the damage we can inflict upon ourselves. As we'll see in the coming chapters, His intention is to unify all nations and give them a name, but it won't be a name baked in rebellious conceit. It would be delivered by the one who will be given the name above all names.

AAA Prayer (About)

• ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who will always accomplish His will;

• ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that your language would be aligned with God's will;

• ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

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