The Tower of Babel

Topic: Confusion
Passage: Genesis 11:1–32

September 9, 2022

Commentary

Chapter 11 tells of one of the mightiest and far-reaching miracles of history. It finds no parallel until the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. The result of God’s intervention was the origin of the different nations. The building of the tower of Babel was man’s first attempt to build a society from which God was to be excluded. “Babylon” in the Bible symbolizes rebellion against God and confusion in religion. We see Babylon opposing the people of God throughout the Bible, culminating in the “Great Babylon” of (Rev. 17–18). The idea for the Tower of Babel was not to build a tower so tall that it would reach to heaven, but to build a tower topped by the heavens. Stargazing and occultism were to be the features. They were also attempting to build something to be a rallying point against God (v. 4). They had ruled God out of their thinking and thought they were rid of Him. Instead, they see Him bring swift judgment by scattering them through the greatest tongues movement of all times (vv. 5-9).

In the last half of this chapter Moses brings us back to Abram’s family tree (vv. 10-32). He traces Abraham’s line from Shem through Abraham. The story of Abraham is so important that God devotes 25 percent of the book of Genesis to its details. Abraham lived in Ur of the Chaldees, an important city in Babylonia, a center of moon worship. Abraham, his father Terah, his wife Sarah, and his nephew Lot, at God’s prompting, left Ur and traveled north to Haran, another center for moon worship (v 31). Their pilgrimage came to a grinding halt for 25 years. They did not move forward till Terah died (v. 32). The first 11 chapters have recorded four great events: (1) Creation (Gen. 1-2), (2) The Fall (Gen. 3-4), (3) The Flood (Gen. 5-9), & (4) The Tower of Babel (Gen. 10-11). With chapter 12 the emphasis turns from four great events to four important personalities: (1) Abraham (Gen. 12-23), (2) Isaac (Gen. 24-26), (3) Jacob (Gen. 27-36), & Joseph (Gen. 37-50). 

Application

Is it possible that I have my own tower of Babel? Am I building things in my life that take me away from God rather than bringing me closer to Him?

Genesis 11:1– 32 (NET)

1 The whole earth had a common language and a common vocabulary. 2 When the people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. 3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” (They had brick instead of stone and tar instead of mortar.) 4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens so that we may make a name for ourselves. Otherwise we will be scattered across the face of the entire earth.”

5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the people had started building. 6 And the Lord said, “If as one people all sharing a common language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be beyond them. 7 Come, let’s go down and confuse their language so they won’t be able to understand each other.”

8 So the Lord scattered them from there across the face of the entire earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why its name was called Babel —because there the Lord confused the language of the entire world, and from there the Lord scattered them across the face of the entire earth.

10 This is the account of Shem.

11 And after becoming the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.

12 When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah. 13 And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

14 When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber. 15 And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.

16 When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg. 17 And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.

18 When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu. 19 And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.

20 When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug. 21 And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.

22 When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor. 23 And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.

24 When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah. 25 And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.

26 When Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

27 This is the account of Terah.

28 Haran died in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans, while his father Terah was still alive. 29 And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai. And the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, who was the father of both Milcah and Iscah. 30 But Sarai was barren; she had no children.

31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (the son of Haran), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and with them he set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. When they came to Haran, they settled there. 32 The lifetime of Terah was 205 years, and he died in Haran.