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Happy New Year!
Back in 2018 (I looked back in my records and can't believe it was that long ago...) I started to blog through Genesis. Things started off well, but, then, I got the post done on Genesis 10 and just got stuck. I can't fully explain it, but I just was prevented by the Holy Spirit from going any further.
Since then, I've blogged around on a variety of topics and scriptures as the Spirit has led.
In August of 2019 I began to read through the Bible chronologically. I had been given, in February of '19, a chronological Bible, although it was not until several months later I began to use it as a daily study aid. I found Week 31, which roughly corresponded with August 1st of last year, and began to read daily.
Well, by Dec. 31, I was finished with Revelation and ready to go back to the head of the book, Genesis. Here, on January 3, I am reading in Genesis 11, which (lo and behold) is where I stopped blogging in Genesis over a year ago.
Today's reading included the passage about the Tower of Babel.
Babylon is one of the oldest cities in the world. The first mention of it was in Genesis 10, where we are told it was built in a valley in the land of Shinar. When Noah's family got off the Ark, they populated first the general area of what we call today Armenia. Later, they migrated down to the plains of Mesopotamia, where Nimrod the son of Cush (mentioned in Genesis 10:8-12) established his kingdom called Babylon. (I could do an entire post on Nimrod, whom some believe was a Nephilim, through his mother's bloodline, but I will not digress.)
Babylon is used in the Bible to refer to both a city and also a kingdom, which makes things somewhat confusing, to be sure.
This reference for the Tower of Babel is believed to be, by most biblical scholars, to have been located in northern Mesopotamia, what is today northern Syria, in an area of "two rivers". Shinar has several variations in ancient documents, but the most common from the Hebrew is a derivation of two Hebrew words (shene nahar), which is most closely related to the Greek word "Mesopotamia".
Depending on which translation used, the brief account of the Tower of Babel seems, on the surface, rather innocuous, harmless. But, in a nutshell, the story of Babel's Tower is a story of rebellion against God. In Genesis 9:7, God commanded Noah's family to multiply and to "fill the earth" or in the Christian Standard Version "spread out over the earth." Just a few generations later, we discover that the Semitic-language speaking people group (they all spoke the same Semitic language) did not want to do that. Genesis 11:4 relates that they wanted to do just the opposite.
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."
Genesis 11:4 NET
Essentially, the Tower of Babel was a giant "middle finger" to God, expressing man's desire to ignore God's command to populate the whole earth and just hunker down in relative comfort, surrounded by the familiar. In verses 5-9, we learn that God put the quietus on that rebellious plan.
How does the story of Babel apply to us today?
1. On a surface level, it explains how the people of the world began to speak such varied languages. All of the Semitic languages of that day were varied somewhat, as, for example, Southern USA English varies from Northern England English. Variations and colloquialisms existed, but each could comprehend the other. However, I pointed out to the Hubs last night that Arabic is read from right to left. So is Hebrew. Asian languages are read vertically and are symbols-based. The story of Babel is not just some fairy-tale or Sumerian myth. There is nothing in the Bible to indicate that it did not literally occur, and that this event explains how those who ended up speaking the same language found each other, banded together and spread out over the whole earth.
2. On a deeper level, there are times when God has to jolt us out of our "comfort zones", in order for us to obey His commands and to bring Him glory. A New Testament example is His command to "preach the Gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15), also known as The Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20.) This command applies to each of us. How well are we doing with that? Have we become too comfortable in our conveniences? Have we loved them so much that we are willing to blithely ignore the command of God?
3. Or, maybe not so blithely, but rather inadvertently, unintentionally. This is one of the reasons that we, as Christians, must draw near to Him, keep our hearts soft toward Him - - - so that we can hear His voice. If we can't hear Him, how can we do as He directs? Very difficult, if not impossible.
Is there something additional and more personal God is asking you to do; yet, you are resisting? One thing I know for sure: I don't want to resist the moves of God in my life, whatever they are. Not cool to give God the middle finger. I do not want Him to have to "bust-a-move" in my life, in a Tower of Babel style.
Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.
Psalm 127:1a (ESV)
Sources:
https://answersingenesis.org/tower-of-babel/where-in-the-world-is-the-tower-of-babel/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinar
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