The Tower of Babel Genesis 11:1-9

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1 The Tower of Babel Genesis 11:1-9 Introduction: The Tower of Babel We all desire community, connection. And we dread isolation and alienation. The story of the Tower of Babel is more than an ancient story about why there are different languages in the world. It speaks to that desire for mutual understanding and our inability to achieve it. Alejandro González Iñárritu s 2006 multilingual film, Babel, starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, alludes to the Bible story as a monument to broken communication. Everyone wants to be understood, but no one is listening. At the same time, and from a very different perspective, the story has inspired many meditations on the devastating effects of human pride and ambition. In this light, famously evoked by Pieter Bruegel the Elder s painting, The Tower of Babel, 1563 (see back page), Babel becomes a symbol of our arrogant reaching for the heavens, our aspiring to divinity. Chillingly, many saw the destruction of the twin towers of the World Trade Center as judgment on a new Tower of Babel. As you read the story, ask how it opens itself to both interpretations. Where do you read desire? Fear? Hubris? ( 1 )

2 Questions for Reflection (as you read the following text) How do you feel when you are in a group of people who speak a different language? What benefit did a common language give humankind? What might human desire to build a tower demonstrate? When God saw the city, what do you think was God s major concern? Why do you think limitless human potential was a problem? What was God s primary purpose in scattering the human race and confusing the languages? If building a tower with its top in the sky was out of the question, what sort of building might you construct? What do you do when it seems that God interrupts your plans? ( 2 )

3 CONTEXT After the Flood, Noah and his family settle on dry land to begin life again. The animals leave the ark and scatter across the plains. Shem, Ham and Japheth have large families, fulfilling God s mandate : Be fruitful and multiply, and repopulate the earth ( 9: 7 ). People soon populate the region where Noah s boat landed. Eventually, they migrate east and settle down. That s when the trouble begins. Genesis 11:1-9 Common English Bible (CEB) 11:1 All people on the earth had one language and the same words. 2 When they traveled east, they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 They said to each other, Come, let s make bricks and bake them hard. They used bricks for stones and asphalt for mortar. 4 They said, Come, let s build for ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky, and let s make a name for ourselves so that we won t be dispersed over all the earth. 5 Then the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the humans built. 6 And the Lord said, There is now one people and they all have one language. This is what they have begun to do, and now all that they plan to do will be possible for them. 7 Come, let s go down and mix up their language there so they won t understand each other s language. 8 Then the Lord dispersed them from there over all of the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 Therefore, it is named Babel, because there the Lord mixed up the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord dispersed them over all the earth. ( 3 )

4 OBSERVATION POINT Babel sounds like a Hebrew word meaning confused. It can also be translated as Babylon. Babel was the site of one of the earliest attempts humans made to exalt themselves and rebel against God as their divine ruler and authority. The city was probably built from mud bricks and tar because stones were scarce in Mesopotamia. EXPLORATION POINT Humans were growing pompous and sure of themselves. Working together, they believed that they could exceed the power of God and live sufficiently without him. In response, God scattered the people across the face of the earth, finally fulfilling Genesis 1: 28. Today natural disasters remind us of our weaknesses cities and suburbs are ripped apart by tornadoes, spring floods threaten towns, and earthquakes rattle nations. Our proud accomplishments can be wiped out in minutes. Commentary The New Interpreter s Bible 1. The story has a universal ( whole earth ) perspective, speaking of what is true of humankind generally; yet the function of the universalism in a context where historically identifiable peoples are very much in view, and itself speaks of Babel, makes it somewhat different from the other primeval narratives. This universalistic/specific combination probably shows that Genesis 11:1-9 serves as an illustration of the typical developments in Genesis 10:1-31; this darker side of developments among the peoples of the world could be multiplied indefinitely. In other words, what is described here characterizes the peoples mentioned in the previous chapter (of Genesis). ( 4 )

5 2. One tension in the text involves an ambivalent view of unity and diversity. On the one hand, the spreading abroad correlates with God s creational intentions of filling the earth. On the other hand, such scattering constitutes God s judgment. One should distinguish between divine judgment and punishment in any conventional sense. God evaluates the situation negatively and moves to correct it. Brueggemann notes that human unity is a complex reality in this text. Ordinarily, we regard unity in the human community as desirable and in tune with God s purposes for the creation. But here, because the unity desired and promoted stands over against the divine will to spread abroad throughout the world, a unity that seeks self-preservation at all costs, God must resist it and act to advance the divine will for scattering. Those who seek to save their life will lose it. The right kind of unity occurs only when the community encompasses the concerns of the entire world and encourages difference and diversity to that end. Proper unity manifests itself in an ability to live together without conflict, oppression, and having common objectives in tune with God s purposes for the world. At the same time, scattering should not result in fragmentation or divided loyalty to God. The story of the chosen one, Jacob, also conceives of a false unity that focuses on self-preservation; he also receives the call to spread abroad (paras, Genesis 28:14) throughout the world so that all the families of the earth can be blessed. Diversity inheres in God s intention for the world, as is evident from the marvelously pluriform character of God s creation in the first place or the blessing evident in the table of nations (Genesis 10:1-32). In tune with those creational intentions, God makes a decisive move here on behalf of diversity and difference. 3. We find a contemporary parallel in the often-isolated way in which the church relates to the world. In the interests of unity and preserving its own future, the members often stay close to home and don t risk venturing forth (see Jonah). The command of Matthew 28:18-20 calls for the church to scatter across the face of the earth. If the church refuses this call, God may well enter into judgment against the church and find some way of getting us beyond ( 5 )

6 our own church cliques out into the world on behalf of the creation. The unity of the church is not to be found by focusing on unity, building churches and programs that present a unified front before the temptations of the world. We receive true unity finally as a gift, found in those things that are not tangible or centered on one s own self-interests. Unity will be forged most successfully in getting beyond one s own kind on behalf of the word in the world. 4. At Pentecost (Acts 2), each of the people present heard the gospel in their native tongue. The gift of the Spirit results in a linguistic cacophony, but all receive the gospel. This gift of a new hearing transcends language barriers, but at the same time maintains the differences that languages reflect. The testimony of Acts 2 does not then overturn the multiplicity of languages, but enables people who speak various languages to hear and understand the one gospel for all the earth. The people are then scattered over the face of the earth (Acts 8:1-4) to proclaim the gospel rather than their own concerns (Acts 2:11). Speaking different languages probably presents more blessing than bane, more gift than problem. Linguistic diversity enriches people s understanding of the world around them and is expressed in the world s literature. Speaking and hearing, broadly conceived, becomes a more complex reality in everyday life, and include not simply hearing other languages, but truly hearing others in their various life situations. Difficulties in communication can often lead to difficulties in relationships, but this usually involves the failings of people who seek to communicate that the reality of differences in language as such. ( 6 )

7 GLEANINGS Language promotes communication and understanding within the group, but it also accentuates the differences in traditions and beliefs between groups; it erects barriers between tribes, nations, regions, social classes. The Tower of Babel is an archetypal symbol of the process which turns the blessing into a curse and prevents man from reaching into heaven. According to Margaret Mead, among the two million aborigines in New Guinea, 750 languages are spoken in 750 villages which are at permanent war with one another. Arthur Koestler quoted in The Torah: A Modern Commentary ( 7 )

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