Babel and the Failure of Civilization In the Beginning, Pt. 8; Genesis 10 11:9 November 23, 2014

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1 1 Babel and the Failure of Civilization In the Beginning, Pt. 8; Genesis 10 11:9 November 23, 2014 The story of the Tower of Babel is told in a brief nine verses in Genesis 11. It is the last episode and the last in our current series in the Book of Genesis of stories set in prehistory. After this story Genesis abruptly passes from pre-history to recorded history with the introduction of Abram. At this point, one issue that may jump out at the careful reader is a temptation to conclude that God is perhaps not very smart. He created us as creatures with a duel nature; we are both dust and breath, of the earth and of the Spirit. But then God seems to be caught off guard when we use our free will to go with our animal-like instincts instead of with our God-like virtues. God tries various remedies which include eviction from Eden, pointing out a brother s failure by comparing him to his younger brother, destroying the world through a flood, severely limiting our life spans, and finally by giving us laws to live by. But the human species by and large continues to exist apart from God, neither obeying him nor listening to him. We seem to prefer to live by the dictates of our own passions, yearning for independence, thirsting for fortune and glory despite having to pay a step price for such desires. John Milton s portrayal of rebellious Satan in Paradise Lost seems to describe human ambition as well: Better to rule in Hell than to serve in Heaven. So these stories seem to indicate God is not doing a very good job of managing his creation, especially guiding the likes of you and me. But this is the wrong way to look at these stories. We should rather see them as illustrations of how various methods we imagine would contribute to our overall wellbeing simply do not deliver on their promises. Human history is an endless retelling of the simple fact that left to our own devices we tend to make a hash of things. Human integrity and moral consciousness are insufficient to compel us to always do the right things that would make for a good and peaceful world. The story of the tower of Babel is designed to show us that the pursuit of technological civilization, even with all the blessings technology give us, tends to lead us down the path to inevitable trouble.

2 2 We, the people of the book, should see that the biblical insight into why people behave the way they do is far more accurate then the social and psychological sciences shorn of any respect for our spiritual natures. If these sciences deny the truth that we are souls capable of moral reasoning, as well as bodies, then they treat human beings as nothing more than biological organisms, the sum total of our DNA and environmental experiences. Only a society that has thrown aside biblical wisdom would produce spectacles like people suing restaurant chains with the bleat: They made me fat because I certainly can t be responsible for what I eat. I am incapable of deciding for myself. This is why I will continually urge you to learn to think biblically and critically while living fully in the 21 st century, not the 19 th century. We desperately need people centered in the Word of God in fields like biology, social sciences, politics and technological development. In my associations with kids in college campus settings, every once in a while a young person would approach me with the concern they were losing their faith by what he or she was being exposed to the classroom. But upon further conversation, I found it was usually not that they were losing their faith, but that their faith was being challenged to grow beyond the narrow boundaries they had been raised with. I would tell them that Christians, of all people, should be lovers of the truth, whether that truth is found in Scripture or through a microscope or a telescope, whether in the elegance of mathematics or the beauty of the fine arts. We need Christians vitally involved in issues like genetic engineering and the soon to be realized possibility of genetically modified super children, the question of assisted suicide, the continued assault on the traditional family, and the wisdom of developing thinking computers that in a very few years will be able to educate themselves at expositional rates. We need Christians expressing truth and beauty in the arts for a new generation. Perhaps we wonder why this little gem of a story, The Tower of Babel, is surrounded by genealogies in Genesis 10 and 11. It is important to understand the biblical genealogies are not the same as we think of modern genealogies where we try to identify all of our forbearers and assign them a correct date of birth and death. The number of the years

3 3 lived are not to be taken literally nor are we to understand that everyone in a certain family line is mentioned. In the Hebrew culture, numbers and names are highly symbolic. A biblical genealogy s primary purpose is to remind us that the events told of the past illuminate the events of the present. A genealogy reminds us that God is deliberate and consistent. If he starts something, he will finish it, even if his plan spans many generations. In other words, a biblical genealogy is saying God is faithful even when no one else is faithful. Genesis 10 gives a gentle genealogy of how the children of Noah spread out into a multitude of nations and peoples, each with their own customs and languages. The only person we are given any details on is Nimrod (10:9). His name means rebel and mighty hunter hence Bugs Bunny s sarcastic reference to the hapless hunter Elmer Fudd as the little Nimrod. Of course this cartoon was made back in the days when people would have recognized such biblical references. Nimrod was threatened by all the diversity and tried to organize people and bring them together in cities he controlled by raw force. He would be the prototype king who ruled by absolute power and the threat of force. Who can blame him? Don t we feel the most comfortable when we are around people who most resemble us? Are we not instantly suspicious of the stranger and the foreigner when they turn up in our midst? What if a black family moves in next to us? There go the property values! What we are learning here in Genesis 10 is that people living apart from God and depending entirely upon their own inner resources to feel secure are easily threatened by others who are different from them. Anyone who remembers Middle School knows how the kids who are weak, peculiar, different, or the kids who are unable to mask their individuality are singled out for endless abuse by their peers. Kids gang up on the stranger instinctively and without thinking. Some of us eventually outgrow this, becoming kind and gracious toward friend and stranger alike. But others simply get more clever in concealing their hostility and insecurity in the guise of gossip, social assassination, bigotry and intolerance. As we look at the story of the tower of Babel in Genesis 11, we have to realize it is actually a flashback episode set prior to the time of the

4 4 Genesis 10 genealogy. It tells how we came to be so diverse and different. The story starts by saying at one time we were all one people, with a common language, all living in the same geographical proximity to each other. Let s not miss the subtle details. The first thing the story says people decide to do with their unity and their budding technology is what? It is to make bricks (v. 3). The bricks come from the dust of the ground just like Adam did. But unlike Adam the Hebrew word for brick literally means white and lifeless. In other words, human creative projects stem from our being created in the image of God, but if we choose to live apart from God our projects tend not to lead to life but to death. Note the progression: Now we have bricks, what do we do with them? Like so much of modern technology, we have the means to make something before knowing whether or not it is a good idea to make it or not. When I was appointed to my first church, Barbara and I lived way out in the country and even with a tower TV antenna, we could only get two, maybe three TV stations. Now with Dish Antenna I can get 100s of stations. But still, there seems to be so little worth viewing. My kids grew up with cable TV, computers and the internet, things I could scarcely dreamed of when I was a kid. But I don t think they were one bit happier or more educated than I was when I was a kid. Next, note the rational for building the tower: that we may make a name for ourselves (v.4). The city, as the Bible says here and elsewhere, is a mixture of pride and fear. Its origins, quite likely, are based in fear. We can protect ourselves behind its walls and in the case of our story, build towers so there is somewhere to go if there is another flood. But what begins in fear grows into pride. Ultimately cities become seedbeds of disbelief in God. Surrounded by the impressive works of their own hands, people create the illusion they can do without God-given justice and morality. And what happens in our story? God is very displeased and comes down and confuses the city folk s language, scattering the people into their respective nations. What marvelous insight we have here. Pride has within it the seeds of its own destruction. If the human ego is given free reign, conflict will eventually come and people will splinter into competing factions that we have come to celebrate in our competitive sports and in our political squabblings.

5 5 In the city speech loses its power to ask the proper questions like, What is life all about? What am I here for? To whom am I accountable for every word I utter and every action I commit? Instead, life in the city shifts the focus to: What can I make of my life? What would I like to do? Pass the bricks, let s build something! Today people are fast losing their reverence. They are no more just or thoughtful than their ancestors. The civilization of the West seems to be growing tired. We are losing the desire to strive for the better things. A few short decades ago we dared believe we could journey into outer space and land a man on the moon. Now we can t even figure out how to give everyone access to affordable health insurance. God has not spoken to us in a very long time. We are again building Babel; except instead of bricks, we are using smart phones, tablets, and social media. In the latest issue of Week magazine, it is stated that 62% of people grab their phones immediately after waking up and the typical person checks his smartphone 150 times throughout the day. But what are we saying to each other? Is most of what we are babbling about information without meaning? Science and technology are making rapid progress with little thought as to what they are giving us is good or bad. A few months I was standing in front of the Coliseum in Rome, still mighty and impressive even in its ruin. It is important to try to put together the fact that this is one of mankind s most marvelous and enduring symbols of our genius for engineering but its purpose was altogether evil. In its heyday the now 2,000 year old Coliseum could flood its arena for mock navel battles. It had elevators to transport animals and men up to the floor of the arena. It had bathrooms with running water, retractable awnings, and water mist jets that acted as an early form of air conditioning. But at the same time one must never lose sight of the fact the Coliseum was built by Jewish captives from the revolt against Rome that Jesus had prophesied and that its purpose was to glory in human suffering, murder, and cruelties of every sort. The Coliseum is an important object lesson and everyone who sees it ought to soberly consider what it says about us as human beings. I ve seen it up close and personal several times. But this most recent time I noticed all kinds of school groups and young people from all over the world

6 6 walking around on the outside and inside of this huge structure. And practically every one of these kids was staring not at the Coliseum but at his or her social media on little hand-held screens; or else they had their smartphones mounted on slender aluminum poles pointing down at themselves so they could take a continuous selfie to send to all their friends. nation out of them through whom all the world will be blessed. We are again building Babel and ignoring what is important. The global economy and the world-wide web are seeking a language everyone can understand. Can we read the sign of the times? Does the fall of our two mightiest towers symbolizing our world-wide commerce and communication tell us anything at all? Babel is back, and so is Sodom; and you know what Sodom stands for, babbling and dissipating away. We would be wise to view the dream of modern Babel from God s point of view. I suggest we pay attention to the plan God developed as an alternative to Babel starting in Genesis 12. If we do this, then perhaps we are ready to take a walk with Abraham and Sarah as they respond to God s invitation to leave their city and journey to a far place, and there God will make a great