Genesis I Notes. Babel and Beyond

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1 XIII. Theme: Babel and Beyond 25-Aug-02 Genesis 11:1-26 Schaeffer pp God acts in history to frustrate the plans of men and scatter them; ultimately, God will gather a people together to Himself through the work of the Seed, Jesus Christ, descended from the line of Shem through Abraham. Review Last week, we looked at the generations of the sons of Noah. We have seen that Noah has been described in ways that remind us of a new Adam, head of a new race: Noah endures the decreation and re-creation of the earth; Noah is commanded to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth; Noah is given dominion over the animals; Noah is a tiller of the soil who plants a vineyard garden; there is sin in the garden, resulting in cursing and blessing; and a genealogy of Noah and his descendents is given to show the line of the Seed. All these parallels to Adam remind us that Adam failed, and while Noah was a man who found grace in the eyes of the LORD, ultimately, he was not the One to fulfill the promise of the Seed of Genesis 3:15. In God s sovereignty, the fullness of time had not yet come. The blessings on Shem and Japheth and the curse on Ham s son Canaan set up the rest of the Scriptures. For we see the conflict between the Semitic people of God, the children of Israel, descended through Abraham, and the sons of Canaan in the land of Canaan. We see this struggle between brothers and nations throughout the book of Genesis: Cain and Abel; Shem and Japheth vs. Ham and Canaan; Abraham and Lot (actually uncle and nephew); Isaac and Ishmael; Jacob and Esau; Joseph and his brothers. We have this repeated theme of the narrowing of the line that will produce the Seed, through the sovereignty of God: Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated. The Table of Nations in Genesis 10 thus is a prelude for the rest of the Bible. The seventy nations in Genesis 10 represent the people of the world, and are balanced by the seventy descendents of Abraham that went down into Egypt. Seventy seven times ten is a number suggesting perfect quality and quantity. The Table of Nations gives us the context for what immediately follows in Genesis 11 as well as the prelude for the story of Abraham, which dominates the middle section of Genesis. It is through the covenant God makes with Abraham that all nations of the earth the nations of Genesis 10 will be blessed. It is through the Abrahamic covenant that you and I are blessed, for we are the spiritual descendents and heirs of Abraham. Introduction This morning, as we end our study of the primeval history, we will be looking at the familiar story of the Tower of Babel, and the not so familiar genealogy of the sons of Shem yet another genealogical list in Genesis. Tower of Babel (11:1-9) The account of the Tower of Babel, although short (only 9 verses), is masterfully created. I mentioned in the first lesson that the structure of this account is chiastic. I ve seen at least three chiastic structures from three different authors, one with 5 steps, one with 13 steps, and one with 17 steps! The pivot point of the chiasms, the turning point where the narrative changes, is found Genesis I Notes. Doc p. 119 DSB 9-Sep-05

2 in verse 5, when God comes down from heaven to investigate what is happening on earth. When God comes, things happen. Things change. And that is what the people of Babel discovered. Read Genesis 11:1-9 Overview Eveson: Three great judgments have affected the whole of humanity. The first was the result of the Fall, the second was the Flood, and the third was the communications breakdown at Babel. Why is the Babel account placed here and not before the table of nations? Different lands and languages are mentioned in chapter 10 before we are given the cause and explanation. In the first place, it clearly emphasizes that the creation blessing, reiterated after the Flood, was fulfilled. It would have been more difficult to present this point if God s judgment at Babel had been related first. Secondly, it indicates that God s judgments in this world are set against the background of His kindness towards His creatures. Thirdly, the judgment at Babel is placed immediately before the account of the line of promise (11:10-26). This is deliberate in order to indicate that the answer to human sinfulness lay in God s covenant with Abraham. The account of Babel lies between two genealogical lists. In these lists, our attention is drawn particularly to Eber s two sons Peleg and Joktan, for it was in their day that the earth was divided. It is the nonelect line of Joktan that is listed in chapter 10, ending with the note concerning the mountain of the east (10:26-30). The east is often associated with going away from God. It is in the east that the Tower of Babel incident occurs (11:2). Eber s line through Peleg is the subject of the next section and ends with the mention of Terah and Abram, who moved from the east towards the land of promise (11:10-26, 31; 12:5). In this way the focus continues to be on the fulfillment of God s special promise of a Seed who will crush the head of the old serpent and save God s people form their sins. Jordan PS: The sin of Adam, who stole the fruit, was followed by the sin of Cain, who built a city. Similarly, the sin of Ham, who sought to steal a robe, was followed by the sin of Nimrod, who sought to build a city. Nimrod did not succeed any more than did Ham. Nimrod was Ham s grandson, though by Cush, rather than Canaan. Nimrod founded two cities that grew into two of the mightiest empires of the ancient world: Babylon and Nineveh (Assyria). Genesis 10:8-12 tells us that he built Babylon first and then moved to Assyria. The story of the Tower of Babel explains his move. Humanity Unified (11:1-2) The first scene (11:1-2) depicts a unified humanity on the move. Jordan PS: In Genesis 11:1, the Hebrew word translated language actually means lip. The phrase same words refers to language, but the phrase same lip literally one lip refers to religion. In the context of Genesis 11, there is a clear difference between the one lip [confession, ideology and the one words [vocabulary] of verse one. What happened at the Tower of Babel was not first and foremost a division of languages, but rather a division of religious belief. The NKJV says in 11:2 they journeyed from the east. However, the NIV says as men moved eastward. The Hebrew phrase can mean from the east or in the east, but in context, Shinar or Babylon is to the east, certainly from Ararat where Noah landed. Furthermore, we ve already seen the Biblical theme of eastward movement. Genesis I Notes. Doc p. 120 DSB 9-Sep-05

3 Jordan PS: Just as Cain moved away from God by moving east (4:16), and as Lot was to travel east away from Abram (13:11), so this eastward movement in 11:2 indicates movement away from God. But who was moving eastward? Nimrod? No. In Genesis 10:25-30 we read, within the immediate context of the story of the Tower of Babel, that it was certain Hebrews, descendents of Shem, who were moving eastward. From this fact we see that the Tower of Babel was not only a repeat of the sin of Cain in building a false city, but also a repeat of the intermarriage of the sons of God with the daughters of men. Renegade Hebrews joined with Nimrod in building the false tower and the false city. The false tower was the citadel, the false worship center that was to reach up to the heavens. Associated with the renegade Hebrews tower was the false lip or religion of these people. The false city was the culture that was being built around the tower. Associated with Nimrod s city was the language of these people. Humanity s Plan (11:3-4) Eveson: In scene 2 (11:3-4), the development of a godless civilization reminds us of the activities of Cain and his descendants (see 4:17). Atkinson: The marks of civilization are there also the development of technical skills, presumably of sufficient architectural and mathematical knowledge for the building of a tower, and of a city, and the political will needed for such a corporate endeavor. Eveson: The world after the Flood was no different from the world before the Flood. The same errors were repeated. Human beings made their plans without reference to God. These people had big plans. They wanted the tower to be a kind of uniting-point between heaven and earth. By their own efforts they were trying to bridge the gulf, to meet God, to have contact with God, and to be like God. This was the original temptation in the Garden of Eden to be like God, but without reference to God and independently of Him. Humanity, in its rebellion against God s authority, is for ever trying to grasp at becoming like God. Atkinson: Heaven is God s place and not that of human beings. Here, God-given boundaries are being crossed; human beings are trying to grasp at what does not belong to them and to assert that no longer are the bound by the limits which God has set. Here is a communal rejection of the necessary separation between the heavenly and the earthly. Eveson: Their self-centeredness is also depicted in their boastful statement Let us make a name for ourselves. In the Bible it is God alone who makes a name for Himself. God also has the right to make great whom he wills. These men were descended from Noah s son Shem, and Shem means name. God had already promised to make Shem great by associating Himself with him and his line: Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem. Eveson: Finally, the reason for the whole enterprise, we are told, was lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth. They tried to congregate in one area, contrary to the divine command to fill the earth given to both Adam and Noah (9:1). By building the tower they may well have been trying to protect themselves from another judgment like the Flood. Jordan PS: In rebellion, Nimrod and his cohorts did not want to take dominion. They did not want to build the city of God nor gather around His tower of true worship, growing slowly and gradually by faith. Rather, like Cain before them, they wanted an instant city, gathered around false religion, built on power and might (11:3-4). Cain had built his city on the human sacrifice of his brother (Gen. 4). We are told that Nimrod built his tower of bricks. When we remember that man was made of soil (2:7), and that God s House is made of people, living stones (1 Pe. Genesis I Notes. Doc p. 121 DSB 9-Sep-05

4 2:4-8), we can see a double meaning in what we read here in Genesis 11. Nimrod s tower of bricks cemented by asphalt served to signify his unified society of men; they were all stuck together in one place and not spreading out and taking dominion over the world. Jordan PS: These men knew that their tower probably a pyramid, a symbolic holy mountain would not physically reach into heaven. It was a religious center that they thought would enable them to storm the gates of heaven and seize the gifts of God s Garden, from which men had been excluded (3:24). This is the goal of all pagan works-religion, and it was their goal as well. They did not want to be given a name by God or to wear His name. They wanted to make a name for themselves. This is analogous to Adam seizing the fruit and Ham seizing the robe. God s Investigation (11:5) Eveson: Scene 3 (11:5) is the turning-point of the whole story. We move from the earthly scene to the heavenly and view the whole episode from God s vantage-point. The tower, which people though would reach to heaven why, God could hardly see it! So insignificant was it that God must come down to look at it! Jordan PS: In addition, these Hebrews had fallen from being sons of God, His spokesman, to being mere sons of the man. God s Plan (11:6-7) Eveson: In Scene 2, we found human beings saying, Come, let us make come let us build Now in scene 4 (11:6-7) we have God expressing His intentions. Jordan PS: God can always stop men from doing anything, but the language used here points to the fact that in terms of the economy God has established in the world, there is strength in unity. God does not want the wicked to rule the world, so He moves to destroyed their unity. It is important to see that it was not a simple unity of language that gave these men power. Rather, they all thought the same way. They had a common lip, a common ideology, a common faith. Without this anti-god unity they could not have cooperated. In order to shatter this unity, God did not simply divide their languages. First and foremost, He shattered their ideologies. What the story of the Tower of Babel tells us that there was originally only one pagan, anti-god religion in the world. At the Tower of Babel, God acted to diversify paganism. All the heathen religions in the world have the same basic ideas, but each is slightly different from the rest. According to Rom. 1:18-32 God punishes sin by giving people over to it. Idolatry destroys human life, and if men rebel against God, He will give them over to worse and worse forms of idolatry until either they repent or are destroyed. The punishment fits the crime. This passage also clearly implies that God also confounded their languages so that they would not understand one another. Not only did their religions come to be in conflict, but they could not understand one another s words either. Atkinson: Verse 6 indicates that there is not only judgment in this divine action, but there is also preservation. Earlier in Genesis, in the story of Adam, the sending-out of the Garden was both judgment and preservation. The mark of Cain also illustrated the same thing: there was judgment, but there was preservation. So too the story of the Flood spoke both of judgment and preservation. And the same is true here. For the Lord saw that the attempt to build the tower was only the beginning of what they will do (11:6). So in order to prevent things getting worse in Shinar, God s judgment in dividing the community is also a restraint. Heaven is not to be Genesis I Notes. Doc p. 122 DSB 9-Sep-05

5 grasped at by human ambition. Heaven, we have discovered before, is found as a gift of grace. We will need to wait till chapter 12, for the story of God s gracious covenant dealings with His people in history, before a God-centered community can be built. Humanity Scattered (11:8-9) Eveson: Scene 5 (11:8): In Scene 1 we saw people on the move, coming to live in one place. Now people were forced to move as a result of God s action. Human plans were frustrated and their worst fears of being scattered were realized. Without the ability to communicate through a common language, it was quite impossible for them to co-operate. Our word Babylon is the Greek form of the Hebrew Babel. Atkinson: Babylon, as we know, was the center of the civilization of the ancient world. The mighty towers of the Babylonian ziggurats were widely known. From the perspectives of human achievement, Babylon was the summit. Schaeffer: The word Babel is interesting because it is given two different meanings (11:9). In Hebrew the word Babel means confusion. The Babylonians themselves used the word to mean the gate of God. So the Babylonians said, We are the gate of God, and the Jews said, No, you are confusion. Eveson: That which was meant as a showpiece of human enterprise and technology, and as a meeting-point between heaven and earth, became a reminder of divine judgment on human pride and autonomy. Significance Schaeffer: Thus, another division has emerged not just one between man and God, man and himself, man and man, man and nature, and nature and nature, but also between the men of the earth in their nations with implications that reach out into racial and cultural divisions, linked to linguistic differences. And all of them are rooted in the same source the sin of man. Jordan PS: The scattering of languages at the Tower of Babel was not by itself a curse. Rather, it was the multiplication of pagan religions that showed God s judgment against the tower builders. The fact that God will never permit non-christian to form a world coalition again is a blessing to Christians. The promise of God to His people is that false rebellious faith will always be broken off in history. The secular humanist faith that man can do great things without God is always doomed to frustrated and failure. God permitted that faith to run its full course once, before the flood. He will never again permit it again. Rather, He will intervene in man s youth and cut down the aspirations of sin, either by conversion or by destruction. Eveson: In Scripture Babel, or Babylon, stands for world power in opposition to God. Nimrod, the symbol of personal prowess and rebellion against God, is associated with Babel and other well-known cities which were later to become centers of civilizations and godless rule. It is no accident that the last book of the Bible uses Old Testament references to Babylon (Is ; 47:1-11; Jer ) to speak of worldly opposition to God and to His people (Rev ). In contrast to Babylon, the great harlot who is left naked and destroyed, we have the picture of the new Jerusalem, the bride of Christ. Eveson: On Pentecost Sunday when the promised Holy Spirit filled those first believers, there was in the streets of Jerusalem a great reversal of the Babel incident. Instead of confusion and scattering, the language barrier was broken down and people from different parts of the world heard the wonderful works of God in their own tongue. Luke is careful to note that there were Genesis I Notes. Doc p. 123 DSB 9-Sep-05

6 representatives from every nation under heaven. Descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth are listed. Instead of division and separation, these believers were together (Acts 2:1-47). Pentecost is a foretaste of that grand and glorious day when sin will be completely eradicated and perfect unity restored. All who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ will be of one language, living in perfect harmony in that city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God (Heb. 11:10, 16; Rev. 21:2, 24-27). This is the city of God. The Generations of Shem (11:10-26) And so we come to the sixth main section of Genesis, the fifth which follows the these are the generations introduction. Eveson: Each time the phrase appears it acts like a section heading. They are there to emphasize the great purpose of the book of Genesis. These headings have the effect of binding the whole book together and focusing our minds on the promises of God. Genesis highlights the importance of seed, or offspring. It is therefore most appropriate to have this introductory expression drawing our attention to a family line. The very structure of Genesis calls us to look to a seed that God will use to gain victory over the devil and his offspring. In this case we have the genealogy of Shem, so it is a narrowing of the line. We are no longer concerned about the sons of Ham and Japheth, but only Shem. And we are no longer concerned with the five sons of Shem, but only the line of Shem through his son Arphaxad. One last time, let me just mention that you should ignore Schaeffer s comments on pp Eveson: The list of names is given to draw attention to a special family line. The names are links in a chain from Noah s son, Shem, to Terah, Abraham s father. This chapter concentrates on the trunk of the tree. Only the main line of descent from Shem is given (five sons of Shem were named in 10:22). Why is Shem s name in the heading and why are we drawn to Shem s descendants? In 9:26-27 we read that God associated Himself in a special way with Shem. God was known as the God of Shem. Later He would be known as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Of the three sons of Noah, it is Shem who is in the line of promise. In chapter 10:21-31 Shem s descendants are listed, showing how various branches of the family became separate nations and peoples. These verses in chapter 11 narrow the line to reveal the special family to whom promises have been made. Eber, one of the descendants of Shem, is a significant name in the previous list (10:21-25). He is the ancestor of the Hebrews and the father of Peleg and Joktan. Here in chapter 11 only Peleg is mentioned because he is the one in the line of promise. The men whose names appear in this list were not necessarily the first-born sons of their fathers. We saw this in the case of Shem himself, the middle son of Noah. According to 10:22, Arphaxad was the third of five sons of Shem, but now we are shown that he was in the line of promise. Eveson: We are told that Noah was 500 years old when he fathered his three sons (5:32) and 600 years old when the Flood came (7:6). If his sons were triplets this would mean they were all 100 years old at the time of the Flood. But 11:10 tells us that Shem was 100 years old two years after the Flood. It is possible that the earlier dates are approximations, rounded to the nearest hundred, and this is a more exact date. Another suggestion is that Japheth, being the eldest, was born in Noah s 500 th year and Shem, the second son, was born two years later. The birth of Arphaxad, two years after the flood, marks the dawn of a new era in which God has not forgotten His promises. Shem may well have had Elam and Asshur immediately after the Flood (see Genesis I Notes. Doc p. 124 DSB 9-Sep-05

7 10:22), but as far as Genesis is concerned it is the birth of Arphaxad that is significant. He is the child of promise. Eveson: By the time we reach the end of this list of names, people were living much shorter lives. Noah was 950 when he died (9:29), whereas Nahor, father of Terah, was 148 (11:24-25). Associated with this reduction in lifespan, the age when they had the son of promise is much earlier. While Noah was about 500 years old when he had his sons (5:32), Shem was 100 years old when he fathered Arphaxad and Terah seventy when he fathered Abraham. Many of the other men on the list were having children, like people today, in their twenties and thirties. This will become an important point to bear in mind when we come to the story of Abraham and his concern for a family. God promised to give him a son in his old age and it is clear that from at least the age of seventy a person could be considered old. The Connection to Abraham Eveson: This section acts as a bridge between the primeval history in chapters 1-11 and the patriarchal period commencing with Abraham. We shall not understand the call of Abraham, the election of Israel to be a light to the nations and the coming of Jesus, unless we appreciate these early chapters. They teach that God is sovereign. He is the beginning of all things, and human beings are created in His image. We are also shown why people are the way they are now. All are sinners in rebellion against God as a result of that initial rebellion in the garden of God. The sad state of the world left to its own ingenuity resulted in the crisis of the Flood. But God acted in grace to save Noah and his family. Soon more divine wrath was expressed towards sinful humanity at the Tower of Babel. Confusion, division, and scattering over the face of the earth resulted, and the tribes and nations of the world, with their own languages, religions, and cultures, developed. Eveson: Temptation entered the garden from outside, from a serpent, a beast of the field who spoke with a human voice. It was at this point that the first glimmer of gospel hope appeared. God declared war on this serpent and a promise was made that through the seed of a woman the serpent s head would be bruised. Those great signposts at the beginning of each new section of Genesis point us forward to the fulfillment of this divine victory through a human seed. Atkinson: At the end of the story of the Tower of Babel we were left without hope. These first 11 chapters of Genesis have stressed again and again that there is no hope for sinful human beings outside the gracious blessing of God. Nevertheless, hope lies in this God who condescends to be known as the God of Shem. Now the story of Abraham begins. And it begins with the blessing of God. Five times in 12:2-3 God speaks again of blessing. There are unmistakable echoes of the first blessing on human beings at creation (1:28), and the blessing on Noah and his sons when creation began again after the Flood (9:1). Here is another new beginning. Atkinson: Furthermore, the blessings to Abraham seem to counterbalance some of the judgments and curses we have also heard through chapters The ground was cursed in 3:17; Abraham was promised land to possess (15:7). Cain was cursed and became a wanderer in 4:11; Abraham the wanderer is given a home. Cain, and the Nephilim, and the builders of Babel all sought for themselves a name; God says to Abraham, I will... make your name great (12:2). Cain, who built a city in the land of restlessness, and the migrants from the east who tried to build one at Shinar all discovered the here we have no continuing city; Abraham, we are told, looked forward to the city which has foundations, whose builders and maker is God. The families of Genesis I Notes. Doc p. 125 DSB 9-Sep-05

8 the nations were scattered at Babel; in Abraham all the families of the earth will be blessed (12:3). So 12:1-3 sound forth the opening chords of the great oratorio of salvation history. It is also the coda and recapitulation at the end of the overture we have heard played through Eveson: Ultimately, The promises of God find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ, whose family is traced back to Abraham and Shem. He is the Savior of the world. He has won the decisive battle with that old serpent, the devil, that the kingdoms of this world might become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ. The only hope for a confused and divided world is in God s promised Seed, Jesus Christ. Conclusion Atkinson: In Genesis, we have read story after story of disorder, destruction, and death. Many times the disorder has been related to human beings trying to become as gods, grasping at a divinity which is not theirs, and flaunting an autonomy which is actually illusory. Adam, Cain, Lamech, the sons of God, and the nomadic settlers in the land of Shinar, each in their own ways tried to bring earth up to heaven and cross the boundaries God had given for human well-being. Throughout these stories there is a pattern. Sin leads to punishment, the results of sin become clear, but there is then a word of divine grace so that in the punishment there is also a restraint and preservation. Finally, there is a promise of hope for the future. Atkinson: In the Garden, Adam and Eve fell into sin, God s word of judgment was spoken against the serpent, against the ground, and against them, then He made them garments of skins and allowed their life to continue outside the Garden. There was grace, and there was hope. In the story of Cain, we read of Cain s murderous sin, and God s word of judgment. Cain was sent away as a fugitive, but in grace God put a mark of protection on him. Civilization began, and once again there was a hint of hope. In the narrative of the Flood, after God saw the wickedness of mankind in the earth, He brought His deluge as a judgment on evil, but in grace He shut up Noah in an ark of safety. He held on to the reins of the storm and gave the promise of a new creation and a new beginning. The covenant of grace was sealed with a rainbow of hope. Atkinson: In each case, the story leaves us open to God, with the possibility that faith and hope and love might still grow. But, in the story of the Tower of Babel, we seem to be left with disintegration, scattering, separation, and confusion. Where is the hope for the future? How can life go on? O Lord what now? It is when we come to ask that question, that we are ready for what now follows in chapter 12. Now the primeval story has ended. The account of the people of God in history a salvation history ultimately centered in Christ can begin. For now God begins to reverse the judgment of Babel. A new community is being built as the family of Abraham. Through Abraham, we are told, all the families of the earth will again receive blessing (12:3). Through Abraham the covenant story of sacred history begins. Schaeffer: Thus the flow of history continues. History comes from someplace. History is going someplace. Genesis 1-11 give the history which comes before anything secular historians have been able to ascertain, and it is that pre-secular history which gives meaning to man s present history. It sets in perspective all the history we now have in our secular study. These chapters tell us the why of all history man knows through his studies, including the why of each man s personal history. For this, Genesis 1-11 is more important than anything else one could have. Schaeffer: In these chapters we learn of the historic, space-time creation out of nothing; the creation of man in God s image; a real historic, space-time, moral Fall; and the understanding of Genesis I Notes. Doc p. 126 DSB 9-Sep-05

9 the present abnormality in the divisions that exist between God and man, man and himself, man and man, man and nature, and nature and nature. These chapters also tell us the flow of the promise God made from the beginning concerning the solution to these divisions. This is what Genesis 1-11 gives us, and it is climactic. Naturalistic, rationalistic history only sees the results. If I am to understand the world as it is and myself as I am, I must know the flow of history given in these chapters. Take this away, and the flow of the rest of history collapses. Schaeffer: If a man attributes a wrong cause to the dilemma and divisions of men, he will never come up with the right answer no matter how good a will he has. A mere physical solution is inadequate, because man s dilemma is not physical. Nor can it be metaphysical, because the problem of man, as we know it from Genesis 1-11, is not primarily metaphysical. The problem of man is moral, for by choice he stands in rebellion to God. And any appropriate solution must fill this moral need. The solution is He who is the seed of woman that has bruised the serpent s head. Amen. Close in Prayer. End of Class. Genesis I Notes. Doc p. 127 DSB 9-Sep-05