Genesis 11A (2011) Because I knw hw much yu enjyed studying genealgy last week in Chapter 10, I thught we shuld study sme mre Actually, it was the Lrd Wh thught we needed mre genealgy, since He included mre genealgy in Chapter 11 But since we dn t want t risk t much f a gd thing, we ll save the genealgy fr next week And this week, we ll spend ur time examining the stry that leads int the genealgy This stry answers the questin, Why did men mve utward acrss the earth as described in chapter 10? S tday we learn abut an incident, ne instigated by a character intrduced in chapter 10, Nimrd And we are als ging t take nte f an imprtant literary device ften used by Biblical writers t draw ur attentin t imprtant pints in the text It s called a chaism, and I ll shw yu the chaism in the text tday Gen. 11:1 Nw the whle earth used the same language and the same wrds. Gen. 11:2 It came abut as they jurneyed east, that they fund a plain in the land f Shinar and settled there. Gen. 11:3 They said t ne anther, Cme, let us make bricks and burn them thrughly. And they used brick fr stne, and they used tar fr mrtar. Gen. 11:4 They said, Cme, let us build fr urselves a city, and a twer whse tp will reach int heaven, and let us make fr urselves a name, therwise we will be scattered abrad ver the face f the whle earth. I hpe yu remember frm last week what we discussed cncerning the relatinship between chapters 10 & 11 Chapter 10 was a zm ut n the dispersin f men after the fld While chapter 11 was a zm in n the events that led t that dispersin 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 11A 2 And t be mre accurate, chapter als has a zm ut f it s wn in the secnd half In chapter 10, we learned abut Nimrd, a man wh cmmanded a mighty city near Babel, in Shinar Later he leaves and funds anther city in Assyria Why did he leave Babel? Then we heard f Peleg, wh was brn in the year the earth was divided Why were mankind divided in Peleg s day? These questins are answered in Chapter 11 The stry f the dividing r dispersin f men begins with the issue f language Mses tells us that all the earth, all men, spke the same language in the beginning Specifically, everyne had the same language and wrds Language means the same tngue And wrds means the same vcabulary Understanding between men was perfect As we ve nted in weeks past, the names f ancient men ging back t Adam had meanings But they nly had meaning in ne language: Hebrew Since these names were intended t cnvey meaning, and that meaning nly made sense in Hebrew, we cnclude that the first language f men was Hebrew In v.2 we hear f sme grup f peple heading east int the plain f Shinar, r Mesptamia Wh are the they here? It must trace back t v.1, meaning the earth r all peple Nah s family and all their descendants are still living tgether 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 11A 3 And they travel eastward back t Mesptamia, t what wuld later be knwn as Babyln This is the lcatin f where the Garden nce std Perhaps at sme pint after the Fld, men thught back t life befre the Fld And t the place where they nce knew Gd lived S they set ff t return hme But then they arrive and find the Garden had lng since been wiped ut by the Fld But they settle there nne the less Then, they began t build and learn new techniques fr building structures Instead f building frm stnes and mrtar, they made their wn bricks frm clay and straw, burning them r firing them t harden them And using tar r bitumen, they they bund the bricks tgether Having btained the materials and the desire t build, they nw set their sites n an ambitius gal Speaking as a united peple, they declare they will build a city fr themselves And in the city will be twer whse tp will reach int heaven And by this great wrk, they will make a name fr themselves And in the end, they pursue this great wrk f human hands because therwise they will be scattered abard and separated thrughut the earth As I m sure yu can tell there s mre ging n than meets the eye First, yu prbably nticed the directin they traveled: east And mre than just ging east, the families traveled t Shinar, t Mesptamia The beginning f sin and the strnghld f the enemy 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 11A 4 Secndly, take a secnd lk at the details f the stry frm a spiritual perspective The families f the Earth mve back t their beginning place in defiance t Gd s cmmands Gd cmmanded that they peple f Nah multiply and fill the Earth Instead, they stay tgether and mve backward against Gd s decree Next, they begin t create building materials fr themselves frm the wrk f their wn hands Where befre they relied n natural stne, nw they set aside stne and create an artificial type f stne, a cunterfeit Furthermre, they build a city and twer The city was t be a way f btaining a name fr themselves A name means a reputatin, a testimny befre thers And the twer was t reach int heaven Ntice, they didn t want t reach Gd r the Lrd They wanted t reach heaven, t the place f glry Can yu see the bigger picture? The sin f pride is still alive and well Men are still being brn in the likeness f Adam, in the likeness f sin And man s sin nature inevitably prduces desires and instincts that mve us 180 degrees away frm Gd s desires Instead f heading westward accrding t Gd s directin, men retreat eastward t the Enemy s hme territry 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 11A 5 Instead f relying n Gd, men immediately seek t rely n the wrk f their wn hands Instead f seeking the name f the Lrd and the city f Gd, men made their wn city t btain their wn testimny And instead seeking t reach Gd thrugh a faith in His wrd, they seek t reach heaven by the wrk f their hands Rev. 3:12 He wh vercmes, I will make him a pillar in the temple f My Gd, and he will nt g ut frm it anymre; and I will write n him the name f My Gd, and the name f the city f My Gd, the new Jerusalem, which cmes dwn ut f heaven frm My Gd, and My new name. Keeping in the mind that this stry is histrical truth, nt merely a cntrived stry t teach a mral lessn But the lessn is still the pint Our sin nature is just as strng as it was in the day f Nimrd We instinctively seek ways t make ur wn way: in ur physical life and in ur spiritual life Even as Christians, we may acknwledge the svereignty and the authrity f Gd in ur lives, but yet we ften still struggle t yield t His will We wuld rather make a name fr urselves in the wrld than with the Lrd We wuld rather build smething with ur hands than rely n Gd And the unbelieving wrld cntinues t live these lies every bit as much tday as they did then It s ntable that when Jhn is given a visin f the end times in the bk f Revelatin, ne f the visins is f the destructin f false religius practices And in that visin, Jhn sees this: 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 11A 6 Rev. 17:3 And he carried me away in the Spirit int a wilderness; and I saw a wman sitting n a scarlet beast, full f blasphemus names, having seven heads and ten hrns. Rev. 17:4 The wman was clthed in purple and scarlet, and adrned with gld and precius stnes and pearls, having in her hand a gld cup full f abminatins and f the unclean things f her immrality, Rev. 17:5 and n her frehead a name was written, a mystery, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. Rev. 17:6 And I saw the wman drunk with the bld f the saints, and with the bld f the witnesses f Jesus. When I saw her, I wndered greatly. This mysterius wman is called Babyln and she is the mther f all harlts She is called Babyln, the name f this great city build in Nimrd s day They name f the Enemy s hme territry She is called a harlt A harlt is a prstitute A persn wh cunterfeits true lve Anyne wh fllws her is misled int a false relatinship Rather than becming the Bride f Christ She is the mther f harlts and the mther f all abminatins n the earth Ever false lying religin begins with her, and she is called Babyln This city and the endeavr t build it is the beginning f false religin, brn in rebellin against the wrd f Gd And frm this start came all future abminatins, fr the enemy has been wrking in the sns f disbedience frm the beginning The enemy wuld prefer the wrld believe there are many rads t Heaven And he wrks hard t create that impressin 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 11A 7 Whether it s Buddhism, Taism, Cnfuscism, Islam, Humanism, Paganism It s all the same, if it s nt the truth And they all fllw the same pattern False religin teaches self-seeking, like the families that went East seeking their wn way True faith says set aside ur wn desires and instead fllw the Lrd False religin teaches that the wrk f ur hands is the slutin t ur prblems True faith recgnizes that ur wn wrk gains us nthing spiritually We must depend n the wrk f Gd in Christ t save us False religin teaches us t seek fr heaven, and that with enugh heaven we ll get there eventually True faith says t seek fr Jesus Christ, and He will find us and cme t live in us, and change us and save us As we ve learned thrughut the stry f Genesis, when men rebel, Gd answers with judgment tempered by grace Gen. 11:5 The LORD came dwn t see the city and the twer which the sns f men had built. Gen. 11:6 The LORD said, Behld, they are ne peple, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began t d, and nw nthing which they purpse t d will be impssible fr them. Gen. 11:7 Cme, let Us g dwn and there cnfuse their language, s that they will nt understand ne anther s speech. Gen. 11:8 S the LORD scattered them abrad frm there ver the face f the whle earth; and they stpped building the city. Gen. 11:9 Therefre its name was called Babel, because there the LORD cnfused the language f the whle earth; and frm there the LORD scattered them abrad ver the face f the whle earth. 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 11A 8 The Lrd cmes dwn t see the city, we re tld D we hnestly think Gd needed t travel dwn frm heaven t see the city? Culdn t Gd see it just as easily frm heaven? Or frm anywhere? Of curse, and this reference is an anthrpmrphism But it makes an imprtant pint While men were busy trying t reach heaven, they didn t even get clse Gd is still required t cme dwn t see man s pitiful effrt It s been said that trying t reach Gd by wn effrt culd be cmpared t tw peple standing in the middle f Kansas trying t thrw rcks at the Nrth Ple One might thrw his rck farther than the ther But n matter wh thrws farther, bth rck fall way shrt f reaching the gal This is the reality f human wrk It cannt hpe t reach the gal f perfectin in Gd s presence Our effrts will always fall s far shrt, that even individual differences between ne anther are meaningless I might be clser t reaching Heaven than yu are, but neither f us are even in Heaven s area cde, much less in the neighbrhd Secndly, ntice that Gd refers t these builders as the sns f men What Hebrew wrd d yu think is being translated men here? It s adam These are sns f Adam, men in the likeness and pattern f Adam Men brn int sin and living accrdingly 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 11A 9 Even in that reference, Gd makes clear these peple are acting in their sinful nature S then Gd says that language is the key t this rebellin A single language left sin unrestrained There was n barrier t the sinful heart Gd says nthing will be impssible fr men The meaning isn t that men culd accmplish literally anything Gd means that anything man s sinful heart culd purpse t accmplish, tgether men wuld d it S in grace, Gd determines nt t allw such a situatin t g unchecked Speaking in the plural as the Trinity, the Gdhead declares He will cnfuse their language, s that men lse the ability t understand ne anther Let s imagine fr a mment what that must have been like Once mment, men speak and are understd; they hear anther, and they understand Men have never knwn anther language, s they culdn t even appreciate the cncept Then suddenly wrds aren t wrds any lnger Frm the perspective f each persn, nthing has changed in their wn speech They still speak and understand their wn wrds They prbably dn t even realize that their wn speech is different frm befre They still frm wrds and they still understand their wn vice But as they speak, thers shw puzzled faces, then quickly the lks turn t cncern and then fear 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 11A 10 Almst immediately, yu realize that thers are speaking in gibberish, as if they were playing a game But then yu see the cncern and fear in their eyes and yu realize it s n game As yu desperately seek ut smene yu can understand, yu stumble acrss an immediate family member and with great relief yu realize yu can understand ne anther Slwly, small bands f peple cllect with like language begin t cllect and band tgether Still withut an explanatin, these bands f like language stick tgether s that sme semblance f cmmunity is maintained Sme grups try in vain t bridge the cmmunicatin divide, makes hand signals, and shuting while speaking slwly But sn they abandn the effrt, frustrated at the lack f prgress and frightened abut what the future hlds Wrk stps n the city, bth because f the language barrier and because f shck and fear ver their circumstances Sn, mistrust and fear begins t set in, as each grup wnders what the ther grups are planning and wrries abut attacks This leads men t migrate away frm ne anther fr safety This place earns its present-day name f Babel, which means cnfused language, as it des still tday Finally, Gd s will is dne The peple scatter and begin t fill the earth And the scattering f the language serves t mitigate against man s sinful nature I dn t think it s a cincidence that the wrld is mving back again tward a single language Tday, business and the internet is making English the ne language f the wrld again And as the wrld begins t unite again in a cmmn language, it s n cincidence that sin is being magnified 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.
Genesis 11A 11 This is anther element f the last days and a precursr t the cming Tribulatin n Earth And it s als n cincidence that these days are marked by men building ever bigger cities and twers t their wn name Remember I mentined that Mses emplys a wnderful literally device t reinfrce the pint f the stry? This stry cntains a chaism, a stepping f thughts in t a pint and then back ut again The structure begins in verse 1 with the statement all the earth had ne language This statement is mirrred in v.9 but in an ppsite frm The language f the whle is cnfused Frm v.1 dwn t v. 5 we find separate statements that each find their cmpliment in verses 5-9 And in the middle is a single statement which has n cmpliment That single statement is the turning pint f the chaism where the pattern reverses This laddering prduces a visual effect f a v laid n its side, with the (turning) pint facing t the right The purpse f a chaism is t draw ur attentin t that turning pint In this case, ur attentin is draw t the first half f verse 5 The Lrd came dwn t see While men were busy wrking their wn plan by their wn hands, the Lrd came dwn While men were united in sin and ppsed t Gd, the Lrd came dwn As men wrked in futility t reach int heaven, the Lrd came dwn This is the stry f the Bible Our Lrd came dwn t Earth, as a man, s that we might have the righteusness f Gd 2011 Verse By Verse Ministry f San Antni (www.versebyverseministry.rg) May be cpied and distributed prvided the dcument is reprduced in its entirety, including this cpyright statement, and n fee is cllected fr its distributin.