1 - 4 The Tower of Babel Built
1 Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words. 2 It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn [them] thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. 4 They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top [will reach] into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
According to some, there are about 30,000 people on earth at this time. They are all still together. Together they head east. It is the direction in which Cain went (Gen 4:16; cf. Gen 3:23-24). It is the direction that here speaks of leaving God. In the east, they find a plain, which here speaks of complacency. Abraham later seeks the mountains (Gen 12:8), which speaks of wanting to be close to God.
The plain is in the land Shinar. There lies the origin of Babel (Gen 10:8-10) and idolatry (Zec 5:5-11). Here people want to make a joint effort: they want to build a city with a tower that serves as a bridge to reach the sky. There seems to be interest in God.
It is remarkable that the first builders of cities, both in the old world (Gen 4:17) and here in the new world, are not men of the best character or the best name. Tents are the homes of those who fear God, while the first cities are built by those who rebel against Him and apostatize from Him. We see that also here. The people want to build this city with the tower to their own honor and name. They want to make a name for themselves on earth. They also build with self-made stones. This is in opposition to God’s actions. God does everything to the honor of His own Name (Isa 63:12,14; Jer 32:20).
The material they use, bricks, is made of clay from the earth and is therefore fragile and vulnerable. It suits man in his earthly, fragile existence (Job 33:6). Because man is not aware of this, he dares to build such a building. God builds His city with quite different materials: precious stones (Isa 54:11-12; Rev 21:18-21). He builds his spiritual house with living stones (1Pet 2:5).
What is happening here is the contemporary professing Christianity to the core. The nominal Christians want to be included, they want their opinion to be taken into account in political issues and decision-making. And do they not have great names in their history to boast of, theologians of name? But having a big name on earth does not automatically mean that that name is also written down in heaven. In the building of the city and the tower of Babel it is in any case a pursuit of unity and power. This is what we see in the ecumenical movement, the churches’ unity commitment led by the roman-catholic church, the spiritual Babylon, become reality.
5 - 9 The Confusion of Language
5 The LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 The LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.
God’s response to this endeavor will not take long in coming. People have said to one another: “Come, let us …” (verses 3-4). In verse 7 the LORD says: “Come, let Us …” – “Us” is the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To involve man as it were in His considerations the LORD comes down to take note of their works. It is to convince man of what He knows as the Omniscient. After His conclusion God judges. He pronounces the verdict and carries it out. He does not do this by a new flood or by opening the earth, but by a confusion of language.
Through the judgment of the confusion of language, God breaks man’s striving together. A large and powerful stronghold is being demolished. The confusion of language is being undone on Pentecost (Acts 2:1-11), when the Holy Spirit is poured out. Baptism with the Spirit creates a unity that is according to God’s thoughts. This unity, the unity of God’s church, is based on the work of Christ as the Lamb. Christ will receive the honor for this from the mouth of those whom He has purchased for God with His blood “from every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Rev 5:9; Rom 15:6). In the realm of peace there will also be a unity among the nations of the earth in serving God (Zep 3:9-10).
The unfinished city is named “Babel”, which means ‘confusion’. This city will be the leading power in the world. It is a concentration of ungodly powers. At the same time it becomes clear that the unity that has been pursued and that has been seen as power by man is judged by God with a confusion of languages. What they wanted to prevent by their efforts, scattering (verse 4), is exactly what happens by God’s judgment.
With this, the story of the early history of man on earth has come to an appropriate conclusion. She describes how the generations of the earth have become hopelessly scattered and wandering around on earth, with no view. The solution comes in the next section. From the scattered nations God builds a people that will become the channel of His grace. God does not yet deal with humanity. The following section prepares us for God’s work for and with His people.
10 - 26 Descendants of Shem to Terah
10 These are [the records of] the generations of Shem. Shem was one hundred years old, and became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood; 11 and Shem lived five hundred years after he became the father of Arpachshad, and he had [other] sons and daughters. 12 Arpachshad lived thirty-five years, and became the father of Shelah; 13 and Arpachshad lived four hundred and three years after he became the father of Shelah, and he had other sons and daughters. 14 Shelah lived thirty years, and became the father of Eber; 15 and Shelah lived four hundred and three years after he became the father of Eber, and he had [other] sons and daughters. 16 Eber lived thirty-four years, and became the father of Peleg; 17 and Eber lived four hundred and thirty years after he became the father of Peleg, and he had [other] sons and daughters. 18 Peleg lived thirty years, and became the father of Reu; 19 and Peleg lived two hundred and nine years after he became the father of Reu, and he had [other] sons and daughters. 20 Reu lived thirty-two years, and became the father of Serug; 21 and Reu lived two hundred and seven years after he became the father of Serug, and he had [other] sons and daughters. 22 Serug lived thirty years, and became the father of Nahor; 23 and Serug lived two hundred years after he became the father of Nahor, and he had [other] sons and daughters. 24 Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and became the father of Terah; 25 and Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years after he became the father of Terah, and he had [other] sons and daughters. 26 Terah lived seventy years, and became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.
The records of the generations of Shem are given. This shows that the descendants of Shem finally also fell into idolatry (Jos 24:2). Then the LORD calls Abram. His calling and his person are the subject of this records of generations and the following chapters. God’s answer to the construction of the city and the tower of Babel is the judgment of the confusion of language. Then God continues by calling a man, Abram, who, as a heavenly minded man, is brought by Him to a land where he may live before God.
If everything is immersed in idolatry, God does not, according to His promise, put an end to it by a new judgment. He lets the nations go on their own ways (Acts 14:16) and starts something new with Abram. With Abram’s calling, God will teach us a principle of great significance: separation from evil. God is going to teach that to Abram, step by step. He also wants to teach us this, step by step.
27 - 32 Terah and Abram
27 Now these are [the records of] the generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran; and Haran became the father of Lot. 28 Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans. 29 Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah. 30 Sarai was barren; she had no child. 31 Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran, and settled there. 32 The days of Terah were two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran.
Verse 31 shows that Terah, Abram’s father, takes the initiative to leave for Canaan. God, however, did not appear to Terah, but to Abram in Ur of the Chaldeans: “The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, ‘LEAVE YOUR COUNTRY AND YOUR RELATIVES, AND COME INTO THE LAND THAT I WILL SHOW YOU.’ Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, [God] had him move to this country in which you are now living” (Acts 7:2-4).
God has ordered Abram to leave his family and go to Canaan. It seems that family ties are still too strong to respond fully to God’s call. That this is so, seems to be confirmed by the stay of Abram in Haran. That is still not Canaan. Abram goes to Canaan, when his father Terah died in Haran. Only then he is free to go.
We must all learn this lesson. When it comes to the voice of the Lord in our lives, family ties should not prevent us from obeying that voice. Then we must get away from it, learn to apply death to it, so that these bonds do not prevent us from going the way the Lord wants us to go. The Lord Jesus says: “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple” (Lk 14:26).