The Tower of Babel

"And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech." Genesis 11:1

Unity. Unity of language. Unity of speech. Unity of mind.

Imagine if the whole world had only one language. Imagine if everyone spoke the same thing. Imagine if everyone understood everybody else. Mankind would have made it to the moon 4,000 years ago!

It is fathomable to imagine a one world language. For instance, if everyone spoke English there would be more understanding, more sharing of ideas, more sharing of theories, more sharing of inventions. Our world's knowledge base would exponentially increase.

On the other hand, it is unfathomable to imagine a world of "one speech" where everyone says the same thing. Ideas would be the same, reasoning would be the same, beliefs would be the same. People speak the same thing when people are thinking the same thing. The Bible says that our thoughts do not reflect God's thoughts. A world of "one speech" would be united against God.

God wants us to be united with him. After the flood in Noah's day, the world was turning away from God just as it was doing before the flood. There was one language, one speech, and one mindset - against our Creator. This is why God confounded mankind's language in Genesis 11. God will put roadblocks in our path when we are bent on going the wrong way.

When we are confused, do we seek to understand our circumstances in light of God's Word?

~dkg

Genesis 11

The Tower of Babel

Genesis 11

1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.

3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.

4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

6 And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.

8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

~King James Version

For "The Tower of Babel" Continued...Click Here.

Genesis 10

"Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood." ~Genesis 10:1

In Genesis Chapter Five, before the great flood that covered all the earth, we read "the generations of Adam," which recorded Adam's descendants from his son Seth up to Noah and his three sons. Now, after the flood, we read "the generations of the sons of Noah."

After the flood, the earth was renewed and ready to be replenished and repopulated. This time four "Adams" (Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth) would be the root of all generations to come. We are all descendants from one of these four branches of mankind. These four men were all descended from one man Adam, they were all from a "single branch." After the flood, the branch of Adam shoots out in four directions. "... and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood." (Gen 10:32).

We are all descended from Adam. We are all descended from Noah. But we are not all descended from Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

~dkg

Genesis 9

"And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth." Genesis 9:1

"And the Lord said...And God remembered...And God blessed..." These are the three beginning phrases in Genesis 7, 8, and 9.

When the Lord speaks, we listen. When God remembers, we look up. When God blesses, we rejoice!

"And God blessed Noah."

God spared Noah's life: Blessing!
God spared Noah's wife's life: Blessing!
God spared Noah's sons's and their wives's lives: Blessing!
God spared all living things...on the ark: Blessing!

What more could Noah ask for: Nothing. Yet, God blessed Noah again! What did God bless Noah with? A renewed earth. A blank slate. A new beginning. New! New! New! Noah was blessed by God to replenish the renewed earth.

"If any man be in Christ he is a new creation..."

Has God spoken to you? Has God remembered you? Has God renewed you? Has God blessed you?

~dkg

Genesis 8

"And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged; The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained; and the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated." Genesis 8:1-3

"God remembered Noah...and every living thing...and all the cattle..."

God is mindful of us and everything that matters to us personally. He is mindful of where he put us; He is mindful of where we are; He is mindful of where we've been; He is ever mindful of where we're going, or think that we are going, which is sometimes: no where. Where was Noah? The earth was flooded with water. All land marks, gone. All points of compass, gone. All hope, not gone! We may lose sight of where we are, but God never loses sight of us. He know exactly where we are. He will never, ever forget us.

"God made a wind to pass over the earth..." The wind that God caused to blow over the waters, just as God's spirit moved upon the face of the waters in Genesis Chapter One, sped things up for Noah like gusty sails in the wind; it dried the earth faster than it would have if God had not intervened. God always intervenes for his people, not just in one way, but sometimes in many ways! The "fountains of the deep...were stopped...rain from heaven was restrained...waters returned...waters were abated."
God remembered Noah and moved all water out of his way.

Do you recognize when God is moving in your life? Do you see God's faithful hand in your circumstances? Thank him for his intervention!

~dkg