“Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.’ And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.’ 5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 And the Lord said, ‘Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.’ 8 So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.”
(1) ONE LANGUAGE? (v. 1)
Chapter 10 mentions “languages” (see vv. 20, 31). The sometimes perceived contradiction here lies in that we anticipate a chronological account, but that is not what Moses provides. Chapter 10 is the genealogy of Noah which extends many generations after the flood (see v. 32). Verse 25 (of that chapter) is a reference to when the confusion of languages occurred (“for in his day the earth was divided”). Chapter 11 does not pick up at the end of the genealogy, but goes back to that time when there was but one language.
(2) THE REBELLIOUS OBJECTIVE OF THE PEOPLE (vv. 2-4)
The descendants of Noah selected a land they intended to “settle” in (v. 2). The burning of bricks was to make them very strong and durable (long-lasting). They wanted to erect a city that would unite them. This sounds good, but unity has never been the ultimate objective of God’s people. True unity must be found in the Lord’s will, not in rebellion to it! In this case, they were seeking to make a name for themselves (v. 4) and were seeking to keep from being dispersed. (See also Dt. 1:28.) Not only were the aspirations of the people rooted in arrogance, but they were in direct opposition to what God had told mankind to do: “fill the earth” (see 8:17; 9:1, 7).
(3) THE LORD’S OBSERVATION (vv. 5-6)
Human characteristics are given to the Lord in Him “going down to see” what was going on (v. 5). Of course, God knew what was going on! The people being unified in arrogance was a catastrophic condition that would lead them to a similar place as before the global flood (see 6:1-6).
(4) GOD’S ACTION (vv. 7-9)
The phrase “come let us” (that the people use twice in verse 7) is interesting in at least two regards: (1) The Lord uses the same phrase in verse 7. God’s “let us” trumped their vanity and rebellion! (2) Secondly, the “let us” here takes our minds back to the creation account when God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…” (1:26). The Godhead was involved in creation and the Godhead would be involved in the situation at Babel.
God’s approach was to confuse the one language into many. Obviously, this caused an insurmountable problem with the construction of this city and brought it to a sudden halt. At this point the Lord dispersed the people over the face of the earth.
The word “Babel” meant “gate of God” but there was a very similar sounding Hebrew word (balal) that meant “confused.” Instead of Babel being the gate to heaven, it became the gate to earthly confusion.
The Genesis account proceeds from here to the call of Abram and the three-fold promise God makes to him. God is patient and has richly blessed us through the seed of Abraham!
Daren Schroeder