Genesis 11:1-9

Genesis 11:1-9

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The Tower of Babel

1 Now the whole earth had one language and 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 Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. 4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. 7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. 9 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ge 11:1-9

• Transcript

  everyone is able to join us live. Perfect. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and devotions. It is let's see January 25. And I'm so glad to be with you today as we get into Genesis chapter 11. is where every day we get into God's word and we grow in our love for the Lord together in this year 2023 Lord willing, again, nothing's ever guaranteed around this place. We're gonna get from Genesis to Leviticus. Why don't we have some coffee? We'll pray and we'll get into God's Word. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much. Lord, we don't deserve your word. And it is a miracle that we have it. You are so gracious and preserving it in you're so wonderful in communicating to us. Father, we pray now that your word might work in our hearts, that we would understand who you are. That we would be changed by your Word. Lord, we need your Holy Spirit to instruct us this morning in Jesus's name, Amen. All right, so we are at Genesis chapter 11. I'm not sure if you heard the ringer on my phone go off there. That was a text message coming through saying, hey, it's coffee in devotions time. So I'm gonna go ahead and turn off my ringer here. Wonderful. Here we go. So we are at Genesis chapter 11. Genesis chapter 11, beginning at verse one, and we'll read the first nine versus the other. Now the whole earth had one language and one speech and it came to pass as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plane in the land of shiner and they dwelt there. And they said to one another, Come, Let us make bricks and make them thoroughly. They had brick for stone and they had tar for mortar. And they said, Come let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top is in the heavens. Let us make a name for ourselves lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth. But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said, Indeed, the people are one. And they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do. Now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let us go down, and they're confused their language, that they may not understand one another speech. So the Lord scattered them from there from sorry, so the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. Therefore, its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there, the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth. Well, we need to ask ourselves a What is this about? Be what's the best verses summarize this and see what are we called to do in response to this? Well, this is about the nation's being filled with pride. And the Lord judging. Right this is the Tower of Babel, very popular story, very well known story. There's even a language app right now. You know, Babel. And it's going back to this. And this idea that it is God who stops with this common language. It's one family Noah's Shem, Ham and Japheth. And as we saw yesterday, in chapter 10, they go out into their different areas, and each one of them develops as their distinct dialects and how, but somehow, they all end up a group of people, a number of people end up getting to to shine our This is modern day Babylonia, and they're as they're in shiner, they decide that they're going to build a tower that reaches up to heaven. And so this is their pride. Right? This is them saying we are going to exalt ourselves and show that we are able to make it even into the highest of heavens. And so the Lord decides to come down. And it says here, I should have read it with a little bit more emphasis here. Indeed, the the Lord comes down and he's and said, Indeed, the people are one and they have one language. And this is what they begin to do now. Nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come let us go down. They're confused their language. They may not understand one another's speech. And so we find that it is the Lord who breaks down this tower by the way, it was called a ziggurat. And so it's kind of like a pyramid almost type thing. Think of a massive base with with going up in a pyramid style all the way. You can see pictures of this even in modern day, Iraq as you if you've looked up the ziggurat on Google, you'd find all sorts of pictures of ancient cigarettes. Anyways, the point being is that the Lord sees it. This is what they're going to do. He sees the pride of their hearts, and he sees the commonality of their language and he says, I gotta plan. We're gonna Nix this right now. And so he confuses their language. And so this is the way in which the Lord stops nations from being able to talk with other nations. That doesn't mean that there's an absolute, you know, 50 foot wall between the people it's not as if they couldn't learn languages, but I'll tell you what, I have yet to meet somebody. I've met some polyglots I've met people who know a number of languages, but I've never met somebody who knows every language who is able to communicate fluently in those different languages, who's able to manage the various idioms and things like that? And we see international languages that rise and fall English right now is the most common international language. But we know that that's not the case. Historically, French was before English Latin was before that. And so we find that there's a series of different language Franco's languages that are common of the day, but it's not all inclusive. We know that before Latin, Greek Koine Greek was known far and wide because of Alexander the Great's conquest of the European and Asian worlds. And so an African as well so there's, there's there's regularly been different language, Franco's languages of the region of the areas that people can talk cross borders, but even then, there have always been people unreached Germanic people didn't know, like the vast majority of Germanic people and Scandinavian people didn't know Greek or Latin and there's many people in the world today who do not understand English. And so how do you communicate? I have a friend, Edgar, who is very, very nice, a native Spanish speaker and he will travel to South America and he'll start talking to people in places in South America and be like, are you even speaking Spanish? Because he doesn't understand their dialect and it is confusing and it is difficult. Right? I have struggled to learn different languages in my life, some I've not done well with at all. And others I work out every single day my Greek and Hebrew and it is hard. And that is part of learning languages. It is hard and it is difficult and it is challenging, because there's different declensions and there's different conjugations, there's different word orders or different vocabulary. There's different idioms. It's it's tough to learn new languages, and it's because the Lord decided to do that. It is the Lord who frustrates the communication of man because if it was up to man, in the pride of our heart, we would do so many more wicked things, and exalt ourselves, even thinking we can make it unto the highest of heavens. And so the Lord frustrates that plan. The Lord in His providence makes it difficult for people to communicate. Now, what's the best verse to summarize this? Well, in my Bible, I would underline verses eight and nine so the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth, and they cease to building a city therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the earth. But if you don't have a common language, it's hard. It's difficult to talk with one another. And so they spread out and they go, I think eight nine, summarize a section well, oh, what are we called to do in responses? Well, if you're trying to learn a new language, have a little bit of humility. realize it's tough. It's difficult. If you struggle with communication, I have yet to meet a single human being in this world who does not struggle with communication with other people, while Welcome to this fallen world. But also, I think this speaks to us about our need to be humbled before the Lord. We cannot reach all the way up to heaven. We will never build a tower tall enough we will never build a skyscraper large enough. We will never make a ladder that goes up to heaven, because the heavens are the Lord's. And so as we build as we fulfill the creation or the cultural and dominion mandate, we must remember that we are not the sovereign of this universe. And that it is up to the Lord, how much progress he allows to us. It is up to the Lord. Whether or not he allows us to commit and continue to communicate well, or if he strips that blessing from us, because maybe it's not a blessing, if we're using it for ins that are meant for our own pride rather than for His glory. Well, I hope that today, what we're especially called to is to realize that the Lord does take watch over us. He does know what we're doing. He numbers, our days. He knows the work of our hands, and he judges the intents of our hearts. So do you work today, whether it's raising kids keeping a home, working on a farm, going to a factory? Do you do your work with pride, exalting yourself? Or do you labor as unto the Lord, with humility, and with an eye towards glorifying him? Let's pray. Father, we pray that we indeed would be people who in our callings in our vocations in life, wouldn't be humble and motivated by a desire to glorify you not exalt ourselves, in Jesus's name, Amen. Well, may the Lord bless you today. May you walk in the joy and peace of Jesus Christ and I'll see you next time. Bye. Transcribed by https://otter.ai