The Tower of
Babel
by Berry
Kercheville
“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” (Gen. 11:4).
The story of the
tower of Babel is one of the most well-known childhood stories (Gen 11:1-9). But
its significance is far greater than often supposed. Let’s start with some of
the points of interest about the story.
First, we see that
the whole earth had one language and the same words (indicating that not only
was the language the same but no dialects had developed). Having one language
created a unifying effect and a desire to be dominant in the world. Notice they
believed that building the tower would give them a reputation in the earth and
would be a rallying point so that they would not be scattered away from each
other.
It has often been taught
in Sunday school classes that the people wanted to create a tower so that they
could reach up to heaven and see God. But “heaven” in this context is simply
referring to the sky or our immediate atmosphere. These people are not so
foolish to think that the heaven where God resides is materially so close that
they could reach it. Reaching God is not the point.
In fact, the point is
quite the opposite. They are not interested in God; they are interested in
exalting themselves and getting others to be impressed with them. This is
exactly the reason God was displeased with them. Instead of God being their
focus and rallying point, they created themselves as their own god and desired
the world to worship and honor them. The fact that “nothing they propose to do
would be impossible for them” indicates the carnal and worldly direction they
were headed.
How simply we read
that God confused their language so that they could not understand one another’s
speech. In other words, God created a number of other languages and immediately
and miraculously infused these new speeches into the minds and tongues of a
variety of groups of people resulting in dispersing them across the face of the
earth. The result was the origin of the name “Babel” (similar to the Hebrew
sound, which means “confused”).
Therefore, instead of man
“evolving” from apes and cavemen who made grunting sounds until they gradually
were able to form words and eventually a language, God made His imprint on the
whole world through the creation of the original language and then at Babel the
creation of numerous languages. From these languages came a variety of
nationalities and races of people as they married within their own language
base.
To this day
mankind still has the desire to make much of themselves instead of honoring God.
And just as in the story of Babel, man without God as His focal point, defeats
himself and his own purposes.
“Let us hear
the conclusion of the whole matter: fear God and keep His commandments, for this
is man's all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every
secret thing, whether good or evil” (Ecc. 12:13-14).
Home Page