In Gen.3 Adam and Eve fell into sin and were punished with exclusion from the Garden of Eden. The in chs.6-8 God determined to destroy life from the earth by means of the flood – this too was because of human sin.

Now the passage before us this evening forms a new and complete section in the Book of Genesis. The flood has finished and life must go on. Chapter 10 talks about the distribution of Noah's descendants before chapter 11 goes on to explain just how that distribution came about.

The descendants of Adam through Noah are named in a list that contains 70 names. It is highly probable that this list is only representative and that we should understand the number 70 merely as a large number, a number that corresponds to the nations of the whole world. Later in Genesis Abraham's descendants through Jacob will number 70 as they go down into Egypt. In the NT Jesus sends out 70 of His followers to herald the gospel – a forerunner of the Great Commission where His followers will be sent to the whole world with the gospel.

Focussing upon Noah's descendants in this way serves a number of ends:

a) God's goodness is underlined as His command to multiply is being fruitfully carried out.

b) The human race is shown to be one family. How easy men find it to imagine that they belong to a race apart when divisions develop amongst men! This chapter keeps human feet firmly on the ground.

c) Problems are mentioned in this chapter – to be more fully explained in ch.11 – life goes on after the flood but with something of the same old story: sin.

d) Nimrod is introduced and described in some detail. He personifies the problems dealt with in ch.11. His very name means "we shall rebel" and he is linked to Babel where rebellion broke out in ch.11

As we turn on into ch.11 we are confronted with something much more detailed than a mere explanation of how the world came to filled with different languages and language groups.

Moses writing for the Israelites not yet in the Promised Land has some teaching of real importance and encouragement to give to God's people. The encouragements are there for us to benefit from too.

What is the Problem? vv.1-4

The chapter begins with some simple descriptions but already we are being alerted to the fact that all is not right.

In v.2 we read of men migrating away towards the East and coming to a plain called Shinar where they begin to settle.

Here two warning bells are sounded for us:

a) East – in these early chapters of Genesis movements in an eastwards direction are generally associated with the idea of going away from the LORD.

Adam was driven from Eden and cherubim were placed at the east of the garden to prevent any return.

Cain having killed his brother went away to the land of Nod, east of Eden.

So as the east is mentioned here we should probably suspect that something is wrong; some new judgment will likely not be that far off.

b) The people settle down and start to build a city for themselves.

We read that Cain had built a city for himself before the sad list of his violent descendants is given.

History is repeating itself. The people with their new technological developments want to settle down and build a city and not just any city they want one with an a great imposing tower.

It wasn't an easy thing to do. There weren't large stones available with which to build easily and quickly but that was no hindrance to them with their ingenuity and resourcefulness they could build with mud bricks and tar!! Hard work but it is what they wanted to do and so they began.

Twice the people have urged themselves to cooperate and to work together. "Come let us make bricks… Come let us build a city…"

Now what is the problem with this? Surely setting up home and settling down is normal enough and why not make full use of modern technology?

Well we need to take a closer look at just what they were doing and what their motives actually were.

In v.4 the motives become clearer:

1) Make a name for ourselves

They thought that in building a city with a huge tower reaching up to heaven they would become famous – they were working for their own personal glory. In fact God was not to figure in their plans at all.

Building a tower to reach the heavens they were seeking to become like God – the same temptation that has caught out Adam and Eve in the Garden. They were seeking to be like Him but without reference to Him, independently of Him – here was rebellion against God's authority. Do you remember Nimrod's name "we shall rebel"?

We can see this all the more clearly when we realize that in trying to make a name for they are usurping to themselves what was God's prerogative!

In the Bible it is God who makes a name for Himself!

Isaiah spoke of how God had intervened to deliver His people from Egypt and to take them through the Red Sea and He did so:

Is.63:12 "to make for himself an everlasting name,"

Nehemiah referring to this same deliverance wrote:

Neh.9:10 "And you made a name for yourself, as it is to this day."

Similarly Jeremiah:

Jer.32:20 "You have shown signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day in Israel and among all mankind, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day."

And now here were these men seeking to make a name for themselves with no reference to God at all! Pride and a desire for an earthly glory had got hold of these folk and they wanted their independence from God. The city they wanted to build had no place for the Kingdom of God – it was to celebrate their glory, the glory of man!

And this attitude has certainly not disappeared from our world has it? Think of human efforts to thrive without God. Nietzsche thought the whole idea of God was of no more value and wrote in his books "God is dead" – Nietzsche ended his days insane. The Soviet block duped by Marxist-Leninist philosophy saw religion as something to be eradicated. The Soviet block is no more but the church continues on. The Communist Party in China has tried for decades to force the church out of existence and now finds itself greatly outnumbered by Christians in China! The Albanian Constitution drawn up in 1976 declared Albania to be an atheist state – "ascientific materialistic world view" or "man's religion" was to be imposed upon its citizens – but this experiment failed and its Constitution drawn up in 1998 guarantees religious freedom!

Again and again when man sets himself proudly up before God he is brought crashing back down!

How we need to be reminded of God's word through Jeremiah:

Jer.45:5 "And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not, for behold, I am bringing disaster upon all flesh, declares the LORD."

But we shouldn't think of God as selfishly negative – not one bit! In Gen.12:2 He promises to take Abram and make his name great.

In 2Sam.7:9 it's David's turn to benefit.

And of course the crowning climax comes with our Lord Jesus Christ – Phil.2:9-11!

God will work to secure the success of His promises and Christ comes as the Promised seed. Man tries to exclude God from his city but God will have His Kingdom come! And that is good for man!!!

2) The second motive that is mentioned in v.4 concerns man's desire not to be dispersed upon the earth. And here his rebellion is open and flagrant.

What are these people doing in settling down in Shinar? They are acting in open rebellion towards God. Do you remember what the command was that the LORD had renewed to Noah and his family when they had come out of the ark? He had told them to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. (see Gen.9:1) but these people didn't want to fill the earth they wanted to huddle together and pursue what they perceived to be their own comfort and security.

Doubtless having a huge tower would help – if any of them wandered away for a distance they'd be able to find their way safely back by looking to the tower and running to it in danger! But the Bible tells us something rather different:

Prov.18:10 "The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe."

Far better to trust the LORD and do His bidding than to trust in one's own cleverness and so-called wisdom!

The Lord's Response vv.5-9

Such wilful rebellion does not go long unpunished. And how good God is to do what He does!

These men were trying to build a world where the Kingdom of God would have no place. And how dangerous such places become! Conformity presses in and any dissenting voices are suppressed – do you remember the gulags of Stalin's time? Don't we find such worrying tendencies creeping forward in our own day as the so-called liberal consensus whittles away at our Christian liberties?

So God intervenes – the rebellion has been allowed to go on for a certain time but enough is enough.

Twice now the text speaks of the LORD coming down:

v.5 "The LORD came down to look at the city and the tower…"

And this was supposed to be a tower reaching up to the heavens! It is so small and insignificant that the LORD has to come down even to see it! Do you see the bitter irony of these words? How big man thinks his projects and ideas are – but in the sight of God they are really very paltry indeed.

v.6 "Come, let us go down and there confuse their language…"

Again man in his pride and arrogant rebellion thinks he knows a thing or two. After all he's making a name for himself isn't he? And what happens? The LORD doesn't even need to destroy the tower. All He needs to do is to introduce a little confusion – and communication breaks down. Arrogant man is cut down to size as his babbling can't be understood by another and the whole project collapses.

And God has intervened to stop things getting too "out of hand".

The Babylonians thought the name of their city meant the "gate of god" – but the LORD has another name for it – Babel or confusion.

Application

What were the Israelites to make of this story that Moses recorded for them? And what are we to make of it? What can we learn from it all?

Well, when the Israelites were sending the spies into the land of Canaan the report came back that the land was not only occupied but fortified too. How on earth were they to be able to take possession of the Promised Land.

The cities were well fortified too – we read the report in

Deut.1:28 "Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying, “The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven."

But wait… wasn't the tower in Babel to go up to heaven and that didn't cause any problem to the LORD…

Later the Israelites would be in captivity in cruel Babylon which thought of itself as the centre of the world's culture. A place of pleasure, pride and boasting. A place of sin and persecution. In fact Babylon epitomises the city of man. But the city of man doesn't defeat the Kingdom of God. Israel is freed from its capitivity.

Read on into the NT – Babylon falls again in the Book of Revelation. In that book it is not Babylon's tower that reaches up to heaven but its sin and it's fall is accompanied by the joyous worship of heaven!!

The confusion of languages stops men from successfully opposing the Kingdom of God and even this confusion is overturned by the gospel.

Zeph.3:9-13 "“For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the LORD and serve him with one accord. From beyond the rivers of Cush my worshipers, the daughter of my dispersed ones, shall bring my offering. “On that day you shall not be put to shame because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against me; for then I will remove from your midst your proudly exultant ones, and you shall no longer be haughty in my holy mountain. But I will leave in your midst a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the LORD, those who are left in Israel; they shall do no injustice and speak no lies, nor shall there be found in their mouth a deceitful tongue."

Isaiah writes in a similar vein in Is.19.

And what do we find at Pentecost? Men from a wide variety of nations each hear the gospel spoken in their own language as the Spirit comes upon the church enabling witness to be powerfully born to Jesus Christ. Amen.