Genesis 11:1-9 The Tower of Babel (Deuteronomy 32:8; Acts 2:1-13)
“Now the whole world had one language and a common form of speech. And as people journeyed eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” So they used brick instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar. “Come,” they said, “let us build for ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens, that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of all the earth.”
Then the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men were building. And the LORD said, “If they have begun to do this as one people speaking the same language, then nothing they devise will be beyond them. Come, let Us go down and confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”
So the LORD scattered them from there over the face of all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it is called Babel,(Confusion) for there the LORD confused the language of the whole world, and from that place the LORD scattered them over the face of all the earth.”
“Now the whole world had one language and a common form of speech. And as people journeyed eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” So they used brick instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar. “Come,” they said, “let us build for ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens, that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of all the earth.”
When Noah and his family got off the ark, God commanded them to be fruitful and to multiply and to fill the entire earth. Fulfilling this commandment would mean scattering and becoming isolated. The lure of the familiar is very strong, and these people are no exception. Rather than spreading out, these folks are trying to clump together in a single metropolis, rebelling against God as they do so. And they are building a monument to themselves, “that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of all the earth.” Clearly, these people are more worried about their reputations than about God’s will for their lives. And clearly, they also are anticipating some kind of divine retribution. You might think that after a flood that wiped out everything on earth that wasn’t in the ark, these people would know better. But the ability of human beings to delude themselves is almost unlimited.
Years ago, Rebecca Pippert wrote an excellent book on evangelism entitled Out of the Salt Shaker and Into the World:Evangelism as a Way of Life. This book pointed out the fact that when we clump together in churches, nobody outside the church will hear the good news of Jesus Christ. The last commandment Jesus gave his disciples was to be his witnesses ”in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) Shortly after Jesus went into heaven, the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples and nothing was ever the same again.
“Then the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men were building. And the LORD said, “If they have begun to do this as one people speaking the same language, then nothing they devise will be beyond them. Come, let Us go down and confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” In the beginning, there is only one language, and communication is simple. But these people are bent on going their own way, not God’s way. There is no indication that they have any interest in worshiping God; instead, they are busy building and inventing. Archaeology has proven that there were brilliant ancient people who devised all kinds of sophisticated instruments for astronomy and mathematics. Who knows what these people might develop? Perhaps without this confusion of speech, the atomic bomb would have existed millennia earlier.
“So the LORD scattered them from there over the face of all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it is called Babel,(Confusion) for there the LORD confused the language of the whole world, and from that place the LORD scattered them over the face of all the earth.” How did God scatter these people? Lacking a common language, people began feeling very uncomfortable with their neighbors. No matter how hard they tried to convince themselves that everything they tried to get along, they simply could not communicate. Far better to move!
God can send a divine restlessness in our spirits so that we are unable to remain in comfortable situations. In the fall of 1985, my husband and I began feeling incredibly uncomfortable for no reason. I had completed pediatric surgery training and was working, making more money than ever before. My husband had a job he enjoyed. We were attending a good church where we had many friends and were enjoying excellent teaching. We should have been very happy; yet, we felt quite uncomfortable. That was when my husband met a missionary surgeon friend who put us in touch with his mission. When we completed the application papers and submitted them, we began feeling some relief. Although that mission did not accept us as missionaries for doctrinal reasons, we had begun the move toward the mission field and felt a release within ourselves. Eventually, God led us to a mission and we came to Ghana nearly three years later.
Communication is vitally important. We work in northern Ghana in an area that is a linguistic patchwork quilt. We might go through 5 or 6 languages in the course of an average day in our outpatient department. Sometimes we scramble to find native speakers of unusual dialects so that we can communicate clearly. I speak two tribal languages poorly and have phrases in two more; however, sometimes my best communication is through hand gestures. (The nurses derive lots of entertainment from those hand gestures!) Since Ghana is a former British colony, the English spoken here has a British accent and not an American one. I find it helpful to advise new staff that they will not offend me if they ask me to repeat or to explain something.
How hard do we try to communicate with others? American tourists are infamous for assuming that they can make themselves understood in other countries if they simply SPEAK LOUD ENOUGH!!! Of course, this ploy doesn’t work and only makes the speaker appear ridiculous and insensitive. But clear communication depends on listening as well as speaking. How willing are we to listen to others before jumping in with our contribution? Communication is a two-way affair; otherwise, the speaker is only delivering a monologue with no anticipation of any response from the other individual.
There is another sad aspect of the short story of Babel: nowhere is there any indication that people asked God for direction, or that they consulted God in any fashion. We rarely attend prayer meetings anymore because most of the time, people are busy screaming at God as loudly and rapidly as possible. Sometimes the screamers claim they are waging spiritual warfare; however, it is God who has the power and not us, and God is not deaf, nor are demons impressed with noise. When God was trying to gain the attention of the prophet Samuel as a child, Samuel said, “Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening.” After that, Samuel was quiet and allowed God to speak into his heart. If we are unwilling to be quiet and to listen to God, how can we expect to hear anything from Him?
If we want peace, we must communicate with God and with others effectively. May God help us to listen more than we speak!
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to listen to You and to others, knowing that You are the Source of all effective communication. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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