#34 "One Nation Not Under God" Genesis 11

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said, "come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 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 earth." And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 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. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech." So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 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. Genesis 11:1-9 ESV

When I was a young man this is one of the passages I would refer to, in my defense, that though I believed God to exist, the Bible was not His word. It was reaching, I admit, but I was wanting to build my own tower and Genesis 10:31 had already mentioned languages. Instead of reading through to the amplification of origin in 11:1, I tried rather hard to place it in the realm of contradiction. I think many of the commentaries I've read about Peleg flow into this also. I believe, for myself, that just like the writing style in so much of the rest of Genesis, "for in his days the earth was divided", refers to the dividing of people we will see by account in Genesis 11.

Why did it bother the Lord that the whole earth had the same language? The defiance was not in being of one language, but He had commanded them in Gen. 9:1, "be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth." They had chosen to stay and build a tower instead. This was most likely under the direction of Nimrod as described in Josephus' commentary in post #32. So why did they need to disperse? Well as one writer puts it, the checks and balances were not there, and by confusing the languages and dispersing the people, God also protected them. It was easy in this world for one leader to rise up and communicate with all. This is not the first instance of this and the world has returned to the corruption that was found prior to the flood. Remember Eve's visitor in the garden? "You shall not surely die,' and 'you shall be as gods." Pride has not gone anywhere; but now it is focused, and the whole world has, in its wisdom, decided to build a tower, a monument to man and their independence from God. All over the world since that time rulers have come up and tried to conquer the whole of humanity, to bring the earth under one common rule. There are many towers, many monuments to the pride and wisdom of men. The Bible is full of such stories, and history does not deny this mindset either. Power easily corrupts, in government, in business and even in the church.

"To you it is commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, you shall fall down and worship the gold image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up; and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace." Daniel 3: 4-6

Remember the cold war? There were countries, and still are to this day, that felt as though religion was evil and that people's loyalties should not be to a God, but rather to the state. Many people from many different types of religious backgrounds were killed, imprisoned, ostracized or had to flee because they would not recant.

The Roman Catholic church became it's own state and government, which returned people to the law, instead of grace. We put up priests in the place of Christ, and crafted a man made form of holiness, that forbade them to marry. The church sold indulgences, and kept the word of God hidden, blocking the door to those who would hear the truth. God is gracious though, and His checks and balances gave rise to men like Martin Luther and the Reformation. There has been, for the last few hundred years, a country founded on religious freedom. It has been the check and balance for many to know of the grace of God, and to escape persecution elsewhere. 

Now the whole earth had one language - They all came from the 8 people who were in the ark. These were unified in language, heritage, and one man, Nimrod, has stood up to be their leader. Many still long for this and cry it up in our day, preaching unity, ecumenical oneness in religion, even at the price of the truth. It is popular though to come under one banner, one world government, one religion, as they say, to co-exist. 

5“Lord,” said Thomas, “we do not know where You are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. 7If you had known Me, you would know My Father as well. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.”… John 14: 5-7

18If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first. 19If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. 20Remember the word that I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they kept My word, they will keep yours as well.… John 15: 18-20

A tower with it's tops in the heaven - This tower is called a ziggurat, and it's interesting because you can trace the migrations of different people groups throughout the world, finding these towers in Mesopotamia, China, the pyramids of Egypt, the Mayans in Mexico, and the mounds of north American Indians as well. Tower of Babel with Bodie Hodge

Let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the earth - God had told them to spread out, to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth, but instead they come together to defy Him. Human autonomy is a funny thing, no one makes themselves, they only procreate as designed, yet in our fallen state we hate the idea of a sovereign God. Nothing new under the sun, men have long thought that they could better govern themselves then be governed by the Creator of the Universe, yet they were also designed to worship, and since they hate God and love what He hates, they make up gods after there own vain imaginations. 

What was going on here? Rebellion – rebellion against the true God. What were they building? They were building a monument to man. This was the first great humanistic enterprise. Verse 4, “Let us make for ourselves a name.” But it was more than just humanistic; it was religious. What they were building in this tower was called a ziggurat. You may have read that name if you read ancient history. And on the top of a ziggurat was placed, would you believe, the sign of the zodiac. Priests were then ordained who by the use of the ancient zodiac were supposed to chart the course of the stars and therefore gain spiritual wisdom and read the future. This was defiant rebellion against the true and only God. - J Mac from GTY Revelations 17

…6Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood will be shed; for in His own image God has made mankind. 7But as for you, be fruitful and multiply; spread out across the earth and multiply upon it.” 8Then God said to Noah and his sons with him,… Genesis 9: 6-8

Behold, they are one people - They have not dispersed, but as some point out, they have built a city for it's social aspect, and as a tribute to their ability. We come together today in cities, states and countries partly for protection from other people groups, but they were one people, so that was not an issue. This was more in defiance of God, and the tower was a monument to themselves and their own religious system. Nimrod is the father of Babel and the archetype for future antichrist, political figures who will want to conquer the world through violence and misinformation. They said, "let us make a name for ourselves", which is pride, not wanting to recognize God as Lord. Remember, this is probably happening no more than a hundred years after the flood; men are lifting themselves up against God, defying His direction, thinking more highly of themselves than they ought.

And this is only the beginning of what they will do - This is most of the world at that time openly defying God and coming under the direction of one dictator. Babel is a city, but it will also become known as Babylon, the whore, mother of every false religion. There is no one among mankind to stop this evil, no one to even slow it down. When it calls Nimrod a mighty hunter, I think the best way to look at that is "a killer", like Hitler, like Stalin, and like Nebuchadnezzar, who will come from here. If God does not intervene to their mercy then the abominations will reach to the fullness of His wrath, history will end. He has made them, human kind, remarkable in their abilities. They were made in His image, having a sense of the creative, developing technology, but in their falleness it is misguided, deluded and arrogant. 

“This is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.” Because nobody’s going to stop them. Nobody is going to stop them. I mean part of the freedoms that we enjoy right now today, in America, are due to the fact that when Hitler wanted to rule the world, somebody stopped him. But if it was one people and one world and one leader, nobody could stop him. That’s not helpful. The checks and balances system in the world, even on a national scale, is part of a grace – a common grace that God has given to restrain unilateral evil. And since you had an evil world, they would choose an evil leader, be dominated by an evil leader, and there would be absolutely nothing to stop that wickedness.

Adolph Hitler wanted to rule the world. Obviously it would have been a disaster of all disasters. The same with any world conqueror, all of whom had evil ambition. So, people gave their lives to stop his efforts, and the efforts of Stalin and others, in order to create a measure of restraint, and justice, and freedom, and peace on the Earth. - J Mac on Genesis 11

…29Twelve months later, as he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, 30the king exclaimed, “Is this not Babylon the Great, which I myself have built by the might of my power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” 31While the words were still in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven: “It is decreed to you, King Nebuchadnezzar, that the kingdom has departed from you.… Daniel 4: 29-31

Come, let us go down - "let us burn bricks, let us build a city, let us make a name for ourselves", the people said this three times, and now the Triune God says, "let us go down and there confuse their language", and God undoes this one world order in a moment, and throughout history different people have been trying to bring it all back to this place of unity once again, under one rule and having one mind, opposed to God. Some will even do it in the name of God. 

So the Lord dispersed them - They wouldn't do what He told them to do of their own, and yet He is God so now they are spreading out, just as every knee will bow and every tongue confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. It is like a Cambrian explosion of language, the start of cultures and ethnicities, and just like the Ziggurats have left a trail around the world that points back to Babylon, so have the languages and people groups.

Flood Myths

1. Across our planet there are over 200 flood myths from different people groups that describe a world wide flood. 

2. Look at the ancient Chinese vocabulary character for boat. It is a container, the number eight and the symbol for people. That sounds familiar, like the story everyone at Babel would have known from first hand survivors of the flood, those 8 people who were in the ark that God told Noah to build.

3. We don't see more languages being created now, in fact, we see languages disappearing. English is prominent because of business, so is Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish. The "evolutionary" tree for language, like genetics, looks more upside down. God did it instantly.

4. I use to think that there being so many religions in the world pointed to none of them being real, just superstition of the slowly evolving and developing mind, but the similarities may suggest something else. God created the world as the Bible says, He created man, mankind fell in Adam, everyone comes from Adam and Eve, so we share the same first parents. Science also backs this up, that everyone alive today comes from one race, the human race. Differences in melanin levels are just shades on the same color spectrum, which means we have more in common than different. We all worship and have a theology of sorts, whether ourselves as humanist, nature, atheism is still an opinion about God, one of the many isms, or Biblical Christianity. I believe now that we all share the same story, a heritage of being fallen, separated from God, depraved, and in that depravity we come up with our own stories, towers, hopes and religions, but I believe the Bible to be God's word and His graciousness in setting the story straight. 

5. Not only are we fallen in Adam, but everyone alive today is related to Noah and his family. This would mark a huge decline in available genetic material, since only eight people survived the flood, and the years that men lived quickly declined thereafter. It also appears to be a source or origin for ancestor worship, which continues to this day. Keep in mind, when God confounded the languages, when I say apple, you say manzana, and she says pomme, we are all talking about the same thing.

Examples: Nimrod becomes Marduk which becomes Bel

According to the historian, Eusebius, Nimrod's wife was Semiramis. Some traditions hold her as the mother of Tammuz. She claimed that when Nimrod died he was later resurrected as the sun god, and his rays caused the baby Tammuz to form inside of her. 

Tammuz is Dumuzi is Adonis in the Greek culture.

Tammuz's lover is Innana is Ishtar is Astarte and since they were astrologers her planet was Venus which is also her name in Roman culture. In Greece she is Aphrodite.

Ishtar was the consort of the supreme god, El, and El is also a generic word for god which can be associated with descriptors.

Ra is another name for the sun god in Egypt, believed to rule in sky, earth and underworld. 

Ancestor worship can be traced back to here as well:

One of the sons of Japheth was Tubal which translated into Jubel, Jobel, Atlas and Iberes. He was also given a planet called Pluto, a Greek god, which is no longer a planet. Iberes is root to Iberian peninsula and Tubal to the Tobol river. One of his sons is Gibraltar.

It is interesting as well, that God introduces the Seed of the woman in Genesis 3. Now, I don't pretend to know the mind of the devil, but he is evil and pride was his downfall, he tried to take that glory which did not belong to him. He is still a thief in that respect, coming to kill, to steal and destroy. When he tempted Eve in the garden, and she disobeyed God, and her husband followed her in this, choosing his wife over God, it would seem that this is it. When Satan fell God cast him out of heaven, and now here are these creatures, that God made in His image, but a little lower than the angels, and God has said, in the day you eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall surely die. If God is just, then He owes mankind one thing, and that is death. If this was a game of chess, then in Satan's mind this must be checkmate, right, they ate the fruit. But instead, God curses the serpent, He curses the ground for Adam, and increases the woman's pain in child birth. Who is this seed though? It is the promise of God's Son, it is the beginning of redemptive history, and the bane of Satan. He will attack the Triune God by trying to stop the seed from coming. This happens often, even in Jesus time with Herod, in Moses time with Pharaoh's decree, David's line is almost lost at the hands of murderous Queen Athaliah. Those are physical attacks, but he attacks it constantly through counterfeit religions and false gospels. He attacks it through political systems, humanism, like the prophet Balaam, he attacks it from within. 

17The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in Your name.” 18So He told them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19Behold, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will harm you.… Luke 10: 17-19

14So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and every beast of the field! On your belly will you go, and dust you will eat, all the days of your life. 15And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Genesis 3: 14-15

In fact, the Bible traces all false religions back to – where? - Babylon. Babylon - Revelation 17, Revelation 18. They had rejected the true God. They had developed belief in false gods. Babylonian mystery cults developed from this and spread over the whole world. You got a Babylonian mystery cult, a Babel mystery cult – that’s the worship of false gods; that’s a system of idolatry in Babel. And when God scatters them all, this was not a revival spiritually; they just took bits and pieces of that false religion and spread it all over the Earth. And that’s why Scripture indicates in Revelation 17:5 that all the false religions of the world find their way back to Babel. Even the form of religion that characterizes Antichrist at the end of the age, Revelation 18, is called Babylon. Babylon.

The gods of Rome, the gods and goddesses of Greece, India, Egypt, the original pantheon of the Babylonians all sort of comes from Babel. One historian says, “Nimrod himself was apparently deified as the chief god Marduk of later Babylon.” So, here they turn Nimrod into a god in later worship in Babylon. And they built a tower not to reach – that’s not, as I said, in the Hebrew; rather, it says, “‘whose top is’” – in/with/on/or by – “‘heaven.’” It simply means it’s dedicated to the heavenly gods. - J Mac

…4The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls. She held in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. 5And on her forehead a mysterious name was written: BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 6I could see that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and witnesses for Jesus. And I was utterly amazed at the sight of her.…  Revelation 17: 4-6