#4 Gen 10:1-11:26; 1Chron 1:5-27

Summary:

Chapter ten concerns itself with the offspring of Noah’s three sons and the seventy ancient nations that sprang from them. In Chapter eleven we encounter another “fall” of man at the tower of Babel. The story of Babel is structured chaistically, which means that the second half of the story corresponds to the first half, in reverse order. This is a common literary structure in the Bible.

A. The whole earth has one language (v.1)
    B. Settled there (v.2)
        C. Said to one another (v. 3)
            D. Come, let us build a city and tower (v.4)
                E. Lord Came Down (v. 5)
            D’. City and tower that man had built (v. 5)
        C’. Confuse their speech (v.7)
    B’. Scattered from there (v.8)
A’. Confused the language of the whole earth (v. 9).

The whole story turns on the Lord coming down. This teaches us that God is the decisive actor in the history of the world. Man proposes, but God disposes. The men who settled in Babylon (meaning the Gate of God) aspired to build a mountain that would reach the heavens. This would not only make them famous and earn them a reputation for greatness throughout the world, but would also be a point of contact between heaven and earth.

There is humor in this story because the men who thought they were building a tower into the heavens. God responds by saying, let us go down and see what they are doing. Their ambitious plans were no where close to accomplishing their objective. God puts a stop to the building by confusing their language and so Babylon (the gate of God) becomes Babel (confusion) and the people are scattered. Later we will learn that a true point of contact between heaven and earth will be established in dramatic fashion. However, it will not be built from earth to heaven, but will be a ladder let down from heaven to earth. Jesus is the true and living way and no one comes to the Father except by Him.

Questions to ponder:

• Where was the tower of Babel being built and does this explain why they built a tower instead of climbing a mountain?
• Which of Noah’s sons did Abram descend from?