EXPOSITION
And the whole earth. I.e. the entire population of the globe, and not simply the inhabitants of the land of Shinar (Ingiis; cf. Genesis 9:29). Was. Prior to the dispersion spoken of in the preceding chapter, though obviously it may have been subsequent to that event, if, as the above-named author believes, the present paragraph refers to the Shemites alone. Of one language. Literally, of one lip, i.e. one articulation, or one way of pronouncing their vocables. And of one speech. Literally, one (kind of) words, i.e. the matter as well as the form of human speech was the same. The primitive language was believed by the Rabbins, the Fathers, and the older theologians to be Hebrew; but Keil declares this view to be utterly untenable. Bleek shows that the family of Abraham spoke in Aramaic (cf. Jegar-sahadutha, Genesis 31:47), and that the patriarch himself acquired Hebrew from the Canaanites, who may themselves have adopted it from the early Semites whom they displace& While regarding neither the Aramaic, Hebrew, nor Arabic as the original tongue of mankind, he thinks the Hebrew approaches nearest the primitive Semite language out of which all three were developed.
And it came to pass, as they journeyed. Literally, in their journeyings. The root (גָקַע, to pull up, as, e.g; the stakes of a tent when a camp moves, Isaiah 33:20) suggests the idea of the migration of nomadic hordes (cf. Genesis 12:9; Genesis 33:17). From the east. Ab oriente (Ancient Versions, Calvin, et alii), meaning either that they started from Armenia, which was in the east respectu terrae Canaan (Luther), or from that portion of the Assyrian empire which was east of the Tigris, and called Orientalis, as distinguished from the Occidentalis on the west (Bochart); or that they first traveled westwards, following the direction of the Euphrates in one of its upper branches (Bush); or that, having roamed to the east of Shinar, they ultimately returned occidentem versus (Junius). The phrase, however, is admitted to be more correctly rendered ad orientem (Drusius, Lange, Keil, Murphy), as in Genesis 13:11. Kalisch interprets generally in oriente, agreeing with Luther that the migrations are viewed by the writer as taking place in the east; while T. Lewis prefers to read from one front part (the original meaning of kedem) to another—onwards. That they found a plain בִּקְעָה; not a valley between mountain ranges, as in Deuteronomy 8:7; Deuteronomy 11:11; Psalms 104:8, but a widely-extended plain (πεδιìον, LXX.), like that in which Babylon was situated (Herod; lib. 1:178, κεìεται ἐν πεδιῳ μεγαìλῳ; cf. Strabo, lib. 2.109). In the land of Shinar. Babylonia (cf. Genesis 10:10). The derivation of the term is unknown (Gesenius), though it probably meant the land of the two rivers (Alford). Its absence from ancient monuments (Rawlinson) suggests that it was the Jewish name for Chaldaea. And they dwelt there.
And they said one to another. Literally, a man to his neighbor; ἀìνθρωπος τῷ πλησιìον αὐτοῦ (LXX.). Go to. A hortatory expletive—come on (Anglice). Let us make brick. Nilbenah lebenim; literally, let us brick bricks; πλινθευìσωμεν πλιìνθους (LXX.); laterifecimus lateres (Calvin); lebenah (from laban, to be white), being so called from the white and chalky day of which bricks were made. And burn them thoroughly. Literally, burn them to a burning; venisrephah lisrephah, a second alliteration, which, however, the LXX. fails to reproduce. Bricks were usually sun-dried; these, being designed to be more durable, were to be calcined through the agency of fire, a proof that the tower-builders were acquainted with the art of brick-making. And they had—literally, and there was to theme—brick for stone. Chiefly because of the necessities of the place, the alluvial plain of Babylon being void of stones and full of clay; a proof of the greatness of their crime, seeing they were induced to undertake the work non facilitate operis, nec aliis commodis, quae se ad manum offerrent (Calvin); scarcely because bricks would better endure fire than would stones, the second destruction of the world by fire rather than water being by this time a common expectation (Com a Lapide). Josephus, 'Ant; lib. 1. cp. 4; Heroin, lib. 1. cp. 179; Justin, lib. 1. cp. 2; Ovid, ' Metam.,' 4.4; and Aristoph. in Avibus (περιτευχιìζειν μεγαìλαις πλιìνθοις ὀπταῖς ὡìσπερ Βαβυλῶνα), all attest that the walls of Babylon were built of brick. The mention of the circumstance that brick was used instead of stone "indicates a writer belonging to a country and an age in which stone buildings were familiar, and therefore not to Babylonia" (Murphy). And slime. Chemer, from chamar, to boil up; ἀìσφαλτος (LXX.); the bitumen which boils up from subterranean fountains like oil or hot pitch in the vicinity of Babylon, and also near the Dead Sea (lacus asphaltites). Tacitus, ' Hist.,' 5.6; Strabo, 16. p. 743; Herod; lib. h c. 179; Josephus, 'Antiq.,' lib. 1. c. 41 Pliny, lib. 35. 100. 15; Vitruvius, lib. 8. c. 3, are unanimous in declaring that the brick walls of Babylon were cemented with bitumen. Layard testifies that so firmly have the bricks been united that it is almost impossible to detach one from the mass. Had they. Literally, was to them. For mortar. Chomer. The third instance of alliteration in the present verse; possibly designed by the writer to represent the enthusiasm of the builders.
And they said. Being impelled by their success in making bricks for their dwellings (Lange), though the resolution to be mentioned may have been the cause of their brick-making (Bush). Go to, let us build us a city. Cf. Genesis 4:17, which represents Cain as the first city builder. And a tower. Not as a distinct erection, but as forming a part, as it were the Acre-polls, of the city (Bochart). Whose top may reach unto heaven. Literally, and his head in the heavens, a hyperbolical expression for a tower of great height, as in Deuteronomy 1:28; Deuteronomy 9:1 (cf. Homer, 'Odys,' 5:239, ἐλαìτη τ η}n ou)ranomh&khj). This tower is commonly identified with the temple of Belus, which Herodotus describes as being quadrangular (two stadia each way), and having gates of brass, with a solid tower in the middle, consisting of eight sections, each a stadium in height, placed one above another, ascended by a spiral staircase, and having in the top section a spacious temple with a golden table and a well-furnished bed. Partially destroyed by Xerxes, it was attempted unsuccessfully to be rebuilt by Alexander the Great; but the remaining portion of the edifice was known to be in existence five centuries later, and was sufficiently imposing to be recognized as the temple of Belus (Pliny, 6.30). The site of this ancient tower is supposed by George Smith to be covered by the ruin "Babil," a square mound about 200 yards each way, in the north of the city; and that of the tower of Babel to be occupied by the ruin Birs-Nimrod (situated six miles south-west of Hillah, which is about forty miles west of Bagdad), a tower consisting of seven stages, said by inscriptions on cylinders extracted from the ruin to have been "the Temple of the Seven Planets, which had been partially built by a former king of Babylon, and, having fallen into decay, was restored and completed by Nebuchadnezzar". It is, however, prima facie, unlikely that either Babil or Birs-Nimrod is the exact site of Babel. The original building was never finished, and may not have attained any great dimensions. Perhaps the most that can be said is that these existing mounds enable us to picture what sort of erection the tower of Babel was to be. And let us make a name, שֵׁם; neither an idol temple, שֵם being = God, which it never is without the article, הַשֵׁם—cf. Le Deuteronomy 24:11 (Jewish writers); nor a monument, as in 2 Samuel 8:13 (Clericus); nor a metropolis, reading אֵם instead of שֵׁם, as in 2 Samuel 20:19 (Clericus); nor a tower that might serve as a sign to guide the wandering nomads and guard them against getting lost when spread abroad with their flocks, as in 2 Samuel 8:13; Isaiah 55:13 (Perizonius, Dathe, Ilgen); but a name, a reputation, as in 2 Samuel 8:13; Isaiah 63:12, Isaiah 63:14; Jeremiah 32:20; Daniel 9:15 (Luther, Calvin, Rosenmüller, Keil, Lange, Murphy, Wordsworth, Kalisch). This was the first impelling motive to the erection of the city and tower. The offspring of ambition, it was designed to spread abroad their fame usque ad ultimos terrarum fines (Calvin). According to Philo, each man wrote his name upon a brick before he built it in. The second was to establish a rallying point that might serve to maintain their unity. Lest we be scattered abroad. Lest—antequam, προÌ, before that, as if anticipating that the continuous increase of population would necessitate their dispersion (LXX; Vulgute), or as if determined to distinguish themselves before surrendering to the Divine command to spread themselves abroad (Luther); but the more exact rendering of פֵן is μηì, ne, lest, introducing an apodosis expressive of something to be avoided by a preceding action, but the execution of the Divine purpose intimated in Genesis 9:1, and perhaps recalled to their remembrance by Noah (Usher), or by Sham (Wordsworth), or by Eber (Candlish); and what the builders aimed at was resistance to the Divine will. Upon the face of the whole earth. Over the entire surface of the globe, and not simply over the land of Shiner (Inglis), or over the immediate region in which they dwelt (Clericus,. Dathe, et alii, ut supra).
And the Lord came down. Not in visible form, as in Exodus 19:20; Exodus 34:5 (Onkelos), but "effectu ostendens se propin quiorem quem absentem esse judicabant" (Poole), an anthropomorphism (cf. Genesis 18:21; Psalms 144:5). "It is measure for measure (par pari). Let us build up, say they, and scale the heavens. Let us go down, says God, and defeat their impious thought" (Rabbi Schelomo, quoted by T. Lewis). To see (with a view to judicial action) the city and the tower which the children of men—sons of Adam; neither the posterity of Cain, i.e. the Hamites exclusively, as the Sethites were called sons of God, Genesis 6:2, nor wicked men in general (Junius, Piscator), imitators of Adam, i.e. rebellantes Deo (Mode, Lyre), since then the Shemites would not have been participators in the undertaking (Drusius), which some think, to have been their work exclusively (Inglis); but the members of the human race, or at least their leaders—builded.
And the Lord said—within himself, and to himself (vide Genesis 11:8); expressive of the formation of a Divine resolution (cf. Genesis 6:7)—Behold, the people—עַס, from root signifying to bind together, expresses the idea of association; גּוֹי, from a root signifying to swell (Lange), to flow together (Gesenius), to gather together (Furst), conveys the notion of a confluxus hominum. T. Lewis connects it with the sense of interiority, or exclusion, which is common in the Chaldee and Syriac—is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do. One race, one tongue, one purpose. The words indicate unity of effort, as well as concentration of design, on the part of the builders, and a certain measure of success in the achievement of their work. And now nothing will be restrained from them. Literally, there will not be cut off from them anything; οὐκ ἐκλειìψει ἀπ αὐτῶν παìντα (LXX.); non desistent a cogitationibus suis (Vulgate, Luther); i.e. nothing will prove too hard for their dating. It can hardly imply that their impious design was on the eve of completion. Which they have imagined to do.
Go to. An ironical contrast to the "Go to" of the builders (Lange). Let us (cf. Genesis 1:26) go down, and there confound their language (vide infra, Genesis 11:9), that they may not understand (literally, hear; so Genesis 42:23; Isaiah 36:11; 1 Corinthians 14:2) one another's speech. Not referring to individuals (singuli homines), since then society were impossible, but to families or nations (singulae cognationes), which each had its own tongue (Poole).
So (literally, and) the Lord scattered them abroad (as the result of the confusion of their speech) upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. I.e. as a united community, which does not preclude the idea of the Babylonians subsequently finishing the structure.
Therefore is the name of it called Babel. For Balbel, confusion (συìγχυσις, LXX; Josephus), from Balal, to confound; the derivation given by the sacred writer in the following clause (cf. for the elision of the letter l, totaphah for tophtaphah, Exodus 13:16, and cochav for covcav, Genesis 37:9). Other derivations suggested are Bab-Bel, the gate or court of Bolus (Eichhorn, Lange), an explanation of the term which Furst thinks not impossible, and Kalisch declares "can scarcely be overlooked;" and Babil, the gate of God (Rosenmüller, Gesenius, Colenso); but the first is based upon a purely mythical personage, Bel, the imaginary founder of the city; and the second, if even it were supported by evidence, which it is not, is not so likely as that given by Moses. Because the Lord did there confound—how is not explained, but has been conjectured to be by an entirely inward process, viz; changing the ideas associated with words (Koppen); by a process wholly outward, viz.. an alteration of the mode of pronouncing words (Hoffman), though more probably by both (Keil), or possibly by the first insensibly leading to the second—the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them. As the result not simply of their growing discord, dissensio animorum, per quam factum sit, ut qui turrem struehant distracti sint in contraria studia et consilia (Vitringa); but chiefly of their diverging tongues—a statement which is supposed to conflict with the findings of modem philology, that the existing differences of language among mankind are the result of slow and gradual changes brought about by the operation of natural causes, such as the influence of locality in changing and of time in corrupting human speech. But
(1) modern philology has as yet only succeeded in explaining the growth of what might be called the sub-modifications of human speech, and is confessedly unable to account for what appears to be its main division into a Shemitic, an Aryan, and a Turanian tongue, which may have been produced in the sudden and miraculous way described; and
(2) nothing prevents us from regarding the two events, the confusion of tongues and the dispersion of the nations, as occurring simultaneously, and even acting and reacting on each other. As the tribes parted, their speech would diverge, and, on the other hand, as the tongues differed, those who spoke the same or cognate dialects would draw together and draw apart from the rest. We may even suppose that, prior to the building of Babel, if any of the human family had begun to spread themselves abroad upon the surface of the globe, a slight diversity in human speech had begun to show itself; and the truthfulness of the narrative will in no wise be endangered by admitting that the Divine interposition at Babel may have consisted in quickening a natural process which had already commenced to operate; nay, we are rather warranted to conclude that the whole work of subdividing human speech was not compressed into a moment of time, but, after receiving this special impulse, was left to develop and complete itself as the nations wandered farther and ever farther from the plains of Shinar, and 'Quarry on Genesis,' pp. 195-206).
Chaldaean Legend of the Tower of Babel
Berosus, indeed, does not refer to it, and early writers are obliged to have recourse to somewhat doubtful authorities to confirm it. Eusebius, e.g; quotes Abydenus as saying that "not long after the Flood, the ancient race of men were so puffed up with their strength and tallness of stature that they began to despise and contemn the gods, and labored to erect that very lofty tower which is now called Babylon, intending thereby to scale the heavens. But when the building approached the sky, behold, the gods called in the aid of the winds, and by their help overturned the tower, and cast it to the ground! The name of the ruin is still called Babel, because until this time all men had used the same speech; but now there was sent upon them a confusion of many and diverse tongues" ('Praep. Ev.,' 9.14). But the diligence of the late George Smith has been rewarded by discovering the fragment of an Assyrian tablet containing an account of the building of the tower, in which the gods are represented as being angry at the work and confounding the speech of the builders. In Colossians 1; lines 5 and 6 (according to W. St. C. Boscawen's translation) run—
"Babylon corruptly to sin went, and
Small and great mingled on the mound;"
while in Colossians 2; lines 12, 13, 14, 15, are—
"In his anger also the secret counsel he poured out
To scatter abroad his face he set
He gave a command to make strange their speech
… their progress he impeded."
HOMILETICS
The tower-builders of Babel.
I. THE IMPIETY OF THEIR DESIGN.
1. Ambition. They were desirous of achieving fame, or "a name" for themselves. Whether in this there was a covert sneer at the exaltation promised to the Shemites, or simply a display of that lust of glory which natively resides within the fallen heart, it was essentially a guilty purpose by which they were impelled. In only one direction is ambition perfectly legitimate, viz; in the direction of moral and spiritual goodness, as distinguished from temporal and material greatness (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:31). Only then may the passion for glory be exuberantly gratified, when its object is the living God instead of puny and unworthy self (cf. Jeremiah 9:23, Jeremiah 9:24; 1 Corinthians 1:29, 1 Corinthians 1:31).
2. Rebellion. Setting its head among the clouds, "exalting its throne above the stars," it was designed to be an act of insolent defiance to the will of Heaven. The city and the tower of Babel had their origin in deliberate, determined, enthusiastic, exulting hostility to the Divine purpose that they should spread themselves abroad over the face of the whole earth. And herein lies the essence Of all impiety: whatever thought, counsel, word, or work derives its inspiration, be it only in an infinitesimal degree, from antagonism to the mind of God is sin. Holiness is but another name for obedience.
II. THE MAGNITUDE OF THEIR ENTERPRISE. The undertaking of the tower-builders was—
1. Sublimely conceived. The city was to ward off invasion from without, and to counteract disruption from within. Gathering men of a common tongue into a common residence, engaging them in common pursuits, and providing them with common interests was the sure way to make them strong. If this was the creative idea out of which cities sprung, the Cainites, if not pious, must at least have been possessed of genius. Then the tower was to touch the skies. Unscientific perhaps, but scarcely irrational; "an undertaking not of savages, but of men possessed with the idea of somehow getting above nature." And though certainly to aspire after such supremacy over nature in the spirit of a godless science which recognizes no power or authority superior to itself was the very sin of these Babelites, yet nothing more convincingly attests the essential greatness of man than the ever-widening control which science is enabling him to assert over the forces of matter.
2. Hopefully begun. The builders were united in their language and purpose. The place was convenient for the proposed erection. The most complete preparations were made for the structure. The work was commenced with determination and amid universal enthusiasm. It had all the conditions of success, humanly speaking—one mind, one heart, one hand.
3. Suddenly abandoned. "They left off to build the city." So the most prosperous undertakings often terminate in miserable failure. The mighty enterprise was mysteriously frustrated. So have all such wicked combinations in times past been overthrown. Witness the great world empires of Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome. So in the end will the great mystery of iniquity, of which that early Babel was the first type.
III. THE INSPECTION OF THEIR WORK.
1. No work of man can hope to escape the eye of God. Even now he is minutely acquainted with the thoughts, and words, and works, and ways of every individual on the earth (Proverbs 15:3; Hebrews 4:13), while there is a day coming when "there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed" (Matthew 10:26).
2. Every work of man shall be judged at the bar of God (Ecclesiastes 12:14; 1 Corinthians 3:13). The Divine verdict upon human undertakings will often strangely conflict with the judgments of men.
IV. THE CONCLUSION OF THEIR TONGUES.
1. As a fact in the experience of the builders, it was—
(1) Unchallengeable. They could not understand one another, so that they could not doubt that a change of some kind had passed upon their speech; and observation convinces us that as men have now a variety of tongues, something must have broken up the original unity of speech.
(2) mysterious. It is not likely that these primitive builders understood how their language had been transmuted. Modem philology has no certain word to utter upon the subject yet.
(3) Supernatural. It was effected by the immediate agency of God. If even natural causes had begun to operate, they were quickened by the Divine action. Believers in a God who made the tongue of man should have no difficulty in believing in a God who changed the tongue of man.
2. As a judgment on the persons of the builders, it was—
(1) Unexpected in its coming, as are all God's judgments, like the Flood and like the coming of the Son of man.
(2) Deserved by its subjects. Caught, as it were, in the very act of insubordination, guilty of nothing short of treason against the King of heaven, they were visited with summary and condign chastisement. So are all God's punishments richly merited by those on whom they fall.
(3) Appropriate in its character. It was fitting that they who had abused their oneness of speech, which was designed for their good, to keep them in the Church, should be punished with variety of tongues.
(4) Effectual in its design. Sent to scatter them abroad, it succeeded in its aim. Man's designs often fail; God's never.
V. THE DISPERSION OF THEIR RANKS.
1. Judicial in its character. In its incidence on the builders it wore a punitive aspect. Providences that are full of blessings for the good are always laden with curses to the wicked.
2. Beneficial in its purpose. The scattering of the earth's population over the surface of the globe was originally intended for what it has eventually turned out to be, a blessing for the race.
3. Unlimited in its extent. Though the original dispersion could not have carried the tribes to any remote distances from Shinar, the process then begun was intended not to rest until the earth was fully occupied by the children of men.
VI. THE MEMORIAL OF THEIR FOLLY. This was—
1. Exceedingly expressive. The unfinished tower was designated Babel, or Confusion. It is well that things should be called by their right names. The name of Babel was an epitome of the foolish aim and end of the builders. The world is full of such monuments of folly.
2. Self-affixed. So God often compels "men of corrupt minds" and "reprobate concerning the faith" not only to manifest, but also to publish, their own folly.
3. Long-enduring. It continued to be known as Babel in the days of Moses and long after—an emblem of that shame which shall eventually be the portion of all the wicked.
Learn—
1. The sinfulness of ambition.
2. The folly of attempting to resist God.
3. The power of God in carrying out his purposes.
4. The mercy of God in dividing the nations.
5. The ability of God to re-gather the divided nations of the earth.
HOMILIES BY R.A. REDFORD
Order brought forth.
We are now to trace the rise of the kingdom of God among the nations. Already in the case of Nimrod, the mighty hunter before the Lord, that is, by permission of Divine providence, the antagonism between the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world has been symbolized. Now we find the concentration of the world's rebellion and ungodliness in the false city, type of the worldly power throughout the Scriptures. It is on the plain of Shinar to which the early migration from the East directed the course of mankind. We are not told at what time the settlement in Shinar took place. As the account of the confusion of tongues is introduced between the larger genealogy and the lesser, we may infer that its object is to account for the spread of nations. Whether we take this Babel to be Nimrod's Babel or an earlier one is of very little consequence. The whole narrative is full of Divine significance. Notice—
I. MAN'S BABEL IS A LYING PRETENSION. It rests on an attempt to substitute his own foundation of society for God's; it is—
1. False safety—the high tower to keep above the flood.
2. False ambition—reaching unto heaven, making a name with bricks and mortar.
3. False unity—"lest we be scattered abroad." These are the characteristics of all Babel despotisms. Material foundations to rest upon; lying structures built upon them.
II. GOD'S KINGDOM IS NOT REALLY HINDERED BY MAN'S REBELLION. He suffers the Babel structure to be reared, but by his judgments scatters both the men and their projects, making the rebellious conspiracy against himself prepare the way for his ultimate universal triumph. So it has been all through the history of the world, and especially immediately before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The confusion of tongues was a judgment and at the same time a mercy. Those that are filled with such ambitions and build upon such foundations are not fit to dwell together in one place. It is better they should be divided. The investigations into comparative grammar and the genesis of human language point to some primitive seat of the earliest form of speech in the neighborhood indicated. It was certainly the result of the false form of society with which men began, the Nimrod empire, that they could not remain gathered in one community; and as they spread they lost their knowledge of their original language, and were confounded because they understood not one another's speech. It is remarkable that in the beginning of the kingdom of Christ, the true city of God which shall overspread the world, the Spirit bestowed the gift of tongues, as if to signify that the Babel of man's lying ambitions was to cease, and in the truth of the gospel men would be united as one family, "understanding one another's speech."—R.
HOMILIES BY W. ROBERTS
Unity of language.
1. The original birthright of the human race.
2. The lost inheritance of sinful men.
3. The ultimate goal of the Christian dispensation.
4. The recovered heritage of redeemed humanity.—W.
Note—
1. The benefit of a wandering condition. It sometimes prevents the rise of sinful thoughts and wicked deeds. So long as the primitive nomads were travelling from station to station they did not think of either rebellion or ambition. So Israel followed God fully in the wilderness.
2. The danger of a settled state. Established in the fat plain of Shinar, they wanted a city and a tower. So Israel in Canaan waxed fat and kicked. So Moab, having been at ease from his youth, retained his scent unchanged. So comfortable surroundings often lead men from God.—W.
Ancient brick makers.
I. IN SHINAR. Examples of
(1) ingenuity,
(2) earnestness,
(3) perseverance,
(4) unity in sin.
II. IN EGYPT (Exodus 5:7). Illustrations of
(1) the bondage,
(2) the degradation,
(3) the misery,
(4) hopelessness, of sin.—W.
The tower of Babel.
I. A MONUMENT OF MAN'S—
1. Sinful ambition.
2. Laborious ingenuity.
3. Demonstrated feebleness.
4. Stupendous folly.
II. A MEMORIAL OF GOD'S—
1. Overruling providence.
2. Resistless power.
3. Retributive justice.
4. Beneficent purpose.—W.
HOMILIES BY J.F. MONTGOMERY
God's city or man's city.
"And they said, Go to, lot us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." In the world after the Flood we trace the, outlines of the gospel dispensation. To Noah was revealed "good will toward men; the acceptance of sacrifice; faith as the condition and channel of blessing; and work, to spread the knowledge of, and trust in his name, i.e. what he is pleased to reveal concerning himself. But "the carnal mind" was there resisting the Spirit. Noah and his seed were to replenish the earth. They were promised safety from beasts, of whom, if separated, they might be afraid (Genesis 9:2; cf. Matthew 10:29,Matthew 10:31; Luke 10:19). Here was a trial of faith and obedience (cf. Exodus 34:24). But men had not faith, would not trust, would not go forth at his word. Their calling was to seek God's city (Hebrews 11:10-58), to live as citizens of it (Philippians 3:20). They chose a city for themselves; earthly security, comforts, luxuries. Called to glorify God's name, their thought was to make a name for themselves. Self was the moving power. The name of God is the trust of his people (Psalms 20:7; Proverbs 18:10); a center of unity to all his children in every place. They trusted in themselves; would be like God to themselves. The tower, the work of their own hands, was to be their center of unity; and the name of it came to be Babel, i.e. confusion (cf. Matthew 15:13). Love draws mankind together. Self-seeking tends to separation. God bade them spread that they might be united in faith and in work. They chose their own way of union, and it led to dispersion with no bond of unity.
I. WE ARE CALLED TO BUILD THE CITY OF GOD (Hebrews 41:22). To prepare the way for Revelation 21:3. The gifts of Christ are made effectual by the work of men. That city, built of living stones (1 Peter if. 5), cemented not with slime, but by unity of faith (Ephesians 4:3). And a tower, a center of unity, the "good confession" (Romans 14:11; Philippians 2:11). And to obtain a name, to be confessed by the Lord before the angels, to be acknowledged as his "brethren," and stamped with the "new name." And promise given, as if pointing to Babel: "Your labor is not in vain in the Lord."
II. MANY HAVE NO MIND TO BUILD. They love ease and have no earnestness, triflers with time, or direct their earnestness to earthly prizes—a name among men.
III. EVEN BELIEVERS ARE OFTEN THUS HINDERED. There may be spiritual selfishness along with really spiritual aims. The multitude of cares may distract the soul. Temptations may wear the garb of zeal, or of charity, or of prudence. Watch and pray. God's faithfulness will not fail (1 Corinthians 10:13).—M.
HOMILIES BY J.F. MONTGOMERY
The cities of men and the city of God
(Genesis 11:5; Hebrews 11:16).
I. THEIR BUILDERS. Of the first, men—mostly wicked men; of the second, the Architect of the universe.
II. THEIR ORIGIN. Of the first (Enoch, Genesis 4:17; and Babel, Genesis 11:5), hostility to God; of the second, love to man.
III. THEIR DESIGN. Of the first, to be a bond of union among sinners; of the second, to be a residence for God's children.
IV. THEIR APPEARANCE. Of the first, that of slime, mud, bricks, or at best stones; of the second, that of gold and pearls.
V. THEIR DURATION. Of the first, it is written that with all the other works of man, they shall be burnt up; of the second that it shall be everlasting.—W.
Vain imaginings
1. Commonly spring from misused blessings. A united people, with a common language, and enjoying a measure of 'success in their buildings, the Babelites became vain in their imaginings. So do wicked men generally misinterpret the Divine beneficence and leniency which suffers them to proceed a certain length with their wickedness (cf. Romans 1:21; 2 Timothy 3:9). 2. Are never unobserved by him against whom they are directed (Deuteronomy 31:21; 1 Chronicles 28:9). 3. Are doomed to certain and complete frustration (Psalms 2:1; Luke 1:51; 2 Corinthians 10:5).—W.
Babel and Zion.
1. Confusion, division, dispersion.
2. Gathering the dispersed, uniting the divided, restoring order to the confused.—W.
§6. THE GENERATIONS OF SHEM (Genesis 11:10-1).