The Tower of Babel
God’s Work Among the Nations: The Tower of Babel
Gen. 11:1-9
At one time the whole earth had the same language and vocabulary. As people migrated from the east, they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, “Come, let us make oven-fired bricks.” They used brick for stone and asphalt for mortar. And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky. Let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
Then the LORD came down to look over the city and the tower that the men were building. The LORD said, “If they have begun to do this as one people all having the same language, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let Us go down there and confuse their language so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” So from there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth, and they stopped building the city. Therefore its name is called Babylon, for there the LORD confused the language of the whole earth, and from there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth
This passage may sometimes be presented as a story designed to satisfy our curiosity as to why there are so many languages in the world. We may have a tendency to view this story as merely an explanation of the differences among human languages. But that is not this passage’s main purpose; that’s not why it is placed here in scripture. This story teaches us several important principles about both God and the nations that are absolutely vital for us to understand as we read all the rest of scripture that follows.
Here are some principles that we can clearly see from this passage:
God created all the nations; they belong to Him. Psalm 86:9 explains to us that “all the nations You have made will come and bow down before You, Lord, and will honor Your name. The nations, boundaries, languages, and peoples of the earth did not arise from random mistakes in history. God created them and they are part of the purposeful plan of God. The story of the Tower of Babel teaches us that God is the rightful Lord and ruler of the entire world.
This principle is made plain in Colossians 1:16 where Paul teaches that both the rulers and the nations that they rule are created through Christ for His glory:
For everything was created by Him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities —all things have been created through Him and for Him.
All the nations have rebelled against their creator and rightful ruler. Noah and his descendants were specifically instructed to multiply and spread across the earth in Gen 9:7, “but you, be fruitful and multiply; spread out over the earth and multiply on it.” The first group decision of the nations was to do the exact opposite of those divine instructions. They said, “let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth" (Gen. 11:4).
Furthermore, in making their first decision they were focused on their own glory rather than God’s glory. They said, “let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth" (Gen. 11:4 CSB). Their motive was their own selfish pride without thought for the will and glory of their creator.
God’s plan for the nations cannot be thwarted. Despite the decision and intention of the nations it was God’s will, not theirs, which was accomplished. At the end of the story of the Tower of Babel the nations did indeed scatter across the earth just as God had instructed them, which was the opposite of their plan to stay together.
We can clearly see that God is ultimately in charge of the earth and its inhabitants, not the human rulers of the nations. Throughout the rest of scripture (and human history) we can see many human rulers who had to learn this lesson the hard way. Pharaoh, Ahab, and Nebuchadnezzar are some of the most famous examples of human rulers who learn that their creator God who was really in authority, not themselves. Human rulers today are still learning this lesson the hard way as they attempt to lead governments in ways that are contrary to God’s will.
Nebuchadnezzar summarized the principle that God’s plan for the nations will always be accomplished when he made his international proclamation recorded in Daniel 4:35, “...He [God] does what He wants with the army of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth. There is no one who can hold back His hand…”
Thought for prayer and meditation: Lord, help us to have a love for the people of all the nations you have made. We pray that people of every nation would worship You.
