The LORD confused the language
Genesis 10 – 11:9
Good morning. Today’s passage is about God confused the language. Do you know how many languages are in the world? It is said that there are around 7,100 officially known languages on the earth. All people are just one mankind, but why do people speak so differently? In Chapter 11, the people had one common language on the earth. They began to build the tower of Babel. But God changed the language that people had to stop building the tower. Why did God confuse the language? What can we learn from this passage?
1. Sin is repeated.
Ch 10 describes the descendants of Noah’s three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. After the flood, many sons were born to them. In verse 2 – 5, it was about the sons of Japheth. In verse 6 – 20, it was about the descendants of Ham. Interestingly, the son of Cush, Nimrod was described in detail. He was called a mighty warrior. In verse 9, he was called a mighty hunter before the LORD. He reminds us of the Nephilim who are the heroes of old, men of renown. Nimrod built Babylon and Nineveh, the two old great cities. He built Assyria too. They were superpower nations at that time. Here, a might hunter, not hunting for animals but hunting people and making them slaves. Under his powerful leadership, people praised him. He became an idol like Alexander the Great. Also, Nimrod in Hebrew has a meaning of “rebellious”. He rebelled against what? Against God’s command. In Genesis 9, God said since man is created in his image, if anyone shed someone’s blood, he will surely demand for the man’s life. He gave this command to prevent any murders. But Nimrod ignored God’s command and became a mighty hunter for people. Since then, anyone who became greatly powerful, they got a nickname, “Nimrod, like him, a mighty hunter before the Lord”. We see here, in Noah’s time, God wiped out all humans from the earth by the flood to start a new history. However, as the time passed by, though they were different people, the same sin is repeated. It is like before 9.11, American became corrupt in God’s eyes. But at the 9.11, many of Americans feared God and came back to churches. But when things are going well, they stopped coming to churches and went back to their old sinful life. Recently, I heard the crimes in NY are getting higher. During the pandemic, it was very low. But as the pandemic seems to be over, the bad crimes are repeated. In chapter 6-11, God expected Noah’s descendants to be the children of God who fear and obey him. As mentioned already, as people increased in number on the earth, sin also spread. God’s heat must be greatly troubled once again. Even the flood cannot solve sin problem. Only the blood of Jesus can solve sin problem.
2. The tower of Babel
Look at verse 1. The whole earth had one language and the same words. We do not know what the language was. Some proclaimed it must be Hebrew, others say Greek, Latin, and so on. Anyway, how good it would be if we spoke only one language and the same alphabet. You do not need to learn foreign languages. You do not need google translator. I spent lots of money to learn English: TOEFL, GRE, and so on too.
Then, today, how do we have so many different languages (about 7,100 languages)?
In verse 2, as people continued to move eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. Shinar means a country of two rivers. Which area has a huge plain with two rivers? The two rivers are the Tigris and the Euphrates, today Babylon or Mesopotamia area. It was a perfect place to settle there since there were enough waters and plain areas for crops.
Look at verse 3, people began to use bricks and bake them thoroughly. It was a revolutionary invention. It is like people invented steam engines in 19c, in modern days, cars, computers, and smartphones. Those technologies changed people’s lives completely. In the past, they used stone or dirt to build their house. Now by using bricks, they could build strong, tall houses and buildings. How could only man have such creative abilities? Look at the animals and birds. They still live in tree nets or caves. But we humans, are created in the image of God and in his likeness. As God has creation power, we have creation DNAs and new technology invention DNAs. We use our brain, wisdom, knowledge, logic, to challenge difficulties and come up with a new solution like bricks. Then, man should use such good technology for the common good and the glory of God. However, what did they do in this story?
Let’s read verse 4 together. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” They wanted to build a city and a tower inside the city, like a landmark. How tall is the tower? The tower that reaches to the heavens. As of today, 2023, the tallest tower is called “Burj Khalifa in Dubai”, 828-metre (2,717 ft). Two months ago, I visited South Korea. I went to Lotte Tower, 123-story, 555 m (1,821 ft) supertall skyscraper. It was amazing. When I was at the top, I noticed even the cloud was flowing under my feet. Then, how much more a tower reaching the heavens.
What are the reasons they wanted to build the tower? Back to verse 4, it says so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” They wanted to build the tower for their name and their glory. It is made by me, my wisdom, my knowledge, my effort, and my power. I made this tower. They wanted to boast about their names. Also, they did not want to be scattered. They wanted to settle in one place and live comfortably there.
How did God view them? He came down to see the city and the tower. It was a very serious matter in his eyes. Let’s read verse 6 and 7. “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” God confused their language. He was not pleased with the tower. Why did he change the language?
First, God hates the arrogant but honors the humble. Unlike the animals, God granted humans talents of inventing bricks, engineering skills, logic, technology, and so on. Man should be thankful to God and honor his name/ his glory. However, as we see here, they wanted to build the tower for their name. Although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him. They were arrogant and proud. Arrogant means in origin “claim for oneself”, like in this passage, the people claimed for their names. God hates the arrogant. He punishes the proud. Proverb 16:5 says The LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.
Proverb 16:18 says Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
Why living for our name not for God’s name is sinful? Because it makes people become proud before God. People say, ‘we do not need God. We have enough skills and technology. Live for your name. You can live a good life without God.’ They want to be like God. In fact, in Genesis 3, why did Eve and Adam sin against God? Satan tempted Eve, if you eat of it, you will be like God when you eat of it. You can be like God. However, without God, our life is under curse. He is the source of life. He is the life giver. We should live for God’s name. We should be humble not proud. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
I sincerely repent. In DE, I have been working on building up the body of Christ. I want to live for God’s name. even Delaware UBF church, purely for God’s name and his glory. However, honestly, sometimes, as a man, I think about my name, my glory first. I wanted people to recognize my name. I repent deeply. God, help me build up the body of Christ at UD for your name.
Also, when we live for God’s name, God honors our name too. 1 Samuel 2:30 says But now the LORD declares: ‘Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained. David and his son Solmon built the Temple: the house of God. He did not build the Temple for his name, but for God’s name. then, did he become poor or get behind this world? No, not at all. God blessed him so much. He became David the Great. He was known a man after God’s own heart.
Also, Apostle Paul is a good example. His real name was Saul (great). He lived to try to make his own name great. But after encountering Jesus, he changed his name: Paul (small) for the sake of Jesus. He lived for the name of Jesus. God blessed him a great disciple maker who preached the gospel to the end of the world. When we live for God’s name, God will bless each of us to grow as spiritual leaders for the UD campus.
Second, confusing the language is God’s judgement and his mercy. As we saw in part 1, people became corrupt and violent once again. In Noah’s time, people were corrupt in God’s eyes. God grieved and his heart was greatly troubled. He wiped out them all by the flooding. He hoped for a new different world through Noah and his three sons. However, their descendants sinned in God’s eyes again. Different people but the same sin is repeated. But God had promised that he will never again destroy humans by the waters even if all inclination of the human heart is evil from the childhood. He kept his promise unlike us, we promise, but we often change our promise. But God is faithful to his promise to the end by any cost. However, God had to judge the arrogant; but at the same time, he still wanted to show his mercy on them. So, with his wisdom, he confused the language. All of sudden, people began to speak different languages; they planned to say ‘hi’, but from their mouth, it says ‘안녕’. Then, they did not understand each other. In the end, they had to stop building the tower. Here, we can see the power of God. In Genesis 2, he made man out of dust, breathed the life of breath then the dust became a living being. Now, not just one or two people, probably millions of people, suddenly, they began to speak totally different languages given from God. They forgot their first language completely. They spoke totally new languages.
In the book of Acts, God gave his believers new tongues. At the festival, there were many God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. Suddenly, in the morning, they heard the disciples spoke their own languages to praise God. The disciples were uneducated people. They did not know how to speak foreign languages. But they praised God with each different foreign language. It was the work of God.
Also, in the book of Revelation, people from every different language gather together and praise God. According to Revelation 5:9, God’s people from every tribe and language and nation sing a new song praising God.
Third, God wanted his people to fill the earth. One of the main reasons people tried to build the city and the tower was that they did not want to be scattered. It seems they were afraid of being scattered over the earth. But from the Bible, it is God’s will that he wanted his people to be scattered all over the world. In Genesis 1, God blessed man to be fruitful, increase in number and fil the earth. After the flooding, God gave Noah the same blessing; be fruitful, increase in number and fill the earth. It is God’s command for God’s people to spread and take care of God’s creations. If you see verse 8 and 9, it is repeated twice that God dispersed the people over the face of all the earth. So, after this event, people moved to Europe, Africa, Asia, Middle East, and North/South America.
In Matthew 28, Jesus told his disciples “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations”. They were trained by Jesus. They became the disciples of Jesus. Now, Jesus did not want them to stay in one place all together. There were so many people living in darkness. He commanded his disciples to be scattered and to preach the gospel.
In the book of Acts, early Christians mostly stayed in Jerusalem area. Their church grew in number:120, 2,000, 5,000, and so on. Then, persecution arose. They had to flee to other areas to survive. In a sense, as God confused the language that people had to go to all over the place, God used the persecution to scatter the early Christians to go to other areas to share the good news. Because of their preaching, the Gentiles heard about the gospel, and they became God’s people too.
This semester, I am taking a world religion class at the seminary school. William Carey is known as the father of modern missions. In his time in England, Calvin’s predestination was dominant. ‘God will do everything. We just sit and wait until God says us to do something.’ So, in his time, Christians just stayed in London, England. But one day while William Carey was reading the Bible, Isaiah 5:4,2 convicted him;
“Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide,
do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.
He realized that God called him to enlarge the place of their tent, in other words, do not just stay in church comfortably, but go out, preach the good news, and expand the kingdom of God. He said, “expect great things from God, do great things for God”. God stirred him and many young people to be scattered to other places in England, India, China, and all over the world.
As you know, Delaware is located in a very good place: around by Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland. Many people commute to work in the three states while they live in DE. Grow as disciples of Jesus while you are here. According to God’s will, you can go there to spread the gospel or here in DE, you can raise up your disciples of Jesus and scatter them to the three neighboring states and in all states as well. May God use our Delaware UBF for this mission.
In conclusion, in the beginning, there was only one language. With one common language, the people tried to build the tower reaching the heavens. They challenged God’s authority. They wanted to become like God. They wanted to reveal their names. God was not pleased with them. He confused the language. God hates the arrogant but honors those who live for God’s name. Use your talents for his glory. Whatever language you speak, whatever you do (study or work or campus ministry), let’s do it for God’s name. Most of all, let’s continue to learn Jesus who lived for the name of God. AMEN.
https://www.thoughtco.com/fertile-crescent-117266