CLEAR WISDOM FROM BABEL

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth." Genesis 9:1

Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.

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 and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."

But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. The Lord said, "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."

So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

Genesis 11:1-9

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

After the flood, God blessed Noah and his sons and gave them direction. They were to "be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth" (Genesis 9:1). We know that disobedience and evil living had led to the great, creation vanquishing flood in the first place and as we see in today’s passage, it didn’t take long for God’s people to begin to settle back into their sinful ways once again. Look again at the first nine verses of Genesis, chapter 11:

Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.

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 and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."

But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. The Lord said, "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."

So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

The Bible is one hundred percent inerrant in its content. There is no disputing this but we sometimes find things not exactly in chronological order and these verses in chapter 11 are one example, thus why we are covering this before looking at chapter 10 and the documented scattering that we read about in verse 9 in today’s text.

As the start of our passage today, we find that the "whole world had one language and a common speech." This commonality among the descendants of Noah was not what led man to get in trouble in and of itself but it was a contributing factor in them conspiring to disobey God and set up a city where they would seek to "make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth". In other words, mankind sought to bring glory and honor to themselves which caused the Lord to voice the following concern:

"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.”

And so the scriptures tell us that God did something to avert this from happening. We read where He "confused their language" so they could not understand one another before scattering them “over the face of the earth”. This act of God led to the city being named “Babel” because it was there that the Lord “confused the language of the whole world”.

It’s interesting that we still often use a word that rival this ancient city’s name, the word “babble”. It describes language that is unintelligible but what is understandable are three clear points of wisdom we can draw from this story to apply to our living today:

First, the language God gives us is only useful when we use it toward His purpose, not our own.

One could say that there are more ways for people to communicate with one another in this age than in any time in history, to include software and apps that translate languages we don’t speak, and yet, we seem to communicate just as badly as ever. Let’s not believe that this is by accident for God will often confuse discourse on any matters that are centered on His honor and glory. It started at Babel and it still continues today.

Second, when we decide to be disobedient, God still will get His way.

Despite the people’s desire to do their own thing and make a city where they would settle and not disperse, God had the final say and His will was still done as the people’s language was confused before being scattered. Rest assured He will do the same thing to us in the places where we resist and reject Him in our lives.

Finally, the third bit of wisdom from this passage is this:

Success will only occur if we are carrying out the will of God.

The descendants of Noah would have been successful in constructing the city if it had been God’s will for them to do so but it wasn’t and so their self-centered efforts failed badly.

Conversely, it was God’s will for Noah to build the ark that would carry him, his family, and the prescribed number of creatures to safety during the flood. And that plan was carried out to fruition because it was all God’s plan.

In life, we need to always seek the will of our Lord and then do what He wills us to do, remembering that He never calls us to something He isn’t going to bring us through.

In closing, what a blessing it is for us to have the Holy Bible and the accounts of God’s people as they succeeded and failed. For the entirety of the scriptures gives us a ripe opportunity to read and learn from the accomplishments and mistakes of the past.

In the Word of God, we won’t ever find babble when we are in Him and under the leading of the blessed Holy Spirit. Both will always speak clear wisdom and direction into our hearts and minds so we can apply it with the goal of living in a way that is pleasing in the Lord’s sight.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.