The Tower of Babel I. Base Text: Genesis 11:1-9 II. Introduction A. A seemingly odd little story 1. So much going on in the first generations of mankind (Genesis 1:1-11:26) 2. We learn a bit about Cain and Abel, some about a few of Cain's descendants, a line about Enoch the descendant of Adam through Seth, Noah and his family, and a line or two about Nimrod 3. But then we have this little story about what takes place on the plain of Shinar 4. Of all the stories the Genesis author could tell, why the Tower of Babel? B. In reality, the story of the Tower of Babel is quite critical for our understanding 1. Origin of deep-seated divisions among mankind 2. A demonstration of man's impulses after the fall 3. A symbol of man's presumption and arrogance against God 4. The enduring declaration of the futility of seeking worldly fame, glory, and renown C. Let us consider the Tower of Babel and the lessons we can gain from the story III. The Tower of Babel as Ziggurat A. Genesis 11:1-4: their first impulse is to build a city with a tower B. What motivates the tower? 1. The reasons given are worldly: to make a name and to not be scattered (Genesis 11:4) 2. It is not an impulse from God 3. Yet this is a trend we see frequently in the ancient world, especially in the ancient Near East, with ziggurats and pyramids C. Ancient Near Easterners built large, imposing structures for "religious" reasons 1. Everyone from Abraham to Daniel would have known of ziggurats in Mesopotamia and pyramids in Egypt 2. Ziggurats: large step pyramids for shrines to the Sumerian, Akkadian gods 3. Pyramids: large tombs built by kings of Egypt D. The logic of these structures is similar to that of the Tower of Babel: the desire to reach to heaven through human effort 1. Both ziggurats and pyramids provided the pretense of getting closer to the heavens, and thus closer to the divine 2. But they also remained testimonies to human effort, and a source of pride for the people who built them 3. Perhaps the Tower of Babel was really the first ziggurat built on Shinar; if nothing else, later ziggurats and pyramids were most likely based in some way on the Tower of Babel E. Thus, in its own way, the story of the Tower of Babel is a critique of idolatrous religion! 1. cf. Romans 1:18-25 2. Of what else would the Israelites think when they would see the large ziggurats of the Mesopotamians or the pyramids of the Egyptians but the story of the Tower of Babel? 3. Humans, having given up on the Creator God, feel as if large structures of their own manufacture can get them closer to the divine 4. In reality, the divine is everywhere around us (cf. Acts 17:26-28)! 5. These large temples, ostensibly for religious purposes, really just shows the futility of human-based religion and how it ultimately is all about self-glorification 6. To serve gods of your own manufacture and to build lavish temples for them are extensions of the desire to make a name! F. The world today is not appreciably different 1. Granted, we do not make images and bow down to them, but we still have plenty of large buildings that extend up toward the heavens 2. And what are these large buildings but modern-day towers of Babel, testimonies to the worship of money, power, fame, and so forth? 3. What else really motivates the creation of such tall buildings? What does this say about us? IV. The Tower of Babel as Babylon A. In the Bible, Babylon becomes the image for nations arrogating themselves against God, His power, and His purposes 1. Seen first in the prophets (Isaiah 13:1-14:23, Jeremiah 50:1-51:64) 2. Likely in Peter as well (1 Peter 5:13) 3. Continued in Revelation (Revelation 17:1-18:24) B. But why Babylon? 1. The Babylonian Empire under the Chaldeans did not last long; their brutality did not approach that of the Assyrians 2. Granted, the experience of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple would be quite scarring, and this may be at least partly behind the image 3. Nevertheless, the Egyptians enslaved Israel, killed Josiah, and proved feeble allies of Judah when Judah needed them most (cf. Exodus 1:1-15:21, 2 Kings 23:28-25:21); the Assyrians were extremely cruel, completely exiling the north and wreaking havoc in Judah (cf. 2 Kings 17:1-19:31, Isaiah 1:1-9) 4. Granted, God did pronounce judgment against these two nations, but He also extends the hope of redemption and reconciliation for them (cf. Isaiah 19:23-25); no such hope is ever extended to Babylon! 5. Later empires rule over Israel as well, including the Persians; the Seleucids posed the greatest existential threat to the Israelite religion since the Babylonians, and Rome would come to be understood in terms of Babylon 6. So with all of these rulers to choose from, why is Babylon so uniquely singled out? C. Perhaps part of the reason involves the story of the Tower of Babel 1. It is not an insignificant detail that the people meet in the plain of Shinar and build their tower there (cf. Genesis 11:1-4) 2. In Genesis 10:8-10, Nimrod is described as the first mighty one, having rule, and ruling over the plain of Shinar and Babel; perhaps he is one of those building the Tower of Babel! 3. In Hebrew, Babel = Babylon throughout! D. What does the fact that the Tower was built in Babylon have to do with Babylon's image? 1. The Tower of Babel is built in Babylon 2. That is, the demonstration of the collaboration of human effort to make a name for himself and to resist God's command to be dispersed all over the earth is centered in Babylon (Genesis 11:4)! 3. In short, it is at Babylon where humans use their powers presumptuously without concern for divine commands and often arrogating themselves against divine commands! 4. Therefore, the Tower becomes the lasting essence of Babylon: the human endeavor to use power for engineering, self-glorification, and self-advancement 5. And since it was the Babylonians who would destroy the Temple and exiled the people of God to their land, Babylon becomes the image for the human empire vaunting itself against God, seeking to make a name for itself! E. So it was in Babylon; so it is with Rome. Is that all? 1. It is not for nothing that people have often seen shades of "Babylon" in world powers throughout time! 2. All sorts of authorities, secular and religious, have sought to make a name for themselves, build empire, achieve fame, and bend the world to their will 3. It continues to this day, and will likely continue until the Lord returns! 4. What does this say about human power structures and their ultimate goals? V. The Tower of Babel as the Demonstration of Human Ability and Futility A. God's declaration regarding the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11:5 is fascinating: by using one language, humans are able to do all sorts of things impossible otherwise 1. A strange yet encouraging affirmation of humanity's potential 2. Consider all the things which humans can accomplish through cooperation: great engineering projects, scientific and technological advancement, better quality of life B. And yet, to what end do humans use their abilities when left to their own devices? 1. They could have worked to glorify and honor God 2. But no; they collect together and begin building to glorify and honor themselves! 3. How much human potential is wasted because it is not directed toward\ the advancement of God's purposes but instead toward man's futile search for self-glorification and self-reinforcement? C. God's sentence is therefore just: that which man has in common, language, will be confused so that man will spread over the earth as God intended (cf. Genesis 11:6-9) D. An exquisite irony: the symbol man intended to use to make a name for himself became a by-word for confusion, and the frustration of the endeavor led to their scattering around the world, the very thing they tried to avoid! E. By confusing their speech, God makes sure that there will be divisions among human groupings, for it is that division which keeps mankind in check 1. How much energy is expended toward advancing "us" against "them"? 2. How many times has "human progress" been derailed because of in-fighting? 3. What does it say about humanity when people must be divided against each other in order to keep from abusing everything? F. Thus, at the point of the Tower of Babel, we have life as it really is "under the sun" 1. What is man's condition by Genesis 11:9? 2. He was created in a good universe in a good world and was once good himself (Genesis 1:1-2:25) 3. But now he is separated from his God on account of his sin (Genesis 3:1-24, Isaiah 59:2), subject to futility and decay, like the world around him (Romans 8:19-25), without meaningful relationship or statehood from God, and now divided against one another with confused languages (Genesis 11:1-9) 4. What lasting, meaningful hope does man have at this point? None! 5. So it is with life "under the sun" to this day: we are all subject to death, our efforts prove futile in the end, and we are all fated to being little more than line entries in our descendants' genealogies! G. And yet what do "we" tell ourselves? 1. This reality is too uncomfortable for people 2. To this day, therefore, we tell ourselves that we should work to make this world a better place, to make some lasting impression in this world 3. We fancy that through our careers we are somehow able to make things better in life 4. Immortality is sought through fame, deeds, or genetics H. Therefore, to this day, we keep telling ourselves the lie of the Tower of Babel! 1. Society, to this day, is about making a name for itself and to keep people from being scattered and dispersed 2. We cannot endure the prospect of futility, loneliness, and loss 3. This is all despite the fact that the Preacher in Ecclesiastes fully explored life under the sun with its absurdities and futility; "we" do not much like what he has to say! I. Yet the Preacher is right: under the sun, all is absurd (Ecclesiastes 1:1) 1. On our own, we are all consigned to futility 2. Everything we make will fade away and collapse 3. We might leave something to our descendants, but they will likely squander it (cf. Ecclesiastes 2:1-21) 4. Empires and civilizations come and go; monuments are erected and toppled; grandiose cities become ruins 5. It is as the Preacher has said: under the sun, we are to take joy in our labor, in the relationships we have with our spouses, children, and others, and find the joy in the little things of life (Ecclesiastes 2:24, 3:22, 9:9) J. Ecclesiastes exposes the lie of human pretension toward greatness and meaning, that it is all vanity and absurdity in the end, and there is no valid hope in it! K. The Tower of Babel, therefore, is the ultimate representation of human pretension in the search for meaning apart from God, and its ruin proves the ultimate failure of that pretension in the end! VI. Jesus and His Kingdom: The Anti-Babel A. The Tower of Babel, therefore, represents the futility of man's search for meaning and immortality on his own terms, exposing the human predilection toward self-glorification and arrogance toward God B. The Tower of Babel also represents the final failure of all such things: human effort will be consigned to oblivion C. If that were all the Bible had to say on the matter, we would rightfully be depressed and downtrodden and leave quite sad D. Yet there is hope, but that hope does not come from human effort or pretension, but through the powerful working of God E. Notice how God demonstrates the power of the Spirit in the name of Jesus His Son in Acts 2:1-36 and Acts 10:44-47 1. The Holy Spirit first falls upon the Apostles and they speak regarding the wonderful working of God in the languages of the various peoples throughout the Mediterranean and Near Eastern area 2. The Holy Spirit then falls upon Cornelius who began speaking in tongues as a sign to Peter and the other Jewish Christians with him how God would accept Gentiles into the Kingdom F. What was done at Babel is undone in Christ! G. Jesus and His Kingdom, therefore, are the Anti-Babel, setting right all that has gone wrong with humanity 1. The Tower of Babel either was a ziggurat or the model for ziggurats, images of self-glorification in the name of idolatry; Jesus humbled Himself greatly to come down from heaven to earth in the form of a man, the true image of God, humbled to the point of death, and God gave Him the glory, elevating His name above all names (John 1:18, Philippians 2:5-11) 2. Babylon would come to represent the human power vaunting itself against God in its ruthless advancement of its own purposes; the Kingdom of God transcends all national boundaries, seeking to glorify God in Christ, humbly serving in love and compassion (Matthew 20:25-28) 3. The Tower of Babel symbolizes man's pretensions to create meaning and immortality through his efforts; in Christ and His Kingdom we learn that we must put to death all such pretensions and seek immortality not in what we do but through entrusting ourselves to God so as to obtain the resurrection of life (Romans 8:17-25, Philippians 3:8-14) 4. The Tower of Babel represents man's condition and aspiration under the sun, which are ultimately futile; Jesus and His Kingdom represent God's aspiration for reconciliation with mankind and the development of mankind to reflect His purposes, which are everlasting (Romans 8:29, 2 Corinthians 5:16-21) 5. The Tower of Babel in many ways represents the world and all that is in the world (1 John 2:15-17); in Christ and His Kingdom we have the promise of eternal life, the divine reality to which all human endeavor vainly aspires and fails (cf. 1 John 2:25) H. It is high time, therefore, for us to flee from Babylon and the Tower of Babel, and find refuge in Christ and His Kingdom, seeking to advance the only cause that will endure the test of time! I. Invitation/songbook