Towering Pride of Babel

Genesis 11:1-9 

1 Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. 3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. 4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” 5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. 7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.” 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. 9 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

When the nations began after the great deluge of judgement, everyone spoke a common language.  They had no trouble understanding each other, which was also their downfall; they were all able to communicate their prideful intent clearly among themselves.  They most likely knew of the flood and feared being separated and scattered by God or each other, and determined to build a tower to the heavens to “make a name for themselves.”  The Lord God saw the intent of their hearts and intervened to stop them as a way to protect them from their sinful desire.  Therefore, the triune God confused their speech by giving them different languages (which would be undone when redeemed and brought together in understanding as seen in Acts 2).  They were unable to communicate and therefore could not complete their towering project of pride over Babel.  They were then scattered as they feared, but by God’s grace and design so that they could continue to multiply and fill the earth as commanded to Adam and Eve in Eden and again to Noah.  The word Babel means both “confused” and “Gate of God,” which is ironic to show the way to God was not to be in a self-made tower of pride, but through confusion among themselves to look to God for the gate to life.  After eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God had to show them that He alone could teach them what they tried in vain to do themselves (Hebrews 5;14); they needed redemption through a gate provided for them (John 10:7-9) by God, not one by their own tainted works.  The confusion was lifted when Christ came and gave them understanding of this and each other again at Pentecost after His resurrection when they were given understanding of each other’s languages and of Him as the gate to God.  This is God’s eternal plan of grace which was only beginning in Genesis.