It's winter, you're under the covers curled up in a ball to keep all your body heat in, the last thing you want to do is spread out over the whole mattress, and at this point you strangely resemble ... the tower of Babel?! What?! Yes, the people that descended from Noah after the flood assembled at a plain in Shinar and are responsible for the fact that you can't understand some of the more festive stations on your radio dial. Genesis 11:1-9 tells the typical tale of rebellious creation more concerned about its desires than the Creator’s. Because of the fall man is prone to think of himself rather than God and live for his purposes rather than God’s.
God had clearly said to increase in number and fill the earth (Gen. 1:28) and had even restated this mandate twice after Noah and his family came out of the ark (Gen. 9:1, 7). God's not into isolationism. The original idea was to spread out on the earth and display God's image (that He had given them) throughout the world, but the sinful heart of man desired to build a great tower to the heavens and “make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth” (Gen. 11:4). So, everyone spoke the same language and they decided to build a huge tower, but God took some corrective measures to thwart their plans and keep His plans and His name ultimate. So He confused their language and “scattered them from there over all the earth” (11:8). That is why people speak different languages today, and that is why if someone can't understand you they say you are babbling.
The diversity is great, but remember this came about as a result of sin, and the consequences pose problems today as missionaries struggle to overcome cultural barriers while sharing the gospel. This passage not only gives us the origins of languages and people groups, it also provides an indicting picture of what can happen to those in a similar situation today. Think about the American church, all curled up in its own comfort, not wanting to spread out. Strikingly we even have similar building projects as those in Genesis 11, and God has made it clear that we are not to build anything for our name, but to spread out and fill the earth. The barriers begun at Babel are not to be strengthened through the same selfishness, but rather torn down through an intentional global mission.
In His grace God follows up Genesis 11 with Genesis 12 (not just cause it works so well numerically). Genesis 12 tells us of Abraham's calling. It is immediately after the Tower of Babel that God chooses one man to father a nation that would bless all nations, the very nations that were just created through rebellion. In the same spirit of Genesis 3:15, right on the heels of rebellion, a light of hope is shone through a man named Abram who would be blessed to bless the nations. The Messiah and the Mission continue to pervade the OT. In the spirit of Abraham, let us be willling to leave our country and our father's house and go to a land He will show us.
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2 comments:
i just love you and your heart. you always make me smile.
Dang. Most of the time I wish I spoke about fourteen different languages (English, Spanish, Swahili, French, Farsi, Russian, Urdu, American Sign Language, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Croatian, and Greek), and it's interesting to be reminded of the reason that we do not understand each other. I like how some things don't translate quite exactly from one language into another. These gaps sort of point to the fact that all of our languages are fragments of a once greater, perhaps even perfect, whole. Alright, I'd better stop before I get a full-fledged metaphor going here.
I wonder if the divisions among different denominations in the american church parallel the disconnect of world languages. (Probably. Once I had this youth pastor that told me that everything parallels with something spiritual if you just give it a little thought.)
The more wrapped up in our own interpretations of scripture, the more tradition takes the place of grace, and the further we find ourselves from Jesus. So I suppose the answer is to become aware of our habit of making things that are not about us about us, and remember that in Him we live and move and have our being.
Easier said than done, right?
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