The Babel event

(Gen. 11:1-9)

Introduction: Last Sunday’s sermon title was ‘The Covenant given to Noah’ based on Gen. 9:1-17. After the Flood, God blessed Noah and his family and commanded them to be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. God also allowed them to eat meat. One thing they should be careful was not to eat the lifeblood with the meat. Since blood is life itself, without blood, there would be no redemption. If a man kills another person, he should shed his own blood. God gave Noah and his family a covenant that God would not destroy the world with flood again. God is faithful and keeps His promise. We believe God’s promise for our salvation although we haven’t seen the final salvation. As God gave the rainbow as a sign for His covenant to Noah, God gave us the Holy Spirit as a sign for our salvation. The Holy Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Today’s passage is Gen. 11:1-9. Men were trying to build the Babel Tower in order to make a name for themselves and not to be scattered across the earth. It is obvious the mighty leader, Nimrod led them to build the tower on the land of Shinar. But God scattered them and confused their language because of the very tower they were trying to build. We will learn the meaning of the Babel Tower and its results.

1) Let’s not be scattered (1-4): People spoke the same language those days. With more people, they moved to the land of Shinar and Babylon (currently, Iraq). According to Gen. 10:8-10, there was a mighty hunter named Nimrod who had already built a nation. Under his leadership, they started to build a city and a tower with bricks and mortar. They said, “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.” God already promised them He would not destroy the earth with flood, but they did not trust God’s promise. They wanted to take care of themselves without God’s help. That is why we say that the Babel Tower is a symbol of humans’ rebellion against God. We will see the results of the Tower.

2) God scattered them (5-9): God came down to see the city and the tower that men were trying to build. It is obvious that God felt that humans could do many things against God if they continue speaking the same language. Then God confused their language, and they could not understand each other. So God scattered them over all the earth, and they stopped building the city and the tower. The tower was called the Babel Tower, which meant, “God confused them.” That is the story of the Babel Tower.

3) The results: Several significant results came out from the Babel Tower event. The first was the language confusion. Suddenly, they could not understand each other. If you think about it, you will see how confused they were. If there were not the Babel event, we would not have to spend that much time in studying English. The second was the scattered humans. They started the city and the tower in order not to be scattered on the earth. But the result was that they were scattered on the earth because of the Babel Tower. If man tries to pursue his own goal against God’s will, his life will be ruined because of his desire. The reason people pursue money, fame, and power is that they think these things will be beneficial to them. But, if we pursue these worldly things for our own benefits against God’s will, we will ruin our life because of the things we pursue. We should believe God’s promise that if we seek first God’s Kingdom and His righteousness, all these things will be given to us (Matt. 6:33). The third result was a shortened life span. After the Creation, Adam lived for 930 years, Methuselah lived for 969 years, and Noah 950. After the Flood, Shem lived for only 600 years. Shem’s great grandson, Eber lived for 464 years and Eber’s son, Peleg, lived only 239 years, and that was the time when humans built the Babel Tower. It must be that there were some great disturbances on the earth which caused many people to die early. They are the lessons we can learn from today’s passage. Thank you.