Genesis 11

Genesis 11:1

H. The Tower of Babel (Chap. 11)11:1-4 In chapter 10, which chronologically comes after chapter 11, mankind was divided according to languages (vv. 5, 20, 31). Now we learn the cause of the divisions. Instead of dispersing over the earth, as God, intended, men built a city and a tower in Shinar (Babylon). They said to one another, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make us a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” So it was a policy of pride (to make a name for themselves) and defiance (to avoid being scattered). To us the tower may also picture fallen man’s ceaseless effort to reach heaven by his own works instead of receiving salvation as a free gift of grace. 11:5-9 The LORD judged the people by confounding their language. This was the beginning of the many different languages which we have in the world today. Pentecost (Act_2:1-11) was the reverse of Babel in the sense that every man heard the wonderful works of God in his own language. Babel means confusion, the inevitable result of any union that leaves God out or is not according to God. 11:10-25 These verses trace the line of Shem to Abram. Thus the historical record narrows from the human race to one branch of that race (the Semites) and then to one man (Abram), who becomes the head of the Hebrew nation. The rest of the OT is largely a history of this nation. 11:26-32 Abram was a mighty man of faith and one of the most important men in history. Three world religionsJudaism, Christianity, and Islamvenerate him. He is mentioned in sixteen books of the OT and eleven books of the NT. His name means “exalted father” or, as changed to Abraham, “father of a multitude.” There is a mathematical problem in this passage. Derek Kidner explains: Terah’s age at death presents a difficulty, since it makes his eldest son 135 years old (26), whereas Abram was only 75 (Gen_12:4, with Act_7:4). One solution is to suppose Abram to have been the youngest son, born sixty years after the eldest but placed first in the list in 11:26, 27 because of his prominence (like Ephraim before Manasseh). Another is to follow the Samaritan text, which gives Terah’s age as 145 at death. This seems preferable, if only because Abram would scarcely have made the exclamation of Gen_17:17 had his own father begotten him at 130. Ur of the Chaldeans (v. 31), in Mesopotamia, was a center of pagan idolatry. Terah and his family traveled northwest to Haran, en route to the land of Canaan.