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Category: Genesis
Scriptures:
Genesis 11:1-11:9
Genesis 11:1-11:9
1 The whole earth was of one language and of one speech.
2 As they traveled from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they lived there.
3 They said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar.
4 They said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top reaches to the sky, and let’s make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth.”
5 Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built.
6 Yahweh said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is what they begin to do. Now nothing will be withheld from them, which they intend to do.
7 Come, let’s go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”
8 So Yahweh scattered them abroad from there on the surface of all the earth. They stopped building the city.
9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there Yahweh confused the language of all the earth. From there, Yahweh scattered them abroad on the surface of all the earth.
Commentary
One of the central themes in this story is the cautionary tale against human pride and arrogance. The people described sought to build a tower to make a name for themselves and reach the heavens, displaying a desire for self-exaltation. The consequence of their pride was the confusion of language and the scattering of the people.
The story can also be seen as a narrative about disobedience to God's will. The people did not follow God's command to "be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth" (Genesis 9:1), but instead, they gathered in one place to build a tower to reach the heavens.