There is an ancient
Hebrew word for God. This word is Adonai,
and it is the word used in the ancient Biblical text for the Lord God. In
some English translations you will see this represented with all capital
letters—LORD. It is a name cited over
300 times in what we Christians call the Old Testament. It is an important
word—a very important word with which humanity must come to terms. It is a word
that reveals the nature of God as Sovereign. A general English definition of
the word sovereign is “one that exercises supreme, permanent authority.”
Supreme—there is no authority above this. Permanent—it will never end or be
dislodged.
Let’s reflect on some
of these Old Testament verses the describe God's sovereignty.
Job 41:11
"Who has a claim against me that I must
pay? Everything under heaven belongs to
me."
Isaiah 40:22
He sits enthroned above the circle of the
earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like
a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
Deuteronomy 10:14
To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even
the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it.
2 Chronicles 20:6
"LORD, the God of our ancestors, are you not
the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power
and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you."
In the Creation story
we find two verses that are important for our focus text. Genesis 1:28
reads: "God blessed them and said
to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.'"
Genesis 2:15 reads, "The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden
to work it and take care of it." Then in the story of Noah, in Genesis 9:1
we read similar words, "Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to
them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth." These verses
indicate Adonai’s purposes for humanity. And they provide the contrast to how
far humanity moved, and has moved, from these purposes.
Genesis 11 begins
after the great Flood. In Genesis 10 Noah’s
family tree has been articulated in the text and we can see how God re-started
humanity from a core group of people. These people had faithfully obeyed the
Sovereign Lord’s instructions to withdraw from the world into an ark so that
the world could be reformed. When they emerged from that ark, God’s unchanging
purposes for humanity were still in place. They were to be fruitful, multiply
and fill the earth. Filling the earth, with its bountiful resources and vast
territories, became far less of a priority very soon.
Read Genesis 11:1-9.
There is a textual
problem that we must acknowledge when we study this part of God's story. Genesis
11:1 states that the "whole world had one language and a common
speech." However, in the previous chapter we read that several clans and
tribes had their own languages. To help us explore this problem, let's read
what Ben Boeckel has outlined regarding this
perplexing textual reality.
If one reads Genesis
chronologically (i.e., assuming chap. 10 occurred before chap. 11), then verse
1 seems to contradict chapter 10, which reported the existence of multiple
languages (vv. 4, 20, 31).
This problem is usually resolved in one of three
ways: 1) Many believe Genesis is not written in chronological order and the
reader should understand that 11:1-9 transpired after the flood, but before
people were divided into the different nations of chapter 10. This approach
works nicely with the Tower of Babel story, which presents humanity as unified
(11:1, 6). 2) Others opine that the phrase whole world should be translated
more literally as, “all the land,” referring to a specific geographical region
that hitherto knew only one language. These interpreters affirm that other
languages existed in other parts of the world but were unknown to the people of
Babel in Shinar. 3) Lastly, some posit that the one language describes a
universal lingua franca. These interpreters affirm other languages were spoken
during this time, but that there was one language that people used for commerce
and communication with inhabitants of other countries.
Regardless of how one makes sense of the apparent
contradiction, the point of the background information in verses 1-2 is to say
that people were capable of communicating with each other and that they settled
in the east (from Israel’s perspective) in southern Mesopotamia.[1]
As we read in Genesis
11:1, it says, "Now the
whole world had one language and a common speech." If you have ever spent any time in a
region that has a language different than the one you were born into, the first
verse of this passage seems like a little taste of heaven. The struggle of
learning a new language, wrestling with understanding and speaking to people of
other languages, and the sometimes humorous or terrifying outcomes of
misunderstandings, are fresh for many of us. But here, we see that there were
no differences in language. There was a commonality we only know in part and if
we stay exclusively to ourselves in small communities. But the world now is
very different than Genesis 1 and 2 and 11:1. How did our languages become so
different? The Sovereign Lord made it
so.
Re-read Genesis 11:2-9.
Here we see some of the
further evidence of the pervasiveness of the Fall even after God re-formed the
world. A good many of Noah’s descendants were deeply susceptible to their own
wills and ways. They had begun to move en
masse, looking as if they would fill the earth, but then they stopped en masse. This was in direct opposition
to the plans and purposes of God. They were supposed to multiply and spread
out. Why in the world would they stop in the plain of Shinar? Boeckel writes, "Even
after the flood, humanity remained unwilling to listen to God. God created
humanity in His image and with great potential, but rather than using that
potential to participate in God’s plan for creation, humanity chose to isolate
itself."[2] Matthew Henry had a
striking perspective on this as well. "[But] the sons of men, it should
seem, were loth to disperse into distant places; they thought the more the
merrier and the safer, and there they contrived to keep together . . . Instead
of coveting to enlarge their borders by a peaceful departure under the divine
protection, they contrived to fortify them, and, as those that were resolved to
wage war with Heaven, they put themselves into a posture of defence.[sic]"[3]
And once settled in
that defensive and static posture, all forms of self-worship grew. Rather than
spreading out and being the kind of people they were designed to be, they
turned to be stationary builders and urban dwellers. They wanted to make a name
for themselves on that spot, rather than everywhere praising the Name of God
who made them and gave them everything. They wanted to defy God’s will and stay
put. They wanted to prove that they were powerful as well. Their power would
turn from making the earth fruitful to baking the earth into bricks and
building a monument to themselves. This would be the means of showing that they
could reach the heavens—yes, and even piercing the heavens to prove that they
were as great as their Creator! Matthew Henry wrote, "They would be like
the Most High, or would come as near him as they could, not in holiness but
in height. They forgot their place and, scorning to creep on the earth,
resolved to climb to heaven . . ."[4]
Indeed, they were
powerful. God had created humanity in his own image. That means that we have
the ability to be powerful and innovative. We see this in the inventions, efforts,
buildings and initiatives of people in our present age. Nothing seems to be
impossible at times—even going to the moon and sending spaceships to Mars and
beyond. It appears that we can do anything. It appears that we are sovereign.
But appearances can be deceiving. Frank Moore wrote: "The text does not
intend to imply that God opposes human technology, ingenuity, creativity, or
construction, even the construction of impressive skyscrapers. God gave us
creative vision and the capacity to bring that vision to reality. God, no
doubt, beams with delight when He sees the impressive accomplishments of
humanity in our variety of creations and inventions. Rather, God opposes any
human technology, ingenuity, creativity, and construction that is used as a
testimony to human self-reliance and rejection of God and His plan for us."[5]
God’s own words about
humanity here is the stuff of power. God declares that the might and
creativeness of humanity is unstoppable! What God did not say is that by
that power given to them they were to be gods. There is only one Sovereign God,
and he has ultimate authority. Imagine the kind of time and energy it took for
the ancient Egyptians to build the pyramids or the ancient Mesopotamians to
build the ziggurats or the ancient Mayans to build their temples. Massive
amounts of slave hours, planning, materials and resources were spent on these
huge unusable buildings. This is the kind of power that was employed by the
people living together on the plain of Shinar. Every brick was a symbol of their
self-sovereignty and self-glory rather than spreading out to enjoy and work the
earth. Most of their thoughts were bound up in making a name for themselves
rather than praising the Name of the Lord in every part of the world. Most
thoughts were captured by self-acclaim and self-rule on that tiny plain of
Shinar.
And God saw all of
this. George Livingston penned these captivating words: "God would not be ignored, and the folly
of man’s delusion that possessions and creative activity were ultimates [sic] would
not go unchallenged."[6]
The God-head made the decision to "come down" to see what was going
on. The use of this idea of God coming down might be a way to connect to those
hearing the story at a much later time. Boeckel writes: "An ancient
Mesopotamian audience might read the first verb in this verse and think that
the tower had accomplished its purpose. They believed their gods used Ziggurats
to come down to earth . . . The top of the tower designed to reach into the
heavenly realm was, ironically, so small that it required God’s descent in
order for Him to see what the people were building."[7] But
this masterful representation or symbolical language of God's activity penned by
the writers of this ancient text is fully ironical. For the sovereign God does
not require any physical activity of coming down to know what is going on in his
world—just as he did not need to walk in the garden to know that Adam and Eve
were naked and ashamed. He knows who we are and what we do.
And so, the Sovereign
acted. The Stone Edition of the Tanach translates verse 6 in this way,
"Behold, they are one people with one language for all, and this they
begin to do! And now, should it not be withheld from them all they propose to
do?" Adonai limited our power as he limited nature in Genesis 1, 2 and 3.
In Job 38:8-11 we read how God rebuked even a faithful Job.
Who shut up
the sea behind doors
when it
burst forth from the womb,
when I made
the clouds its garment
and wrapped
it in thick darkness,
when I
fixed limits for it
and set its
doors and bars in place,
when I
said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;
here is
where your proud waves halt’?
In Psalm 104:5-9 we
also read of God's boundaries for his creation.
He set the
earth on its foundations;
it can
never be moved.
You covered
it with the watery depths as with a garment;
the waters
stood above the mountains.
But at your
rebuke the waters fled,
at the
sound of your thunder they took to flight;
they flowed
over the mountains,
they went
down into the valleys,
to the
place you assigned for them.
You set a boundary
they cannot cross;
never again
will they cover the earth.
Even the prophet
Jeremiah understood bounded nature and the unbounded sin of humanity. We read
in Jeremiah 5:21-25:
Hear this,
you foolish and senseless people,
who have
eyes but do not see,
who have
ears but do not hear:
Should you
not fear me?” declares the Lord.
“Should you
not tremble in my presence?
I made the
sand a boundary for the sea,
an
everlasting barrier it cannot cross.
The waves
may roll, but they cannot prevail;
they may
roar, but they cannot cross it.
But these
people have stubborn and rebellious hearts;
they have
turned aside and gone away.
They do not
say to themselves,
‘Let us
fear the Lord our God,
who gives
autumn and spring rains in season,
who assures
us of the regular weeks of harvest.’
Your
wrongdoings have kept these away;
your sins
have deprived you of good.
Our sovereign God put
limits on us that were not there before the tower of Babel so that we could
find our identity, purpose and fulfillment in him and caring for his creation. Matthew
Henry wrote: If they continue one, much of the earth will be left uninhabited;
the power of their prince will soon be exorbitant; wickedness and profaneness
will be insufferably rampant, for they will strengthen one another's hands in
it . . . "[8] He put us on a language leash
to bring us back to him for true worship of the One who made us. God pushed us
out around the globe to be who we are supposed to be—humble people of the earth
rather than creatures deluded into self-sovereignty, magnifying our own
importance and finding our identity in our own restless and selfish ways.
God can see all of who
we are and the consequences of what we will be if we do not submit to his
sovereignty. He knows that we will ultimately self-worship if our identities
are found outside of Him. He also knows that we can find our greatest
satisfaction in being humble creatures of the Sovereign, living in a world
designed for our work and for his glory.
Praise be to our
Sovereign God!
Amen
M.R. Hyde Copyright
2021
[1] Illustrated Bible Life,
Fall 2021, The Foundry Press, Kansas City, MO.
[3] Henry, Matthew. Unabridged
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (best navigation) OSNOVA.
Kindle Edition.
[5] Faith Connections Bible Study
Guide, Fall 2021, The Foundry Publishing, Kansas City, MO, p. 23.
[6] Beacon Bible Commentary: Volume 1, p. 67.
