An Exploration of Genealogy and the Tower of Babel

Genesis Genealogy

We pick up from verse 14, where we previously explored some genealogy. We will continue this exploration starting at verse 15, which will ultimately lead us to the next significant event: the tower of Babel. Let's quickly cover the genealogy listed in the rest of chapter 10, beginning at verse 15:

15 And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth,
16 And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite,
17 And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite,
18 And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.
19 And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha.
20 These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.

21 Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born.
22 The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram.
23 And the children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash.
24 And Arphaxad begat Salah; and Salah begat Eber.
25 And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother's name was Joktan.
26 And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah,
27 And Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah,
28 And Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba,
29 And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these were the sons of Joktan.
30 And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou goest unto Sephar a mount of the east.
31 These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.
32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.

Let's revisit and work through this list:

The Descendants of Canaan and Shem

Genesis 10:15 And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth,
16 And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite,

The Jebusite-Amorite are well known as being the ancient inhabitants of Canaan, expelled by the children of Israel later – here we see the origins of such peoples and lands.

17 And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite,
18 And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.
19 And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha.
20 These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.

These are the sons of Ham after their families. There is little doubt all these were well-known in the days of Moses, and for a long time after; but at this distance, it's not really possible to know.

21 Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born.

It is generally supposed that the Hebrews derived their name from Eber or Heber, son of Shem; but it appears much more likely they had the name from the circumstance of Abraham passing over the river Euphrates to come into the land of Canaan, and that river being pronounced (rbe abar).

22 The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram.
23 And the children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash.
24 And Arphaxad begat Salah; and Salah begat Eber.

Interestingly, the Septuagint adds “Canaan” in these passages.

25 And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother's name was Joktan.

Peleg means to divide, because in his days, which is supposed to be about one hundred years after the flood, the earth was divided among the sons of Noah, though some are of the opinion that it was a physical division.

Genealogies and the Tower of Babel

26 And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah, 27 And Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah, 28 And Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba, 29 And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these were the sons of Joktan. 30 And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou goest unto Sephar a mount of the east. 31 These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations. 32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.

Whew.

Genealogies and Insights

Commentaries will pause at each name and delve into detailed explanations of what they THINK happened through each person named. But because much of it is uncertain and because much of it is inconsequential to the most important principles of the faith, I have not included their insights in our reading of the genealogies. On to chapter 11 where we are introduced to the Tower of Babel tale. Ready?

The Story of the Tower of Babel

Genesis 11:1 And the whole earth (erets – land) was of one language, and of one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 3 And they said one to another, “Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly.” “And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.” 4 And they said, “Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”

That's all we get relative to the mindset of the Tower of Babel and the city they were making. Then verse 5, 5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

A Huge Event in Nine Verses

The Tower of Babel story is among the most famous in the Bible – all nine verses of it! What makes that interesting is that it is only nine verses that explain a HUGE event – I mean, come on! Human beings get together to try and unite as a means to make a name for themselves with the intention of preventing themselves from being scattered over the whole earth. The narrative doesn’t give us much more. And then God comes down from heaven to see what they have done (in these efforts) and takes measures to disperse the gathering.

Insights and Clues

Let’s re-read the story, and we will stop and highlight the interesting insights and clues that are included therein: 1 Now the whole land had one language and the same words. 2 And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. Is this a Hebraism to describe a simple event, or is Moses literally describing the whole land of one people-group or type? Is it speaking of all of Noah’s offspring or just those who came from one or two of His Sons – or perhaps less? Can’t truly say. 3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen or slime for mortar. I personally find this passage revealing. Perhaps there is nothing to it or perhaps it is purposefully rife with meaning, but we have a people, and we will learn that they seem to have been led by a man named Nimrod (who we mentioned last week) according to tradition. And they wanted to establish something material on earth that would aid them in being and remaining united as one and establishing a name for themselves.

Understanding the Tower of Babel

The community of elite culture expressed through materialism makes sense – that is something humans do, and we had a smacking of this same story of the Nephilim and how they created a culture of evil on earth so corrupt that God wiped them out through the flood. Here we seem to be looking at something similar, but the text does NOT give us much by way of reasons – just the basic facts.

The Ambition Behind the Tower

4Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”

For some reason, these people believed that they would be scattered if they did not make a name for themselves by building this city with its tower. Perhaps this idea was all down to Nimrod and his influence over them. Perhaps not. We are not told in the scripture. And then we come to another intriguing insight in verse five:

5The LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built.

There is no getting around these direct words – the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the mortals had built. It’s pretty Lord of the Rings imagery, but again, it conveys a pretty basic thought. The Lord YHWH came down to earth as a means to see this city/tower, and the thought was He did this to (apparently) see it more intimately?

Are there things that YHWH knows and things that He will inspect more closely and personally to understand them better? Does He even have eyes to see? What does seeing mean to God and why does He need to come down to do it? Every answer? Conjecture? All we really have is the notion that “by coming down” He was able to ascertain something about the city/tower and those that built it.

The Divine Insight

And this is where I think we get the insight. Could it be that by coming down God was able to better understand the intents and purposes in the hearts of those who created the city/building? It is hard for me to believe that God needed to actually come down and see the construction, but perhaps God needs closer proximity to His creations whom He has given freedom to know the contents of their minds? Just a consideration. In any case, verse 6 reveals to us His conclusion from apparently having come down as we read:

6And the LORD said, “Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.”

Now that is a mouthful that can be interpreted in so many ways. From what God says, and what He will do next in response to what He has said, I suggest that from the story we can assume some important principles are at play. First, I think that we are faced with a paradox here – one where we know God loves unity but He desires it from a spiritual perspective and not the flesh.

The Nature of True Unity

Here, the people, apparently led by Nimrod and having the collective heart to unite together as a means to reach heaven and/or God, were following in the steps of the former age of giants, and out of love, God put a stop to it by diversifying their language. To me, human beings reflect fleshly unity outwardly through the same dress, same standards of living, same creeds and codes, same language and rules and laws and cultures. We saw evidence of this in the Third Reich and other regimes and cults led by men. But the unity God seems to desire is unity within and through diversity – with all the colors working together to make one gorgeous image of the whole, of all types and functions and members, like a human body, coming together from an extremely diverse but wholly unified purpose.

It is in these types of unifications that God is exalted because in the former, it seems that unity in fleshly appearances points to exalting man, not God, and that is the problem at Babel. Their purposes, led by Nimrod according to tradition, were to unite in flesh and build a city that would overthrow God in heaven and replace Him. Of course, this is a type that can serve in many ways to illustrate…

The Futility of Man's Efforts at Babel

Many ways teach us about the futility of Man trying to reach heaven through his own efforts, evidenced by the building of towers and cities or creating a nation of sameness so impressive that God couldn't help but be overwhelmed. In the Babel narrative, we see these approaches are rejected by YHWH—not because He is against human beings building, creating, and unifying for a good cause, but because when godless humanists attempt to relate to or overthrow or reach heaven on their own merits or means, God is going to put an end to their ambitions—at least in that day—and again, out of love and purpose.

In response to YHWH going down and seeing what He saw (which I believe was what was in the hearts of these people), He said (verse 7), "Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another's speech."

This response was due to the fact that YHWH, in the previous verse, said the following:

• “Look, they are one people,
• “and they have all one language;”
• “and this is only the beginning
• “of what they will do;”
• “nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.”

These words of YHWH in the face of what the people of Babel were doing are really fascinating, aren’t they? I would re-read them in the following way:

• “Look, they are one people (of flesh and ambition)
• “and they have all one language;” (they are powerful in communication through words)
• “and this is only the beginning” (this magnificent effort is the first act of many to come)
• “of what they will do;” (they will do much worse things in the future if allowed)
• “nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.”

God's Intervention Without Destruction

If we are literalists, then what God writes here would mean that if they wanted to reach heaven with a tower and take over managing creation they could…but we are not literalists and we will assume that there is nothing from their evil imaginations that could be withheld from them due to this unity of purpose they have in the flesh. And so the Lord does something, He takes a pre-emptive strike against them, which I suggest was out of love. This would alter the course of humankind and appears to be one of the first acts where God steps in and actively does something in the world of Man to move it in a certain direction, which is in opposition to the will of human beings without killing them. (Verse 8)

8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. From this, we can see that the Lord did the very thing that the people gathered together in Babel feared most—being scattered, losing their unity of drive, dreams, and language. Verse 9 summarized the tale for us, saying:

9 Therefore it was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

Too Much Man, Not Enough God

Isn’t it interesting what we are witnessing here—man, made in God’s image, doing in many ways what God intended for us, being “fruitful, multiplying, replenishing, ruling over the material world, having dominion and doing all of it through some obvious concerted labors”—and God breaks that up! Obviously, if all God wanted from human beings, at least at this stage of the game, was to unify and create things, what He witnessed at Babel would have been acceptable. But there was too much of something going on here and not enough of something else.

I maintain that there was too much of Man and not enough God involved, and that trajectory was not going to lead to any kind of real value for the world. So out of love for the world, God got involved. He confused the languages, which most people suggest was the time that God split the known world up into cultures, races, and nations. Maybe so. But whether that is true or not, what is true is God did confuse the language over the earth and then spread the people out—dispersed them with different speech and pushed them out to different locations.

What remains interesting too is that He then, through Christ, calls all people, races, cultures, and genders to come.

Insights from the Story of Babel

I cannot help but discover great wisdom in the principles of this short event as Unity and Labor and Creation is always good and right when it is focused on Him and His will, but fleshly focused unity, to the point that people are being moved to externally reflect one culture, one world, one language and one look will only lead to trouble – and such has no basis in the workings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the world. For me, then, discounting any and all appeals that promote one culture or language or dress over another as better, superior or deserving more attention is contrary to God’s will and smacks of Babel, but at the same time, bringing all people, races, colors, cultures and languages into one on earth is just as bad.

The goal of the Gospel ought to be, from what I can tell, to extol the value and merits of all people equally and without any intrinsic value in where they came from while encouraging all of them to exist under the umbrella of one Lord, one faith, and one baptism.

The Power of Man-Will on Earth

There is another principle to observe here in the story of Babel too. And that is the dark powers of Man-will on earth which manifest themselves through what appear to be similar heavenly properties. We know from our study of the Apostolic Record that Satan in that day could appear in the form of an angel, that the dark can appear light, that miracles can be done that are not from God. Having been made in His image I wonder if there are powers available and at the ready for human beings to appeal to, to tap into, which will serve to empower us here, give us insight, wisdom of the world, and second sight into things that might give us advantage.

Jesus plainly taught that the children of this world are wiser than the children of God, and that makes me wonder what forces are available to human beings who have zero interest in honoring and serving the will and ways of God but are determined to go and build. I cannot help but wonder about these dark powers when they are associated with or when they tap into blood-shed, human sacrifice and the like. I don’t care to study them or investigate them, but hearkening all the way back to this time it seems that if God himself would say about Man that in given circumstances:

• “Look, they are one people (of flesh and ambition)
• “and they have all one language;” (they are powerful in communication through words)
• “and this is only the beginning” (this magnificent effort is the first act)

“of what they will do;” (they will do much worse things in the future if allowed) and then

• “nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.”

Reflections on Human Capacity

That human beings, made in His image, have some amazing capacities to do some amazing things – even without Him – and that if they tap into dark powers to sustain them, look out.

Some added thoughts. But note, “we have the culture at Babel say in verses 3-4, TWICE, “come let us . . .” right? And we have God also say the same but just ONCE, “Come, let us . . .”

Ironically, it seems that the human collective wanted to take steps of their own will to ensure that they made a name for themselves and were not scattered and then that God was determined not to let that happen. And that they were building a tower “with its top in the heavens” but that God “came down from the heavens to check it out!”

And then we have the name of the place being called Babel, which means confusing or confounding and has direct reference to the name, Babylon, which would ultimately rise up and serve to really pour havoc on the Nation around 600 BC. Fortunately or unfortunately, we the reader are left with the decision to figure out why “making a name, and a city, and a tower, of being one language and not wanting to be scattered was wrong – which we have done to the best of our ability.

However, by looking to other not-so-readily accepted sacred texts, like the book of Jubilees, 3 Baruch or the Babylonian Talmud, we get some insight, right or wrong, to the whole event. The book of Jubilees, for instance,

Reflections on the Tower of Babel

Says that the people built the tower in order to “ascend on it into heaven” (Jub 10:19). That allows us to then assign this ambition some value relative to God’s reaction to it.

3 Baruch 3:7–8 goes even further, saying that the people not only wanted to ascend into heaven but that they wanted “to pierce it” words that mean they sought to “wage war against heaven and God,” which is an explanation also that is also found in the Babylonian Talmud (b. Sanhedrin 109a), Philo of Alexandria, 3 Baruch 2:7, and one of the Aramaic translations of Genesis (Neophyti) 2.

In the case of “the war-on-heaven idea,” interpreters often referred back to the story of Nimrod that we discussed two weeks ago in Genesis 10:8–10, which also mentions Babel and then by (re)interpreting the obscure statement about Nimrod some have indicated that he was the leader of the Babel construction crew.

The thinking sounds something like this: There was arrogance in the hearts of the people – an arrogance that flows from a lack of God in their minds and plans. This arrogance allowed them to actually believe that they had the ability to construct a building that would reach into the skies so high that they could “pierce heaven” and then storm it, taking it over. Some say that it is “the seeking to make a name for themselves” that was wrong, but in the very next chapter we will discover God making a name of Abraham and even later than this (2nd Samuel 8:13) David will seek to make a name for himself without any reprisals from God for doing it! So, the making a name for oneself may not be the issue at all.

Another factor about the story of Babel is the people appeared to be fearful. Of what? Of being scattered and so making a name for themselves was in reaction to this fear – a fear God appears to have fulfilled for them without apology. So, the story also gives us another angle to consider – that the people were not so much trying to “storm heaven with their tower and city but quite the opposite, they sought to sink deep roots into local soil and not be scattered – which was apparently not in harmony with God’s plan either as he splits them up through changing up languages and then scattered them out into the world.

The Issue of Arrogance and Fear

From this larger perspective, maybe the hunkering down we discover going on in Babel with a city and tower and name was a direct refusal of the “cultural mandate” God had given in Genesis one and was more of a giant FU to the creator when Man said, “we will create our heaven and earth, not yours, and form a collective of one instead of a diverse gathering of many.” I do think it’s important not to see God's actions as a punishment in so much that it wound up affecting them negatively. But like most things with God, He may or will act against our desires with acts that in the long view are purposeful and good. And perhaps this is yet another illustration for us to consider – to trust Him and His decisions even when they directly confront and destroy our own. When people speak of God’s reaction at Babel to be a judgement, I tend to see it as loving guidance for His creations which God knows have no bounds relative to the trouble that we can get ourselves into. Look around today for modern examples.

Finally, the scattering also has to do with the confusion of languages which leads us to some other questions.

Scattering and Language Confusion

Two weeks ago we read of the scattering of the sons of Noah to different places. It was natural and organic and appears to address the people-groups coming out from Ham Shem and Japeth and going out into the world (or being spread abroad). That is why when we read at verse five of the earlier chapter PRE-BABEL:

Ge 10:5 By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.

So I am not in agreement that Babel was the way God dispersed the people into various nations. That we are left wondering if what happened at Babel in the next chapter was just specific to that crowd, their potential fleshly rebellion and speaks to only certain people groups being confused and spread rather than that of the whole world?

If this is the case,

God's Disapproval in Human Unity

We have a very unique but specific event happening here where God Himself steps in and gives His stamp of DISAPPROVAL on the things humankind will do in the name of fleshly unity and godless exhibitions.

In the grand narrative of Genesis, I tend to see the following: In the scope of God’s general plan for human beings he seeks for them to be free, to be fruitful and to multiply and replenish the earth and to freely go where they are inclined so long as they pursue Him and His will for them.

Resistance to God's Plan

We see this evidenced in chapter 10. But then we tend to see in chapter 11 and the nine verse story a resistance to this overall plan and have men (like apparently Nimrod) rising up and gathering people under another banner, and under another name, a people who might be fearful of living life that God had given them and the liberty bestowed and so they gather in an effort to do one better or one-up Him… saying that they will build a name for themselves through their own collective, and they will not be scattered out into the wind like other nations, but will plant roots there and they will make for themselves a name from one single place.

And in the end this approach was being confronted by God where he admits that they were now in a collective and there would be no stopping them from accomplishing anything and everything their fleshly hearts desired.

Babel and Babylonian Idolatry

There is quite a bit of other information out there on Babel, including that the Tower became the actual location of all Babylonian idolatry with a special talisman propped up at the very top. Perhaps so, but sticking primarily with what is written in what most people consider sacred texts, I think we have a fairly good understanding of what it was and what happened there.

At this point the narrative, after focusing on the genealogy of Shem is going to introduce us to a new character next week—a man named Abram.

Announcement

Next week I will be absent but we will be airing the taping of Genesis 11:10-end where Abraham is introduced. You are welcome to come here and watch it if you wish.

Questions/Comments/PRAYER