The Danger of Unity

Dangers of Unity
Genesis 11:1-9

Introduction:
Christmas season is the season of love, and joy, and peace. The passage of Scripture most quoted if not read during the Christmas holidays has probably been the message of the angels to the shepherds at the birth of Jesus: “Glory to God in the tightest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased” (Luke 2:14).

I, along with most people, like to talk about those good things: love, joy, peace, unity. But we cannot get so focused on the ideas of peace and unity that we forget that God is more interested in one feature above peace and unity and that is faithfulness. Today, we’re going to study the event of the building of the tower of Babel as we consider the “danger of unity."

When God created the world, when He created man, He commanded man to “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it” (Gen. 1:28). In other words, “reproduce and scatter!” Man did not, but instead, he became wicked, beginning with every imagination in his heart and God destroyed the world in the days of Noah.

After the destruction of the world through the flood, God once again commanded Noah and his descendants, “be fruitful and multiply; Populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it” (Gen. 9:7). “Reproduce and scatter!” Man, again, did not.

God created the world to be inhabited (Isaiah 45:18). Yet, humanity was refusing to obey God’s command. We do not know if the events of chapter 11 (with the tower of Babel) came before or after the message in chapter 10. You might think they come afterward because Genesis is a book of history. However, chapter 10 largely gives the genealogy of Noah’s three sons so, we’re not sure if Moses, the author, had a different purpose than chronology in putting chapter 10 before chapter 11 or not.

In chapter 10, Moses writes that Japheth’s sons lived in the coastlands, and they had their nations and their languages (10:5). The sons of Ham moved south and they had their nations and their own languages (10:20). Finally, those who would become the clan of Hebrews, the family of Abraham (the sons of Shem), lived in the hill country and they had nations and their own languages (10:31). Moses writes that “out of these families the nations were separated on the earth after the flood.”

Let us study this event; it is the event out of which comes Moses’s focus on Abraham and his family.

THE DANGER OF UNITY - 11:1-4:
The first thing we notice here is the “danger of unity.” Unity is normally something we emphasize, desire, and work for and rightly so. But, if the unity is on the wrong basis or focused in the wrong direction or motivated by the wrong purpose, then unity can be bad. That’s what we see here in the first four verses as Moses sets up for us the scenario.

Notice the unity we have in the text:
“Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words. It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

Let’s examine these first four verses closer.

Verse 1: The word for “earth” (or “land”) is used 138 times in Genesis. God made the “earth” (Gen. 1:1). The phrase “the whole earth” is found for the first time in Gen. 1:26 where God wants man to rule over “the whole earth.” But, man cannot do that if he doesn’t live in all the earth. In the destruction of the flood (8:9), God covered “the whole earth” with water because man sinned because man did not scatter and fill the whole earth as God had originally commanded (11:1). They live in close proximity and they speak the same language. The word translated “same” (NASV) is the Hebrew word for “one.” They spoke one language and they spoke the same words. They were united in language. The phrase “whole earth” is used five times in our text; we’ll point them out as we move through.

Just as the “whole earth” was corrupt before the flood and God destroyed the “whole earth” and started over with Noah, so here, the “whole earth” refuses to do what God commands them to do and God will “confuse” the “whole earth” and start over with Abraham (Genesis 12).

Verse 2: These individuals travel, but not very far, just to the plain of Shinar. Shinar was mentioned back in 10:10 as the location of four early cities: Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh. It was here that the mighty hunter Nimrod began his kingdom.

Verse 3: They also had one, united goal: to build a tower, probably what we refer to today as a “ziggurat.” Here in verse 3, they knew that to do, they needed bricks. So, they worked together to make bricks which they used for building materials and they used tar for the mortar to bind the bricks together. This was a major technological shift in the abilities of humankind. Archaeologists have discovered remains of about 25 ziggurats and one of the largest stands seven stories tall, 300’ high!

The ziggurat, anthropologists tell us, symbolized a mountain and on top of the mountain / ziggurat, man communed with God. The building of the tower (ziggurat?), was a religious act, an act to draw closer to Deity. This event might be the first picture of idolatry among pagans that we have in the Bible.

“Let us make bricks.” Remember, Moses’ first audience were the Israelites in the land of Egypt, if not the generation that came out of Egypt; we don’t know exactly when Moses wrote Genesis. But, this expression recalls the building projects of the Israelites in the land of Egypt, for Pharaoh. Why did the Pharaohs build the pyramids? To make a name for themselves. Moses is letting Israel know that the Pharaohs were not the first to build great monuments to themselves but, if anyone leaves God out of their plans, their monuments will mean nothing. Of course, the God who brought this building project to an end is the same God who will practically destroy Egypt in order to bring His people out of slavery to worship and serve Him.

Verse 4: Humanity decided to build a city in which, perhaps in the center of which, they decided to build a tower. But not just any tower. This tower would “reach into heaven.” But this city and this tower had a larger purpose. It was to make this people well-known. It would give them a “name,” by which they mean a “reputation.” This was to keep them, in some way, from being “scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” Notice that man is looking for some way to keep from doing the very thing God has commanded him to do. They do not want to do what God wants them to do.

They have learned nothing from the flood. If our understanding of the chronology is correct, Noah and all three sons are still alive when this event takes place. This is about 100 years after the flood. Do you think those four men are telling people: Do what God says do! If they preached that message, it fell on deaf ears. How foolish it was, to try to build a tower that reaches “into heaven!” From a spiritual perspective, it is foolish for man to try to reach up to God before God reaches down to man!

It is, of course, ironic that the whole plan fails. The whole plan blows up in their face and, instead of having a “name” as great builders, their project is known as a tremendous failure. Because, like the foolish farmer in Luke 12, they left God out of their plans!

It is also ironic that they build this tower to keep from being scattered (v. 4) but that is exactly what God is going to do to them! I wonder if hell, or part of hell, is God causing people to experience or feel the very things that kept them from obeying Him to begin with!

JEHOVAH GOD REACTS - 11:5-8:
In a mocking satire of the Babylonians, and the Egyptians of Moses’s day, and of people today who think they can be “like God,” God has to come down to man!

“The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. The Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. “Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city.”

The Babylonians thought they could build a tower to reach God but they could not. God had to come down to man. Let’s take a closer look at these verses.

Verse 5: This verse reminds me of a father or grandfather who kneels down on the floor or even lays down in order to look his grandchild in the eyes. It’s called “condescending.” That’s what God does here. He gets down on his knees so that man can “look God in the face.” When I was at FHU, I lived with a family for a year and they had two boys, years younger than me. Sometimes, when I was lying on the floor, their youngest, Jared, would jump on my back and I would say, “A piece of paper! Somebody threw a piece of paper on me!” Of course, I did that to illustrate how small, fragile, and insignificant he was compared to this college student! (You should see the size Jared is now, twenty-six years later! If he hit me, he would knock me into the middle of next week!)

Men want to see God. But you can’t do it with a tower and you can’t do it on your own. God’s action shows “a tiny tower, conceived by a puny plan and attempted by pint-sized people” (Mathews, 483). It is also a little humorous that Moses describes the Babylonians as “sons of men,” which really highlights their weak, fragile nature.

If you want to see God, it will take God “coming down” to us! Which, of course, is what God did when He became flesh in the person of Jesus Christ.

Verse 6: Jehovah God recognizes the unity of the Babylonians and He recognizes the power in unity. “They are one people and they all have the same language.” In Hebrew, “one” is the same word as “same.” Then God recognizes that if He doesn’t do something, “there’s nothing which they purpose to do” that will be impossible for them! Oh, family, the power of unity! We need that kind of unity to accomplish great things here at the Swartz Creek church of Christ; we just need to make sure our unity is based on the right foundation with the right goals in front of us!

Verse 7: God speaks to perhaps the other two members of the Godhead or perhaps angels who serve at God’s command, and He says that He will “confuse” their language so they can’t speak and understand one another. The verb translated “confuse” here in Hebrew is balal, which shows that “Babel” is a pun on the word “confuse.”

If you are not speaking the same language, you cannot communicate and if you can’t communicate, you will not be constructive and successful! That is an important lesson for us in the church; let’s make sure we’re all speaking the same, biblical language. It is also an important lesson in the marriage relationship, in the home, as well as in the broader community, and in our country as a whole.

Verse 8: Again, the very thing that the Babylonians feared - being scattered (v. 4) - is what God causes to happen! And then their grand, great, grandiose building project comes to a anti-climatic fizzle! “They stopped building the city.” All it took was one action on God’s part and man’s great scheme of making a name for himself comes to a screeching halt! Since the text highlights the “building of the city,” rather than the tower itself, we rightly understand that the refusal to multiply and fill the earth was the sin involved here. We see that even more clearly in verse 9…

THE RESULT OF MISPLACED UNITY - 11:9:
The conclusion to the whole event is found in verse 9 and highlighted by the word “therefore.” That shows we’re drawing this story to a conclusion.

“Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

The people wanted to make a “name” for themselves (v. 4) but the name by which they are known means “confusion.” The word “Babel” is a pun, a play on the sound of the verb “confuse” from v. 7. The people wanted to make a reputation for themselves and they ended up making a mockery of themselves; today in English, the word “babel” means to speak incoherently!

This place was called “Babel” because the Lord confused the language of the whole earth. This verse has “whole earth” twice more and we learn that from one language came all the different languages of mankind, all because man thought he was smart enough to go meet God.

Then, the text says it was from Babel that the Lord scattered the people abroad over the face of the “whole earth.” Once more, the very act the people wanted to avoid, God caused despite their actions!

That effort to make a name for themselves is contrasted with God’s promise in Genesis 12:2 to make a “name” for Abram.

CONCLUSION:
Whenever we read these stories of the book of Genesis as most any other event in the Old Testament, we need to keep in mind there are three audiences that looked at this event. The first audience was the audience who experienced the events for the first time, the ones who were scattered abroad. What lesson were they to learn from this event? Of course, the first audience, the first Babylonians would learn that when God commanded them to do something, they should do it! You can’t build a city and hide from God’s commands. If you refuse to obey God’s commands, the alternative (like confusion through different languages) may be worse than the disease itself!

Secondly is the audience for whom Moses wrote Genesis: the Israelites as they were coming out of the land of Egypt, moving through the wilderness, and establishing themselves in the Promised Land. What lesson(s) were they to learn from this event? Certainly, if God could confuse the Babylonians and bring their plans to nothing, God can also confuse the plans of Pharaoh and the Egyptians and bring their plans to nothing. No power on earth can stand in the presence of God unless God allows them to stand!

Finally, every audience after Moses’ initial audience of Israelites would be the third audience. That would include all subsequent generations of Israelites and Jews who would read the book of Genesis as well as Christians whose Bible would begin with Genesis. What lesson(s) were they to learn and what lesson(s) are we to learn? Remember that Israel was going to be threatened by the Babylonians (in the 500s B. C.), at whose beginning, God confused their plans and their language. If the first Babylonians could not thwart God’s plans, the latter Babylonians could not either and there would be no reason for Israel to fear the Babylonians!

One fundamental message we learn is that “unity and peace are not ultimate goods: better division than collective apostasy” (Kidner, 119). The Babylonians’ unity was good. But unity can not and should not be divorced from faithful obedience.

“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling” (Prov. 16:18). When we step outside of God’s authority, we are going to meet with “confusion, failure and disappointment” (Dobbs, 142).

You know, we have a similar situation with the Christians in the book of Acts. When Jesus ascended into heaven, He commanded His disciples to “go into all the world.” But they did not. The church was established in Acts 2 in Jerusalem. The events in Acts 4 happened in Jerusalem. Acts 6: still in Jerusalem. I do not know for sure, but I wonder if God brought about the persecution recorded in Acts 8, instigated by Saul of Tarsus, to get Christians to obey the Great Commission (cf. 8:4): Reproduce new Christians and scatter! Go into all the world! Let us learn from the mistake of the Babylonians and the early Christians. Let’s do what God says do! Preach the gospel.

Men must obey God’s commands. Uniting with other rebels will not invalidate the commands. We need humility and obedience.