1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.
3 They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."
5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. 6 The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."
8 So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel —because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth. (Genesis 11:1-8)
I heard just yesterday from my Sunday School teacher that as a young missionary in Brazil years ago, he befriended a young lady who was a member of the New Tribes Mission organization. The young lady's family were the third generation of her family in the region who had made contact with a native tribe who had little contact with western civilization. The tribe numbered around 40 people. They spoke no Portuguese. In fact, their language was completely unlike the language of the people in the next village. The missionaries' grandparents first made contact with the region and discovered the tribe in the 1940s. They spent their lives building relationships with these native Indians, lived with them, and raised their children with them as they learned their language. It took a lifetime to learn the language until finally they were able to develop a working alphabet. By the time the next generation of the missionaries' family came along, they were able to teach the alphabet to the native tribesmen as they witnessed Christ to them. As this generation of missionaries grew older, they are tasking the young lady and her generation to develop a translation of the Bible in the native tongue. I was aghast at how long this process took- almost sixty years of learning a culture and building trust, learning the language and developing a working alphabet, and now developing a working translation of the Bible: three generations of hard work in the depths of the Amazon rainforest! The grandparents of the missionary have long since retired before the Gospel message in that language came out in print.
Learning a language is not an easy task. When I lived in Europe I was ashamed to discover that many Europeans looked disdainfully upon Americans because of our unwillingness to learn a language other than English. To my embarrassment, I tried to master the German language and communicated fairly well until I discovered that most Germans speak the English language better than most Americans. We are truly a global village where we can communicate freely over the internet and make friends with people all over the world. Yet there still exists primitive peoples like the ones I described in the previous paragraph whose language is so obscure It takes a lifetime to devote to learning it.
In Genesis 11 we learn about the Tower of Babel. The structure that was being build is similar to the Mesopotamian ziggurats which ruins we can still see in that region even today. Only this building was to be much larger and higher than any structure build before. The people imagined themselves building it to reach heaven. Did they possess the skills- or even the materials- to be able to do this? Probably not. But Nimrod- Noah's grandson, evidently possessed the organizational skills to cause him to think that he could. If grandaddy Noah could build an Ark, Nimrod could certainly build a tower! But the purpose of building this tower is what was such an affront to God. Building a tower was not the issue; it was why they built it. Nimrod and his followers set themselves up as no longer partners with God, but as competitors. They felt man's achievement's could possibly eclipse anything God had ever done. Eventually they would come to reject God. So God set out to knock mankind down a few pegs. He confused their language so that those working upon the project could not speak to one another effectively. Without this ability to communicate, it frustrated man's attempt to outwit and to outdo God.
Some may feel that God's response to man's attempts here was petty. But let the reader understand that anytime man gets to the point where he no longer feels God is necessary or relevant in man's world, man sets himself up for his own destruction. God had already instructed Noah and his descendants to be fruitful and multiply and to fill the earth. However, Nimrod did not feel it was necessary to do this. He desired to keep all the people of the earth in one place and at the same time,
Nimrod could keep the people under his own control. Nimrod could then exploit them for his own purpose. By getting them to focus upon building the tower to the sky, Nimrod could focus their attention away from their dwindling food supply and squalid living conditions. In this way, Nimrod was probably the father of politics. One thing Nimrod never counted on was what God did in confusing their speech. When God did this, He showed mercy upon the people and removed them from this despot's control. From then on, Nimrod's ability to control them was greatly diminished.
It may appear to be convenient to have all of the world speaking the same language, living under the same economy, serving the same political structure, or using the same money. But history has proven over and over again that this is not the best situation for man to live in. The larger the empire, the less control the people have in governing their own affairs. Individuality is part of what makes us human. Only God can bring such a wide diversity of people together for the purpose of glorifying Him. No matter what language we speak, God knows it and understands it perfectly. He knows our hearts as easily as He knows our customs. There is no culture shock with God. And we can trust Him with no fear of being manipulated or exploited because God does not need to have power over us. All He wishes is to enjoy a personal relationship with us.
Prayer: Dear God, thank You that I have a God who loves me and speaks my language. Thank You that to You I am not just a number, I am an individual who is free to glorify You as I express myself to You in worship and service. Help me to look around me with eyes of love to bring all people to You. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Have a blessed day!
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