Hello everyone! Welcome to today’s Bible study on Genesis 11 – The Tower Of Babel. According to Bible scholars, the events decribed in Genesis 11 took place approximately before 2100 B.C.
I encourage you to turn to Genesis 11 in your Bible. Kindly invite the Holy Spirit to guide you as you read and study Genesis 11 with me. I mention this in all the Bible Studies because it is through the Holy Spirit that we get fresh revelation and knowledge to understand the word of God. I am using the New King James Version (NKJV) of the Bible, just in case you want to know. All the scriptures that you find highlighted in purple in this post are from the NKJV.
In the Bible Study on Genesis 10, we read about Noah’s descendants. Well, in this Bible study on Genesis 11, we will read about the tower of Babel and also about the genealogy of Shem, one of Noah’s sons. It is through the genealogy of Shem that Abram was born.
Without any further delay, let us study together Genesis Chapter 11, shall we?
The Whole Earth Spoke The Same Language
1 Now the whole earth had one language and 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.
In Verses 1-2 of Genesis 11, we see that the whole earth spoke the same language. That is, every nation of the earth spoke one language. They didn’t have many different languages as we have now. People journeyed from the east together and they found a plain (a large area of flat land with a few trees) in Shinar and they dwelt there. Shinar consisted of more than 16 states and it is the name for the southern region of Mesopotamia. One of the states of Shinar is Babylonia or Babylon and it was ruled by Nimrod the grandson of Ham and the great-grandson of Noah. Some highly speculate that it is was Nimrod who was the leader of those who built the tower of babel. It is speculated that he oversaw its construction.
Construction Of The Tower Of Babel
3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. 4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
In Verses 3-4 of Genesis 11, the people spoke among themselves to make bricks. Also, they decided to bake the bricks thoroughly to make them durable and strong. They used bricks for stone and asphalt for mortar. The people spoke among themselves again to build two things – first a city and then a tower whose top reaches the heavens (as far as it could reach into the sky). They devised such a plan to make a name for themselves and to avoid being scattered abroad the face of the earth.
They feared that God would scatter them abroad over the face of the whole earth like He did during the flood. Hence, that could only mean one thing. They liked to sin without paying its wages. There was no need for them to make a name for themselves or to be united in their purpose to exalt themselves by building a city and tower. They didn’t seek to exalt the Lord. They could have sought to be righteous instead of trying to protect themselves from the repercussions of sin and from the Lord’s wrath against sin.
The Lord sent the flood when the sin of mankind was at an all-time high during Noah’s time. So, they sought to escape another flood and sought to build a high-tower so that they could sin but still escape by reaching the top the tower. Otherwise, there was no need for them to construct a tower that reaches the heavens. The only plausible reason is to escape another flood where the waters could not reach the top of the tower. Now, that is evil.
Observation
These people were not sent by God to construct the tower or the city. They, out of their selfishness, wanted to be known and famous. So, they of their own accord, tried to exalt themselves and to save themselves from any future flood that God might send. They did not want to be scattered all over the earth like it happened during the first flood or die in the flood. They wanted to remain united together and alive (incase, there was another flood) in one place – THE TOWER. Clearly, they didn’t seek to please or honour God.
Cessation Of The Tower
5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. 7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”
In Verses 5-6 of Genesis 11, we read that the Lord came down to see the city and tower than sons of men had built. The Lord said that if He allowed this to continue surely the people would achieve whatever they purposed to do because they were united in their purpose and spoke the same language. In Verse 7, The Lord said ‘Let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech’. Notice how the Lord didn’t say ‘Let Me go down’. He said let Us. What was He referring to? He was referring to Him as a whole – The Triune God comprising of the Father, the Son and His Spirit which is the Holy Ghost.
The people purposed to construct the city and the tower of babel to save themselves and to exalt themselves. However, the Lord purposed to destroy their plans and stop them in their tracks because what their plans, purposes and agenda was not pleasing nor good in God’s eyes. Their will was against God’s will.
The Lord Scattered The People Over The Face Of The Earth After Confusing Their Languages
8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. 9 Therefore its name is 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.
In Verses 8-9 of Genesis 11, we read that the Lord indeed went down(from Heaven) to the land (Shinar), where the people were constructing the tower, and scattered them. The people didn’t name the tower as Babel. It is called Babel because there (in the place where they were building the tower), the Lord confused the language of all the people of the earth who were constructing the city and the tower. Babel literally means a confused noise made by a number of voices. And from that place, He scattered the people, who were constructing it, over all the regions of the earth.
When God confused their language, each of them spoke a different language suddenly while they were constructing the tower. The Lord forced them to stop constructing the city and the tower by confusing their languages. Therefore, they ceased building the city because they couldn’t understand and collaborate with each other. The Lord, not only confused their language and speech but also He did the very thing that they were afraid of. He scattered them into different parts of the earth thereby dismantling their purpose and agenda completely. In this way, they could not learn each other’s languages now or find a different way to collaborate to carry on the construction of the city and the tower to protect themselves from the wages of their sins.
Now, we know that it was the Lord who made people speak different languages and hence we have different languages in the world today. And this is how the different language sof the earth came to be, biblically-speaking.
Genealogy Of Shem
10 This is the genealogy of Shem: Shem was one hundred years old, and begot Arphaxad two years after the flood. 11 After he begot Arphaxad, Shem lived five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters. 12 Arphaxad lived thirty-five years, and begot Salah. 13 After he begot Salah, Arphaxad lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.
14 Salah lived thirty years, and begot Eber. 15 After he begot Eber, Salah lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.16 Eber lived thirty-four years, and begot Peleg. 17 After he begot Peleg, Eber lived four hundred and thirty years, and begot sons and daughters.
18 Peleg lived thirty years, and begot Reu. 19 After he begot Reu, Peleg lived two hundred and nine years, and begot sons and daughters.20 Reu lived thirty-two years, and begot Serug. 21 After he begot Serug, Reu lived two hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters.
22 Serug lived thirty years, and begot Nahor. 23 After he begot Nahor, Serug lived two hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.24 Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and begot Terah. 25 After he begot Terah, Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years, and begot sons and daughters. 26 Now Terah lived seventy years, and begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
Verses 10-26 talks about the genealogy of Shem one of Noah’s sons. To recapitulate, Noah had three sons, Shem, Japheth and Ham – Refer to Genesis 10.
Below is the genealogy chart of Shem that I have prepared so that it is easier to read and follow allong.
Note
When God created man He created him to live eternally on the earth. God is a God of the living. He didn’t create man to die someday. However, Adam committed high-treason in the garden of Eden. He was not deceived, Eve was. He willingly ate of the fruit. In doing so, he sinned and death crept into the earth on humans and living creatures alike. It took a while, for death to take hold of humans. That is why if you look at Adam’s genealogy in Genesis 5, you will see that Adam lived 930 years on earth and then down the line along Adam’s lineage the life-expectancy of humans gradually reduced. You can see this also in Shem’s genealogy, on how each one lived lesser number of years than their fathers.
Genealogy Of Terah
27 This is the genealogy of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran begot Lot. 28 And Haran died before his father Terah in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans. 29 Then Abram and Nahor took wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah. 30 But Sarai was barren; she had no child.
31 And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there. 32 So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran.
In Verses 27-32 of Genesis 11, we read about the genealogy of Terah. Terah was the son of Nahor – Refer to the Shem’s Descendants Chart above. Now, Terah begot three sons namely Abram, Nahor and Haran. Haran begot a son named Lot and two daughters Milcah and Iscah. Haran died even before his father Terah died. We also come to know from the above verses that Abram married Sarai and Nahor married Milcah. In short, Nahor married his niece (his brother Haran’s daughter). Also, Sarai was barren and had no child.
Below is the chart that I have prepared to explain Terah’s genealogy visually so that is easier to understand.
Terah along with his son Abram, his daughter-in-law Sarai and grandson Lot went out from Ur in the land of Chaldean to the land of Canaan. They came to a place called Haran and dwelt there. Later, Terah after having lived a total of 205 years died in the place called Haran.
Conclusion
This brings us to the end of the bible study lesson on Genesis 11. Now, we know how different languages of the world came to be. We also read about Shem’s descendants so that we can trace Abram’s lineage – the patriach. I hope you learnt something from this free bible study and found it helpful in your Bible study journey. If you have any comments or questions for me, kindly leave them in the comments box below. I highly appreciate it. I will get back to you as soon as I can.
Until Next Time!