Babbling at Babel

Monday, 25th February 2008

The first part of Gen 11 records for us another well-known story in the Bible, and that is of the Tower of Babel, which was when the different languages were formed.

In fact, there is a website known as BabelFish, which provides translation of text from one language to another.

When I first read the story as a young boy, truth be told was I did not feel too good about it. Firstly, I had the wrong impression that mankind had wanted to be united, yet here was God confusing and scattering them all over the earth. Secondly, I thought God stopped them from building the tower because He did not want them to step into heaven where He resides.

Of course, I now realise that even the most gigantic of skyscapers cannot be built billions of light years tall enough to reach into heaven. Rather, what was happening was a plot by the evil one to pervert the gospel story via Nimrod.

After the flood, God had told Noah and his sons in Gen 9:1 to populate and fill the earth. Yet, here was mankind again being disobedient to Him. Instead of filling the earth, they decided to gather together in Babylon.

God had also told Satan that He would raise a seed of Eve to crush his head. Being a counterfeiter rather than a creator, he perverted God's plan to raise a champion by having his own version via Nimrod (which means "rebel"). Nimrod is mentioned in Gen 10:8 as a tyrannical hunter in opposition to the LORD (which is a more accurate translation than "mighty hunter before the LORD").

Nimrod was the one who spearheaded the building of the tower which "top would will reach into heaven" (Gen 11:4). This tower had a temple at the top where the sun, moon and stars were to be worshipped instead of the true and living God.

You can read more about Nimrod in this article.

Thankfully, God was once again one step ahead of the devil. Previously, He had sent the flood to destroy Satan's work in corrupting the stock of mankind. This time around, He made men speak different languages so that they could no longer understand one another. What resulted was not only the abandonment of that evil tower project, but the scattering of men across the earth. Hallelujah!