Babel

September 5

Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. 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. 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. 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.”

(Genesis 11:1-4) NKJV

We’re told that, after Noah’s flood, the people decided to stay together as a community and build a city. That wasn’t what God had in mind. He was working with a deadline.

Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

(Genesis 1:28) NKJV

The need for humans to disperse around the world was directly related to the timeline of events and the next cataclysmic upheaval was, in historical terms, just around the corner. Pangaea would be broken up into continents which would be separated by wide stretches of ocean within 5 generations of the flood.

The Time Span from Noah’s Flood to Peleg (Genesis 11:10-26)

• Arphaxad was born 2 years after the flood,
• He was 35 at the birth of Selah,
• Selah was 30 at the birth of Eber,
• Eber was 34 at the birth of Peleg,
• 2 + 35 + 30 + 34 = 101 Years

One of the issues which we can pick from this is the power, and danger, of having a universal language. It may be argued that math is a universal language with which humankind has achieved what would have otherwise been impossible. Babel had a bad but necessary outcome: the power was taken away. What will be the outcome of math? So far it looks like an entire generation of people, including Christians, who are unprepared for what’s coming.

A historical city built in defiance of the will of God which caused God to confound human language. It illustrates the danger of having a universal language.
See also Math.

– Babel, definition

Babel – Navigation

Section	Title	Scripture
1	Babel	Genesis 11:1-4
	A Universal Language	Genesis 11:5-6
2	Scattered Abroad	Genesis 11:7-9
	Chinese History	Genesis 9:18-19
3	What is Wrong With This Picture	Genesis 11:10-11
4	Predator and Prey	Genesis 9:1-3
	Salvation	Romans 10:9-10