Sunday School Lesson
Lesson: Genesis 11:1-9
Golden Text: “So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city” (Genesis 11:8).
I.
INTRODUCTION.
The principle of scattering holds a prominent place in the
pages of Scripture. In the New Testament, the young followers of
Jesus Christ were scattered because of persecution (see Acts 8:1-4).
In this week’s lesson, God scattered the descendents of Noah, because
they were committed to dwelling in one place instead of replenishing the whole
earth (see Genesis 9:1). In both cases, God used the principle of
scattering to fulfill His will.
II. MANKIND
SETTLING DOWN (Genesis 11:1-4). Background for the
Lesson: Genesis
chapter 10 gives a detailed record of the descendents of Noah’s sons through
whom the world would be repopulated after the Flood. Verses 1-5
detail Japheth’s family, with a conclusion given in verse 5 that “By these
(Japheth’s descendents) were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands;
every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.”
Verses 6-20 detail Ham’s family, concluding with “These are the sons of
Ham, after their families, after their tongues (languages), in their countries,
and in their nations (See Genesis 10:20). The record of Shem’s
family is found in Genesis 10:21-31, and is summarized with “These are the sons
of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their
nations” (see Genesis 10:31). Then the entire record is concluded
with the statement that “by these were the nations divided in the earth after
the flood” (see Genesis 10:31). In other words chapter 10
chronologically should come after Genesis 11:9. Men were not
divided by tongues and nations until after the events of our lesson.
Therefore Genesis chapter 10 gives the earliest division of men
after the confusion of tongues, and
before the division of the earth into
continents and islands which took place in the days of Peleg (see Genesis
10:25). Based on the information given in chapter 10 (which should
come after Genesis 9:1-11), we can conclude that after God confounded or
confused the language of the immediate descendents of Noah’s sons, Japheth’s
descendents settled in the north, west and east of Europe and in Asia; Ham’s
descendents settled in Africa; and Shem’s descendents settled in countries
surrounding Palestine.
A. Dwelling in Shinar
(Genesis 11:1-2). 1. (vs. 1). Our lesson begins with “And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.” Since we are told in Genesis 10:25 that the earth (meaning the descendents of Noah’s sons) was divided in the days of Peleg, at this point in our lesson it had been at about 100 years since the Flood (see Genesis 10:18-19). The phrase “whole earth” refers to the people who survived the Flood as well as their descendents. They all spoke the same language. We don’t know what human language was spoken before and after the Flood. The view shared by many is that it was a Semitic language, maybe even Hebrew since the names of men and places in the period before Babel have meanings only in Hebrew and similar Semitic languages.
2. (vs. 2). This verse says “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 defiance of God’s command given first to Adam and Eve and then to Noah and his sons to “be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth” (see Genesis 1:27-28; 9:1), there was a movement to consolidate the human race in one central location. Note: All of Noah’s descendents were still in the area of Ararat where the Ark finally rested after the flood waters subsided (see Genesis 8:4). They made up the human race at that time. There were no humans anywhere else on earth until God confounded their language and scattered them throughout the earth. From this area of Ararat, the human race travelled eastward until they came to “a plain in the land of Shinar” which was in Southern Mesopotamia in what is known as the Fertile Crescent. It was near the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers where many believe was the location of the Garden of Eden since the land was so fertile. “The land of Shinar” eventually became the region of ancient Babylonia. Upon finding this “plain” the people stopped travelling and “dwelt there.” The Hebrew words for “dwelt there” mean “to sit down” indicating that the human race settled “in the land of Shinar” having no intentions of going any further. Their decision to remain there and build a great civilization indicated that these people had decided that they were not going to fulfill God’s command to multiply and fill the earth.
B. Planning a tower (Genesis 11:3-4).
1. (vs. 3). With the people now settled in the plains of Shinar, Moses goes on to write “And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.” Noah’s descendents were determined to build a city and a tower (see verse 4), so here we are told how they planned to do it. They said “Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. The words “Go to” can mean “come on.” They decided to make bricks for the building project. They would “burn them thoroughly” meaning that they would bake the bricks in a kiln. Sometimes the process of making bricks involved baking them in the sun, but burning them in a kiln would make the bricks stronger and longer-lasting. Stones would normally be used for a project like this, but in the area of Shinar stones were not readily available so they made bricks. The “slime” they used instead of “morter” refers to bitumen or asphalt that can still be found in that area (now Iraq) bubbling out of the ground. The “slime” used in those days was so strong that even today it’s almost impossible to separate things found cemented with it.
2. (vs. 4). In this verse we are told “And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” With the bricks, Noah’s descendents were determined to build both a “city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven.” The reason they wanted to build this city and tower was to “make us a name” or make a name for themselves. They believed that the city and tower would unite them, and prevent them from being “scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” They deliberately decided to rebel against God’s command to replenish the earth with people. Of course this would include scattering all over the earth. Note: If the tower had any practical purpose besides bringing glory to the builders, it is not stated in Scripture. It’s obvious however, that the tower was not built to honor and glorify God. The building of the tower and the city was an act of rebellion against the true God. We see in this plan that mankind’s basic sinful nature had not changed even though God, through the Flood had devastated the earth, and destroyed all life with the exception of Noah, his family and the animals aboard the ark. We also see in this incident disobedience at work. God’s direct command to replenish the earth was disobeyed and man’s desire to stay together with one name and in one place was evidence that they didn’t honor the direct will of God. They probably believed the covenant that God made with Noah not to destroy the earth by water again, but they neglected to realize that our all powerful God has other means of judgment at His disposal. No matter what we may choose to do, we cannot change God’s direct will. As far as God was concerned, mankind was going to replenish the earth one way or another, but His will would be done.
III. GOD DISRUPTS MANKIND (Genesis 11:5-9)
A. God’s observation (Genesis 11:5-6).
1. (vs. 5). Now that the people’s thoughts had turned to preserving and promoting themselves, Moses writes “And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.” The phrase “the Lord came down to see” does not mean that God wasn’t aware of what was going on and had to investigate. Of course, God doesn’t have to investigate to know what’s going on in His universe. God was well aware of what the people were doing, but for our benefit the text describes Him as coming down from heaven to earth to have a look. This is an anthropomorphic statement, one that uses human terminology to describe what God does. The words “children of men” is a reference to the descendents of Noah’s sons who now lived in the land of Shinar (see verse 2) and made up the human race.
2. (vs. 6). After stating that God came down to see what the people were doing, Moses now writes “And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.” The Lord saw that the people were still together as “one” and they all shared “one language” causing them to do the opposite of what He had commanded them to do. God knew that what they were doing in building a tower and a city had great potential for more evil. The phrase “and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do” simply means that since they were united by “one language,” mankind could accomplish anything they set out to do, and nothing could restrain or hold them back from completing whatever they wanted to do. Note: Judging by God’s response to this effort, this was an attempt by the people to elevate themselves, perhaps like Satan’s declaration that “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High” (see Isaiah 14:14).
B. God’s decision (Genesis 11:7). Now, the Lord had a conference with Himself so to speak. God said “Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.” Just as the people talked among themselves and had decided what they were going to do, so the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost decided “let us go down.” The words “let us” are the same words God spoke in Genesis 1:26 when He said “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” This was a reference to the Trinity just as it is in this verse. The phrase “let us go down” is another anthropomorphic statement applying human language to what God does. God is everywhere and didn’t have to leave heaven to come down to earth. Briefly stated, the Lord’s plan was to “confound their language.” Confusing their language would make it impossible for the people to understand one another and also destroy their efforts to defy the Lord. We can imagine how bewildered these individuals were as they tried to find someone else with whom they could communicate. As they found others who they could understand, no doubt the forming of separate groups took place naturally.
C. God’s action (Genesis 11:8-9).
1. (vs. 8). This verse says “So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.” The immediate result of God confusing the people’s language was that “the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth.” In doing this, the Lord made sure that His commandment given after the Flood to replenish the earth would be fulfilled. Once the human race began to scatter, the city and its tower were no longer needed, so they “left off to build the city” meaning that they halted the construction. Since the people couldn’t effectively communicate to each other, it became obvious to them that this project would be a complete disaster, so they stopped. Note: With the confusing of the languages, various groups developed who spoke the same language, thus also developing different cultures. These separate and unique groups of people who now spoke different languages traveled together and settled in other parts of the world. This was the beginning of the fulfillment of God’s command for man to replenish the earth.
2. (vs. 9). Our final verse says “Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.” The word “Therefore” connects what God did when He confounded human language to the name given to the city they attempted to build. It was called “Babel” which means confusion. The city later became Babylon. Again we are told that the Lord scattered the human race “abroad upon the face of all the earth.” Thus the beginning of nations was not the result of chance. Nations came about as the result of God’s intervention. Note: The original intent of the builders was to construct something that would make a name for themselves. Instead, the name given to this city commemorated God and what He did when He confounded their language. What took place at Babel is a lesson for all of us, and a warning against deciding to live our lives contrary to God’s will. We can’t win when we fight against the clear commands of God; it’s always a losing battle, whether during our lifetime, or in the time of coming judgment in the future.
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