The Dispersion of the Nations at Babel
11:1 The whole earth had a common language and a common vocabulary. 11:2 When the people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. 11:3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” (They had brick instead of stone and tar instead of mortar.) 11:4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens so that we may make a name for ourselves. Otherwise we will be scattered across the face of the entire earth.”
11:5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the people had started building. 11:6 And the Lord said, “If as one people all sharing a common language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be beyond them. 11:7 Come, let’s go down and confuse their language so they won’t be able to understand each other.”
11:8 So the Lord scattered them from there across the face of the entire earth, and they stopped building the city. 11:9 That is why its name was called Babel – because there the Lord confused the language of the entire world, and from there the Lord scattered them across the face of the entire earth.
11:10 This is the account of Shem.
Shem was 100 old when he became the father of Arphaxad, two years after the flood. 11:11 And after becoming the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
11:12 When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah. 11:13 And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
11:14 When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber. 11:15 And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
11:16 When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg. 11:17 And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.
11:18 When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu. 11:19 And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.
11:20 When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug. 11:21 And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.
11:22 When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor. 11:23 And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.
11:24 When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah. 11:25 And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.
11:26 When Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
11:27 This is the account of Terah.
Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. 11:28 Haran died in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans, while his father Terah was still alive. 11:29 And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was
Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah. 11:30 But Sarai was barren; she had no children.
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Something that struck me today is that this text is not just a history of Israel but of the entire earth. Interesting that the author would include specific lineage history of other nations. Man is typically internalized to only detail what is important to him. But here we see ideas and concepts and history that is important to all. Including Israel's enemies and distant neighbors (probably so distant that entire generations never met each other).
ReplyDeleteThe placement of certain items is also intriguing. Chapter 9 is about the restoration of life after the flood and God's covenant with Noah. Chapter 10 is about the table of nations and where they went throughout the world. Chapter 11 starts with all the people together building a magnificent city and tower and then becoming scattered. Why isn't that story chapter 10 and then the dispersion of peoples chapter 11? It's almost effect than cause in this situation.
Good Stuff Stef-dogg. Thanks for bringing this to us. It has been very helpful to me to have a "daily devotional" time...and to experience this with others has given me a chance to see everyone's take on what we are reading.
ReplyDeleteI hope everyone has a great week!
Good thoughts...
ReplyDeleteSometimes I have some and sometimes I don't. I feel like I need a family tree to understand where everyone fits because I know later on in the Bible, it would help to know who is a descendent of who. Glad to see we finally mentioned the daughters...I was beginning to worry. :)
Just one question...why did God want to stop them? Why would he not want us to work together as a team to discover, learn and do as much as we could accomplish??
Great question Bonnie. Jackie and I discussed this too. My only thought on the matter is that first God fears no one so it's not as if God shuddered at the site and said, "oh no." I think (as always) He did it for our benefit. If we were to build a magnificent city and tower we would think how great we are and not how great God is. He creates the heavens and earth and says it's good. We build a tower and say how great.
ReplyDelete