Tower of Babel part 2
Genesis 11: Now the whole earth [a]had the same language and [b]the same words. 2 And it happened as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and [c]settled there. 3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and they had tar for mortar. 4 And they said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, lest we be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” 5 Then Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 And Yahweh said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have [d]the same language. And this is what they have begun to do. So now nothing which they purpose to do will be [e]impossible for them. 7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their [f]language, so that they will not understand one another’s [g]language.” 8 So Yahweh scattered them from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called [h]Babel, because there Yahweh confused the [i]language of the whole earth; and from there Yahweh scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
Last week we began l----------------------------------------------------------------------
Questions answered from the story of the tower of Babel.
I. Are all people one race?
Malachi 2:10 “Do we not all have one father? Has not one God created us?
Paul preached to the Greeks in Athens and said this…
Acts 17:26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,
Paul was teaching about the resurrection and said this…1 Corinthians 15:39 All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish.
This truth is first laid out in the book of Genesis where we read the story of creation. All people descended from Adam and Eve, and after the flood, from Shem, Ham, and Japheth and their wives.
What about evolution? How does evolution answer the question regarding races and their origin?
https://answersingenesis.org/charles-darwin/racism/did-darwin-promote-racism/
Did Darwin Promote Racism?
The human heart is a factory for all kinds of evil—including the evil of racism (see Jeremiah 17:9 and Matthew 15:18–19). Still, while Darwin certainly didn’t invent racism, his ideology of evolution has fostered it. Consider the case of Ota Benga—a pygmy from Central Africa, who in 1906 was caged in the Bronx Zoo with an orangutan. Remember the Jews in the gas chambers devised by Hitler to advance the Aryan “master race.” Reflect on the Australian aborigines hunted down in the 1800s by evolutionists in search of the “missing link.”
The full title of Darwin’s most famous work included some stark words: On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. Darwin envisioned the spontaneous formation of simple life evolving into higher forms through the pitiless forces of nature selecting the fittest.
Darwin demonstrated how he believed evolution shaped man in his subsequent book The Descent of Man. In it, he theorized that man, having evolved from apes, had continued evolving as various races, with some races more developed than others. Darwin classified his own white race as more advanced than those “lower organisms” such as pygmies, and he called different people groups “savage,” “low,” and “degraded.”
Darwin wasn’t the first to propose biological arguments for racism, but his works fueled the most ugly and deadly racism. Even evolutionist Stephen Jay Gould wrote, “Biological arguments for racism may have been common before 1859, but they increased by orders of magnitude following the acceptance of evolutionary theory” (Ontogeny and Phylogeny, 1977).
Darwin’s error was later exposed through the field of genetics. What Darwin didn’t know was that people have the same brown-colored skin pigment called melanin. A person’s genetic makeup determines his potential to produce a certain level of melanin. That’s why we see a range of skin shades in people from light to middle brown to dark. Our differences are only skin deep.
Through an understanding of biblical history and genetics, we see that variations in human skin pigmentation are the result of reshuffling the genetic potential of Adam and Eve and later the eight people aboard the Ark. After the scattering at the Tower of Babel, groups of people became more isolated, allowing for concentration of certain variations within those groups. Thus the development of lighter or darker skin in certain demographic groups has nothing to do with molecules-to-man evolution, but only the decreased genetic potential for variation in isolated populations.
Darwin was wrong. Humans are not split into various races at higher and lower stages of evolution. The Bible makes it clear that God specially created mankind in His image. We are all descendants of Adam, “the first man” (1 Corinthians 15:45), and Eve, “the mother of all living” (Genesis 3:20). So only one race exists—the human race.
But what is another doctrinal question that is answered in this section of Genesis?
I. Is death inevitable?
Scripture tells us in Hebrews 9:27 “It has been given unto men to die once.”
Death began at the curse of Adam and Eve. They were sent out of the Garden and out of God’s presence. The first death they likely experienced was witnessing the death of the animals that God slaughtered to provide their clothes. Outside of Eden they would have begun to see more animals die, and then came the day when Cain killed Abel. That may have been the first human death they saw first-hand. But as generations passed, they saw that death comes to everyone.
Romans 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the trespass of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.
I can’t imagine what it would have been like for Noah and his family. They were witnesses to the death of all life outside of the ark. And when they exited the ark the destroyed and devastated landscape of the earth was set in stark contrast to the lush beauty of creation that they knew before the flood. The closest thing I can imagine to what they endured would be coming up out of a storm cellar after a tornado destroys your house, neighborhood and even your city.
So, at the time of the tower of Babel, I believe that the knowledge of the finite nature of life would have been an ever-present reality in the minds of all people.
1 Corinthians 15:22 says “in Adam, all die.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 3 There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every [a]matter under heaven— 2 A time to give birth and a time to die;
But at first the average lifespan is pretty long; the ones we know up to Noah were over 900 years. But one thing we notice in the genealogies of Genesis 11 is that longevity starts to diminish. And that’s where I get this point about death.
Genesis 11: 10 These are the generations of Shem. Shem was 100 years old and [j]became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood;11 and Shem lived 500 years after he became the father of Arpachshad, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. 12 And Arpachshad lived 35 years and became the father of Shelah;13 and Arpachshad lived 403 years after he became the father of Shelah, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. 14 And Shelah lived 30 years and became the father of Eber;15 and Shelah lived 403 years after he became the father of Eber, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. 16 And Eber lived 34 years and became the father of Peleg;17 and Eber lived 430 years after he became the father of Peleg, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. 18 And Peleg lived 30 years and became the father of Reu;19 and Peleg lived 209 years after he became the father of Reu, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. 20 And Reu lived 32 years and became the father of Serug;21 and Reu lived 207 years after he became the father of Serug, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. 22 And Serug lived 30 years and became the father of Nahor;23 and Serug lived 200 years after he became the father of Nahor, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. 24 Nahor lived 29 years and became the father of Terah;25 and Nahor lived 119 years after he became the father of Terah, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. 26 And Terah lived 70 years and became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
Now, I’m not going to read all of this chapter. But I just want you to notice the number of years as I list them from Noah all the way to Abraham’s father Terah.
Noah 950, Shem 600, Arpachshad 438, Shelah 433, Eber 464, Peleg 239, Reu 239, Serug 230, Nahor 148, Terah 205. And Abraham lives to 175 years.
After the tower of Babel and Abraham the lifespan eventually goes down to what we are more familiar with today.
Longevity starts to diminish. But why did it start to diminish? Well, the ultimate answer is that the effects of sin start to compound in the world. But I read an interesting article this week about that. Adam was the one who first sinned, but he lived to be 930 years of age.
In fact, the majority of ages listed before the flood were over 900. So, the death curse of eating the tree seems to have still allowed people a very long life. So, what happened at the flood that caused reduction in lifespan? Well, there was a change in the environment and a possible change from a vegetarian to a meat-eating diet.
But Noah still lived 300 years past the flood. The environment and possible diet change don’t seem to have had a noticeable effect on him. So, this article attributed the reduction in years to genetics. What specifically about genetics would reduce lifespan? A smaller gene pool. Let me illustrate with something you are likely familiar with; dogs. Which kinds of dogs live longer, mutts (mixed breed) or pure bred? Which are healthier mixed breed or pure breed?
I ask that question to illustrate something. The smaller the genetic pool is available for breeding, the less healthy the dog, and thus the shorter the life-span. I read an article about that. Someone asked a vet why many dogs have shorter lifespans.
https://www.dogster.com/ask-the-vet/why-dogs-have-short-life-spans-vet-answer
“dog breeders (have come) out with a wide variety of breeds with very specific physical characteristics in a very short amount of time. This was achieved by breeding a very limited number of individuals and resulted in greatly reduced genetic pool variability. Among greater chances of inheriting the desired physical traits, the individuals also had greater chances of inheriting defective recessive genetic genes.”
Again, if you are going to keep a pure-bred bulldog pure bred, you will only breed the dog with another pure-bred bulldog. Which results in more health problems and a shorter life.
Here's another example you will understand. What was medically wrong with the genetic makeup of the Romanov family. They had a high instance of Hemophilia B which prevented their from blood properly coagulating. Some other royal families had a high instance of mental illness. What was the cause? Inbreeding. Because of their belief that their family was divinely ordained to be royalty, they would only marry within their family. They severely limited the gene pool resulting in recessive harmful genetic diseases being more likely in their children. Their children were less healthy and lived shorter lives.
How does this apply to longevity after the flood? And the tower of Babel?
What happened at the flood to the available gene pool? It was reduced to 6 people; Shem, Ham, and Japheth and their wives. All people from then on would come from the genes of these 6 people. Then, think about it, the next generation would arise from the marriages of first cousins. The best of the next generation would be second cousins. So, longevity drops dramatically after the flood. From 900 with Noah to 239 with Peleg, the generation of the tower of Babel. So, then what happens at the tower of Babel? The available gene pool reduces again. The people of the world are divided by languages, possibly 142, who migrate around the world, and therefore only breed within a limited people group. After that ages go down to what we know today. This reminds us of the truth from Scripture.
Death is inevitable.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2: "To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted."
Psalm 90:10: "The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away."
Isaiah 40:6-8: "All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: but the word of our God shall stand forever."
So, since death is inevitable, what should man’s response be? To look for the things that outlive this life.
For those who find me find life and receive favor from the Lord. Proverbs 8:35
The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
Well so far we have learned from the time of the tower of Babel about the origins of race, and the inevitability of death. What else can we learn?
II. What do people do with God’s good gifts?
Man’s return to sin.
Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden because they chose sin. And it took about 1600 plus years until sin had gotten bad enough that God destroyed all life by the flood. But it is only 300 plus years before they are involved in sin again at a widespread level. Just 3 hundred years, and God is intervening again. Let’s look shortly at those numbers.
Noah lived a very long time—950 years total. The flood occurred when Noah was 600 years old and Noah and the others left the ark the next year. If you look at the genealogies, we read last week you find that the tower of Babel judgment took place during the life of Peleg.
Genesis 10: 21 Also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, and the [j]older brother of Japheth, children were born. 22 The sons of Shem were Elam and Asshur and Arpachshad and Lud and Aram. 23 The sons of Aram were Uz and Hul and Gether and Mash. 24 Arpachshad [k]was the father of Shelah; and Shelah [l]was the father of Eber. 25 Now two sons were born to Eber; the name of the one was [m]Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan.
Genesis 11 gives us the ages of these generations.
10 These are the generations of Shem. Shem was 100 years old and [j]became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood; 11 and Shem lived 500 years after he became the father of Arpachshad, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. 12 And Arpachshad lived 35 years and became the father of Shelah; 13 and Arpachshad lived 403 years after he became the father of Shelah, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. 14 And Shelah lived 30 years and became the father of Eber; 15 and Shelah lived 403 years after he became the father of Eber, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. 16 And Eber lived 34 years and became the father of Peleg; 17 and Eber lived 430 years after he became the father of Peleg, and he became the father of other sons and daughters. 18 And Peleg lived 30 years and became the father of Reu;
So, if you do the math, you’ll find that the incident known as the Tower of Babel takes place when Noah was 940 years old, he is still ten years away from his death.
This means that there were 339 years between when Noah and the others left the ark and when the Tower of Babel was built. Now I say that mankind returned to sin, but a frequent question is What was the sin of the tower of Babel? Let’s read the account again.
Genesis 11: Now the whole earth [a]had the same language and [b]the same words. 2 And it happened as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and [c]settled there. 3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and they had tar for mortar. 4 And they said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, lest we be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” 5 Then Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 And Yahweh said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have [d]the same language. And this is what they have begun to do. So now nothing which they purpose to do will be [e]impossible for them.
On the face of it, it is difficult to pinpoint something that we might call sin. They population journeyed together. They settled in a plain. They decide to build a city and a high tower. Where’s the sin? But if we are faithful to Scripture, we will note that God was not pleased, and He scattered them, preventing them from continuing this work. So let’s look at some details.
A. They journeyed east and settled.
Is there a problem with their journeying together and settling together. Well, if you look at the end of the story, we know that God scatters them by means of confusing their language. And then if we go back to God’s command to Noah and his family, it was to…
1. Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth
In Genesis one God had said to Adam and Eve…
28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth,
It would seem that God intended for humanity to spread over all the earth. Part of that may have been in His design for us to be stewards over His creation. But, He has repeated this command twice; Be fruitful and fill the earth.
But the population around the tower of Babel did not spread over the earth. They stayed together. As I mentioned last week, a reasonable estimate is that there were a million people at this point, even journeying together in some mass migration to a more fertile region. That is a massive migration.
Trying to imagine it is even difficult. Dallas Texas had 1.3 million people in it in 2023.
So, why do they want to stay together? Well, we need to remember the conditions of the world at that time. First, they were the only people in the world. If you left this group, there was no other group to go to. Second, they were all related. This was just five generations for Shem’s family. Everybody you knew would be a third cousin 3 times removed or something. Third, the world was devastated by the flood, and all the animals were originally released from one location. There were no cities around the world. And as time went on, most of the earth would be jungle, or desert, or tundra, untamed and uncharted. Why would anyone want to wander away from the only civilization in existence. Now, it wouldn’t have been without its challenges keeping one million people in one place. They probably still had people groups, maybe tent villages spread over multiple miles. And they probably took their animals out to graze even further. But listen to what they say.
One of the specific reasons they gave to build the city and tower, was
“let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, lest we be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
They wanted to stay together. And this was a violation of God’s command. You say, would they have remembered that command? Keep this in mind. They don’t have that much to remember. How thick is their history book? How large is their Bible? How many commands had God given them? Don’t kill, seek forgiveness from me by a blood sacrifice, be fruitful and fill the earth. So, they were violating God’s command.
Now, if this had been the only violation of God’s command, I suspect that He would have left them to themselves. But something else is happening here.
“let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, lest we be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”