Why does that happen? One moment you feel like maybe you are making some progress. One moment you have a big vision, a goal and a plan. One moment everyone is on board and ready for the next steps. One moment you feel like maybe this thing will actually work - whatever this thing is. You feel as though you are on top of the world. But then the next moment comes and it is all different.
The plans fall apart, the hopes are crushed, it all seems like dead ends. The relationships crumble, those who were gung ho and on board are now abandoning ship like you’ve hit an invisible iceberg and are going down fast.
And the worst part? You have absolutely no idea what happened. What seemed to be such a wonderful idea, what seemed to be just what everyone wanted, became a source of confusion and misunderstanding. You thought that you were telling the story well, but the looks of confusion on those who used to be close to you told a different tale. It was so clear and unifying before, before the clouds of uncertainty rolled back in, before the distractions of a complicated world jumbled the message. It was as if all of a sudden everyone started speaking a different language.
It always seemed fanciful, one of those Old Testament stories that border on the mythological. Too grand for us to comprehend. And besides it was obviously there as an “explanation” story. Like many of the ancient myths, this story was there to explain the reasons behind the way the world was. Why, someone wondered, are there so many different languages and cultures in the world? Well, let me tell you a story.
I’m sure that’s true, in part. But I also think - as with most biblical texts - that there is something else going on here. Maybe lots of somethings, but dismissing this story as an ancient pre-science myth seems to diminish the power of the story. So, let’s look more deeply and see what we can see.
Genesis 11:1-9 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." 5 The LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. 6 And the LORD said, "Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another's speech." 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore it was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
Ah, yes, that story. The babbling story. The tower and the languages and the scattering and the sin. Except, it is sometimes hard to see the sin. It is as if God picks a fight. I know, I’ve heard the explanations. They were thumbing their nose at God. Well, maybe. Though there isn’t a real clear taunt against the divine powers in this all too brief story.
One explanation that does make sense is that this story forms the end of the first section of Genesis. After a bit of genealogy, we launch into the story of Abraham and Sarah. So, this is a bookend to the first part of the bible, which begins with creation and the command from God to fill the earth. But here we see people choosing not to fulfill that command. They want to stay in one place. They built their city in order to not do what God wanted them to do. The explanation for the building is “otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”
It is understandable, really. Safety is our number one priority it seems. Fear of the unknown is a great motivator. Avoiding risk, avoiding change is our prime directive. Yet, God seems to want something else for us. God seems to imply that we were created for more than that. That we would be less than what we could be if we choose to live the way that makes the most sense to us.
Now in the story, God comes down to inspect the construction project. Upon inspection, God determines that something must be done. “Nothing that they propose will be impossible for them,” is the diagnosis. Which doesn’t seem like a bad thing. In fact you would think that God would be proud of the offspring who have so much potential. But instead, God decides it must be stopped. So, the language trick is done and boom, the construction project is brought to a screeching halt and the migration out into the unknown begins - because the unknown came too close to home.
It all fell apart, and they weren’t sure why, I have no doubt. Except that the folks they thought they knew, all of a sudden they realized they didn’t know at all. Couldn’t even understand them anymore. They were speaking a whole other language.
We launch our four week relationship series titled “Love Languages” this Sunday. It is loosely based on the books by Dr. Gary Chapman various titled but all including “The Five Love Languages.” The thesis of these books is that we don’t all speak the same language when to comes to love. Our expectations and our needs are different. And that one of the reasons that relationships fail - whether between spouses, parents and children, neighbors and co-workers, or whatever - is that we don’t always realize we are not speaking the same language.
We’ll do more about that theory on Sunday and in later weeks here. For now, I want to lay that general idea alongside this story and ask a simple question. Does the story of the Tower of Babel really talk about punishment? Is God angry at us for going our own way and making our own choices? Or does God give us diversity to enhance the human experience and invite us to overcome our differences and find a true unity not based on fear or complacency but full of the richness of living in relationship with those who stretch us and challenge us to be more than we thought we could be?
OK, not a simple question after all. But then nothing in this life is ever simple. I think this story is witness to the idea that God prefers it that way. And when we think about it, we do too. We often think, if only everyone thought like I do life would be so much easier. Maybe so, maybe it would be easier if everyone spoke the same language, had the same preferences, leaned in the same directions. Easier, but infinitely more boring. Don’t you think?
Maybe God wasn’t punishing us to getting to big for our britches in that story. Maybe God was reining us in before we got so far off track that nothing would stop us from total destruction. Maybe the community you have to work to preserve, to choose to commit to, stretch to enlarge is worth more than all the towers we could build to the heavens. Maybe our response to the Babel story ought to be “thank you.”
Shalom,
Derek
The plans fall apart, the hopes are crushed, it all seems like dead ends. The relationships crumble, those who were gung ho and on board are now abandoning ship like you’ve hit an invisible iceberg and are going down fast.
And the worst part? You have absolutely no idea what happened. What seemed to be such a wonderful idea, what seemed to be just what everyone wanted, became a source of confusion and misunderstanding. You thought that you were telling the story well, but the looks of confusion on those who used to be close to you told a different tale. It was so clear and unifying before, before the clouds of uncertainty rolled back in, before the distractions of a complicated world jumbled the message. It was as if all of a sudden everyone started speaking a different language.
It always seemed fanciful, one of those Old Testament stories that border on the mythological. Too grand for us to comprehend. And besides it was obviously there as an “explanation” story. Like many of the ancient myths, this story was there to explain the reasons behind the way the world was. Why, someone wondered, are there so many different languages and cultures in the world? Well, let me tell you a story.
I’m sure that’s true, in part. But I also think - as with most biblical texts - that there is something else going on here. Maybe lots of somethings, but dismissing this story as an ancient pre-science myth seems to diminish the power of the story. So, let’s look more deeply and see what we can see.
Genesis 11:1-9 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." 5 The LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. 6 And the LORD said, "Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another's speech." 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore it was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
Ah, yes, that story. The babbling story. The tower and the languages and the scattering and the sin. Except, it is sometimes hard to see the sin. It is as if God picks a fight. I know, I’ve heard the explanations. They were thumbing their nose at God. Well, maybe. Though there isn’t a real clear taunt against the divine powers in this all too brief story.
One explanation that does make sense is that this story forms the end of the first section of Genesis. After a bit of genealogy, we launch into the story of Abraham and Sarah. So, this is a bookend to the first part of the bible, which begins with creation and the command from God to fill the earth. But here we see people choosing not to fulfill that command. They want to stay in one place. They built their city in order to not do what God wanted them to do. The explanation for the building is “otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”
It is understandable, really. Safety is our number one priority it seems. Fear of the unknown is a great motivator. Avoiding risk, avoiding change is our prime directive. Yet, God seems to want something else for us. God seems to imply that we were created for more than that. That we would be less than what we could be if we choose to live the way that makes the most sense to us.
Now in the story, God comes down to inspect the construction project. Upon inspection, God determines that something must be done. “Nothing that they propose will be impossible for them,” is the diagnosis. Which doesn’t seem like a bad thing. In fact you would think that God would be proud of the offspring who have so much potential. But instead, God decides it must be stopped. So, the language trick is done and boom, the construction project is brought to a screeching halt and the migration out into the unknown begins - because the unknown came too close to home.
It all fell apart, and they weren’t sure why, I have no doubt. Except that the folks they thought they knew, all of a sudden they realized they didn’t know at all. Couldn’t even understand them anymore. They were speaking a whole other language.
We launch our four week relationship series titled “Love Languages” this Sunday. It is loosely based on the books by Dr. Gary Chapman various titled but all including “The Five Love Languages.” The thesis of these books is that we don’t all speak the same language when to comes to love. Our expectations and our needs are different. And that one of the reasons that relationships fail - whether between spouses, parents and children, neighbors and co-workers, or whatever - is that we don’t always realize we are not speaking the same language.
We’ll do more about that theory on Sunday and in later weeks here. For now, I want to lay that general idea alongside this story and ask a simple question. Does the story of the Tower of Babel really talk about punishment? Is God angry at us for going our own way and making our own choices? Or does God give us diversity to enhance the human experience and invite us to overcome our differences and find a true unity not based on fear or complacency but full of the richness of living in relationship with those who stretch us and challenge us to be more than we thought we could be?
OK, not a simple question after all. But then nothing in this life is ever simple. I think this story is witness to the idea that God prefers it that way. And when we think about it, we do too. We often think, if only everyone thought like I do life would be so much easier. Maybe so, maybe it would be easier if everyone spoke the same language, had the same preferences, leaned in the same directions. Easier, but infinitely more boring. Don’t you think?
Maybe God wasn’t punishing us to getting to big for our britches in that story. Maybe God was reining us in before we got so far off track that nothing would stop us from total destruction. Maybe the community you have to work to preserve, to choose to commit to, stretch to enlarge is worth more than all the towers we could build to the heavens. Maybe our response to the Babel story ought to be “thank you.”
Shalom,
Derek
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