Saturday, September 4, 2010

Gen 11: God intervening to prevent the men from building a great tower for themselves by confusing their language; Shem's bloodline to Abram

God decided to intervene and stop the men from settling and building themselves monuments to glorify their own name. Details about Shem, the chosen line, are mentioned.
  • v1: All the people spoke the same language.
  • v2: They settled and had no intention of dispersing into distant places, probably due to their love of familiarity and their comfort zones, and were "slack to go to possess the land, which the LORD God of your fathers hath given you" (Jos 18:3)
  • v3-4: The people became arrogant and wanted to become great in the eyes of man. They encouraged and spurred one another on, which reminds us that, just as sinners stir up and encourage one another to do wicked works, we need to stir up one another to love and to do good works. What was wrong was that:
    - it was perhaps an affront and an insult to God, because they wanted to build a tower whose top might reach heaven. This signifies a defiance towards God, and a lack of respect and reverence.
    -they wanted to make themselves a name, wanting to leave behind something that they would be remembered with.
    - they wanted to prevent their dispersion, in direct disobedience to the command that they replenish the earth
  • v6: God considered the reason why they must be scattered – if allowed to continue, much of the earth would be left uninhabited. Notice that God did not destroy them; he merely scattered them. And so we see God’s mercy, for He could have said something like “Let us go down now in thunder and lightning, and consume those rebels in a moment”, or “let the earth open, and swallow them and their building” =p God’s judgements on sinners in this life, are little more than restraints. Also realise that God’s will is the only way, and all attempts to stop it will ultimately be fruitless.
  • Contrast the confounding of tongues which divided the children of men, to the gift of tongues, bestowed upon the apostles, which contributed greatly to the gathering together of the children of God and their uniting in Christ, that with one mind and one mouth they might glorify God (Rom 15:6)
  • v8: Despite their attempts to settle down, by confounding their language, God eventually made the people scatter all over the earth. Don't try to oppose what God has told you to do; you just can't win! =p
  • v10-25: the genealogy which is part of Christ’s genealogy (the rest would be in Matthew 1). There is a gradual decreases in their lifespan as the earth was replenished.

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