“OUR GOD WHO IS JUST AND GRACIOUS FULFILLS HIS PURPOSE DESPITE HUMAN ARROGANCE AND DEFIANCE” (Genesis 11:1-9)

Dear people of God! I greet you all in the name of our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ. Today I bring you good tidings that Our LORD is just and gracious. He fulfills His purposes in spite of human endeavor and excellence that lead to pride. Indeed He does fulfill His purposes in each one of our lives. The fact is that God’s people are not exempted from pride. Nobody wants to be nobody. We face “life-syndromes” in different stages of life. Sometimes this identity crisis leads us to build our own monuments which would eventually result in conceit. The Scripture warns us that pride goes before fall (Proverbs 16:18).

The text for our meditation is Genesis 11:1-9 which is generally known as “The Story of Babel.” I would like to title the passage as “The Story of the Third Fall” next to the first Fall in the Garden of Eden (Gen 3) and the second Fall in the heavenly realm when the daughters of men were given in marriage with the sons of god (Gen 6:1-4). It is because the focus of Gen 11:1-9 is not on the tower so to speak rather on the collapse of the tower because of the people’s arrogance and defiance. The story of the Third Fall talks about at least three things: the nature of human sin (human arrogance and defiance), the nature of God’s mission (of how God fulfills His purposes despite human sins), and the nature of God Himself (He is Just and Gracious). The story also gives us two valuable lessons. It challenges the concept of unity and questions the motives behind “coming together.” Also there is a call for humility before God’s presence as no human endeavor would thwart God’s will.

First, our text points to the nature of sin. Human arrogance and defiance seem to be the root of men’s activities here. Arrogance is an overbearing pride and defiance refers to rebelliousness. We read in verse one about a particular condition of mankind who are perhaps a certain group of Noah’s descendants. They all spoke one language and there is nothing wrong in it. In fact, one common language helps community for better communication. However it sets a context for human pride and insolence. Verses two to four give a vivid sketch about the people’s sin against God. We read that the people pull up their stakes and move to the eastern side and find fertile plain in the land of Shinar and there settle down. As the direction “east” is associated with the Garden of Eden and its wellspring, it is not surprising when the people settled down in the place that is prosperous. However it could also be an ace of disobedience because God blessed Noah and his descendants and commanded them to fill the earth (Gen 9:1, 7) not to settle down comfortably in one place and build monument for them. Look at verses three and four. There the intentions of the people are spelled out. They say to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them hard.” They used brick for stones and bitumen for mortar. In Palestine, stones and mortar were used for building work whereas here the people use instead bricks and bitumen that are costly ones. Moreover the burning bricks add more to their desire to build a strong tower. The invitation “come” might refer to their unity for their willful passion. They further say “Come, let us build for us a city, and a tower with its top in heaven, and let us make for us a name lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” The intended project was not only building a tower rather a city which is a walled and fortified one. Nevertheless, the expression “….the top in the heavens” implies great height of the tower. Thus the motivation behind building such a protective city and its tower was defensive, aggressive, and also of fear, a fear of being scattered away thus prone to insecurity. This fear also shows of their unbelief. They almost lost faith in God’s blessings and commandment. They could not rely on God’s assurance. In fact, the very act of building project is antithetical to God’s doing. While God made (literally “built”) human companion for the man here the people try to build for themselves a refuge. Where God named His creations thus showing His authority over His creations and later such dominion was given to the man who named animals and the woman, here the people try to make “name” for them thus intending for fame and authority. Such is very much against God’s will. Dear brothers and sisters! Sin is a very act of God’s will. It is human pride that overlooks God’s promises and His mission.

Second is the very heart of the passage that God accomplishes His plan and purposes in spite of human strategy which is evil in nature. Verses five to nine talk about how God’s interference in human affairs and reverses human scheme. The human intentions are curbed by divine intervention. The turning point is that the LORD comes down to inspect their project. Although God’s descent is highly anthropomorphic however it does contradict the people’s desire to go up that is to reach heavens so to say. This means that human endeavor is insignificant in the eyes of the LORD. In fact the decision in Godhead is quite similar to the speech of the humans, “…Come let us…” but sarcastic. God’s descent could certainly point to His involvement with His creation and this participation is very much seen in the Garden of Eden where He dialogues with Adam and Eve personally, in His dialogue with Cain, and His command to Noah and his household after the Flood. The Creator cares for His creation. Of course, the LORD speech in the text is judgmental. Knowing human arrogance and defiance God purposes to thwart their plans. He confuses their language that they may not understand one another’s speech hence give up their task. It is striking that what the people desired for is exactly destroyed by God and what they dreaded for was actuated by the Him.

Such doing talks about very sovereignty of God over everything, over other let alone they do not exist. It is said that the story of Babel has some correspondence to the Sumerian and Babylonian Epics, the literatures that can be dated much before the Old Testament was written. In those stories, many languages came forth because of the rivalry amongst the gods. In addition, in those epics, towers or temples were built heavenward and their shape is almost identical with the shape of mountains thus pointing to the highness of divine beings. It is not strange to us as our Hindu friends have their temples on mounts such as Kailash, Tiruppathi etc. The underlying truth is that our LORD who is sovereign creator and owner of the universe does thwart human planning that is against His agenda. He is Almighty, All Knowing, and His presence is everywhere.

Third, the text talks about the nature of God. Our God is both Just and Gracious. One of the questions that we tend to ask is how could loving God create fiery hell. Those who ask such questions do not understand the very nature of God Himself. The Bible is very clear that our God is both just and gracious. He abhors sins and loves sinners who truly repent from their sins. Sin-Punishment-Grace is a recurrent theme in the first eleven chapters of Genesis. We know that sin originated in the Garden of Eden where our first parents sinned against God’s command thus fell short of God’s glory. God expelled them from the idyllic Garden but clothed them. This sin furthered in the Cain-Abel story where the elder murders the younger because his offering was rejected by God. Although God cursed Cain yet the sign of protection was given to him. The sin has reached to the cosmic level as the humans were willfully collaborated with the divine beings and the LORD wiped the sinful humanity by Flood nevertheless He showed His favor on Noah’s family—in all these, sin is committed when humans acted autonomously and God intervened there and acted justly and graciously. Such intervention was on the one hand to punish and on the other hand to fulfill His purposes. This theme is also evident in the story of Babel. Here in the story the very act of God which is scattering humans all over the face of the earth could be seen as a punishment for the people’s sin that was trying to make fame for them. Such act of scattering could also be viewed as the grace of God because He helps the humanity to fulfill His command to fill the earth. Indeed He is both just and gracious.

                                                 

My dear friends! The Word of God is light to our path. In this story we have at least two vital lessons for us today. One is a challenge to our understanding about unity. The question is “Unity, what for?” Unity can be neutral. It can be used to achieve good purpose as well as for evil function. One of the temptations for us is coming together for wrong purpose and unfortunately these wrong intentions sometimes unknown to us but many a time is known. Unity in thought, word, and action may be a worthy goal. But what is the focus of that unity? What is the name, the character, the reputation that is being sought after? In the story of Third Fall, the people did not seek God first and they sought honor for them where honor and glory belongs to God alone. Therefore unity is not the highest good but purity and obedience to the Word of God matters the most. Unity at the cost of truth is sin. We cannot compromise with secular principles at the cost of our spiritual values. In fact, there can be no true unity with those who deny our God. God’s grace is more than enough when His people feel distanced. Throughout their history, the people of Israel would be scattered and thrown into confusion. But in the midst of scattering and confusion, God has spoken again and again the promise of restoration and unity. Are we united looking for fame and security? Are we relying less on God’s grace and guidance because of our achievement? It is time to revisit our motives for unity.

The other important lesson for us is that human arrogance and defiance will never thwart God’s purposes. Almost all the religions agree that in the end God’s purposes will be fulfilled in spite of human’s great efforts. We have some proverbs in Tamil which means closely to “Justice Delayed Not Denied,” and “Justice Prevails” etc. Despite God’s command to fill the earth the people tried to cloister them and intended to make fame for them. They were proud and rebellious. However they could not stop God’s mission for the nations. No one can thwart the will of God. A life lived in resistance to God’s purpose which is imbedded in the Scriptures must end in frustration and failure. No one can succeed at resisting God. Dear people of God, shall we humble ourselves today and come before His presence? His presence will alter our life perspectives. May God bless you.