20130731 Wednesday, July 31 2013
Genesis 11: The Tower Of Babel

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

The English words "Babylon" and "Babel" originated from an ancient Hebrew word that meant confusion i.e. to speak nonsense, as in to babble (the word baby originated from the same root word). As such, the term originated in the time and place of the infamous tower of Babel i.e. the tower of babble. Although humanity had begun again after the Flood (see Genesis 7: The Flood) from a righteous man (see Genesis 9: The LORD's Covenant With Noah), humans became rebels who were again behaving nonsense ("let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name"), so the LORD gave them a vain vocabulary to match it.

"11:1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 11:2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.

11:3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. 11:4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

11:5 And the LORD [i.e. Jesus Christ; see Genesis 1: In The Beginning Was The Word and The Kingdom Of The LORD God] came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 11:6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 11:7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.

11:8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 11:9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth." (Genesis 11:1-9 KJV)

The uncompleted tower of Babylon was left to crumble to the ground. While some of defiant humanity were scattered away from it, it remained the "home town" for man (the Hebrew word, pronounced aw-dawm, from which the name Adam originated, actually means man as a species, male and female; see also Adam and Adamah). The Garden of Eden (see The Garden In Eden) had been in the region, and humanity began again after the Flood in the same region.

It was from a native of Babylon that the LORD chose, like Noah (see the Fact Finder question below), another righteous man to come out of the confusion (the origin of the true meaning of "church" i.e. "called out ones": "18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues ... 18:10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come" Revelation 18:4-10 KJV) and go to a place that portrayed the Kingdom of God (see Abraham's Journey: When Will He Arrive?). Abram of Babylon, later renamed by the LORD as Abraham (see the complete series of studies for Abraham, beginning with A Biography Of Abraham: The Genealogy Of Abram), was chosen to be the key ancestor of the Messiah, as specified by the genealogies of the Christ i.e. "1:1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham." (Matthew 1:1 KJV)

Abraham was a descendant of Noah through Shem (see Genesis 10: The First Nations Of The New World).

"11:10 These are the generations of Shem:

Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood: 11:11 And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.

11:12 And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah: 11:13 And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.

11:14 And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber: 11:15 And Salah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.

11:16 And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg: 11:17 And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.

11:18 And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu: 11:19 And Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters.

11:20 And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug: 11:21 And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.

11:22 And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor: 11:23 And Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.

11:24 And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah: 11:25 And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters.

11:26 And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

11:27 Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot. 11:28 And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. 11:29 And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah. 11:30 But Sarai was barren; she had no child.

11:31 And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.

11:32 And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran." (Genesis 11:10-32 KJV)

Fact Finder: What did Noah and Abraham have in common with regard to the salvation of humanity?
See The LORD's Seed Covenants With The Two Men Of Iraq