The Tower

DEVOTION

GENESIS

THE TOWER

Gen 11:1-9

11:1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. 3 They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."

5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. 6 The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other." 8 So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel — because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

NIV

We have a few points which we should consider before delving into the truth of this passage. First the idea of one language and a common speech on the surface is just that, yet it also carries the idea of one ideology, they were together in their thinking. The words used as same language also actually say, one lip. This could also mean of one worship, or of one sentiment. The group that traveled east had one man among them, perhaps even a leader of sorts. This was Nimrod. Because this place was called Babel or Babylon and we know this was one of the first centers of his kingdom, we have to believe he was at the helm of this group heading east. So they decided to stop moving and settled at this place and began to build this city. There is a great deal of discussion about this tower and why they were building it. Some think it was so to escape any more floods, others considered this as a tower of worship to the sun, moon and the stars. What we are told is their construction of this tower was to make a name for themselves and so they would not be scattered all over the earth. Here is where they went wrong. We know that God told Noah and his sons to fill the whole earth. God’s will was for all of them to scatter over the whole earth. These men, as we think were led by Nimrod, did not want to do the Lord’s will, they wanted their own wills to be accomplished. They wanted to make a name for themselves. They wanted the rest of the peoples of the earth to know who they were, the people who build this great city and with an even greater tower that reached to the heavens. In essence this group of people began to think themselves greater then who they were, thinking more of themselves than they ought to. Our purpose is not to make a name for ourselves but to bring praise and glory to God. They were not about giving praise to God, but rather wanted the praise from other men.

John 12:42-43

42 Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.

NIV

It did not change much, even in the time when Jesus was among us, as we can see from what the Lord has said through John. The Pharisees wanted the praise of men, rather than of God. They lived in a manner so others would say how spiritual, how godly are these men, but their hearts were not spiritual nor godly. They wanted to make a name for themselves, just at those who tried to build this tower of Babel. Secondly they were refusing to obey the will of God to scatter over the whole earth. But we see the response of God toward men who want to make a name for themselves, who think more highly of themselves then they ought to and refuse to do God’s will. Whether he actually caused them to speak differently or different languages or confused they sentiment, their desires, their intents and they began to disagree with the reason for the tower, the same effect happened, they stopped construction and started to separate themselves from each other, scattering to different places. God was accomplishing his will despite the efforts of man to accomplish his own will. This is a great lesson for us. First we should always remember who we are in the body of Christ.

Rom 12:3-8

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

NIV

We are a part of the family of God, here to accomplish his will and he gifts us according to his plan for our lives so that we may serve him by serving each other, being one with him and with each other. There is no purpose for us to make any other name for ourselves then what he calls us, children or sons. There is no need for us to make our mark in this world, to leave a legacy of greatness behind us, so men will always remember our name. The legacy we need to leave is our faith in Christ. If men talk about us either when we are still here or gone, they should be saying, this person believes or believed God. This person has or had faith in God. Pride in oneself is not a good attitude. Yes, we should be the best we can be at whatever we do, so that men will see our good works and give God glory. When we do good things, people need to know we are believers, Christ followers, born again Christians who love the Lord with all our heart. They need to know the reason we do what we do is so God will get the glory. If we just are the best and remain silent about our faith, our purpose, then men will praise us, not God. This is how those who built that tower thought. They wanted the praise of men, not God. How easy it is to get caught up in that kind of thinking, even in spiritual matters. We could try to make other believers think we are so spiritual, like the Pharisees did. That is not to say we should hide our gifts, or talents which God has blessed us with. We need to share our gifts, our talents, our God given abilities with others in the body of Christ. We are admonished to do just that, as we see in that passage in Romans 12 we just read. But we should do this with a humble heart, knowing any gifts, talents or abilities are from God, and for God. Just as we are admonished not to hide our light under a barrel, we are not to hide our gifts either. Let us not try to build ourselves any towers. Let us remain in the strong tower we already have.

Prov 18:10

10 The name of the LORD is a strong tower ; the righteous run to it and are safe.

NIV