The Tower of Babel

[Michie]

In the story of the great flood, we saw how evil and sin had grown so fast and become so serious that God saw it necessary to cleanse the whole world and dramatically prune the human family. While the flood was a severe measure, that tells us how bad the problem had become! The flood was like a giant “bath” that cleansed the world, making an end of sin and new beginning for goodness to grow.

But the world after the flood was far from sin-free. Even in Noah’s family there are struggles with drinking too much and the indiscretion and divisions that often follow such matters.

In the decades and centuries that followed, humanity grew once again and began to spread toward the lands east of where Eden had once been. The land was called “Shinar”, but it would be called “Babylon” later in the Scriptures. It is a region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (aka Mesopotamia). Today the region encompasses Iran and Iraq.

At this moment we encounter a story about the sin of pride wherein we forget the glory of God and esteem ourselves too highly. Let’s consider this story and seek to learn from it.

The Story of the Tower of Babel

Continued below.

The Tower of Babel - Community in Mission

In the story of the great flood, we saw how evil and sin had grown so fast and become so serious that God saw it necessary to cleanse the whole world and dramatically prune the human family. While the flood was a severe measure, that tells us how bad the problem had become! The flood … Continue...

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[Josheb]

In the story of the great flood, we saw how evil and sin had grown so fast and become so serious that God saw it necessary to cleanse the whole world and dramatically prune the human family.

This was my point of view for a very long time but as I reflect more on what happened and the nature of sin I am inclined to take a somewhat different view. The flood was a cleansing. 1 Peter 3 explains a correlation between the flood and baptism, asserting its soteriological significance, the patience of God and the pledge of a good conscience. The soteriological significance of Noah is further described in Hebrews 11, the patience of God is self-evident (He could have killed everyone and everything and started over entirely), and the pledge of a good conscience becomes evident in what quickly ensued after the flood: Noah got drunk and his son sodomized him! As you correctly observed: sin moved quickly.

My departure from the standard pov comes from the fact the earth (creation) still groaned under bondage and awaited the sons of God to be revealed. I am, therefore, inclined to amend the op's opening statement to include a "could," as in "God showed He could cleanse the world, and He could do so by completely destroying all humanity (and even the planet itself)." It is self-evident from scripture the whole earth was not cleansed, certainly not from sin. The pruning of the "human family" certainly occurred, but it was a numerical pruning, not much of a qualitative pruning. It was certainly not a pruning like that described in John 15. Because the episode is clearly Christological and soteriological, we can, however, say the account is a foreshadowing of Christ crucified and resurrected.

While the flood was a severe measure, that tells us how bad the problem had become! The flood was like a giant “bath” that cleansed the world, making an end of sin and new beginning for goodness to grow.

But the world after the flood was far from sin-free. Even in Noah’s family there are struggles with drinking too much and the indiscretion and divisions that often follow such matters.

In the decades and centuries that followed, humanity grew once again and began to spread toward the lands east of where Eden had once been. The land was called “Shinar”, but it would be called “Babylon” later in the Scriptures. It is a region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (aka Mesopotamia). Today the region encompasses Iran and Iraq.

Amen!

And I would add that it was from this region that Abram came. Abraham and his descendants were Babylonians, Hebrew Babylonians. Knowing this adds to our understanding of God's redemptive plan and His agency thereof.

At this moment we encounter a story about the sin of pride wherein we forget the glory of God and esteem ourselves too highly. Let’s consider this story and seek to learn from it.

The Story of the Tower of Babel

Continued below.

The Tower of Babel - Community in Mission

In the story of the great flood, we saw how evil and sin had grown so fast and become so serious that God saw it necessary to cleanse the whole world and dramatically prune the human family. While the flood was a severe measure, that tells us how bad the problem had become! The flood … Continue...

blog.adw.org

I think another amendment is in order: the inclusion of the word "idolatrous." The pride problem in Babel was not the good kind of pride (like that to which Paul appeals when he commends his readers) but the fatally egregious kind of pride in which a finite creature irrationally imagines s/he/they can reach the Infinite Creator. That premise should have been prima facie absurd to them. Or, at least it seems to be that way to the spiritually enabled, but the truth is there are as many ways to imagine oneself comparable to God as there are humans, and they often go unnoticed even among the regenerate. Even Paul had a pride issue for which he stood under God's persistent judgment (the "thorn in his side"). This is why Paul wrote,

Philippians 2:1-7
Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men.

• Do nothing out of selfishness or vain conceit.
• Regard others more important than ourselves.
• Look to others' interest, not yours only.
• Definitely do NOT regard equality with God something to be grasped.
• Have Jesus' attitude and empty yourself.
• Remember you are a bondservant (our lives were purchased; we are not your own).

No building towers to reach God . Scripture can be so inconvenient, sometimes .