Refusing to Settle (Week 6)
Readings
Genesis 11:1–9
Acts 2:1–12
Hebrews 11:1–16
Silent Reflection
Remarks
It has often been said that the tragedy of the Tower of Babel was the people’s desire to make a name for themselves. They take it upon themselves to make a tower to reach the heavens, and they truly want to make themselves like God in doing so. While this certainly is a tragic motivation in the hearts of the people, a careful reading of the story will show this is far from God’s primary concern.
When we think of the details of these nine verses, does it seem like our typical rendering of this story — that God thwarts human progress because of human arrogance — raises far too many questions? Take this statement: “Nothing they set their mind to will be impossible for them.” Does God not want us to be able to do all things? Didn’t Paul say he could do “all things” through Christ who gave him strength?
Is God threatened by the idea of our accomplishments? It seems like overkill for God to see what humans can do and then panic, screwing up the story.
An even closer reading raises questions about God’s “punishment” in this story, because it doesn’t follow God’s pattern for punishment. At no point in the story is there a rebuke or an Adam-and-Eve-style curse or conversation with the characters. At no point does God say they have done something morally incorrect. After a brief conversation with Himself, He simply comes down and shakes things up. Maybe we can understand God’s action here better if we don’t see it as punishment at all.
What if humanity has done nothing wrong in this story? They’ve created a new technology — the brick — and they are excited to use it. This is understandable. Then there’s the fact that their endeavor to “make a name for themselves” is never explicitly condemned in the story by God. And when it comes to humanity’s own motivations for making a name for themselves, they’re unclear, and there could be more harmless intentions at play. Maybe we’ve been too swift to condemn these ancient Babel Builders.
But then, if God isn’t punishing them, what is He doing? Instead of a timeout, could it be a strategy? Not to suggest God intervenes for no reason — there does seem to be some problem forming in the story, at least a danger if nothing else. And this danger seems to be the idea of settling.
The story does explicitly tell us the people are seeking to settle down. Is this the danger? Is humanity prepared to settle? If we track the geographical movement through these early Genesis stories, we notice humanity has moved continually eastward, getting farther and farther away from Eden. Is it just migration, or is something more going on?
And speaking of things since Eden, how is humanity doing? Have they been putting the story back together, or has chaos and evil been gathering itself, systematizing itself? From a person to a family, from a people to a city, we see evil is gaining a head of steam.
And so God looks at the situation and realizes that if he doesn’t do something, they will end up settling “east of Eden” in this systematized evil. Nothing will be impossible for them, not even giving up on the whole Kingdom project.
So God gives them a little push, albeit a disorienting one, to keep them moving. He mixes up their languages and forces them to scatter. In a move that echoes the flaming sword guarding the Tree of Life, God forces some ache to keep them from getting stuck in their brokenness.
This idea is worth pausing on, just for a moment — the recognition that sometimes God pushes us into discomfort, danger, confusion, and even pain to keep us from imploding. This is not an explanation for all discomfort, danger, confusion, and pain, but it is an ancient observation from God’s people that sometimes these trials seem to be orchestrated for our own benefit, even if we can only see it in hindsight.
Returning to our main question — if the scattering and division of tribes is not an end in itself as far as God is concerned, to what other end does it aim? The story of Scripture throughout its pages paints the picture of a future world where everything is made right. The prophets were sometimes given visions of this world to come. In these visions of the Age to Come, they saw incredible (literally unbelievable) things: the lion lying with the lamb, weapons of war being beaten into garden tools, and abundant provision for every man and woman. But one of the first things these ancient Hebrew prophets noticed in their visions of the new world was who was there.
“People from every tongue and nation…”
There aren’t different tribes scattered throughout the earth, separated by their own language barriers. No, there are diverse crowds of people streaming to the temple, all to attend the same party.
The New Testament authors propagated this same idea. In the story of Pentecost, we see a strong echo of the story of Babel, only in reverse. Everyone speaks in their own tongue, but they are understood by the other. Four times in Revelation, John envisions people from every tongue and tribe and people and nation. The author of Hebrews tells us that the faithful cloud of witnesses set an example for us by living in such a way to recognize they were longing for a more heavenly city.
And this longing kept them from settling.
And so how do we long for a better city? In part, I believe this comes from examining the strategy of God at the Tower of Babel. If God purposely scattered our tribes through language barriers and then painted pictures of those divisions being done away with, it would stand to reason that God gave us a great redemption project to complete.
The only way to participate in creating the world to come is to learn to speak the languages of others. And what do you have to do to learn another language? You have to humble yourself. You have to listen. You have to start from scratch. And through that process, what often happens? You come to love the culture, to understand the people, to learn things that you never would have known without knowing the language.
Are we advocating a literal learning of foreign languages? Of course not. We are speaking in the same powerful metaphors that God traffics in. Undoing the fallout of Babel will require a people who show more concern for others than they do for themselves. And when we see a listening, learning people reversing the story of Babel, we will see a people who have started heading west — back to Eden.
Silent Reflection
Response
Has anyone in the group learned a foreign language? What was it like? What did the process evoke in you?
When you think of the polarization of our world, how relevant is the idea of tribal identities and truly understanding the other perspective?
What part do assumptions play in the division of humankind?
What is our responsibility in this as people of the Kingdom?
Consider: Invite somebody into your group whom you can trust and who trusts you to talk about their world and the way they see it. Think political parties, LGBTQ, or other faith groups. Consider asking them to “evangelize you” for their viewpoint. Ask them how they see you. Do not debate, do not explain, do not counter. Just listen and thank them for sharing. And then consider it as a group.