God's Purposes Trump Human Pride - Genesis 10 and 11

I know very little about playing cards but do understand enough to know that the man with the trump-card is going to win the hand or game. With this bit of positive information regarding the meaning of the word ‘trump’ it is easy to predict that God’s purposes will win over the weaknesses found in one of man’s greatest problems—human pride. One of the most deadly uses of human pride is found in the man or woman that honestly feels that it is their place to decide what God’s purpose is for their life rather than seek and find his purpose. The death dealing blow comes when anyone chooses to tell God what is best for them instead of listening to God’ instructions.

It is evident that the people whose physical lives had been saved by the ark, which was God’s safety raft, still retained the sinful life that was inherited from their posterity dating back to the fall of Adam and Eve. In the beginning, the eight survivors of the flood built an alter and worshipped God as He expected them to do. God also instructed them to multiply and replenish the earth. Now the new generation of people had no problem with God’s command to reproduce, but when they were expected to leave their comfort zone and spread out over the unknown parts of the earth—they rebelled. They decided to make their own plans and build a city with a tower that would become a monument to their success. Their second mistake was to plan to stay in their man made city rather than to subdue the world as God had directed.

Certainly you should read chapters ten and eleven in their entirety before we go forward with this study. You will readily see that in regard to the time sequence the things that are recorded in chapter eleven happened before those recorded in chapter ten. I have no doubt that God had a reason to guide the author as he wrote what the people did after their dispersion before he explained the reason for the dispersion. I am not able to discern the reason, and simply accept it as written. However, it makes it easier for me to explain if I teach chapter eleven first, as I believe it to be the order or timing of the events. So go with me now to the first verse of chapter eleven.

Every one that had been born since the flood either spoke the same language or if they had different dialects, there was one common language that everyone understood. Therefore everyone on earth could understand each other. A common language is a powerful tool at any time under all conditions. Can you imagine what an asset it would be if the citizens of the U.S.A. could understand all of the other languages in the world today? It would give us a distinct advantage in our ability to negotiate a plan for universal democracy. [And we would not want to lose this ability.] The first word in verse one is ‘now’ and I believe it refers to the time that ends with the last verse in chapter nine—when Noah and all of Noah’s sons have had children and died. God had told them to multiply [bear children] and start populating the entire earth and to subdue it—that is take charge of it.

They did not follow His command; instead they moved eastward where they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They had invented bricks with which to build and they declared that they would build a city and a tower that would reach heaven. They wanted to build a name for themselves [that is evidence of human PRIDE]; and not be scattered over the face of the earth as God had commanded [and that is REBELLION]. This was an act of defiance against God’s command that is recorded in [1: 28].

This is the first recorded act [any where in the Bible] of the beginning of idolatry—it is the first record of people building a temple which would say to the world that they were setting themselves apart from the true and living God. No doubt, God saw this as an overt act of the people unifying themselves against him.

Read verses 5-7 and find the reaction of God. I doubt that man would ever be so privileged that “nothing they planned to do would be impossible.” That phrase could only apply to an all-powerful God. I believe it refers to their ability or potential for doing evil at its greatest potential. It seems that history has proven that man is capable of committing the worst of sins. There seems to be no limit to man’s ability to think up and commit the gravest of sins. I believe what God was thinking was that if they get away with this…anything can happen. Our history books have recorded numerous examples that prove that people who gain excessive power will seek a way to use it in the wrong way. For example: The Pharos of Egypt enslaved the Israelites; Babylon destroyed Jerusalem; and Hitler destroyed millions of Jews and the list goes on. God saw the danger of this excessive power grab and he foreknew the damages that would result, therefore he confused their language and scattered them over the whole world. This would result in their becoming weaker in their own strength and force them to trust in Him for the power and privileges needed to succeed.

History has also recorded that large numbers of people concentrated in huge cities seem to bring out the worst in humanity. The large cities of the world have always been plagued with organized crime, gangs, and red light districts of immorality. Social ills, crime and tragedy seem to accumulate faster and more extensively when people are crowded together. In contrast we never see a ghetto thriving in the midst of a mid-western rural farming community. God may have scattered the people associated with the tower of Babel for their own good, just to protect them from themselves.

As this lesson applies to or serves as an example of how GOD’S PURPOSES TRUMP HUMAN PRIDE we have already seen that there can be no doubt that God always wins, because he is always right. God’s purposes had to do with the growing of an entire world with organized governments sharing and supporting each other. He wanted everyone to live freely and to prosper and support each other. These people exerted their power to build a city of their own, with a tower to heaven that would stretch their human pride. They could boast—see what we have done. But God held the TRUMP card he played his hand and won. Today there is only speculation as to where this city was located. There are archeological findings that make us believe that it was between the Euphrates and Tigress Rivers about two hundred miles north of their convergence and approximately four hundred miles south of present Baghdad. [The distance here is my estimation by looking at a small map, and could vary by a hundred or more miles either way]

Now go with me back to chapter ten, and I believe you can see that most of the events of this chapter came after the incident at Babel. Verse one through four starts the genealogy of Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham and Jepheth. Then verse five says: [“From there the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language. This surely had to be after God had scattered the people that planned the Babel Tower.

Verses 6-8 give the genealogy of Ham down to Nimrod who grew to be a mighty warrior on the earth. “Nimrod was a mighty hunter before the Lord. The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon [and others] …from that land he went to Assyria, where he built the city of Nineveh” and other great cities. I hope you will remember that we studied about the fall of Jerusalem and found that Babylon and Nineveh were both enemies of God’s people in Judah and Jerusalem. Not to be redundant, but think back now and all of this new expansion must have come after the story of Babel as recorded in the next chapter eleven. Look at verse 20 where the Bible says “These are the sons of Ham by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.”

The genealogy of Shem starts in verse 21. Verse 25 says that Peleg was born “In the time the earth was divided.” [Peleg, in Hebrew means to divide or split] and this probably refers to the division of the languages at Babel. AND NOW, FOR THE REST OF THE STORY, READ V. 31-32.

I have no way of knowing how many of you who are following the study of Genesis have the time or are taking the time to expand on the brief commentary that I prepare for you. However, one thing is sure, and that is that if you really want to see clearly how these two chapters are related, then you need to go back now and read both of them again.

If you or your church has a set of Matthew Henry’s commentaries pick up the volume on Genesis and go to chapters ten and eleven. Or, if you have a computer, you can pull it up and click on these two chapters. This is only one of many…but it seems complete and it easy to read. There are only three pages in my commentary but you will find a much more complete discussion of the scattering of the nations. This is interesting reading that will help you to understand the populations of the eastern world.

Oh, how I wish I had started a comprehensive study of the Bible during my younger years and if you are middle age or younger, I plead with you…START NOW! References are plentiful and free and only require your time and interest. You have my written guarantee!!! The results from the time you devote to Bible study will be of much greater profit to you than spending the same amount of time watching the junk you see on television. Are you independent? Do you enjoy doing what you want to do? When you study…you have this privilege. But when you watch television, you have no choice…you must watch something that someone else chose for you to see or study.

No matter what profession you choose and no matter how great your standing in that field…if you will add to that a well rounded biblical education, you will find that you have the best double-major anyone can have and one you will never regret! You must STUDY TO SHOW THYSELF APPROVED.