There was a warning among ancient Jewish scholars not to expound on the meaning of the first books in front of more than one – to be careful who you shared profound and powerful knowledge with.
This warning in itself is a perspective changer. A lot of people see the opening books of the Bible as an elementary accounting of how the earth was made, and some even look at it as a true story. It is interesting that before there was any science to say otherwise, the scholars were saying that this is not the main purpose of Genesis.
The purpose of the Bible is to teach humans about their relationship with God. The earth was not made in the blink of an eye and populated with life in the subsequent seven days, but there is a great deal we can learn from the creation story.
I do not know all of the secrets hidden in Genesis (so the cautions of the ancients don’t apply to me), but I do think it is helpful to acknowledge the depth and dig a little deeper to confront the hidden truths in these very old stories.
The other day I was talking with a friend about the benefits of speaking English, and confessed to him a fear I have that is born from the story of the Tower of Babel.
The story is a short one and worth reading to refresh the memory,
Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As people moved eastward,[a] they found a plain in Shinar[b] 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; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” 5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people 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[c]—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth. Genesis 11:1-9
The primary story of the Tower of Babel is the explanation of why there are different languages around the world. Like the creation story this is obviously doubtful. I think there is a case for arguing that this may be a passed down story for the second big spread out of Africa that took humans up to the far north and to the tip of South America, but this does not teach us anything about our relationship with God.
The secondary story is that when we all get together to build something God gets worried about we will do. This is where my understanding was sitting until my recent conversation.
You can see my fear of everyone speaking English. Not only is the world quickly progressing to a point where everyone can understand this one language, but with the new technologies we are developing, it truly feels like nothing can stop us.
If you read science magazines, you will know that feeling of amazement slightly tinged by fear of our growing super powers. Artificial intelligence, cloning, and space travel are not the future, they are now. If the Tower of Babel is truly a warning, we should be ready for God to spread some sort of chaos any minute now.
The problem is that this is inexorable progress. It would be beyond foolish to try and stop it. The story does not read that God sent prophets to stop it, something supernatural had to happen. What is the point in telling us a story that we can’t do anything about?
On top of that, most of these things we are building have massive potential to reduce suffering in the world. A Bible story would not ask us to stand blindly in the way of progress that could help the sick and feed the poor.
I want to emphasize this point because I want to be clear that I am not against teaching little children in poor countries English. I think that helping raise children out of poverty is one of the main duties of any religious person.
I do think that if your life goal is to end children’s suffering then some deep examination is necessary. Ending children’s suffering sounds like a noble goal but it is hard to tell which side of the line you are on: ‘making a name for yourself’ or acting out of love and compassion.
The story of the Tower of Babel is a warning to us about becoming caught up in the progress. It is a warning about being caught up in the almighty thing it is to be human.
It is so easy to be caught up in the environmental movement, or the Conscious Consumer Movement, or the technological revolution, or a charity you work for, and it is an enticing purpose to have for life.
This is a difficult and life changing lesson for me. Throughout my life I would have said that my purpose in the world was to make the world a better place. I fought with what ‘better’ was but always assumed that revolutionary change like ending poverty or instating a type of invariable justice were clearly goals. This lesson has changed my opinion
Making the world better is about demonstrating love, that is it. I can be a part of the progress of the world but that is not my modus operandi. The only way I can be sure that my actions are not motivated by making a name for myself it to act out of selfless love.
This is actually extraordinarily freeing. I no longer have to worry about the general state and direction of the world, if certain things are good or bad, or if what I am doing is even making a difference.
This is another piece of the puzzle when it comes to denying yourself. God will worry about the picture, you just focus on doing his will!
What do you think the point of the Story of the Tower of Babel is? I am especially intrigued by the mention of the use of the brick building technology!
April 9, 2016 at 12:48 pm
Hey Beth, thanks for reading and commenting! I am glad you got what I mean about the “how can I make a difference feeling!” On top of the crash, and how I felt my whole life, was this constant feel of battling and that you couldnt really be happy until you ‘made a difference’, it was the opposite of the peace and joy you are supposed to feel in Christ. It made me arguementative and a bit know-it-all ish with people who disagreed with what I thought was progress. You are so right that finally being overwhelmed by these feelings was a huge blessing and a graceful gift that has brought me a lot closer to the truth and reality of God. Of course, I will keep doing what I am doing, but now I can simply enjoy everyday in the love of God rather than constantly looking for progress. You are also very correct about the difficulty in denying the self, and in fact the outright impossibility with out some grace from God. I have been reading a lot in the Bible about that very subject. I will have more posts on that as it is an area in which I am really focused on these days. But in general I think it is a submission of control and of even knowing everything, including how exactly the earth was made. For me having studied quite a bit of science, I struggle with the creation story word for word because I have seen all the proof. That being said I fully believe that science is God’s hand. I don’t actually think that is crucial to know the exact way in which the earth was made. I think that is the beauty of the Bible and it’s many layers, there are words to guide all sorts of different people through and lessons that apply to people is totally different circumstance. Don’t get me wrong, I have no doubt that God is all powerful and all knowing and can do anything, I just have a hard time believing that he would trick us. I don’t think that people who believe in the 7 day creation story are better or worse Christians, because that interpretation of the story was important for the billions of people from before science as well as people who dont read a lot of science. I do think it is sad when it becomes a divisive issue that drives people away from God, as it has. I know what you mean about God not getting worried, that was just a poor choice of words on my part! I will check out that website! Thanks again for commenting, I really love chatting about this stuff!
April 8, 2016 at 2:20 pm
Greg – very interesting post. Many people have the same feeling – “how can I make a difference”, whether it’s christian charity work or humanitarian work. Or they get involved in a cause – the environment, buy local, education, etc., and they take that on to change things. And then there is always that “crash” moment, where you are overwhelmed with the reality of injustice, third world, first world, materialism, inherent greed, war, etc…. And that is the moment you are at – in a great way – because it is showing you the truth and reality of God. You have a great heart and are trying your best in many ways — but it was never your duty to “change the world”. In a nutshell, God just wants you to follow Him, Love Him, and desire His will, not yours (I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me). You are right, it is VERY difficult to deny self and be “selfless” in your actions. But is is possible ONLY through following God. The reason God destroyed the Tower of Babel was that it was for man’s glory, not His. And yes you can take the bible literally – he did confuse and make different languages, and he did create the world as described in Genesis. You are reading scripture through the eyes of secular society, and your thinking has been tainted. Also, just to clarify, God never gets “worried” about what we are/will do. He is all powerful, all knowing, He IS the beginning and the end. He IS the creator of the world. You are putting your thoughts into God’s mind. Try the other way around 🙂 I encourage you to check out this website: Answers in Genesis.org (all one word I think). Hope to continue this conversation!