Genesis 11:9, commentary and pictures

The place was called Babel because the Lord there confounded the language of all the earth and from there scattered the people abroad over the face of the earth, and from Babel comes the term Babylon, which signifies confusion. Until then men spoke one language, but their speech was confounded so that none could understand the words of a fellow worker, ending all harmonious united labor. The tower was built in direct defiance of the direction to disperse and replenish the earth, for the builders determined to keep together in one body instead of scattering abroad. They planned a tower reaching toward heaven so high and massive that no flood could reach or sweep it away, as their own way of safety apart from God, and as a monument of their power and wisdom to make themselves illustrious and independent of Him. By confounding their speech and scattering them God stopped the self-exalting confederacy and showed Himself supreme over human plans, while Babylon remains the designation for false and apostate religion.

Confusion and Scattering Described

The name Babel comes from what happened there, because the Lord confounded human language there, and from Babel comes the term Babylon, which signifies confusion. Until then the people spoke one language, but divine intervention made them unable to understand one another. God confounded their speech so none could understand the words of a fellow worker, ending their ability to work in harmony and cooperation on the tower.

The confusion worked through misunderstood messages and directions, because the top could not speak directly to the base. Orders for material and work passed through men stationed at points along the way between the top and the base, and there the language was confounded. The wrong material was called for and directions came out backward and reversed, producing confusion and dismay with no harmony or cooperation. In rage and disappointment the builders reproached one another with angry blame until their union broke up in strife and bloodshed and all work stopped.

The confounding of speech so that none could understand his fellow worker was an evidence of divine displeasure over the building of the tower. Angels were sent to defeat the builders' purpose when the tower stood tall, and lightning from heaven broke off the upper part of the tower and threw it down to the ground. This overthrow proved there is a God who rules in the heavens and taught men that they are only men, able to be confused with multiplied confusion.

Those who could still understand one another gathered into groups, formed separate companies and distinct nations with different languages, and went in different directions. The Lord scattered them abroad upon the face of the earth, ending their united effort. The founding of Nineveh belongs to about that time, soon after that dispersion from Babel.

Rebellion Behind the Tower

After the Flood Noah's descendants increased until apostasy divided them, with differing beliefs about the Flood and rebellion because God had judged the antediluvians and cursed the earth. Those who desired to forget their Creator and cast off the restraint of His law separated from the worshipers of God and journeyed to the plain of Shinar on the banks of the Euphrates. There they decided to build the city called Babel and in it a tower reaching unto heaven.

The city and tower were direct defiance of the direction to disperse throughout the earth to replenish and subdue it, because the builders determined to keep their community united in one body instead of scattering abroad in colonies. They sought unity under a self-exalting kingdom that would resist God's law and make them independent of Him, and their project was meant to exalt them and turn people from God. At the same time they intended to found a monarchy that would eventually embrace the whole earth, with their city as metropolis of a universal empire.

They planned the tower so high that no flood could rise to its top and so massive that nothing could sweep it away, as their own way of safety instead of depending on God or a provision like the ark. Some refused to trust God to save them from another judgment and would not depend on a boat like Noah's ark, and the tower was also meant to rise higher than the flood waters, to reach the region of the clouds to find the cause of the flood, and to satisfy pride and turn later generations away from God toward idolatry. The plan displayed wonderful human talent in devising, but it was an ambitious movement against God.

The confederacy was born of rebellion against God, established for self-exaltation and not for the glory of God. It was to make men independent of Him, to resist His law, to command the admiration and homage of the world, to render themselves illustrious, to found a monarchy embracing the whole earth with their city as its metropolis, and to make the tower reaching to the heavens a monument of their own power and wisdom perpetuating their fame to the latest generations. The great majority were fully united in the heaven-daring undertaking, heeding not counsel but carrying out their own purposes.

Had they been permitted to go on unchecked they would have demoralized the world. Had they succeeded a mighty power would have borne sway, banishing righteousness and inaugurating a new religion by mixing certain religious ideas with a mass of erroneous theories, which would have closed the door to peace, happiness, and security. Carried out and perfected, those erroneous suppositions would have banished knowledge of the law of Jehovah from minds that thought obedience unnecessary, ignoring the statutes which are holy, just, and good, and substituting laws framed according to selfish hearts and their desires to carry out their purposes, with determined men inspired and urged on by the first great rebel permitting nothing to interfere with their plans or stop their evil course.

Among the men of Babel were God-fearing men deceived by the pretensions of the ungodly and drawn into their schemes, yet refusing to join the confederacy to thwart God's purposes or to be deceived by its wonderful representations and grand outlook. For the sake of these faithful and loyal ones judgment was delayed and the Lord held back to give the people time to reveal their true character. This answered the humble prayer of those who loved and feared God at the time of the first great apostasy after the Flood, when they humbled themselves and asked Him to interpose between His cause and the plans and methods of men. It shows God never leaves the world without witnesses for Him, that He bears long with the perversity of men giving them ample opportunity for repentance, but marks all their devices to resist the authority of His just and holy law.

The confounding of language and scattering stopped the rebellious, self-exalting plan, so they could no longer work together in harmony and their united effort ended. Until then people had spoken one language, but God showed He is supreme and rules over human plans and can disrupt them to teach dependence on Him. Therefore the Lord brought confusion of tongues to quench the project, to let them understand they gain nothing by such defiant enterprises but confusion. The mixing of speech was a loss to those set against God, shutting them in great measure from contact with those who could give light, though they were unwilling to listen and had no desire to keep God in knowledge even with Noah living three hundred and fifty years after the Flood and Shem five hundred years to transmit His requirements and dealings.

Meaning and Present Application

The builders at Babel had separated themselves from the faithful followers of God and corrupted the system of ceremonial offerings first given to Adam after his fall and taught by him to his descendants, a corruption that had also occurred before the Flood. They had no faith in the Redeemer to come but sacrificed to gods of their own making and choosing instead of the God of heaven, even to gods of silver and gold. Their superstition taught that the more costly and valuable the offerings the greater the pleasure of their gods and the greater the prosperity, favor and riches of the offerers and the nation. That extravagance led to great excess, so that human beings were often sacrificed to senseless idols. Many of the laws governing those nations were cruel in the extreme, made by men whose hearts were not softened by divine grace, passing over the most debasing crimes lightly while visiting a small offense with most cruel punishment.

The tower itself, when it stood tall and was partly occupied, had rich rooms set apart for idols while the people praised false gods against the Ruler of heaven and earth. It was built to satisfy the pride of its builders and to turn future generations from God to idolatry. From Babel comes the term Babylon, which signifies confusion, because there the Lord confounded the language of all the earth. In Scripture Babylon is used to designate various forms of false or apostate religion.

The confusion of human language was a result of sin and became a barrier between people who could not understand one another. It points forward to a future time when nothing will prevent communication and sharing of fellowship. The scattering that followed illustrates that God's people are to spread throughout the world rather than remain concentrated in one place. As those who could still understand one another gathered into separate groups and went in different directions, so the disciples' scattering from Jerusalem helped carry the gospel to other regions.

The same kind of scattering would follow if the work were concentrated in central hubs like Jerusalem, so the work is to advance through many lines and new territories rather than depend on central places. The great, high structures of ancient Babylon could not protect their builders from the consequences of their actions. Human works cannot shut out doom.