Genesis 11:1-9 II: Scattered

(continuing) Well, the people get together and decide on a plan. The word calling others together is the same word God uses in v. 7 to call the "us" of some kind of divine council together (habah). That is, everyone is planning and consulting in the narrative, people as well as God. But what do the people decide to do? Again, the Hebrew is very rich. It uses two consecutive cognate accusatives to describe the purposiveness and diligence of human activity. A "cognate accusative" is when the verb and its corresponding noun are used consecutively to intensify the thought. Literally, then, v. 3 reads "let us brick bricks" and "let us burn them with fire." The point is that the planning of humans leads to thorough work. I don't understand von Rad's point, then, that one of the reasons for divine judgment was that the city wasn't built with quality construction (Genesis, p. 149). I think the author is emphasizing not simply that the builders use the common Babylonian construction material (the last phrase of v. 3, where we have "bitumen to mortar" also suggests this), but that they are taking care to build this immense tower with skill.

We learn about the decision to build before we understand the motivation for building. But then that follows in verse 4. They want to build a city and tower in its midst. The Hebrew word for tower (migdal) is derived from the adjective for "great" or "large" (gadol), and so we get the impression of immensity in the construction. We have here the full employment act of 2000 BCE at work. This city/tower will have its "head in the heavens." The phrase indicates its monumental importance or strength. Other biblical verses confirm this interpretation. Thus, the returning spies reported to Moses tha tthe Canaanite cities were "great and fortified up to heaven" (Deut. 1:28). God describes the cities Israel is to dispossess as "great and fortified up to heaven" (Deut. 9:1). And perhaps most interesting is Jeremiah's prophecy about the future destruction of Bablyon: "Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify her strong height, yet destroyers would come from me upon her, says the Lord" (Jer. 51:53).

They want to build this mighty city for two reasons: (1) to make a great name for themselves; and (2) to guarantee future security and unity. Human ambition wants to make a name for itself. Whether it is through names on buildings or other structures or through memorialization in contributions given to churches or art institutions, people seem to want to achieve some kind of immortality. But is this so bad? There is no indication that it is human ambition that is at the root of God's judgment, even though if we put it in connection with the Creation and Flood stories and try to see a trilogy of human failings--quest for improper knowledge; the evil heart; quest for improper ambitions--we might see a judgment against human ambition. But I am inclined to think that the greater problem is in the second reason for the human constructive activity--that this activity will guarantee unity. What is so bad about unity? Well, if we read this story in connection with Gen. 1, we see that diversity of creation is at the heart of Gen. 1. Everything was made "after its kinds." So, there is a sort of unity of creatures, but there is also a sense that diversity is part of the divine plan from the beginning. But by the words of Gen 11:4 it is as if humans were trying to "freeze" the unity of human creation. Scattering is a prerequisite for the diversity of hman life to flourish, and humans wanted to forestall that from happening. In Gen. 1, God wanted humans to "fill the earth." A city on the plains, with a top reaching into the heavens, isn't about to fulfill that goal.

III. God Responds--The Empire Strikes Back (vv. 5-9)

When humans make big plans, God is usually amused in Scripture. Recall that in Ps. 2 the kings of the earth gather together and plot against the Lord and the Lord's anointed. What does God do? "The one who sits in the heaven laughs. The Lord holds them in derision" (Ps. 2:4). We don't have any indication that the Lord is laughing at the efforts of the creatures, but the text leaves open for us that possibility. What is funny, however, is the first word of v. 5. What does God do when people are building this huge tower which will reach to the heavens? God comes down to check it out. It is as if God is taking his good old time in getting there, too. An entire verse is used just to say that God is "coming down." Maybe it is a long trip. Maybe God inspects their effort very carefully. But then things turn serious. God looks and sees their ingenuity, and realizes that this will be the first of their efforts not simply to build cities but perhaps to continue to defy His commands. Now that humans can build this, there really is nothing that they think they cannot accomplish.

Commentator Victor Hamilton points to two verbs near the end of v. 6 that give special insight to us. The first is bahar, translated as "be impossible" and the second is zamam, translated "they presume" or "they propose." Hamilton points out that the only other place where these two verbs or their cognates appear in Scripture is in Job 42:2. In that pasage Job is "converted"--i.e., he comes to the realization that indeed that nothing is impossible for God. He also says, "I know that no purpose (mezimma) of yours can be thwarted (basar)." Thus, what Job realizes at the end of his distress and the revelation of God in Job 38-41 is that no purpose of God can be thwarted, and that everything is possible with God. By putting the same language in place with respect to humans, the Biblical authors are tyring to show us that humans are, perhaps, trying to usurp the place of God in this activity. So, maybe the "arrogance" theme, which I dismissed above, has more to say for it!

Then God takes counsel with someone (it is not said whom), and decides to confuse their tongues (by scattering them). The notion of a heavenly court or series of messengers/angels with whom God is in conversation is known to other parts of the Scripture, especially Job. God wants to confuse the tongues. Hamilton also points out the the verb confuse in Hebrew (n-b-l) is precisely the opposite of "bricks" which humans used to build the city (l-b-n). Thus, God is going to "mix up the bricks" and cause "big time" confusion for the people. The scattering of humans takes place at the command or according to the will of God.

Conclusion--What's in a City and a Tower?

The only two other places in Scripture I know where there is a "building connection" between earth and heaven occur in Genesis 28 and Rev. 21. In the former there is a ladder coming down from heaven to earth, on which angels are ascending and descending (this image is picked up in John 1). Then, in Rev. 21, we have the New Jerusalem descending from heaven. The point is this--when connection is made between heaven and earth in the Scriptures, it is initiated from heaven. Here the humans were trying to "make it happen" from earth, to make a name for themselves, and to keep themselves in unity. All of these things aren't perhaps bad in themselves, but when you put them together, it is just another display of human disobedience which will eventually bring judgment. But, the final question, of course, is whether the Scripture sees a "reversal" of Gen. 11 or, in other language, a "redemption" from the punishment? Maybe yes, maybe no. We will just have to listen hard to Acts 2.

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