The Tower of Babel

In Chapter eleven we encounter another “fall” of man at the tower of Babel. The story of Babel is structured chaistically, which means that the second half of the story corresponds to the first half, in reverse order. This is a common literary structure in the Bible.

A. The whole earth has one language (v.1)
    B. Settled there (v.2)
        C. Said to one another (v. 3)
            D. Come, let us build a city and tower (v.4)
                E. Lord Came Down (v. 5)
            D’. City and tower that man had built (v. 5)
        C’. Confuse their speech (v.7)
    B’. Scattered from there (v.8)
A’. Confused the language of the whole earth (v. 9).

The whole story turns on the Lord coming down. This teaches us that God is the decisive actor in the history of the world. Man proposes, but God disposes. The men who settled in Babylon (meaning the Gate of God) aspired to build a mountain that would reach the heavens. This would not only make them famous and earn them a reputation for greatness throughout the world, but would also be a point of contact between heaven and earth.

There is humor in this story because the men who thought they were building a tower into the heavens. God responds by saying, let us go down and see what they are doing. Their ambitious plans were no where close to accomplishing their objective. God puts a stop to the building by confusing their language and so Babylon (the gate of God) becomes Babel (confusion) and the people are scattered. Later we will learn that a true point of contact between heaven and earth will be established in dramatic fashion. However, it will not be built from earth to heaven, but will be a ladder let down from heaven to earth. Jesus is the true and living way and no one comes to the Father except by Him.

Imaging God

I had given up on this blog due to, what I thought, was a lack of interest. I appreciate Landon, Carrie and Tabitha for encouraging me to take it up again. So, here is the deal. I’ll try to post a couple times a week and you react and we’ll try to make a go of it.
Let's go back one more time to Chapter one. In Gen 1:28f  we are told that God has created mankind in His own image. This is of obvious importance. But what does it mean? Most commentaries undertake discussions of God’s nature and how it is reflected in man. Such characteristics as self-awareness, emotion and will are the things emphasized. Without disputing that, it seems to me that the context takes us in a different direction. In the days of creation God took what He had made and acted as an artist shaping and improving the world. He divides, separates, evaluates and names. In brief, God is exercising dominion over creation. Mankind is to take up where God leaves off. He is to image His creator by exercising dominion over creation. We take hold of the world’s native resources. We divide, shape, rework, evaluate and name what we do. This gives tremendous dignity to virtually every human action. We also see that God is fruitful, in that he fills the world with living things. We image God, by being fruitful and multiplying.

Any thoughts?