Stress Test Devotional May 4
May 04, 2024
GENESIS 11:1-9 | Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. And the Lord said, "Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another's speech." So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
Many of the Genesis stories have elements common to the literature and times of the ancient near East. The garden, the flood, and the tower have parallels, in the epic of Gilgamesh and the Enuma Elish stories. These other tales however, are etymological they explain the origins of something. This story answered the question “Why so many languages in the world?” But the biblical stories are theological, employing traditional elements to convey truths about God, life and human beings.
Babel is from the Hebrew word “to confuse”, and is connected to the name of Babylon. The references to bitumen and burned bricks refer to building practices of the Babylonians from the time of the exile. It was there the Israelites encountered the famous Tower in Murduk, the largest ziggurat in that region, called Etemanaki, the “house of the tower platform of Heaven and Earth.”
The Israelites saw the achievements of Babylon but never lost sight of their Creator.
What theological elements do you see in this story?
