Gen 11:1-7 17 May 09 Artist: Marten Van Valckenborch I

After the Flood (Gen 9:20 – 29) Noah and his 3 sons Shem, Ham and Japheth settled down and became farmers. Noah planted a vineyard, and gets drunk on wine and sleeps naked in his tent. Ham chances upon this and tells his brothers instead of covering up his father. Shem and Japheth do the right thing. Gen 9:24 “When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. Ham is not Noah’s youngest son, however Canaan is Ham’s youngest. Perhaps Noah knew Canaan had sexually violated him. Noah curses Canaan.

Fulfilment of Gen 9:25-27 Gen 9:25-27 So he said, "Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brothers. He also said, "Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth, And let him dwell in the tents of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant." The fulfilment of this curse on the Canaanites is found in: Josh 16:10 They didn't drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwell in the midst of Ephraim to this day, and have become servants to do forced labour. Judg 1:33 Naphtali didn't drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth Anath; but he lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh and of Beth Anath became subject to forced labour.

Fulfilment of Gen 9:26-27 Gen 9:26-27 He also said, "Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth, And let him dwell in the tents of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant." The fulfilment of Noah’s blessing of his two sons Shem and Japheth is found in history: The Greeks and Romans were descendents of Japheth. They became world powers and subjected the Jews (the descendents of Shem) Dwelling in Shem tents, also speaks of the conversion of the Gentiles, and the bringing of them into God’s Kingdom, Eventually, Jews and Gentiles shall be united together - one in Christ Eph 2:14 “For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall”

The Genealogy of Noah – Gen 10 Gen 10:2-5 records the generations of Japheth. ”From these the coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands, every one according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.” Gen 10:6-20 records “These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, by their nations.” Gen 10:21 to 31 records “These are the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, according to their nations.” This passage seems to indicate that the people were already speaking different languages. Yet…

The Tower of Babel (Gen 11:1-9) Gen 11:1 “And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech”. Gen 11:2 It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. Unlike Gen 10, this passage clearly indicates that there was one language. How do we reconcile this? Note Gen 10:25 “Two sons were born to Eber, the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, ..” This is the 4th generation after Shem. (~120 years later) Nimrod settles in the land of Shinar and becomes king of Babel. Gen 10:9-10) So we can see that Gen 11 does not take place chronologically after Gen 10 but in fact occurs before Gen 10.

Map showing Mt Ararat & Plain of Shinar

The Pride of Man Gen 11:3 They said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly." And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. Gen 11:4 They said, "Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth." Man’s ingenuity and wilful disobedience to God’s command to disperse and populate the whole earth. Gen 9:1b “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” Worse, they became proud and did not honour God. They wanted to usurp God’s place by creating a heaven on earth. The city would provide a defence against enemies and they did not need to depend on God’s protection.

Man’s Fallen Nature It had been only about 100 years since the Flood (Noah and his sons were still living witnesses!) yet Mankind has again forgotten about the judgement of God. How soon men forget and go back to their former crimes! There is exceeding wickedness. Babel – Babylonian “Gate of God”, in Hebrew, sounds like “to confuse” Today, Man is still constantly trying to build towers of Babel. Source: Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

God’s Response (Gen 11:5-9) "And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. The LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. Come, let Us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. Therefore, its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.” From Gen 10, we see that the Lord was merciful and gracious to allow the people to still live with their own extended families by having the same language.

7000 Languages Today! The United Nations has 192 member nations. The UN has adopted 6 official languages Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish Wycliffe Bible Translators claims that there is 6909 known living languages.

Wycliffe Bible Translators Vision 2025 - serving in partnership worldwide to see Bible translation begun by 2025 in every remaining language community that needs it. 6,909 ...the number of languages spoken in the world today 2,393 ...the number of languages without any of the Bible, but with a possible need of a Bible translation to begin 200 million ...the number of people whose languages have no translation yet 1,998 ...the number of translation programs currently in progress for languages without adequate Scripture

As God confuses, God also enables Acts 2:4 They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak. I Cor 12:28 God has set some in the assembly: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracle workers, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, and various kinds of languages. Thank God for His compassion for the lost and enabled the Word of God to be understood by those who have yet to hear the Gospel.

Application Gen 11:10-26 lists the genealogy of Shem again (see Gen 10:21-31). This time it traces down to Abram (Abraham) (v26). This shows that the call of Abraham in Gen 12 was not arbitrary. He stood in a long line of those who received the blessings and promises of God: Adam, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Shem. Pause to give thanks to God for the Christians who came before us and influenced our lives. Pray that we will likewise be able to pass the torch of faith to others, who will also serve and please God with their lives.

In the Future Isaiah 66:18 "For I know their works and their thoughts: the time comes, that I will gather all nations and languages; and they shall come, and shall see my glory. Rev 7:9 “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could number, out of every nation and of all tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands. “ In the imminent future, God will re-gather all the people from all languages groups. Praise God!