A Little History

The historian Flavius Josephus, in his work “The Antiquities of the Jews” sheds some interesting light on what we call the Tower of Babel.  If this starts out a little “history heavy” it’s for a reason.  Stay with it and get the point.

The great flood was sent by God to destroy all the inhabitants of the earth, except of course for Noah and his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth.  After the flood had subsided, God gave the command that man should go and inhabit all of the earth, be fruitful and multiply.  According to Josephus, God’s purpose for this command was that they might enjoy the fruit and prosperity of their own lands, scattered far enough from each other that they might not fall under tyranny.  But Noah’s descendants were hesitant to leave the mountains, fearing that God might send another flood.

As they finally did begin to descend into the plains of Shinar, instead of scattering and inhabiting the whole earth, they clumped together, disobeying the command of God.  It was Nimrod, the grandson of Ham, who incited the rebellion and established himself as earth’s first dictator.  This is mentioned in Genesis 10:8, where it is said of Nimrod, “he began to be a mighty one upon the earth.”  By disobeying, man got exactly what God wanted to prevent: tyranny.

At the leading of Nimrod, the people rebelled against God and began to build a tower.  This is the interesting part to me.  According to Josephus, the purpose of this tower was to build a structure tall enough that, should God ever decide to once again send a flood upon the earth, the people would be able to escape God’s wrath.  They built it of baked bricks and mortared it with tar, so it would be waterproof.

Did you get that?

The Tower of Babel was built as man’s attempt to insulate himself from God’s punishment.  “We’ll show you, God!  We’ll build a tower so tall you can’t kill us again with a flood.”  Instead of just being obedient to God, man chose instead to build a structure that would give him another option besides obedience to God.

This is the beginning, the spirit, the essence of Babylon.

To create another option besides God.  To hedge our bets.  To look for answers outside simple obedience to the Father who only wants what’s best for us anyway.

We’re still doing it today.  At least I know I am.  God makes promises and I’m not really sure they’ll come true.  God gives commands and I’m not really sure I want to obey.  So I begin to hedge my bets, to create a system of my own security, just in case God doesn’t come through.

I’m betting you’re thinking of areas in your life where you’ve done the same.  Maybe it’s that job you keep because you’re afraid God won’t provide.  Maybe it’s that relationship you know you should break off, but you’re afraid of being alone.  Maybe it’s forgiving or letting go of some past hurt that is holding you back.  Maybe God has given you a dream, vision or command and you’re just too afraid to follow through for fear that it will fail.

Or maybe, like the descendants of Noah, we just don’t want to obey.  We want to do things our own way, and we’ve built up what we think is a pretty clever system to prevent God from having His way.

And maybe, like those early founders of Babylon, God has sent confusion and chaos into our lives.  Not because He wants us to suffer, but because He wants us to obey.   Not because He’s mad at you, but because He wants to bless you.  Like this passage in Isaiah 48,

    “ I am the LORD your God,
      Who teaches you to profit,
      Who leads you by the way you should go.
       Oh, that you had heeded My commandments!
      Then your peace would have been like a river,
      And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
      Your descendants also would have been like the sand,
      And the offspring of your body like the grains of sand;
      His name would not have been cut off
      Nor destroyed from before Me.”

So what’s your Tower?  What’s your “other option”?  What system have you build in order to avoid what you know is right, what you know God wants you to do?

Where is the confusion and chaos that God wants to use to push you into doing what He has said?  That tower is taking a lot of emotional and physical effort to build and maintain, isn’t it?  Are you tired of the struggle?  I know I am.  It’s not too late.  His grace extends to our rebellion and disobedience today just like it did the day we accepted Christ.

I’m thinking obedience is a whole lot easier than building a tower.