Genesis 11

Genesis 11

11:1 It would make sense that men had a common language if we all descended from one man and woman. So how did our languages develop? Well, we shall see!

11:2 Shinar is in the region of Babylon, or modern day Iraq. If they were moving east, then they had to have started west. Maybe they were following the Euphrates river? If so, then they would be coming from the northwest, which points toward Ararat. Some wonder where the ark of Noah is today, and typically we hear of the mountains of Ararat in Turkey, but really it could be anywhere in the region northwest of Babel, or Babylon.

11:3 This makes me wonder who it was that figured out how to make bricks. If this says they used it instead of stone, then prior to this stone would be the primary building material. Bricks are probably easier to use, and easier to make since they can be molded to manageable pieces.

11:4 So much easier, in fact, they thought they could build a structure that reached the clouds! I wonder if they would have been successful? In comparison, the tallest building in the world (at current) is just over 2700 feet tall. That's over half a mile high! But the goal would have to push 10,000 feet (about 2 miles) to get into "heavenly" territory, since that's the height of about mid-high level clouds. The entire atmosphere is between 5 and 9 miles high, so just think about that! Considering modern buildings are made of steel and have very deep foundations, I'm not so sure they would have actually been able to make a brick structure that reached the heavens.

11:5 God did not need to come down to see the structure, so I wonder why He chose to do so. The only thing that comes to mind (thank you, Ada) is the same idea when a parent knows their child is doing wrong, but still kneels down and asks what they are doing. They know good and well that the child is doing wrong, but sometimes the way the child admits it reveals their heart.

11:6 All the comments above lead to this. Could the men have reached the heavens? Probably not, but they may have found a way. The point is that they were arrogant enough to make themselves gods out of it. Why did God come down? To make that heart condition all the more obvious. This is the state of man, and it hasn't even been that long since the flood!

11:6 Since the time of Babel, men have had different languages. Now, it is very easy to get translators and even write computer programs to do the translation for us. We are beginning to have one language again, and wickedness is gaining exponentially. Does this mean information is evil? Not necessarily, only what men do with the information can lead that way.

11:7 Ah, this is the explanation from the Bible of how we get language.

11:8 What would you do if suddenly you couldn't understand most people around you? You would probably seek out those you could understand and live near them. As the people grew, their languages kept them apart. It is conceivable that this is when Native Americans moved north and came to North America. The flood having just passed would have wreaked havoc on climates, and would have caused something like the Ice Age. This is so they could get to the western continents. I love learning how the Bible makes scientific sense!!

11:26 I wonder which of these men were alive when the tower of Babel was happening? We see in verse 28 that Abram was from Ur of the Chaldeans, which is also Babylon, so this line was kept from wandering.

11:30 Being barren was a very bad thing for a woman. At this point in history, children were looked at as blessings. Unfortunately, it was usually for bragging rights and accumulation of wealth. Nowadays we have the wealth and don't want to share it with the kids. What a contrast.

11:31 Maybe this is part of the mystery. There is no explanation as to why Terah left Ur of the Chaldeans in the first place, so maybe this is when Babel occurred. It is purely a guess, but it would make some sense.