Genesis 11:1 - Meaning and Application

The end of the previous chapter tells us that the nations were divided on the earth after the flood. That means the sons of Noah were separated into different tribes or colonies. The land had become too small for them all, so Noah likely arranged, or they agreed, which way each group should travel. They began with nearby lands and planned to move farther apart as their families grew.

But the sons of men were unwilling to spread out into distant places. They thought it was better and safer to stay close together. So they delayed taking possession of the land the Lord God of their fathers had given them (Joshua 18:3). In this, they acted as if they were wiser than God or Noah.

They had two things that helped their plan. First, they all spoke the same language (Genesis 11:1). If there had been other languages before the flood, Noah’s language, likely the same as Adam’s, seems to have been preserved through it. When people can understand one another, they are more likely to stay close, help each other, and avoid separating.

Second, they found a very suitable place to settle, a plain in the land of Shinar (Genesis 11:2). It was wide enough to hold them and fruitful enough to support them for the time being. But they did not think ahead to how much more room they would need later. Comfortable conditions for the present often become a temptation to neglect duty and future needs.

To hold themselves together, they decided to build a city and a tower. Instead of spreading out under God’s protection, they chose to strengthen their own position. Their united plan was a kind of defense against Heaven itself. It is worth noticing that the first builders of cities, both before the flood and after it, were not people of the best character. God’s people lived in tents, but cities were first built by those who rebelled against him.

They stirred one another up with repeated calls, saying, “Come, let us make brick” and, “Come, let us build ourselves a city” (Genesis 11:3, 4). By encouraging one another, they became bolder and more determined. Great things can be done when many people agree and urge each other on. We should use that lesson for good, to stir one another up to love and good works, instead of sinners stirring each other up to evil (Psalm 122:1; Isaiah 2:3, 5; Jeremiah 50:5).

They also made use of the materials they had. The plain land gave them neither stone nor mortar, but that did not stop them. They made brick instead of stone, and used slime, or pitch, instead of mortar. This shows how resourceful people can be when they are determined. If we were as eager in good things as people are in evil plans, we would not so often stop because we lack convenience. It also shows the great difference between human building and God’s. When men build their Babel, brick and slime are the best they can use. But when God builds his Jerusalem, he lays even its foundations with sapphires and sets its borders with precious stones (Isaiah 54:11, 12; Revelation 21:19).

Some think they hoped to protect themselves from another flood. God had promised not to drown the whole world again, but they trusted a tower they made for themselves more than God’s promise or the ark he had appointed. If that had been their main purpose, they would have been wiser to build on a mountain than on a plain. Yet their goal seems to have gone deeper than that.

First, it was an insult to God. They wanted a tower whose top would reach heaven, which suggests defiance or at least rivalry with him. They wanted to be like the Most High, not in holiness but in height. They forgot their proper place and tried to climb to heaven by their own way, not by God’s.

Second, they wanted to make a name for themselves. They hoped to do something famous, something that would make later generations remember them. Rather than die and leave no trace, they wanted a monument to their pride and ambition. People often become eager for difficult and impressive projects because they want honor and a name among men, and that desire often leads them into evil. God justly buries in the dust the names that sin tries to raise up. These builders spent much effort to make a name for themselves, but history does not preserve even one of their names. Philo Judaeus said they each engraved his name on a brick as a lasting memorial, but even that failed.

Third, they wanted to stop themselves from being scattered over the earth: “Lest we be scattered abroad on the face of the whole earth.” Josephus says this was open disobedience to the command in Genesis 9:1, where God told them to fill the earth. God said to spread out, but they said they would not. They meant to live and die together. To secure that plan, they joined in this great enterprise and made the city and tower the center of their unity and the capital of their kingdom.

It is likely that Nimrod was the leading spirit in all this. He was not content with ruling one colony. He aimed at rule over all, and under the cover of public safety he probably kept them together so he could keep them under his control. Their sin showed bold resistance to God, who had said they would be scattered, and they answered, in effect, that they would not. Woe to anyone who contends with his Maker.

It belongs to God alone to be the universal King, Lord of all, and King over every king. Any person who aims at that kind of rule is trying to take God’s throne for himself. God will not share his glory with another.