Genesis 11:5 - Meaning and Application

Here we see the collapse of the Babel builders’ plan, and how God overturned the scheme of those stubborn men so that his purpose would stand despite them.

First, we see that God took notice of what they were doing: “The Lord came down to see the city” (Genesis 11:5). This is human language, because God already knew the matter fully. It means he knew it as clearly as people know what they have come to inspect for themselves.

Before God gave judgment, he examined their case. He is always just and fair in dealing with sin and sinners, and he never condemns without hearing. This also shows his kindness, because he humbles himself to notice even this proud building project. He looks on the events of this lower world, even the most important ones (Psalm 113:6).

The text says it was the tower “the children of men” built. That phrase points to their weakness, their sin, and their separation from God’s people. It was foolish for mere human creatures, weak as dust, to challenge heaven and provoke the Lord.

They were also the sons of Adam, that is, Adam the sinful and disobedient man. By nature, his children are disobedient too, and they tend to corrupt what is right. In contrast, Eber, a faithful man in the line of God’s people, is not found among them. He and his family are called the children of God, and they would not join this proud company.

Second, we see God’s wise decision about this matter. He did not come down only as a spectator, but as a judge and ruler, ready to bring down the proud (Job 40:11-14). He allowed them to go some distance with their project before stopping them. This gave them time to repent, if they still had any sense left, and also made their shame greater when they failed.

God often allows those who oppose his glory to go far in their plans before he brings them down. That way their defeat becomes more public, and their own work turns into lasting disgrace. They had hoped for honor from their building, but it would become a mark of shame.

When they had made real progress with much effort, God decided to break their plans and scatter them. He first considered their unity: “Behold, the people are one, and they all have one language” (Genesis 11:6). If they stayed united in rebellion, much of the earth would remain empty, their power would soon become too great, and sin would spread more easily because they would strengthen one another in evil.

There is also a deeper danger. If this united group kept growing, the small remnant of God’s people could be swallowed up. So God decreed that they must not remain one. Unity can serve a purpose, but it is not proof of a true church. It is a shame that the builders of Babel, though different in families and interests, were so united against God, while the builders of Zion are often divided in serving him. Yet this should not surprise us. Christ did not come to bring peace in that sense.

God also considered their stubbornness: “Now nothing they plan will be impossible for them” (Genesis 11:6). They had refused his commands and warnings, so he took another course. This shows how sinful sin is, and how determined sinners can be. Ever since Adam would not stay away from the forbidden tree, his descendants have hated restraint and resisted correction.

It also shows why God’s judgments are needed in the world. They help keep order and restrain those who will not listen to law. Then God said, “Come, let us go down and confuse their language” (Genesis 11:7). He was not speaking to the angels as if he needed their help. Rather, the language points to God’s own counsel and action. Just as the people had urged one another, “Come, let us make bricks” and “Come, let us build,” so now God says, “Come, let us confuse their language.”

There is mercy in this judgment. God did not punish them as severely as they deserved. He did not strike them with thunder and lightning or destroy them at once. He did not open the earth to swallow them and their tower. Instead, he scattered them. They deserved death, but they were only sent away in confusion. God’s patience toward a sinful world is very great.

There is also wisdom in the way he stopped them. By confusing their language, he made them unable to understand one another. Then they could no longer work together well, because divided tongues broke divided hands. This was a fitting way to stop the building and to push them apart, since they could no longer enjoy one another’s company. God has many effective ways to frustrate the plans of proud people who rise up against him, including dividing their minds or dividing their speech (Judges 9:23; Psalm 55:9).

Finally, we see the carrying out of God’s plan, which ruined and defeated the plans of men (Genesis 11:8-9). God made them learn whose word would stand, his or theirs (Jeremiah 44:28).

Even though they were united in their stubborn pride, God was stronger than they were. In the very thing where they acted proudly, he showed himself above them. No one hardens his heart against God and prospers.

Three things happened. First, their language was confused. God, who gave human beings speech when he created them, now made these builders forget their old language and speak a new one. People of the same family or colony could still understand one another, but they could not understand people from the other groups. This was a great miracle, showing that God can control the minds and tongues of people and turn them as easily as streams of water.

It was also a serious judgment on these builders. Once they lost the old and holy language, they were cut off from the true church, which kept it. That likely helped them lose knowledge of the true God as well. We still feel the effects of this today in all the trouble caused by many languages, and in the time and effort needed to learn the ones we use. Even disputes that come from misunderstanding words may go back to the confusion at Babel. Some people have hoped to create a universal written system or a universal language, but that seems to fight against God’s sentence, since the languages of the nations will remain divided as long as the world stands.

We can also lament the loss of the Hebrew tongue as a language everyone used. From this point on, it was spoken only by the Hebrews, and it stayed that way until the Babylonian captivity, when even among them it was replaced by Syriac. Yet just as the confusion of tongues scattered the children of men, the gift of tongues given to the apostles (Acts 2) greatly helped gather the children of God, who had been scattered. It united them in Christ, so that with one mind and one voice they might glorify God (Romans 15:6).

Second, their work was stopped. They gave up building the city. The confusion of their language made it impossible for them to help one another well, and it likely discouraged them too, because they could see the hand of the Lord against them. It is wise to stop what we can clearly see God is opposing. God is able to ruin and bring to nothing all the plans of Babel builders. He sits in heaven and laughs at the plans of the kings of the earth against him and his Anointed, and he will force them to admit that there is no wisdom or counsel against the Lord (Proverbs 21:30; Isaiah 8:9-10).

Third, the builders were scattered over the whole earth (Genesis 11:8-9). They went away in groups, by families and by languages (Genesis 10:5, 10:30-31), to the different lands set aside for them. They already knew where they were meant to settle, but they would not go willingly until they were forced. The very thing they had feared came upon them. In trying to avoid being scattered by sinfully resisting God, they brought that dispersion on themselves. We are often most likely to fall into the trouble we try to escape by wrong means.

This was God’s doing. The Lord scattered them. We should recognize God’s hand in all such scattering providences. If a family is scattered, if relatives are scattered, if churches are scattered, it is the Lord’s doing. Even though these people were tightly joined together, the Lord scattered them, because no one can hold together what God means to separate. In this way, God justly punished them for their united effort to build the tower in pride. Dishonorable scattering is the rightful punishment for sinful union. Simeon and Levi, who were brothers in wrongdoing, were divided in Jacob (Genesis 49:5, 49:7; Psalm 83:3-13).

They also left behind a lasting reminder of their shame in the name of the place. It was called Babel, which means confusion. People who aim at a great name often end up with a bad name. And the children of men were now finally scattered. They never all came together again, and never will, until the great day when the Son of Man sits on the throne of his glory and all nations are gathered before him (Matthew 25:31-32).