Returning to Babel

[Classik]

Is man not gradually coming back to a 'tower of babel' (I mean one heart)?

In Genesis 11 God destroyed the tower of babel.

The tower of babel was the unifying factor. It was a great technology (the tower), and was what the People had believed could keep them together and united.
They spoke one language. The common language made life easier for them and was the strongest and most powerful unifying factor.


I see the tower of babel as our technology today which tries to bind us all together.
E.g.
Transportation (through vehicles) brings us together - limiting distance problems. It is one of the things that make our planet seem smaller.


Today we have some universal Languages: English, French etc which try to bring us back to a 'tower of babel' setting.


Genesis 11 NKJV
1 Now the whole earth had one language and one speech.
------------------------------------------------------------This shows they had strong relationship with one another. See verses 7 & 9
-----------------------------------------------------------

2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there.
3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.†They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar.
4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.â€
------------------------------------------------------------The tower was like a technology to them which they had believed could bind them together. (That's how I look at it.)

I compare 'babel' to the technology we have today which brings us together.

Verse 4 clearly shows their intentional. They wanted to be together. Remember God instructs man to be fruitful and multiply the earth.
-----------------------------------------------------------

5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.
6 And the LORD said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.
7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.â€
8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased buildingthe city.
9 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language ofall the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
------------------------------------------------------------Although we are scattered I believe we are gradually coming back to a babel that unites us again. We can communicate with with People in one of the universal languages.
Our computers, cell phones, tv etc are all means of communication.


Could we say man is returning to a kind of Babel which God deliberately destroyed?

 

[handy]

Yep, yep, yep...I fully agree. I've compared this era to Babel many a time.

"Nothing they propose to do will be withheld from them..."

And ain't that the truth...in my own lifetime we've done everything from getting a man on the moon to cracking the human genetic code to cloning animals...the creation of life without a sperm and cell...amazing, but scary.

 

[stovebolts]

I agree as well.

One thing that caught my eye, is the notion of how an Israelite would have looked at the passage “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.”

It's like, have you ever had something really bad happen to you, and when you see, smell, touch etc. something similar, you automatically get a bad vibe?

When Israel was in bondage in Egypt, they helped build the first world Empire.. Something Babel was attempting to achieve.. one brick at a time...

So it could be said, that Empires are built on the backs of others where one group becomes extremely wealthy, and the other group extremely oppressed with poverty as a tool of manipulation because of course, it was Egypt who provided the needs of the Israelite.

 

[Classik]

Yep, yep, yep...I fully agree. I've compared this era to Babel many a time.

"Nothing they propose to do will be withheld from them..."

And ain't that the truth...in my own lifetime we've done everything from getting a man on the moon to cracking the human genetic code to cloning animals...the creation of life without a sperm and cell...amazing, but scary.

Scary indeed.
Man's knowledge is great. Many years ago no one ever had thought a plane Could be launched into the air. You simply press a button and you are connected to another man a thousand miles away: cell phones.
Technology is great. I wonder what heaven looks like.
--
--
But any Babel which does not have Christ as its foundation will crumble.

 

[Classik]

¡°Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.¡±

Those guys were great indeed. With limited implements they were able to achieve something. I can't claim we are better than they were. They were able to raise over a 100 storey building (I'm guessing).

--
--
We probably do not have that Technology today, and It seems God destroyed that knowledge. .

I see Stoveebolt has changed his avatar.
Cool and Scary ....kids shouldn't c dt
It caught my eye...

 

[stovebolts]

I like my Avatar

As far as loosing the technology... We've vastly improved it. But my point was more toward how post Moses would have viewed it. You see, if you ever talk to a Jew you'll hear them say, "When we left Egypt"... A far cry from how Christians view the Exodus.

Another thing you'll hear them say is this, 'When we were forced to make bricks"... Again, emphasis on we. Why such the emphasis? Because it's their culture and their experience, and they have much, much to say on the Tower of Babel and the tension between Abraham and Nimrod, and through this lens, you'll see that the tower of Babel was being built off the sweat of the oppressed. Nothing new under the sun as Solomon would say.

When you look at how America started emerging as a global world economic power, you quickly see all the expendable Chinese labor that lost their lives building our great Rail Roads during the industrial revolution, and it was the Railroads that helped make this nation great. You also see the slaves in the south and the garment district in the North and in both instances, the employees were expendable, and of course, we have the coal mines and the company stores. We don't see that kind of stuff anymore in America, but you see it rampant across the globe in third world countries, and China is a huge offender... but where does America get most of it's consumables. Just who sewed the button on your $15 dollar shirt? Maybe it's best if we don't ask... There's nothing behind that curtain, just move along and enjoy the ride.

Reminds me of a song, it goes like this.

Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends,
were so glad you could attend, come inside come inside.
Right behind the glass is a real blade of grass, be careful as you pass, move along, move along...