Please explain Genesis 11:6.
Listen: 146.3
Let’s look at Genesis 11:1-6 which reads, “And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 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. And they said one to another, Go to, Let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.”
As we read this account some may be thinking, “What’s the harm in people uniting as one and building a city and a tower?” You may recall that immediately after the flood God told Noah in Genesis 9:1, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.” God’s will was plain; Noah and his descendants were to “replenish the earth.” Yet the inhabitants of Shinar said, in Genesis 6:4, “Let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” Thus we see that what appears to be a harmless act was, in truth, an act of open rebellion against God’s will. Instead of hearts being in submission to the revealed will of God, their hearts were lifted up in pride. As they proceeded to build their city and tower, they were, in effect, DEFYING God and DEIFYING man! They no doubt thought their unity and ability to work together for a common goal was admirable, but God saw pride lurking in their hearts and that the achievements they boasted of would lead to further rebellion and opposition to His holy will.
Let’s muse on those solemn words, “This they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.” One has said that, “Their desire to enhance their unity and strength had the potential for the greatest evil.” Jeremiah 17:9 tells us, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Men may not realize the propensity they have for evil, but God does. He knows that when men form their associations, apart from the fear of God and a desire to do His will, their hearts will devise every imaginable evil. This was man’s deplorable condition that caused God to destroy the earth with a flood, for we read in Genesis 6:5, “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” In Proverbs 6:18 we learn that God hates “an heart that deviseth wicked imaginations.” How sad it must have been for God to witness, within a short time after the flood, men uniting on the plains of Shinar with the same “wicked imaginations.” He knew that if their wicked hearts were not restrained, they would repeat the wickedness of those who had perished in Noah’s day, so He confounded their languages and “scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth.” But this was only a temporary solution, for Scripture reveals that time and time again men have united in their rebellion against God. Thankfully the day is coming when Christ will return to this earth as “King of kings, and Lord of lords,” and He will smash to pieces the last great confederacy of men aligned against Him and then He will reign over the whole earth. I would encourage you to read of this in Psalm 2:1-9 and Revelation 19:11-21. (146.3) (DO)