Understanding the Bible - Part 6

The Tower
 
                It did not take long for evil to re-emerge in the post-Flood world.  This chapter begins with Noah’s son Ham committing a heinous sin against his father.  The chapter ends with Nimrod, the grandson of Ham, aspiring to godhood and rallying the people of the world to build a great tower to challenge the power of God.  God responds by confusing the languages of the people and scattering them to prevent them from uniting against him again.  This event is known to us as the Tower of Babel.  Once you have read Genesis 9:18 through 11:9 you are ready to consider the three questions:
 
1.  What does it reveal about God?

• God is all powerful.  God is not only the creator of language, but he had the power to instantly rewire the brains of the entire human race to get them to speak different languages.  This achieved God’s desired result of dividing the people, since those who could understand each other grouped together and distanced themselves from those whom they could no longer understand.
• God is merciful.  God chose to confuse the languages of the people rather than destroy them.  By challenging God’s power, the people were deserving of destruction, but God spared them and divided them instead.

 
2.  What does it reveal about us?

• We have a fallen nature.  This chapter contains further examples of the depravity of humans.  Ham, who had just been spared from God’s judgement during the Flood, sins against his father.  Nimrod, the great-grandson of Noah, rallied the people of the world in a grand endeavor to challenge the authority of God.  Keep in mind that due to the extended lifespans at that time (Noah lived 350 more years AFTER the Flood), everyone would have had access to firsthand accounts of the Flood and the reason why God did it.  But the same human desire that was present in Eve “to be as God” persisted and became manifested in the construction of the Tower of Babel.  Sadly, we are no different today, as we see in our world a push to challenge not only the power of God, but the very idea of his existence.

 
3.  What does it reveal about God’s relationship with us?

• God rules over us.  He is a benign ruler, but make no mistake, God is in control.  Each time humans have sought to challenge God’s authority they have been put in their place.  Adam and Eve were expelled from Eden and lost eternal life.  The corrupt humans of Noah’s day were destroyed in the Flood.  The rebellious followers of Nimrod saw their efforts stopped in their tracks by God confusing their language.

 
Key Passage
 
                “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.’” – Genesis 11:4
 
                This verse sums up both the audacity and futility of human ambition.  Rather than focusing their efforts on serving God, the humans of that day sought to magnify themselves and serve their own pride.  In the end, their ambition resulted in the very thing they were striving to avoid as God scattered them throughout the earth.
 
Other Notable Points

• There is some controversy over exactly what Ham did to Noah.  Some interpret the episode as Ham merely seeing his father naked.  Others claim that Ham sexually assaulted his father.  Still others say that Ham castrated Noah.  There is another interpretation, which I feel best explains the episode.  This interpretation asserts that Ham had intercourse with his mother while Noah was passed out drunk in the tent.  Elsewhere in the Bible the phrase “the nakedness of one’s father” is used to describe sexual intercourse with one’s mother.  “The man who lies with his father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness” – Leviticus 20:11. This was a powerplay on the part of Ham to seize headship of the family and thereby make himself ruler of the world, since Noah’s family were the only survivors of the Flood.  This practice of displaying sexual dominance over a rival’s wife or concubine as a means to claim power was common in the ancient world.  We see it manifested in the rebellion of Absalom, who had sex with the concubines of his father King David in public view as a means of asserting his claim of having usurped his father’s power (2 Samuel 16:22).  This is why Ham bragged to his brothers when he came out of the tent.  He was asserting his claim of dominance.  This also explains why Noah cursed Canaan.  This interpretation holds that Canaan was the product of this heinous act – the son of Ham and Ham’s mother.  Furthermore, we see that Ham achieved some success in this powerplay as authority appears to follow his line, with the people rallying behind his grandson Nimrod to build the tower.

 
Final Thoughts

• We see the continuation of the cycle of corruption and judgement.  The corruption begins immediately after the Flood in the form of Ham’s sin and culminates in the people of the world gathering to build a tower to challenge God.  But God’s plan for redemption will continue, as we will see in the next chapter.