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Why in Genesis 11 5-9 did it bother God that the people he created were one and building something together?



      

Genesis 11:5 - 9

ESV - 5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 And the Lord said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.

Clarify Share Report Asked August 03 2019 Tjart3 Thomas Riccardi Supporter

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5
Mini Aurel Gheorghe Supporter
I can think of at least four reasons of why God was displeased with the tower of Babel: 

1.The tower was a monument to salvation by works
The tower represented a substitute for Jesus, who is the ladder from heaven to earth (John 1:51). Man cannot save himself by works - that is a false religion. 

2.A monument to human pride
Rather than building for God's glory, they were trying to make a name for themselves (Gen 11:4). Pride always goes before destruction (Prov 16:18). 

3.Disobedience and defiance of God's will
After the Flood, God told Noah to multiply, and replenish the earth (Gen 9:1). God told them to disperse and repopulate the earth.

4.Disbelief in God and His word
God has made a covenant with man sealed with a rainbow (Gen 9:15). The Babel builders doubted God's word. One objective of the construction was to build higher than the prior flood level and to provide a retreat in the event that God would renege on His promise and again flood the world. Rather than trusting God to protect them, they put their trust in Nimrod and the tower.

August 05 2019 3 responses Vote Up Share Report


2
Mini Tim Maas Supporter Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army
I would say that it was because the underlying motivation of those whose languages God changed -- who apparently did not include the "godly line" of descendants from Adam through Noah through Shem through Eber (after whom the Hebrew language was named), and from which the Messiah would eventually be born -- was the same prideful, sinful desire that had originally caused Satan's fall from heaven (Isaiah 14:12-15), and that Satan had then used to deceive Adam and Eve into disobeying God, resulting in the ensuing fall of the entire human race into sin: the idea that they could become "like gods" (Genesis 3:5).

It was this mindset (as expressed in Genesis 11:4, in which the people had been solely concerned with making a name "for themselves", without God's involvement) that had caused the undertaking of the building of the tower, and that (also contrary to God's command) was deliberately designed to prevent the builders from re-populating the whole earth after the Flood, as God had told Noah and his descendants to do (Genesis 9:1).

August 04 2019 0 responses Vote Up Share Report


0
Mini Shantkumar S. Kunjam Supporter An Indian, Mennonite Church, Pastor, Administrator, Bishop,
As we answer this question, first of all we need to understand that whatever is taking place in this world has two levels of reasons or causes behind it's happening (compare with Jn. 3:5; 2 Cor. 3:6). One is terrestrial level or physical level and the other is celestial or spiritual level. Terrestrial level causes and reasons can be detected by humans, but celestial level causes and reasons can be known only by God's revelation.

So at the tower of Babel, the reasons and causes behind whatever happened at terrestrial level, could be detected by us humans. There seems to be different family groups working together but at the end they could not agree with each others' motives, even though they all spoke one language. And so the rivalry took place, they abandoned the project and went away from each other to their different ways.

The celestial causes and reasons are revealed in the Bible. Humans had no means to detect them. So God in mercy has revealed the real reason and causes behind that Babel event. And it has been revealed to us who live at the end time as parables for our warning (1 Cor. 10:6, 11).

So what teachings we can glean from this Babel event?
1. First and foremost that all things happen and are done by God's doing, and yet He cannot be condemned or judged guilty for the simple reason that He is both the Creator and the Sustainer of all things. Yet He will never violate His holy and loving character.
2. The God of the Bible is a zealous God. He will not share His glory with any human or with false gods. See Is. 42:8; 48:11. So all endeavours devoid of God's will and glory will fail sooner or later and will cause adverse consequences.
3. We the people of God should always seek what is pleasing to Him. See Rom. 12:2; Eph. 5:17. We are urged to say all the time, if God wills - Jm. 4:15.
4. God's will will prevail all the time. In this Babel event God scattered the people in all the earth. This was God's design from the very beginning. Gen. 1:28.

So we believers should align our plans with God's revealed designs and will, and we should always seek His will and give all glory to Him in all our doings and achievements.

August 10 2019 0 responses Vote Up Share Report


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