City Life Starter

Written by Nate Warren

The Word

[The LORD said, …] 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

10 These are the generations of Shem. When Shem was 100 years old, he fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood. 11 And Shem lived after he fathered Arpachshad 500 years and had other sons and daughters. 12 When Arpachshad had lived 35 years, he fathered Shelah. 13 And Arpachshad lived after he fathered Shelah 403 years and had other sons and daughters. 14 When Shelah had lived 30 years, he fathered Eber. 15 And Shelah lived after he fathered Eber 403 years and had other sons and daughters. 16 When Eber had lived 34 years, he fathered Peleg. 17 And Eber lived after he fathered Peleg 430 years and had other sons and daughters. 18 When Peleg had lived 30 years, he fathered Reu. 19 And Peleg lived after he fathered Reu 209 years and had other sons and daughters. 20 When Reu had lived 32 years, he fathered Serug. 21 And Reu lived after he fathered Serug 207 years and had other sons and daughters. 22 When Serug had lived 30 years, he fathered Nahor. 23 And Serug lived after he fathered Nahor 200 years and had other sons and daughters. 24 When Nahor had lived 29 years, he fathered Terah. 25 And Nahor lived after he fathered Terah 119 years and had other sons and daughters. 26 When Terah had lived 70 years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

27 Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. 28 Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred, in Ur of the Chaldeans. 29 And Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah. 30 Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.

31 Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. 32 The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.

Genesis 11:7-32

To the one who conquers … I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.

Revelation 2:17b

11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.

Revelation 19:11-13

Reflection

Our passage today opens with Yahweh’s judgement on those that were building the city/tower of Babel. First, these descendants of Ham are not erring in simply creating a tall structure. They are attempting to establish a high place like Eden under their own power, apart from God. Further, though they have been commanded (Gen 9:1) to fill the earth, they are staying put, establishing great cities (Gen 10:10-12). Responding to their hopeless effort to “go up” to an Eden-like paradise of their own making, Yahweh says, “Let us go down…”. They seek to reach the heavens, but instead the heavens come to them. They experience this inflected confusion with the intended effect of their eventual compliance to their command to fill the earth.

And now another genealogy of Shem leading to the Israelite nation. The builders of Babel wanted to “make a name for themselves,” but are not named in the story. In contrast, Shem literally means “name,” and God makes his name known, as his lineage leads to Abraham, the father of the nation of Israel. Through Israel, Yahweh will “come down” in the incarnation of Jesus.

Throughout the rest of our English bible translations, the same word translated here as “Babel” will be rendered “Babylon,” the empire that exhibits defiance of God throughout the Old Testament, and symbolically linked to other empires in the New Testament.

Application

There is a lot of name-making happening in our day. We constantly live in the temptation to build our reputation through our own conquest, by our own charisma, or by the best 280 characters we can muster–bonus points if we can hot-take our enemies. 

This is folly. There is no hope of us building our legacy in any meaningful way, as we’re all marked by sin. Only by the authority of Jesus, the Name above all Names, can we be redeemed. He promises to us: if we pass the test of faithfulness to Him, in contrast to the defiance like the Babylonians, He will make our name. 

Prayer

Father,
May I trust you to determine my name: my identity, reputation, and legacy.
In the incomparable Name of Jesus,
Amen