13.1
The Tower of Babel
13.2
Abram and Pharaoh
13.3
Sodom and Gomorrah
13.4
Summary
Continuing
to consider the specific judgments of God recorded in the book of
Genesis we now move to next consider the strange case of the Tower
of Babel.
13.1
The Tower of Babel
The
Judgment
Gen
11:6-9 The
LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they
have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible
for them. Come, let us go down and (i)
confuse their language so they will
not understand each other." So the LORD (ii) scattered
them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the
city. That is why it was called Babel --because there the LORD confused
the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them
over the face of the whole earth.
Reminder:
‘judgment' = a decision of God to take action against wrong behaviour
in the human race. In popular misconception, God steps in and does
something to apparently stop mankind enjoying itself and making itself
feel good. There is one word used twice in that previous sentence
which speak volumes: ‘itself'. God has no problem with human beings
enjoying themselves for He Himself gave them the capacity to do that
in an amazing way, but what we have here is an inward looking mankind
doing things in its own strength to bring blessing to itself (in a
bad way).
Let's
consider all that happened here.
Background
Gen
11:1 “Now
the whole world had one language and a common speech.”
- Initially
there is nothing wrong with that for it is what you would expect
if mankind develops from a single source.
Gen
11:2 “As
men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.”
- Stage
2 of these people was development by expansion and settlement. So
far, so good, no problem.
Gen
11:3 “They
said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly."
They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.”
- Some
criticize them for creating their own materials and not using natural
rocks or timbers, but human beings have been designed to think,
to rationalize and develop or invent.
- Stage
3 is going beyond mere settling, to invention as part of development,
of taking what God has provided and applying it into the human need
situation. So far, so good, no problem.
Gen
11:4 “Then
they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower
that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves
and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
- Note
there is a double development here.
- First
of all it is to build a city. There are very differing
views about cities. Some say they are a sign of mankind gathering
together in groups to oppose others. Others say they are a place
of development and blessing. There is no doubt that in masses of
buildings, pavements, lanes, throughways, highways and so on, there
is greater opportunity to hide away and greater opportunity to hide
away also means greater opportunity to do things that are wrong.
- Second,
it was to build a man-glorifying tower. Some say
‘big is beautiful' but here ‘big is boastful'.
- This
is mankind stretching like a teenager flexing his muscles trying
to assess himself. But it is assess himself in the absence of God.
In
2014 the UK were the first Invictus Games, similar to the Warrior
Games of the USA, and built into the logo, boldly standing out are
the words, “I AM” and we are told the games' name comes from a poem
by William Ernest Henley which concludes with the words, “I am the
master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.” This is intended
to boost the morale of wounded servicemen that they “would be an inspiration
for all of those that have been wounded, injured and sick while serving
their countries.” Good in apparent intent but nevertheless exhibiting
the same outlook as those who built the Tower of Babel – “I AM”. Is
there a mockery from the powers of darkness who know that there is
only One who can claim that name (Ex 3).
Understanding
But
our verses above focus on the Lord's assessment of what was happening:
Gen
11:6 “The
LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they
have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible
for them.”
Remember
what we considered when we looked at the Flood. Already the Lord has
once had to move against rampant evil in humanity to prevent even
worse things happening. It is probable that we do not know or cannot
conceive the awfulness of rampant humanity opening itself up more
and more to occult powers. The signs are there in the building of
this tower: let's band together for there is strength in numbers;
let us build this tall tower and start to realise our capabilities!
The Lord sees that without some form of restraint, “nothing
they plan to do will be impossible for them.”
In
our lifetime and the lifetime of our parents and grandparents we have
known of two World Wars in which all hell broke loose. We have invented
nuclear weapons capable of devastating huge areas and killing huge
numbers. We have invented biological warfare that can do the same.
Throughout the globe wars continue with small groups threatening to
drag in all the major nations of the world again. Is nothing impossible
for us when it comes to destruction of others?
And
so He made a judgment: “Come, let
us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand
each other.” (v.7) This would hinder and slow up development.
This would give the world a (non)fighting chance!
The
consequence? “So the LORD scattered
them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the
city.” (v.8) That city, Babel, is believed to be what
became Babylon. When its name crops up in the Bible it is always symbolic
of a godless, self-centred people out to harm the rest of the world.
It finds its ultimate fulfilment in the book of Revelation where its
influence dominates the world and comes under the hand of God in the
final judgment.
Instead
of destroying it and its inhabitants outright here, the Lord in His
mercy simply scatters the people and allows the wider world to be
populated so that many cultures can be developed, providing a greater
richness to the modern world. In these ‘last days' the influence of
Babylon grows again and maybe its final downfall is not far off. It
is hard to see what lesser way there might have been in dealing with
mankind in the situation, an act to prevent them from growing in ways
that would hurt themselves.
13.2
Abram and Pharaoh
The
next judgment – time when God acted to remedy a wrong situation –
comes in the events surrounding Abram going down to Egypt in a time
of famine.
The
Judgment
Gen
12:17
But the LORD inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his
household because of Abram's wife Sarai.
The
incident involving Abram and Pharaoh doesn't show Abram in a very
good light – but he is only a new believer with an almost embryonic
relationship with the Lord, so he hasn't yet come to realise that
God will, in fact, protect him. We need to consider again the background
of this story.
Background
i)
Abram's sense of inferiority
We
first of all read, “Now there was
a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for
a while because the famine was severe.” (Gen 12:10) The
cause of the famine is unknown and so Abram does what any ‘sensible'
person does and leaves and goes where there is still food; in this
case it is Egypt.
But
then Abram ‘thinks' and in his thinking feels vulnerable. He is going
into a foreign land where there is a powerful ruler who is known to
have an eye for beautiful women and Abram's wife, Sarai, is a beautiful
woman. Abram thinks about this and thinks that the Pharaoh might kill
him to get him out of the way so he can take Abram's wife. Solution:
pretends she is his sister (well she is his half sister actually).
But that's still going to leave Sarai vulnerable, but they still end
up in Egypt with Abram saying she is his sister.
ii)
Pharaoh's ‘natural' actions (natural for the day)
The
inevitable happens. Pharaoh hears there is a rich merchant arriving
and he happens to have a beautiful sister, so he does what any despot
of that age did, he had her brought into his palace (we aren't told
what more followed).
The
Judgment & Response
The
situation, as far as Pharaoh and his household are concerned, suddenly
turns pear shaped! “the LORD inflicted
serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram's wife
Sarai.” (v.11)
Now
what is interesting about this is what then follows:
Gen
12:18,19 “Pharaoh
summoned Abram. "What have you done to me?" he said. "Why
didn't you tell me she was your wife? Why did you say, `She is my
sister,' so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your
wife. Take her and go!"
When
a whole lot of people in your household (including you!) starting
getting ill, you start wondering why and questions are asked. What
has changed? The only thing is you've brought a new woman into the
court. Was there anything wrong with her? No, we check. Well check
with the seers then.
We
aren't told that that is how it happened but somehow they came to
realise that this sickness is a judgment on bringing this woman into
the palace. No doubt they question her and soon find she is Abram's
wife!!!! They are quicker on the uptake than many Christians are and
soon conclude this is punishment and this merchant and his wife need
to leave – quickly and now! So Abram and his family and flocks and
herds (which have grown since he's been there!) leave the country
and return to the south of Canaan (the Negev) and the story continues
from there.
Understanding
But
now we need to come back to the Lord's part in all this. Without doubt
He is the bringer of this judgment on Pharaoh and his household. Note
in passing that no one seems to have died in it all, they just got
sick. How does God bring sickness? We don't know but He clearly does
as you can see elsewhere in the Bible. Why has He done it? Obviously
to protect Abram, His young protégé who doesn't yet
realise that God will look after him.
Déjà
vu
Now
what is remarkable is that after a whole lot of things had happened
between the Lord and Abram we find the same thing happening yet again:
Gen
20:1-7 “Now
Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived
between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar, and there
Abraham said of his wife Sarah, "She is my sister." Then
Abimelech king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her. But God came
to Abimelech in a dream one night and said to him, "You are as
good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married
woman." Now Abimelech had not gone near her, so he said, "Lord,
will you destroy an innocent nation? Did he not say to me, `She is
my sister,' and didn't she also say, `He is my brother'? I have done
this with a clear conscience and clean hands." Then God said
to him in the dream, "Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience,
and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did
not let you touch her. Now return the man's wife, for he is a prophet,
and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return
her, you may be sure that you and all yours will die."
Now
for those who think God is a nasty God, observe the gentle way He
deals with Abimelech. With this second time, Abraham (as he
now is) is not forthright about his wife. On this occasion the Lord
speaks to the king in a dream and makes it very clear indeed what
is going on.
What
we see in these two incidents, brought on by Abram's lack of understanding
(which will change), is the Lord bringing judgment and threatening
to bring judgment to protect His man and his family and to challenge
the power of local kings. Why He did not speak in a dream to Pharaoh
we don't know but perhaps the occult powers for which Egypt was known,
hindered that form of communication and so more direct tactics had
to be used. In both cases the Lord is challenging human behaviour,
that of powerful figures, as if to say, ‘this is not what people in
my kingdom do! This is wrong and so you will pay for it unless you
repent quickly.' Both kings got the message and changed quickly, and
Abraham and Sarah were saved.
I
don't think we need to ponder on alternatives to what happened here,
it is so simple – and it worked. No one died but wrong situations
were put right. The discipline worked.
13.3
Sodom and Gomorrah
The Judgment
Gen
19:24,25 Then
the LORD rained down burning sulphur on Sodom and Gomorrah --from
the LORD out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the
entire plain, including all those living in the cities--and also the
vegetation in the land.
The
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah raises a number of questions. First,
why did the Lord destroy it? Second, how did He destroy it? Third,
why did He save Lot?
Background
First
must come the reason for the destruction of these two cities. Let's
consider the record.
Gen
18:20,21 “Then
the LORD said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great
and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they
have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me.”
Gen
19:23 “we
are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the LORD against its
people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it."
These
verses have an intriguing commonality – the word ‘outcry' which suggests
that someone or something was crying out for something to be done
in respect of those two cities. Now whether that is
- the
cry of justice or
- the
cry of righteous people who passed by and knew those cities, or
- whether
it was from Satan acting as the Accuser, (e.g. Rev 12:10)
is not stated but the picture is conveyed that
the state of these two cities has been brought to the Lord's attention.
Now of course He sees all things and knows all things but what this
is saying is that not only is He aware of what is happening, but others
are as well and they have been bringing it to God. These cities are
a blot on God's world.
The
Guilt of Sodom
But
what was it that condemned these cities? In the New Testament, Jude
simply states, “ Sodom and Gomorrah
and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality
and perversion.” (Jude v.7)
That
is the usual order.
- Sexual
immorality is sinful mankind
casting aside God's order for men and women - one man with one woman
for life. So godlessness in our modern society in the West produces
that which the Bible calls immorality and it is treated as normal
life.
- But
unrestrained sin doesn't stop at immorality, it moves on to what
the Bible calls perversion. Although modern men
would like to water down the Bible texts, the texts are quite clear.
The
apostle Paul spoke of this when he said, speaking of God's indirect
judgments where God lifts off His hand of restraint:
Rom
1:24 “Therefore God gave
them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity
for the degrading of their bodies with one another,”
- This
was the first stage referred to above, but then,
Rom
1:26,27 “Because
of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged
natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also
abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust
for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received
in themselves the due penalty for their perversion,”
- This
is the further degradation spoken of by Jude. In Paul's language
women took on ‘unnatural' relations with other women and men did
the same with men which was called ‘perversion' which is defined
as ‘deviating from what is considered normal'.
- Note in each case it is not
'being' but 'doing' that receives God's censure.
The
account in Gen 19 reveals a city where this ‘perversion' has gone
so far that men from all over the city are shown to have gone to such
lengths that they demand sex with any visiting men. That this is tantamount
to rape is undeniable, and this shows the depths to which this city
had sunk.
The
prophet Ezekiel, speaking of Sodom declared, enlarging the picture
of their sin and depravity:
Ezek
16:49,50 "this was the
sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed
and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty
and did detestable things before me."
Now
we have said in previous studies that
a)
God does not want death but would much rather see repentance and
b)
if death is the outcome, it is the only possible outcome in all the
circumstances.
We
find ourselves being drawn to the conclusion that sometimes people
get so set in their sin and hard-heartedness that repentance is almost
impossible and therefore for the sake of everyone else, their removal
is the only option left. That appeared the case of Pharaoh in the
Exodus and would be the logical conclusion here. There appear no alternatives
in such a context.
The
Judgment of Sodom
Now
how the Lord destroyed these two cities is a mystery. The description
is succinct but open to question: “Then
the LORD rained down burning sulphur on Sodom and Gomorrah --from
the LORD out of the heavens.” (Gen 19:24)
Commentators
suggest that ‘the natural ingredients of the destruction – petroleum,
bitumen, salt and sulphur – were abundant in this region.' Again it
has been suggested that a natural gas build up and release with ignition
could create an explosion of tremendous force which first explodes
upwards but then rains down, maybe even with the force of a hydrogen
bomb, and the outgoing shock wave carrying the burning materials with
it could have burnt up the delaying wife of Lot.
What
we have described is a natural disaster in any other context but as
the Lord has expressly warned of it and the two angels spoke of it,
the only conclusion left is that it was brought about by God to wipe
out these two past-repentance cities that, if left to themselves,
might have spread their influence over a wider and wider area. The
action becomes, not only penal, but also an act of prevention to save
the rest of the people of that part of the world and also act as a
warning to future generations.
The
Saving of Lot
The
only question we have left unanswered of our four starting questions
is, why did the Lord save Lot ? Everything about Lot – his past behaviour
with Abraham, his future pleading not to go far away and his subsequent
drunken behaviour, all say here is a man who lives on the edge of
righteousness; he is only just there. But ‘only just' is enough.
The
apostle Peter declares him a righteous man (2 Pet 2:7-9) which would
appear to have been the Rabbinic teaching of the day, but still his
behaviour leaves him appearing an ‘only just' righteous man. Perhaps
in fairness, we might suggest that his only knowledge of the Lord
and the Lord's requirements, would have come through Abram and his
knowledge and experience was strictly limited. Lot has come from a
pagan background and has not become a full believer. It is perhaps
for this reason alone, together with his relationship with Abram,
that saves him.
13.4
Summary
Let's
summarise each of the three judgments observed in this chapter:
In
respect of the Tower of Babel, the Lord simply scatters
the people confusing their languages to prevent further deterioration
and to counter the pride and rebellion that was growing.
In
the case of Abram & Pharaoh, the Lord inflicted
the royal court with serious diseases to draw to the king's attention
his accidentally unrighteous behaviour. As soon as this happens it
is stopped.
(In
the follow-up between Abraham and Abimelech, God
intervenes and staves off a worse situation by a dream to the quickly-reacting
Abimelech.)
With
Sodom & Gomorrah, we found two cities that had
degenerated into sexual immorality and perversion (so far from God's
design for humanity) that the only course left was to destroy them
to stop their influence infecting the rest of the world. As a counterpoint
to this horrendous judgment, is the saving of ‘only-just-righteous'
Lot.
So
we have two disciplinary actions and one terminal judgment, two that
sought to bring about a change of behaviour to enable life to continue,
and one that terminated a number of lives to enable more lives to
continue without further degeneration and destruction of the human
race.