Genesis 9-11.
-
The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.
2 “I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.[a]
3 I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”[b]4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.
6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring[c] I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
8 From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.
9 Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.
Abram in Egypt
10 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. 11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are. 12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”
14 When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman. 15 And when Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. 16 He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels.
17 But the Lord inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sarai. 18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram. “What have you done to me?” he said. “Why didn’t you tell me she was your wife? 19 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!” 20 Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.
-
13 So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. 2 Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.
3 From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier 4 and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the Lord.
5 Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. 6 But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. 7 And quarreling arose between Abram’s herders and Lot’s. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time.
8 So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives. 9 Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.”
10 Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: 12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. 13 Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord.
14 The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west. 15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring[a] forever. 16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. 17 Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.”
18 So Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he pitched his tents. There he built an altar to the Lord.
Introduction
1. Read Genesis 9:9-17. What does this “covenant” imply about our relationship with the natural environment?
How does a rainbow symbolise the grace of God?
1.Read Genesis 9:9-17. What does the rainbow “covenant” imply about our relationship with the natural environment [9-13]? What does it say about grace?
Notice the scope of the covenant. God includes "every living creature" alongside humanity. In Gen 9:9 God says, “I now establish my covenant with you [Noah and his family] and with every living creature …on earth”! Gen 9:13, “the covenant between me and the earth.” When God makes a covenant with humans, it is about grace and God saving people from sin. In Gen 9:13 God is going to save the earth, not from its sins, but from our sins. In Romans 8:18-22 “creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning . . . right up to the present time.” Paul tells us that nature does not work right because of human sin. It has been caught in God’s curse on us, not its own sin. It is subject to decay because we are. But God intends to restore nature when he restores us. In Gen 9:13 God is telling nature that he will preserve and protect it.
Ecological stewardship is important. God makes a “covenant with the earth” (and Rom 8) God loves the rivers, mountains and trees. In Psalm 19 “nature declares the glory of God” simply by being.
How a rainbow symbolises the grace of God.
When you look at a rainbow remember God's grace in your own life during seasons of personal "storms" or trials? It conveys the beauty and glory of what he has done for us.
Second, it comes after storms and rain. Grace is discovered after repentance and, often, after trouble and sorrow. The rainbow comes “where the darkness and light come together.” In weakness we find God’s strength 2 Cor 12:9.
Third, the rainbow reminds us there is no more condemnation. Hebrew word used is bow. Atkinson writes, “The hostility is over: God hangs up his bow! The weapon of war itself is transformed into a delight.” David Atkinson, p. 164. The flood had served its purpose. It was a token of judgment on evil for all of history; it gave the human race a new start.
2. Read Genesis 11:1-9. (a) Why do the builders of the tower build it? (b) Gen 11:4 In what way are they looking to get “a name”an identity?
There are two reasons given for the building of the Tower of Babel. In Gen 11:3 they say, “‘Let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly’ … instead of stone.” This means that they had made a technological advance. They could build a taller building than before. Just like today, they wanted to apply their discovery to a “city” (v 4) where they could use them. Even today, the people with the most creative ideas find communities to develop their wares.
A second reason for their project: “So that we may make a name for ourselves, and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth” (v. 4). This is an attempt not to build the “City of God” (Rev. 21-22) to glorify God. This is Babylon the “City of Man” (Babylon). Taking their dreams of a city and turning them to glorifying self. Communities are places where talents and gifts are concentrated, stimulating one another for art, science, architecture, business, and organisation. But Gen 11:4 tells us, the “City of Man” is to maximise our power, glory, and autonomy. It is a way to make ourselves independent of God. We go to the city to “make a name for ourselves” through our accomplishments as if we lack a name, not knowing who we are.
In what way do they look for an identity?
“To get a name” in the Bible is to get what we call today an “identity.” God often names people in the Bible. When he names Adam, Abraham, Israel, and even Jesus, he identifies what he has already done or is going to do in their lives. When God tells someone, “what I have done/will do is your name,” he means that his grace in our lives should be the defining factor.
Our security, our priorities, our sense of worth and uniqueness; the things we call “identity” should be based on what he has done for us and in us. This means that if we do not have a “name,” if we are insecure and have to “find out who we are,” we have not understood what God has done.
The two ways that the people of Babel/Babylon seem to be getting their identity is in the greatness of their personal accomplishment (technology), and in the size/ power of their group.
First, “a tower that reaches to the heavens”—means they are assigning spiritual value to their work and accomplishments. They are getting from their work the value and power they ought to be getting from God. They are “saving themselves” through their work, “geting to heaven” without God. “I don’t need religion in order to face the world with confidence and joy! I know I’m great. Look at the skyscraper I’ve built!” Surely there are many people today saying the same thing, almost literally.
Secondly, the desire to “not be scattered over the face of the whole earth” implies they got “a name” from being gathered into a large group. Gaining power and greatness from the size and wealth of their city and their group. The first pursuit makes an idol of one’s talents and accomplishments, the second makes an idol of the group. They will have a “name” if their nation or tribe is great and powerful leading to imperialism, colonialism and racism.
Note: Many commentators believe that the Tower of Babel was a “ziggurat,” a temple building common in the ancient Near Eastern pagan world. Ziggurats were human efforts to unite heaven and earth by religious rituals and practices. Gen 11 may have been an attempt to start a new religion. Nonetheless, it symbolises how we seek to be our own saviours, through our personal and social accomplishments - without God
3. How does God intervene? What does Babel teach us about the possibilities for society?
God “confuses their languages”- he creates disunity! But is unity not a good thing? The answer depends on what that unity is being used for. An empire can be a unity that oppresses and enslaves.
God usually provides punishment through natural means (Rom. 1:18-32: “he gave them up to [their desires]” KJV). Sin always leads to breakdown. Pride and the need for personal glory (v4b) will lead to coveting, competition, disunity, and strife (v4c). Apart from God, we have to choose between making the self an idol (which leads to the disunity of individualistic cultures) or make the tribe/family into an idol (suppressing individual freedom). God’s intervention and judgment, is sudden and supernatural, in response to the self-inflicted sin in society.
God’s intervention was both blessing and curse. It was a judgment. But God’s scattering leads to greater diversity of culture and language than Babel wanted. The confusion and disunity through sin, led to the diversifying and enriching of humanity, which was a blessing. God always finds way to put mercy into his judgment. Martin Luther calls judgment “God’s strange work.”
Babel tells us that society that is not based on a God-centred worldview will make an idol out of something. Either the family, or the individual self, or the national interest, or the accruing of personal wealth. But all idols lead to breakdown. Christians are not to be utopian. No one kind of government will avoid disunity or oppression. Neither must we look to technology to “save us.” In Gen. 11 if we are looking for “a name,” we will use technology to glorify ourselves or our group, which leads to evil.
4. Read Acts 2:1-13. What is the only solution to the “curse” of Babel?
The scattering of the human race was a punishment for sin. Disunity is not God’s original will for us.
In Acts 2 – tongues brought unity, at Babel, various tongues were inflicted because they were trying to get to heaven by themselves, to get their own name. At Pentecost, people of many tongues could all understand one another. In Acts 2 God “comes down” again. This time it is in blessing, not in judgment.
At Pentecost, God reverses the curse of Babel because of the work of Jesus. Now, in Christ, there is no Greek or Jew (Gal. 3:28). In Ephesians 2:14-22, Paul explains that the cross removes the pride and self-naming that led to racial animosity and human disunity. The church is to show the world how, in Christ, the lost community of humanity can be recovered.
That is what we are to be now! We are to be a “city” of God (Matt. 5:14-17) in the midst of every “City of Man,” showing unity of cultures, races, and classes that only Christ can bring.
One day, the curse will be gone.
“At that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call on the name of the LORD, and serve him with one accord” (Zeph. 3:9 ESV).
Study notes adapted from www.redeemer.com Copyright © Timothy Keller, and Redeemer Presbyterian Church 2009
