Genesis 9,11. (Rainbow promise and Babylon curse)
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Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring[a] and hers;
he will crush[b] your head,
and you will strike his heel.”“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”20 Adam[c] named his wife Eve,[d] because she would become the mother of all the living.
21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side[e] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Introduction
“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).
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
