And Jehovah came down to see the city and the tower which the children of men built.
Two verses earlier, men in the land of Shinar are building a city and a tower to reach heaven. Here the movement reverses. The God they left out of their plans comes down to look at what they made. That raises an obvious question. Why would God, who sees everything, need to come down and look?
The words do not mean God's sight is limited. They show how near He brings Himself to what people do.
They thought their building would keep them from being scattered over the earth. But they defeated their own aim, because this is why God scattered them. He "came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built" (v.5). Of course He could see this without coming down. But His coming down shows how real His interest is in men's affairs. It hints that He comes close enough to know everything their work involves.
The verse does not simply say God. It uses the name behind "the LORD" — Jehovah. That name fits what is happening.
He who is not the Creator only but the moral governor, Jehovah, came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. No designation suited the occasion but this. For He is the One who concerned Himself with all who stood in moral relation with Him. He had breathed the breath of life into the nostrils of their first father. By telling the story this way, He would also impress His people with His calm and full judicial survey of men's ways. Yet He knew it all from the beginning (ver. 5). God was in none of their thoughts.
If God already knows, He records the descent for our sake. It teaches us how to judge.
He knew perfectly well without calling after him in the garden of Eden; but it is for us that He reveals it in this way... when men unite to build a city and a tower in the land of Shinar, or when the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, He comes down to see whether things are as bad as they seem. All things are naked and open to His eyes. But God would teach us a serious lesson: never rush to judge evil. He knows well how hasty we often are... He loves patience in judgment.
Their tower was meant to reach heaven, yet heaven still had to come down to it. That reversal shows a principle.
It is characteristic of man in his pride and rebellion to aim at building a tower which will reach to heaven. In this an important principle may find illustration. Man's blessing is not found through his efforts to reach up to God, but through God coming down to him.
The builders armed themselves against one danger — scattering. The judgment that came was nothing like it.
So men began once more to lift themselves up in mind and achievement, and the great JEHOVAH "came down." He saw their works and their projects. He recognised their unity expressed in the oneness of their language. He foresaw what this oneness could lead to and where it would end. So judgment came from Him — a judgment quite different from the one they expected and were arming themselves against. They never saw it coming. He simply confused their language, so that they no longer understood one another's speech. At once their union, their organisation, their central power and their building project collapsed.
God had come down before Babel. Each earlier visit had its limits.
He came down and visited Adam, but there was great reserve. Innocence was short-lived, and sin soon ended that state for ever. He visited Abraham and talked with him; that was brief as well. He visited Israel, coming down on the fiery mountain; but darkness and distance marked that period. What I had chiefly in mind, though, was the time when man set up that first great tower of independence in this world — the tower of Babel.
- Down, not blind. The descent does not give God information. It shows how close He comes to what people build.
- Down as Judge. The name Jehovah marks Him as moral governor. He makes a calm, full survey of ways He already knew.
- Down in patience. He looks before He acts — a rebuke to our habit of rushing to condemn.
- Down against pride. A tower aimed at heaven still needed heaven to stoop. Blessing never comes by climbing up, only by God coming down.
- Down in judgment. They braced against scattering. One confused language scattered them anyway, and the work stopped.
And Jehovah said, Behold, the people is one, and have all one language; and this have they begun to do. And now will they be hindered in nothing that they meditate doing.
After the flood, the whole earth spoke one language. The people set out to build a city and a tower, and to make a name for themselves. Verse 6 is God's own assessment of that project — a verdict not on how weak united humanity is, but on how strong.
Before God speaks His verdict, He inspects. One writer notes which name of God the moment calls for, and what was missing from the builders' plans.
Jehovah is not only the Creator but the moral governor. He came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men were building. No other name suited the occasion... By telling it this way He also impresses His people with His calm, full, judicial survey of men's ways — though He knew it all from the beginning. God was in none of their thoughts. They never thought of a temple to His honour being a centre for themselves. They built no altar to Jehovah, as Noah did on coming out of the ark. They did not call on His name, nor did they seek His will.
God's words here are a strange kind of compliment. They measure what a fallen race can still do.
This is remarkable testimony to what united man can do. Man is fallen, and sin has damaged some of his faculties. Yet leave him alone, and nothing will hold him back. Even now one shared purpose binds men together, despite their quarrels. Under one master mind, with one aim before them, they stand together against all opposition: union makes strong. Why prevent this?... Because sin was there, and the increase of power would be the increase of sin.
The energy God recognises here has a name. One writer sets out what men expect it to give them.
Man does not want anyone to rule him. He joins with others to make himself completely independent of God. Joined with others, he thinks he can do anything. "Union," he says, "is strength." And this is true until God intervenes. Men join together to make a name for themselves on earth. That is the spirit of association... God recognises (Gen. 11:6) the power of the principle of association; but this is the proper principle of Babylon.
Commentators differ over whether the sin at Babel was false worship. One writer reads God's own words here and finds no trace of idols.
The language of Jehovah confirms all this as the truth; not a word here points to strange gods or idols... It was a godless joining together, not false worship... They had not paid attention to Him but had forgotten Him. Their own union would be their strength, and a name of renown on earth.
God's estimate has proved true. One writer saw it in his own lifetime.
The ancients entertained the imagination of men flying like birds. A century ago people wrote novels about men travelling under the sea. The imagination was there, but would it ever become fact? It did not look like it! Yet the Lord had said that nothing they imagined doing would be held back from them. We have reached the twentieth century after Christ, and look — these things are done.
The same writer asks what one language would have cost the world.
Without the confusion of language the atom bomb would have arrived far earlier in history. Mankind would have all but destroyed itself long ago. The Governor of the nations acted in judgment at Babel. We can thank Him that He did, because His judgment held mercy inside it.
Their stated fear was being scattered. The remedy God chose met that fear head-on, and cost nothing but a change of speech.
Their purpose had been centralization, so that they would not be scattered. The Divine act produced in the simplest possible way the very thing they aimed at preventing.
The scattering was never the last word. Centuries later, on the day of Pentecost, the very marks of that judgment were turned into the means of blessing.
Even the day of grace met the sin and rose above the judgment, in God's wise way. He did not cancel the judgment or wipe out the sin. Instead He gave the apostles power at Pentecost to speak to men in the languages they were born into — to their amazement. So He proclaimed His grace among the evidences of His judgment, using the tokens of judgment themselves as channels of His grace. Go where we may, the differences of languages meet us, and proclaim God's rebuke of man's pride and ambition.
- Inspection. God comes down and calmly surveys the building site. He finds Himself absent from every plan: no altar, no prayer, no asking of His will.
- Estimate. His verdict is not that men are weak. United, they are almost unstoppable. Strength was never the problem — its direction was.
- Principle. God names the spirit of association here: "union is strength." Men join forces to make a name and stay independent of Him.
- Restraint. Confused speech put a brake on that power. Without that brake, one writer argues, man would have destroyed himself long ago. The judgment carried mercy inside it.
- Reversal. At Pentecost God answered that judgment. He did not cancel it. He used its own tokens — many languages — as channels of His grace.
Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.
God speaks here in the plural. He decides on a punishment that still shapes the map of the world. The words are an answer, almost an echo: the builders had said "let us," and now God says it back to them.
The verse opens with a call to get started. Older translations put it as "Go to." The same call comes from both sides of the story — first from the builders, then from God.
"Go to," they said, "let us build." "Go to" has a strange old-world sound in our ears. The expression we should use today is "Come on"... Until the Lord Himself finally said, "Come on, let us go down and there confuse their language."
That plural "us" on God's lips is more than a figure of speech.
It is well known that we can go back with the light of New Testament revelation and see certain hints of a Trinity in the Godhead in the Old Testament. They come out in passages such as Genesis 3:22, Genesis 11:7, Numbers 6:23-26, and perhaps also Isaiah 6:3.
The problem was not that men were capable. It was what capability becomes when sin holds the controls.
Jehovah came down to see what man was doing, and His verdict on what men can do is surprising. This is remarkable testimony as to what united man can do. Man is fallen, and sin has damaged some of his powers. Yet if no one stops him, nothing he plans will be out of reach... Why prevent this? Why does God say, "Let us go down, and there confuse their language"? Because sin was there, and the increase of power would be the increase of sin.
God's own words here name the offence:
The language of Jehovah confirms all this as the truth; not a word here points to strange gods or idols... It was a godless union, not false worship... They had not heeded Him but forgotten Him. Their own union would be their strength, and a name of renown on earth.
They were ready for one kind of trouble. God struck at something they never thought to defend.
He recognised their unity expressed in the oneness of their language. He foresaw what this oneness could lead to and where it would end. So judgment came from Him — a judgment nothing like the one they had expected and were arming themselves against. It took them by surprise. He simply confused their language, so that they did not understand one another's speech. At once their union, their organisation, their central control and their building project collapsed.
The division that followed was not random. The new languages ran along family lines, so households stayed whole.
This is how mankind spread everywhere after the flood. It happened after some time had passed, not willingly, but under the pressure of divine power. It confused them so thoroughly and so quickly that they might well dread the outcome of any further effort to disobey. So nationalities began, each with its own tongue, in their lands, but as mercy ruled, according to their families. There was no confusion in Jehovah's ordering.
The restraint has held ever since, and it has held evil back with it.
We live in an age that is unfolding the implications of Genesis 11:6 before our eyes. Without the confusion of language, the atom bomb would have arrived far earlier in the world's history. Mankind would have very nearly destroyed itself long ago. The Governor of the nations acted in judgment at Babel, and we can thank Him that He did so, since His judgment held mercy inside it.
Centuries later, at Pentecost, God used many languages to say one thing. The reversal turns on a name.
The reversals of the curse of Babel stand out most of all, because of their gracious character... At Babel the builders all spoke the same language, but they were all fatally in the wrong, so God confused their speech. At Pentecost every man heard the wonderful works of God in his own language, and they "continued praising God." "Let us make a name for ourselves" produced the confusion and scattering of Babel. The Pentecostal secret was another name: "There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." That name removed the language barrier and revealed the power that gathers.
- Pride — They wanted a name and a centre of their own. Their union was their strength, and God was left out. They did not defy Him with idols; they forgot Him.
- Descent — God answers their "let us" with His own. Read in the light of later revelation, that plural hints at more than one Person in the Godhead.
- Confusion — The judgment landed where they had set no guard. One stroke at their speech, and the whole project collapsed.
- Mercy — Families kept their own language, so households stayed whole. The brake God put on united mankind has slowed the spread of evil ever since.
- A better Name — "Let us make a name for ourselves" scattered them. One other Name gathers them: at Pentecost every man heard the wonderful works of God in his own language.
And Jehovah scattered them thence over the face of the whole earth. And they left off building the city.
Genesis 11 closes the story of the ancient world in one short sentence. God acts, and human building stops. The builders had banded together so that nothing would ever spread them out. The very thing they feared is what came on them, and their half-built city stood abandoned.
The builders had one aim: to keep from scattering. One act of God undid that plan, and the rest followed on its own.
Mankind inevitably scattered into language groups, and the building of Babel stopped. Each person had to go with those who spoke as he did. Each language group separated itself from the others, who became foreigners to it. So this one act of God, the fruit of His wisdom and power, brought the plans of men to nothing. Their aim had been to hold together in one place, so that they would never scatter. The divine act produced, in the simplest possible way, the very thing they aimed at preventing.
The judgment came from a direction they had never prepared for.
So men began once more to lift themselves up in mind and achievement, and the great Jehovah "came down." He saw their works and their projects. He recognised their unity expressed in the oneness of their language. He foresaw what this oneness could lead to, and how it would end. Then judgment came from Him. It was a judgment quite unlike the one they had expected and were arming themselves against. It caught them unawares.
The unfinished city is the picture the verse leaves us with.
They left off building their city. When God steps in, man's work always comes to a sudden stop. It will always be so.
The scattering was judgment, but it cost no one his life.
Meanwhile Jehovah would bring their pride to nothing. He would scatter them by a means as simple as it was effective. There He would confuse their language, so that they could not understand one another's speech. Then they would have to scatter, just as they feared. But what mercy there was in their scattering! They did not lose a hair of their heads.
There is a second mercy here. A race with nothing to hold it back is dangerous.
It was mercy to confuse their language. God would still, by His restraining power, keep the surge of evil in check. If nothing restrained him, what would man be? What has he shown himself to be, even with many restraints on him? But if there was mercy in restraining evil, there was also judgment in confusing their language. Their thinking and their actions were rebellion against God. The confusion of tongues shows both mercy and judgment. From then on, divisions, hatred, and war mark the history of man.
Nations and languages begin here. They did not drift apart on their own.
It was Jehovah who confused their language. Men would no longer be one. From then on they lived divided into nations. Yet mercy took care that the new languages did not break up their families. It was Jehovah's doing. It was not nature, not circumstances, not development. It was an act of divine power, plainly a judgment, and it lasted.
Scattering was not God's last word. Soon after, He called one man. That call ran the opposite way from everything Babel stood for.
Just when men were aiming at unity, God brought in scattering. Soon after, He called Abraham. Men were saying "Come on!" God said to Abraham, "Get out!" They were urging people to join together; God commanded separation, and Abraham obeyed. When men had their city and their tower, Abraham had a tent and an altar. In their cities men look for what is settled and permanent. A tent belongs to a life that is only passing through. Men build a tower to give security and defence, as far as men can. But an altar speaks of God, and of keeping contact with Him.
Later, God used those same divided languages to carry the news of salvation.
In Genesis 11 God sent divided tongues in judgment. In Acts 2 He sent divided tongues in grace. The blessed God of all grace would have each one hear of full salvation, and hear it in the very language in which, as a baby, he first heard a mother's love — his own native language. God had once given divided tongues to scatter in judgment. Now He gave them again to gather in grace — not now around an earthly tower, but around a heavenly Christ.
- Scattered. What men worked hardest to prevent is what God gave them. Their defence became their sentence.
- Halted. The unfinished city stands as the sign that human projects stop the moment God steps in.
- Spared. The scattering carried mercy: no one died, families stayed together, and God held human evil in check.
- Divided. Nations and languages date from this act of God, not from natural development.
- Gathered. God answered the scattering by calling one man out to a tent and an altar. In Acts 2 He sent divided tongues again — this time to gather.
Therefore was its name called Babel; because Jehovah there confounded the language of the whole earth. And Jehovah scattered them thence over the face of the whole earth.
Genesis 11 ends with a name. People set out to make a name for themselves, and God gave the place a name instead. The verse tells us what happened to human speech, and why people are spread across the earth.
Genesis uses this name twice, and both times it points back to one place and one event.
In Genesis 10:10 it is the name of the first place mentioned as the beginning of Nimrod's kingdom. In Genesis 11:9 the tower and city are called "Babel." God confused the language of man there, so that they did not understand one another. The tower was to be very high, "to the heavens." They had no thought of really reaching heaven. But it showed the proud ambition of man's heart. They wanted to make a name for themselves, and to form a gathering point that would hold them together. God would not allow this, for man no sooner has power than he begins to abuse it. He could not let them, as one family, exalt their own name, for the Lord's name alone is to be exalted.
Some see a deliberate play on the sound of the name.
Those who have studied the subject give the name a second meaning: "Bab-il," which means "gate of God." This looks like one of those plays on words that are common in Scripture. Their purpose is to catch the reader's attention. Men thought it was "Bab-il," but it turned out to be "Babel." They dreamed they were walking through a golden gate and becoming divine in some way. In the end, they had to learn the hard way that their bricks and tar were only a muddy gate to folly and confusion.
The builders wanted one thing: to stay together in one place. God's judgment struck that aim.
The inevitable result was that mankind scattered into language groups, and the building of Babel stopped. Each person had to go with those who spoke as he did. Each language group separated from the others. Those others were now foreigners to it, and at first no one could hold an intelligent conversation with them. So by this one act of God, the fruit of His wisdom and power, the plans of men came to nothing. Their purpose had been to gather in one centre and never scatter. The divine act produced, in the simplest possible way, the very thing they were trying to prevent.
Commentators see more than a penalty here. A united human race would have had no brake on its evil.
It was mercy to confuse their language. God would still, by His restraining power, keep the surge of evil in check. If nothing restrained man at all, what would he be? What has he shown himself to be, despite many restraints?… But if there was mercy in restraining evil, there was also judgment in confusing their language. Their thought and their action were rebellion against God. The confusion of tongues shows both mercy and judgment. They said, "lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth." What they feared comes upon them — they are scattered.
God's mercy also shows in the way He scattered them. Nobody ended up alone.
Yet it was a dealing tempered with wisdom and mercy, for each language was spoken by the same clan. They did not part from their families. That could easily have happened, if God had willed it. Instead they spread abroad by their family lines, and national history began this way in their various lands.
The name does not stay in Genesis. It comes to describe a whole line of human effort.
Babylon means confusion. At Babel man made his first organised effort to act apart from God, and so God confused it. It afterwards became the head of the Gentile powers that laid Jerusalem waste. So it often stands for them all… It began in independence of God. It continued as the oppressor of God's people. It fell while using the vessels of God's temple to honour its own idols.
The divided tongues of Babel are not God's last word on human speech. In Acts 2 God used the same means the opposite way.
In Genesis 11 divided tongues were sent in judgment. In Acts 2 divided tongues were sent in grace. The blessed God of all grace would have each one hear of full salvation. He would have him hear it in the very words in which his infant ears had listened to the earliest whispers of a mother's love — "in his own tongue in which he was born"… Divided tongues had once been given to scatter in judgment. Now they were given again to gather in grace — not around an earthly tower, but around a heavenly Christ; not for the exaltation of man, but for the glory of God.
- Motive. The tower was a gathering point, built to make a name for man. God would not let one family exalt its own name.
- Method. God did not destroy the builders. He confused their speech, and their plans collapsed at once.
- Mercy. Holding back a united human race kept evil in check. Even so, the scattering left families and clans together.
- Memory. The name Babel stuck. Its character — independence from God, ending in confusion — runs on into Babylon.
- Miracle. In Acts 2 divided tongues came back. This time they did not scatter people from a tower. They gathered them to Christ.